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ARTEFACT IDENTIFIERS

Artefact ID87
TM IDTM 107748
Findspot (DEChriM ID)34   (Ǧabal al-Ṭārif)
ClassTextual
MaterialPapyrus
Writing mediumCodex
Text contentLiterary, Subliterary
LanguageCoptic
Description

Nag Hammadi Codex VIII

Papyrus codex containing a variety of Gnostic texts in Coptic (Sahidic dialect), said to have been discovered along with 12 other codices in an area near Nag Hammadi, although the precise context and circumstance of their discovery in 1945 remains unclear (Nongbri 2018, 108-115). The contents of Nag Hammadi Codex VIII include: 

pp. A-B: front flyleaf, left blank;
pp. 1-132 (NHC VIII,1): Zostrianus (Zostrianos; CC 0649), with final title on p. 132, followed by a cryptographic colophon (as stated by Barry et al. 2000, p. 48); pages 69-72 at the centre of the quire (therefore of the codex) are left blank and pagination is not expressed;
pp. 132-140 (NHC VIII,2): Epistula Petri (Letter of Peter to Philip; CC 0660), with initial title on p. 132;
pp. G-H: back flyleaf, left blank.

Selection criteriaLiterary genre (Non-canonical), Literary genre (Theological), Coptic language
Date from300
Date to399
Dating criteria-
Absolute/relative dateRelative date
Archaeological context-
Accession number

Cairo, Coptic Museum NH 10550

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editio Princeps

• Sieber, John H., ed. 1991. Nag Hammadi Codex VIII, Nag Hammadi Studies, vol. 31. Leiden: Brill. 

Additional Bibliography

• Barnes, J.W.B., G.M. Browne, and J.C. Shelton. 1981. Nag Hammadi Codices. Greek and Coptic Papyri from the Cartonnage of the Covers. Nag Hammadi Studies.  Leiden: Brill.

•Nongbri, Brent. 2018. God's Library: The Archaeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts. New Haven: Yale University Press.

•Scholer, David. 1971. Nag Hammadi Bibliography, 1948-1969. Nag Hammadi Studies. Vol. 1, Leiden: Brill.

•Scholer, David. 1997. Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1970-1994. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies.  Leiden: Brill.

•Scholer, David, and Susan  Wood. 2008. Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1995-2006. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies. Vol. 65, Leiden: Brill.

Authors
Mary Jane Cuyler, 2020
Suggested citation
Mary Jane Cuyler, 2020, "Artefact ID 87", 4CARE database - Fourth-Century Christian Archaeological Record of Egypt, https://4care-skos.mf.no/artefacts/87
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