On the Mystery of Lost Books

Throughout history there have been some books which have forever shaped the course of mans destiny. Books such as the Holy Bible, the Noble Qu’ran, Confucius’ Analects, the Canon of Medicine, Herodotus’ Histories, Plato’s Republic, The Communist Manifesto, Machiavelli’s Prince, Mein Kampf, Darwin’s Origins, Dante’s Divine Comedy and Sun Tzu’s Art of War are some of the books that spring to my mind. Whether they had an impact on the political, religious or complete social spectrum, it cannot be denied that these books held a certain aura about them which is why they remain some of the bestselling and influential books to this day. But what of lost books? Books that have been lost to time and history could very well have been just as influential as some of the books above, if not more. This write up was inspired by an email I received from a friend where she was quite interested in something called the Gospel of Eve. Now I had to be honest with her and tell her I knew nothing about it and that I would get back to her if I did find anything, I found very little. Through some research though, I’ve stumbled upon some books, including the one above, which were supposed to have existed but to this day have not been found. Whether they were completely destroyed or just suppressed may never be known.

The Lost Mayan Codices

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The Maya people were one of the most advanced civilizations in not-so-ancient America. They had a complex set of religious beliefs and amazingly detailed knowledge of the heavens. Their history was recorded on the inner back of fig trees; these records are called codices. Only THREE whole codices have survived; the Dresden codex (largely considered the most important), the Madrid Codex and the Paris codex. I cannot stress this enough, only three whole codices have survived since the beginning of the Classic period (2000 BC), to the end of the post-Classic period (1521 – arrival of the Spanish). Three single codices...

It would be silly to try and estimate how much were actually written during this period, but even the most ignorant soul would not limit this number to the hundreds. Following the Spanish invasion all of the codices that could be found were burned because they were considered ‘heresy’. The most infamous book-burner was Diego Da Landa who gained the trust of the local wisemen and then got access to countless amounts of writings scribed on deerskin. The Dresden codex has intricate depictions of the special movements of Venus, this in itself is amazing. One can just imagine at how much religious, mythological, cultural and technological records were depicted on countless codices that went down in flames at the hands of the Christian ‘redeemers’.

Books from the House of Wisdom

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The House of Wisdom itself is not a book, rather an ancient library. It existed in Baghdad, Iraq, from the 9th to the 13th centuries. During the time Baghdad was considered the intellectual capital of the world as the House of Wisdom held the largest collection of books (new and ancient) ranging from all the sciences to the philosophies and the histories.

I really have no information on this place other than it probably housed very ancient texts which could have served insurmountably to humanity if they had still been in existence. Unfortunately, much like the infamous library at Alexandria, it was destroyed, along with all its contents. It was burnt to the ground during the Mongol invasion of 1258. Some say the Tigris River turned black for six months from all the ink that melted off the pages...

The Gospel of Eve

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It’s existence is heavily disputed, but for those who believe it to exist it is the missing gospel which espoused ‘free love’ and the freedom of expressing this love by any means. There is only one reference from the supposed lost texts and it comes from a Church father by the name of Epiphanius who lived during the 4th century:

“I stood on a lofty mountain and saw a gigantic man, and another, a dwarf; and I heard as it were a voice of thunder, and drew nigh for to hear; and He spake unto me and said: I am thou, and thou art I; and wheresoever thou mayest be I am there. In all am I scattered , and whencesoever thou willest, thou gatherest Me; and gathering Me, thou gatherest Thyself.”

—Gospel of Eve, quoted by Epiphanius, Hæres., xxvi. III

This is supposed to be a reference to semen (possibly one of the reasons this text is now apocrypha) which in itself excludes the woman from any deistic significance and places the text too close to Egyptian myth (Osirification). Some say the text was destroyed because it didn’t completely stress the importance of male religious rule and rather asserted certain women as saints. Others say that the text had deep pantheistic roots and was therefore abolished by the early Church. If we are to assume that this text is not to be found anywhere simply due to some out of the ordinary sexual references alone, then we have no case. But what else could have been spoken of in this text to further place its contents as prohibited for sacred literature?

