the Djebel el Tarif

 

Some time in December 1945, Muhammad Ali al-Samman was digging for fertiliser at the foot of the Djebel el Tarif, in the region of Nag Hammadi, Southern Egypt.

Beneath a rock he came across a clay jar. The area was reputed to be haunted & he was nervous that the jar may contain djinn (spirits).

But his hope that it would contain valuables was stronger than his fear & he broke the jar with his shovel. He was disappointed to see a pile of old books but he gathered them up anyway & took them home.

That winter his mother used several of the books to light her cooking fire. The next year the books began to make their way to antiques dealers in Cairo & out into the world. This is what is known as the Nag Hammadi Library.

"The Apocryphon of John" was one of 50 texts that have reached us. Copied down in Coptic & bound together in thirteen leather covered books some time during the 2nd half of the 4th century of the christian era - although the texts themselves are undoubtedly considerably older.

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