The Texts
The Nag Hammadi Hermetica
The Nag Hammadi Hermetica are the three Hermetic works of Codex VI, found in Egypt in 1945: the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, the Prayer of Thanksgiving, Asclepius 21-29. They are 4th-century Coptic copies of lost Greek originals.
What is certain about the Nag Hammadi Hermetica?
The Nag Hammadi Hermetica are three texts copied one after another at the end of Codex VI, a Coptic book of the 4th century; their Greek originals are lost.
| Fact and status | Evidence |
|---|---|
| The find Documented | Thirteen Coptic papyrus codices in a jar, found by farmers near Nag Hammadi in December 1945; excavation has not confirmed the eyewitness details. Stephen Emmel, Coptic Encyclopedia (1991) |
| Codex VI Documented | Eight texts, the most of any codex. Coptic Museum, Cairo. Emmel (1991) |
| Copies dated Generally assumed | Second half of the 4th century: the cover of Codex VII was stiffened with a document dated 348. Emmel (1991) |
| VI,6 Discourse Documented | Unknown before 1945. The ancient title is lost; the modern one is taken from the text. S. Kent Brown, Coptic Encyclopedia (1991) |
| VI,7 Prayer Documented | Also in Greek (Papyrus Mimaut, Louvre, written not before about 300) and in Latin (Asclepius 41). Preisendanz, PGM I (1928), III 591-611 |
| VI,8 Asclepius Documented | A Coptic excerpt of the Greek Perfect Discourse, which survives whole only in Latin. Marvin W. Meyer, Coptic Encyclopedia (1991) |
| Greek originals Not precisely dated | Lost. The Asclepius existed by about 300 (Lactantius cites it); the other two have no firm date. Meyer (1991) |
| Real ritual? Disputed | Literary fiction (André-Jean Festugière, 1944-1954), possibly ritual practice (Jean-Pierre Mahé, 1978), a reconstructable ascent ritual (Christian H. Bull, 2018). Hanegraaff (2008); BMCR 2020.02.23 |
| Gnostic? Not supported | Same jar, different tradition: a two-part view of the human being, not the three-part one called typical of Gnosis. Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta, Gnosis 6.1 (2021) |
Checked on 4 November 2026, each row at its source; page and line numbers below are those of Codex VI.
What is the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth?
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth (NHC VI,6) is a dialogue in which Hermes leads an unnamed pupil into a vision of the eighth and ninth spheres, the levels beyond the seven planets. The pupil has already been reborn, the stage Corpus Hermeticum XIII describes. They pray, chant vowels standing for a hidden divine name and embrace; the vision ends in a hymn sung in silence, and Hermes orders the book, titled “The Eighth Reveals the Ninth”, carved in hieroglyphs on turquoise steles for the temple at Diospolis. The ascent to the Eighth and Ninth stages what the Corpus Hermeticum teaches as doctrine: the soul’s climb toward nous and God. Who sees the vision is disputed: Alberto Camplani (2000) gives part of it to Hermes, Wouter J. Hanegraaff (2008) all of it to the pupil.
What is the Hermetic Prayer of Thanksgiving?
The Prayer of Thanksgiving (NHC VI,7) is a short Hermetic prayer thanking God for mind, speech and knowledge, and it survives in three ancient languages: Coptic here, Greek in a magical papyrus of the Louvre, Latin at the end of the Asclepius. In the codex an embrace and a meal of holy food without blood follow (65,2-7), then a scribal note (65,8-14): many discourses of Hermes had reached the copyist, and he copied only this one.
What is the Asclepius in Codex VI?
The third Hermetic text of Codex VI is an untitled Coptic version of chapters 21-29 of the Asclepius, otherwise known complete only in Latin, with brief quotations in Greek. It compares the Hermetic mystery to sexual union and contains the prophecy that the gods will leave Egypt, the “image of heaven” (70,3-74,7). Translated from the Greek in the 4th century, it is a second witness to the text beside the Latin.
Why did the find matter?
The find brought Hermetic texts copied in Egypt, in Coptic, with ritual instructions, when the dominant reading took the Hermetica for Greek philosophy in Egyptian dress. That was Festugière’s view: Egyptian elements largely decorative, ecstatic passages literary fiction. Mahé’s edition of the Coptic texts (1978, 1982) turned the field toward their Egyptian and religious side; Garth Fowden (1986) and Bull (2018) placed the authors in Egyptian priestly circles, the world of Hermes Trismegistus in Roman Egypt.
Did Hermetists perform the ritual?