The Acts of Solomon

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This lost text was supposed to have been written by the prophet Iddo. It is made reference to in Kings 11:41:

"And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?"

The Book of the Acts of Solomon most probably did exist since it is referenced to, not alluded, as a valid source. It most likely contained documents and events that transpired around the era of the kingship of Solomon; wars, diplomacy, etc. I personally don’t think it’s a stretch to assume there is detailed information on the infamous Queen of Sheba (Solomon’s wife) herself. It’s fair to say that the Book of the Acts of Solomon included a lot more information than the writer of Kings was prepared to say. Besides depicting a militaristic and political history one can only assume further that it did indeed speak of the infamous Temple of Solomon where the Ark of the Covenant was at one stage believed to have been housed. How different would recorded history be if we had this book in our possession to this day? Surely at least they would have found his temple a lot earlier than 2010.

Book of the Wars of the Lord

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This is perhaps one of history’s greatest missing treasures. The Book of the Wars of the Lord is said to have been a military history written by none other than Moses, Aaron and the rest of the children of Israel. Some scholars disagree and think that it was a collection of war poems, but for the ones that do, the Book of the Wars of the Lord is nothing else than the total recount of the Jews who fled from Egypt carrying along the Ark of the Covenant and using all of its power to sweep past their enemies. This text is referred to in Numbers 21:14 (KJV);

“Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord what He did in the Red Sea and the brooks of Arnon...”.

It is referenced at least two more times throughout the Old Testament so unless we are to completely discount the whole history of Exodus, this book very much existed. Besides the Old Testament itself there are no other recounts of the book ever existing or being in anyone’s possession, so if it exists and was not destroyed, who could be in possession of it today? Many have speculated about the existence of the infamous Ark of the Covenant and whether it had any ‘godlike’ powers, surely if we had access to the Book of the Wars of the Lord we would have known a lot more about this artefact? Perhaps the writers would have described it in detail instead of just giving us dimensions, perhaps they would have spoke of what they perceived to be its ‘powers’, perhaps even, they would have spoke of where they left it.

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Do you know of any other books which are lost but could have been greatly valued if they were in existence today?

I cannot list their names, but countless books on Western Alchemy were destroyed at the end of the dark ages.

Pope John XXII issued a bull against alchemical counterfeiting, and the Cistercians banned the practice amongst their members. In 1403, Henry IV of England banned the practice of Alchemy.

It has been a long time (I was a kid) since I did research on it, but I seem to remember a story about Nostradamus too. If memory serves me correctly there was an account from one of his assistants about seeing strange lights coming from the window when Nostradamus burnt all of the books he had collected.

It's not necessarily that the chemistry might have any relevance today, but the histories and languages would be of extreme interest.

I didn't cover the ancient Library of Alexandria. But this is a place that should be mentioned here, without question.

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It was rumored that carved into the wall above the shelves, a famous inscription read: The place of the cure of the soul.

The first known library of its kind to gather a serious collection of books from beyond its country's borders, the Library at Alexandria was charged with collecting all the world's knowledge.

Wiki

In 1994, Italian journalist Enza Massa was at the Italian National Library in Rome when she stumbled upon an unusual find. It was a manuscript dating to 1629, titled: Nostradamus Vatinicia Code. Michel de Notredame, the author's name, was on the inside in indelible ink.

This manuscript, never published by Nostradamus, was handed down to the prophet's son and later donated by him to Pope Urban VIII. It did not surface again until now, almost four hundred years later. The cryptic paintings vary from the strange to the bizarre, with images of popes,decapitations and strange creatures. Known as the "Vaticinia Nostradami",this book has often been considered to be Nostradamus' final propheciesregarding the end of the world as we know it.

It was said that Nostradamushad handed the book over to his son who in turn was to donate it to a cardinalat the time who later went on to become Pope Urban VIII; the book eventuallyended up in the library.In both the paintings and the accompanying quatrains within, Nostradamus is saidto have predicted the Nazi Blitzkrieg, the assassination attempt on Pope JohnPaul II, the burning of the oil wells of Kuwait by Iraq, and Boris Yeltsin'srise to power.

