Ancient Texts
Gnostic texts: Ancient texts
Ancient Texts pages that draw on Gnostic texts, each with the sources shown. Start with Archons, Nag Hammadi library, Norea, Yaldabaoth.
Beings · Gnostic textsArchonsIn Gnostic texts, the rulers of this world built Adam's body limb by limb but could not make it stand. Only a trick that made their chief breathe stolen power into it brought it to life, and then Adam outshone his makers. They threw him into matter in jealousy. Who were these rulers, and what did the authors mean?Texts · Gnostic textsNag Hammadi libraryIn December 1945 farmers digging for soil in Upper Egypt struck a sealed clay jar holding thirteen leather-bound books of lost Gnostic scriptures. According to the finder, his mother burned some loose pages in the oven for kindling. Why were the books buried, and what did they change about early Christianity?People · Gnostic textsNoreaA Gnostic text says Noah's ark refused to take Norea, so she blew on it and set it on fire, and Noah had to rebuild. Then the world's rulers tried to seize her, and she called to a higher power for help. She appears nowhere in the Bible. Who was she, and what did her story mean to its authors?Gods · Gnostic textsYaldabaothGnostic texts describe the creator of our world as a lion-faced serpent who boasts he is the only god, not knowing that he has a mother above him. His names include Saklas, meaning fool, and Samael, god of the blind. A voice answers his boast with a rebuke. Why would early Christians tell the Genesis story this way?
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