Nobody can show that the ritual of the Discourse was performed, and scholars still read it differently. S. Kent Brown (1991) called it a rite of initiation that teaches through ritual; Bull (2018) reconstructs a guided ascent, citing parallels in the Greek magical papyri such as chanted vowels and a text set on a temple stele under curses; Hanegraaff (2008) reads an altered state, with the pupil’s “brothers” present in mind rather than in the room. The “initiation certificate” of some popular accounts claims more than the text says.
Are the Nag Hammadi Hermetica Gnostic?
No: the Nag Hammadi Hermetica belong to the Hermetic tradition, although the find is famous for its “Gnostic gospels”. They have no Christ and no evil creator, and Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta (2021) argues that all three see the human being as two-part, body and soul or mind, not as the three-part being that Karl-Wolfgang Tröger called typical of Gnosis; their gnosis is Hermetic. Codex VI is a mixed book: it also holds The Thunder, Perfect Mind, the Authentikos Logos and a loose Coptic version of Plato’s Republic 588a-589b. Why these works travelled together is unresolved.
Where to read the Nag Hammadi Hermetica?
The standard English edition, with the Coptic text, is Nag Hammadi Codices V,2-5 and VI, edited by Douglas M. Parrott (1979); its translation by James Brashler, Peter A. Dirkse and Parrott is in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1977), with reading copies of the Discourse, the Prayer and Asclepius 21-29 at the Gnostic Society Library. The first Coptic edition was by Martin Krause and Pahor Labib (1971); Mahé’s Hermès en Haute-Égypte prints the texts beside their Greek and Latin parallels. Other Hermetica survived by other roads, among them The Stobaean Fragments.
Fair questions
What are the Nag Hammadi Hermetica?
Three Hermetic texts in Codex VI of the Nag Hammadi codices, found in Egypt in December 1945: the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth (VI,6), the Prayer of Thanksgiving (VI,7) and a Coptic excerpt of Asclepius 21-29 (VI,8). They are Coptic copies of the 4th century from lost Greek originals.
What is the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth about?
Hermes leads a pupil, already reborn, through prayer, chanted vowels and an embrace into a vision of the eighth and ninth spheres beyond the seven planets; it ends in a hymn sung in silence and an order to carve the book in hieroglyphs on turquoise steles for the temple at Diospolis.
Is the Asclepius in the Nag Hammadi library?
Part of it. Codex VI ends with an untitled Coptic version of Asclepius 21-29, including the prophecy that the gods will leave Egypt. The whole text survives only in Latin, so the Coptic, translated from the Greek, is a second witness beside it.
Are the Nag Hammadi Hermetica Gnostic texts?
No. They were found in the same jar as Gnostic works, but they have no Christ and no evil creator, and Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta (2021) argues that they treat the human being as two-part, not as the three-part being that Karl-Wolfgang Tröger called typical of Gnosis. Why the two travelled together is unresolved.
Does the Discourse prove that Hermetists practised rituals?
No, but it is the text the question turns on. Christian Bull (2018) reconstructs a guided ascent ritual from it; Festugière read such scenes as literary fiction, and Hanegraaff (2008) as an altered state in which the fellow initiates are present in mind. The ‘initiation certificate’ of some popular accounts overstates the text.
Listen & watch
Sources & further reading
- Stephen Emmel, “Nag Hammadi Library”, The Coptic Encyclopedia 6 (New York, 1991), 1771-1773 (Claremont).
- S. Kent Brown, “Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth”, “Prayer of Thanksgiving” and “Plato’s Republic”; Marvin W. Meyer, “Asclepius 21-29”, The Coptic Encyclopedia (1991) (Discourse, Prayer, Republic, Asclepius).
- Douglas M. Parrott (ed.), Nag Hammadi Codices V,2-5 and VI, Nag Hammadi Studies 11 (Leiden: Brill, 1979); Martin Krause and Pahor Labib, Gnostische und hermetische Schriften aus Codex II und Codex VI (Glückstadt, 1971); Jean-Pierre Mahé, Hermès en Haute-Égypte, 2 vols. (Québec, 1978-1982) (Open Library).
- Karl Preisendanz (ed.), Papyri Graecae Magicae I (Leipzig: Teubner, 1928), PGM III 591-611, the prayer; lines 610-611 illegible (Internet Archive).
- Wouter J. Hanegraaff, “Altered States of Knowledge: The Attainment of Gnōsis in the Hermetica”, International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 2 (2008), 128-163 (DOI, open copy).
- Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta, “The Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth (NHC VI,6), the Prayer of Thanksgiving (NHC VI,7), and the Asclepius (NHC VI,8): Hermetic Texts in Nag Hammadi and Their Bipartite View of Man”, Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 6.1 (2021), 49-78 (DOI).
- Christian H. Bull, The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus (Leiden: Brill, 2018) (DOI); review by Korshi Dosoo, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2020.02.23.
- J.M. Robinson (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Library, scan at the Internet Archive.