1945

The discovery of the Nag Hammadi library

In 1945 a library of Gnostic manuscripts was discovered in Egypt, named after the nearby village of Nag Hammadi. The texts were published over the following decades. They confirmed the diversity of ancient Gnostic groups, which Irenaeus of Lyons had already compared to a many-headed Hydra. They became a crucial source for the study of early Christian Gnosticism.