Nag Hammadi Codex XIII (designated by

siglum Scribal abbreviations, or sigla (singular: siglum), are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mecha ...

NHC XIII) is a

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

with a collection of early Christian

Gnostic texts Gnosticism used a number of religious texts that are preserved, in part or whole, in ancient manuscripts, or lost but mentioned critically in Patristic writings. There is significant scholarly debate around what Gnosticism is, and therefore what ...

in Coptic (Sahidic dialect). The manuscript is generally dated to the 4th century, though there is some debate regarding the original composition of the texts.

Description

The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a codex. It is written in Sahidic dialect.Bentley Layton
''Nag Hammadi codex II, 2-7: together with XIII, 2*, Brit. Lib. Or.4926(1), and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655 : with contributions by many scholars''
BRILL, 1989, p. 2. The codex contains: '' Trimorphic Protennoia'' and ''

On the Origin of the World On the Origin of the World is a Gnostic work dealing with creation and the end time. It was found among the texts in the Nag Hammadi library, in Codex II and Codex XIII, immediately following the '' Reality of the Rulers''. There are many pa ...

''. It is the only surviving copy of the ''Trimorphic Protennoia''. The text is written in

uncial Uncial is a majuscule script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek and Latin, as well as Gothic, and are the current style for ...

letters. It is well written in an informal book hand. There is no punctuation, no division between sayings. The

nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, (singular: , Latin for 'sacred name') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A consists of two or more letters from the original w ...

are contracted in an unusual way (ΠΝΑ, ΧΣ, ΧΡΣ, ΙΗΣ), the words at the end of line are abbreviated. The scribe is identical with the scribe A of Codex II. The scribe employed several styles.Bentley Layton
''Nag Hammadi codex II, 2-7: together with XIII, 2*, Brit. Lib. Or.4926(1), and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655 : with contributions by many scholars''
BRILL, 1989, p. 4. The scribe made several errors of

haplography Haplography (from Greek: haplo- 'single' + -graphy 'writing'), also known as lipography (from Greek: lip- from leipein 'to leave/to omit' + -graphy 'writing'), is a scribal error, scribal or typographical error where a letter or group of letters th ...

(omitted letter N in 38.7; 48.28; omitted OY 40.18; omitted T in 48.15) and

dittography Dittography is the accidental, erroneous act of repeating a letter, word, phrase or combination of letters by a scribe or copyist. The term is used in the field of textual criticism, especially in critical studies of ancient or biblical literature ...

(42.26; 45.31). The so-called "Codex XIII" is in fact not a codex, but rather the text of ''Trimorphic Protennoia'', written on "... eight leaves removed from a thirteenth book in late antiquity and tucked inside the front cover of the sixth." John D. Turner, ''Nag Hammadi Codex XIII'', in: Elaine H. Pagels, Charles W. Hedrick
''Nag Hammadi codices, XI, XII, XIII''
BRILL, 1990, p. 401. Only a few lines from the beginning of ''Origin of the World'' are discernible on the bottom of the eighth leaf. It was buried with the other Nag Hammadi codices, where it lay until the day of its discovery in 1945. On June 8, 1952 the

Coptic Museum The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Coptic Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities. The museum traces the history of Egypt from its b ...

received the codex. The text of the codex was edited by Gesine Schenke. It was examined and described by James J. Robinson in 1979.Bentley Layton, ''Nag Hammadi codex II, 2-7: together with XIII, 2*, Brit. Lib. Or.4926(1), and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655 : with contributions by many scholars'', BRILL, 1989, p. 5. Currently the manuscript is housed at the Department of manuscripts of the

(Inv. 10545) in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

References

External links

Nag Hammadi Archive

Antiquities of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity

NH Codex 11, 12 and 13

LDAB The Leuven Database of Ancient Books (LDAB) is a resource for all ancient written literary manuscripts, from 500 BC to AD 800. It currently lists more than 16.000 Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac and Demotic literary texts. It is said that it "attempt ...

* John D. Turner
TRIMORPHIC PROTENNOIA (XIII 35, 1 -50, 24)
{{Authority control Gnostic Gospels 4th-century manuscripts Nag Hammadi library

Description

See also

References

Further reading

External links