Background
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A leather-bound Coptic language papyrus document that surfaced during the 1970s, near Beni Masar, Egypt, was named the Codex Tchacos after an antiquities dealer, Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos, who became concerned about the deteriorating condition of the manuscript. First translated in the early 2000s, the codex contains text that appears to be from the late 2nd century AD, and includes the self-titled "Gospel of Judas" (Euangelion Ioudas) which claims to be the story of Jesus's death from the viewpoint of Judas.
The manuscript was radiocarbon dated "between the third and fourth century", according to Timothy Jull, a carbon-dating expert at the University of Arizona's physics center, and described by the National Geographic as being from AD 280, plus or minus 60 years.
Today the manuscript is in over a thousand pieces, with many sections missing due to poor handling and storage. Some passages are only scattered words; others contain many lines. According to Rodolphe Kasser, the codex originally contained 31 pages, with writing on both sides; however, when it came to the market in 1999, only 13 pages remained. It is speculated that individual pages had been removed and sold.
It has been speculated, on the basis of textual analysis concerning features of dialect and Greek loan words, that the Coptic text contained in the codex may be a translation from an older Greek manuscript dating, at the earliest, to approximately AD 130–180. Cited in support is the reference to a “Gospel of Judas” by the early Christian writer Irenaeus of Lyons, who, in arguing against Gnosticism, called the text a "fictitious history". However, it is uncertain whether the text mentioned by Irenaeus is in fact the same text as the Coptic “Gospel of Judas” found in the Codex Tchachos.
A. J. Levine, who was on the team of scholars responsible for unveiling the work, said that the Gospel of Judas contains no new historical information concerning Jesus or Judas, but that the text is helpful in reconstructing the history of Gnosticism, especially in the Coptic-speaking areas.
Read more about this topic: Gospel Of Judas
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