Thoughts on Antiquity

The Rest of the Gospel of Judas

11 Apr 2006   posted by: Chris Weimer   tags: archaeological finds, political discussions, scholastic discussions

Roger Pearse has informed me of a terrible tragedy - the codex containing the Gospel of Judas had a second codex with it, and it is being sold on ebay! Oh the horrors!Roger wrote to Michel van Rijn about the problem (from here):

Thanks your email. Ferrini is keeping himself unreachable… Yes Ferrini sold pages of the Judas, Exodus and mathematical treatise.

Pages of the Exodus were sold to James E. Ferrell and are now part of the Ink and Blood traveling exhibition… The mathematical treatise was sold by Ferrini together with Samm Fogg, London, to Lord Thomson of Fleet, Canada.

And Getty sponsor, Lloyd Cotsen, bought several pages. Judas?

Here’s a small Coptic fragment he’s selling. It’s hard to make out, especially the last letter, and either way it doesn’t appear to be any full words.

It’s such a shame that these people would exploit our very own history for their own profit. They do science and all of humanity a disservice. For shame.

Update: Jim West remarks that the fragment sold on Ebay is probably a fake. After looking at it again, I would have to conclude the same. It would explain the lone N in the first line, and the unfamiliar letter at the very end. Coupled with the fact that the seller was unaware that it was Greek, I’m willing to place my bets on something inauthentic.

Second Update: Roger Pearse has more information here.

2 Responses to “The Rest of the Gospel of Judas”

  1. 1
    justinjenkins Says:

    I’ve seen this seller before on eBay and I just didn’t understand how some of his stuff could be legit — then again they are very small fragments — how much could they really be worth if they aren’t part of a Gospel of something?

  2. 2
    Chris Weimer Says:

    I don’t personally deal too much in antiquities. I may have a few things here or there, but I wouldn’t be an expert on prices. In my very informal opinion, the prices look decent for most of the things. I know I wouldn’t pay $20 for that fragment - especially now that I’m fairly sure it’s a fake. If it were real, and was a part of an important collection, than that fragment alone really wouldn’t amount to much either.

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