Nadż Hammadi
It is a city with a population of 30,000, an important agricultural and industrial center, lies 40 km south of Al-Baliany. In the Greco-Roman period it was called Chenoboskion. The main road and railroad tracks pass here from the west bank of the Nile to the east. Nadż Hammadi (Nag Hammadi, Naj yammadl; dim. nadż hanimad lub nag hamadi) it is known from Coptic Gnostic texts (II-III w.).
W 1945 r. a peasant dug a clay pot with leather-bound Coptic texts from the ground. The code included 52 texts, mostly Gnostic in nature. Only six texts were known beforehand: three from the Corpus Hermeticum collection and excerpts from the translations of the Plato Republic. The apocrypha has also been found, whose authors impersonated the apostles and evangelists, the most valuable of which was the Gospel of Thomas. Unfortunately, the finder did not recognize the discovery and decided to burn the papyri. The rest was sold for next to nothing to a local antiquarian. With the help of antiques thieves, he smuggled them abroad, from where, after long efforts, they were recovered in 1956 r. The texts from the Naga Hammadi are now in the Coptic Museum in Cairo. They have been carefully researched and translated into many languages. UNESCO has designated these literary monuments as part of humanity's cultural heritage.