The Library
1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
101–200
4 works
c. 100–200
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
Adam in his seven hundredth year tells Seth what he learned from three visitors: that the creator is not the highest God, that a race descended from Seth will survive flood and fire, and that thirteen kingdoms will each give a false account of where the illuminator came from.
c. 130–180
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
Jesus laughs at the disciples for giving thanks over bread and takes Judas aside as the only one who can bear to hear the truth. Judas will exceed them all — by handing over the man who clothes him.
c. 150–200
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Trimorphic Protennoia
Anonymous
A feminine divine voice speaks in three descents — as Voice, as Speech, as Word — putting on the likeness of each order of being in turn until she takes the form of a man and is not recognised.
c. 150–200
Greek, surviving in Coptic
The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians
Anonymous
A Sethian account of how the heavens were populated, ending in a hymn of vowels and a claim that Seth wrote the book, placed it on a mountain, and set it there to remain until the last times. Jesus appears as Seth's final garment.
201–300
5 works
c. 200–250
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Hypostasis of the Archons
Anonymous
A retelling of Genesis 1 to 6 in which the rulers who made the world cannot see the light above them, Eve is the spiritual one who wakes Adam, and the serpent is the instructor. Norea, Seth's sister, burns down the ark and is rescued from the rulers by the angel Eleleth.
c. 200–250
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
The longest text in the Nag Hammadi library and among the most damaged: an ascent through successive baptisms and levels of being, each named and enumerated, told by a visionary who claims descent from Zoroaster.
c. 200–250
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
The Foreigner records what the female revealer Youel taught him and what he saw after a hundred years of preparation: an ascent that ends not in a vision but in a knowing that has to be described by saying what it is not.
c. 200–250
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
Three hymns of ascent and return, said to be copied from stone pillars Seth set up, with instructions on the order in which they are to be said going up and coming back down.
c. 200–275
Greek, surviving in Coptic
Anonymous
Badly damaged throughout. The priest of Salem receives a revelation of the end, is told to keep the book hidden, and appears to become the returning saviour figure himself — while the text insists, against docetists, that Christ truly ate, drank, was circumcised, suffered, and rose in the flesh.
9 of 1774 works