Lost Book Of Nostradamus

Lost Book Of Nostradamus - Video
Part 2
Part 3

Wow, nice thread

Things like this always fascinate me. You're right about how influential things could be, and when you think about how many books have been lost in history, it's amazing...

Thanks for listing some of these, I'll look into them!

Ab urbe condita libri

It detailed the entire history of Rome from its Trojan forefathers to the reign of Caesar Augustus, 800 years later so just imagine how much we would know if we found more than just 1/4 of it all.

The work covers the time from the stories of Aeneas, the earliest legendary period from before the city's founding in c. 753 BC, to Livy's own times in the reign of the emperor, Augustus. The Latin-language title can be literally translated as "Books from the city having been founded" but more typically "from the city's founding" or "from the foundation of the city" is used. Less literally it is referred to in English as History of Rome. The last year covered by Livy is 745 AUC, or 9 BC,[1] the death of Drusus. About 25% of the work survives.

Ab urbe condita libri when complete included 142 libri, or "books", with the meaning of "chapters." Thirty-five of these: 1-10 with the Preface and 21-45, still exist in reasonably complete form. Damage to a manuscript of the 5th century AD resulted in large gaps (lacunae) in Books 41 and 43-45 (small lacunae exist elsewhere); that is, the material is not covered in any source of Livy's text.

A fragmentary palimpsest of the 91st book was discovered in the Vatican Library in 1772, containing about a thousand words, and several papyrus fragments of previously unknown material, much smaller, have been found in Egypt since 1900, most recently about forty words from Book 11, unearthed in the 1980s.

en.wikipedia.org...

Excellent Thread

Books and mysteries my favourite things :-) all I Need now is a 6ft tall Swedish Blonde some good food and a bottle of nice Red Wine whilst reading this thread and where it will lead me to be in "Heaven" lol.


There is an Book about lost books I nearly bought a while back I am sure OP and others will find it interesting:

Sure, it's "esoteric and demanding" (New York Times), but that quality seems to be The Book of Lost Books' charm. A regular literary critic for Scotland on Sunday, this is Stuart Kelly's first book, a work born from a lifelong fascination with the missing pieces of literary history. The breadth of Kelly's knowledge impressed critics as much as his ability to be both approachable and authoritative, even though his sense of "what counts as 'lost' is engagingly floppy" (Sunday Telegraph). His enthusiasm reminds readers to appreciate the books that have made it this far through human history and reminds them that not all ideas are good ones.Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You'll Never Read

Some of the more interesting I have known about for a while include:

The rest of the epic saga of Troy which Iliad and Odyssey are sandwiched between. It turns out the whole story of Troy's fall and Odysseus' journey home covered a total eight books, and the Greek poet Homer only authored two of them. The remaining six fleshed out all the gaping holes in its plot, such as the death of Achilles, the extent of Paris' douchebaggery, the Trojan Horse and the spellbinding conclusion to the vast saga. *SPOILERS* Odysseus dies at the end! *END SPOILERS*

Cracked 7 Books lost to History
Wow the complete Illiad and Odyssey, that surely is one of the most important ones that we have lost.

However it is probably overshadowed By Plato's final Masterpiece

Hermocrates

It was the third book he wrote after Timaeus and Critias. Some say he never finished it, but it has never been found, and no one (as far as I know) has ever referenced it or mentioned it verbatim.

However it is known, from other writers at the time, and some of the musings of Plato that he started it and was writing it.

I have always been intriqued by this, would it have been very differnant to the two above, in a similair vein to his "Republic" or would it have carried on the Atlantis and historical storyline.

Maybe maybe even the information in this book if done in the vein of his other "Fiction/History" may have given enough clues to accurately find/pinpoint any place for "Atlantis" if it ever existed.

No matter what vein it is in, Plato's effect on the world with all his work, philisophical, political, historical/fiction had such a profound imapct on Humanity, it must therefore be considered as the most important peice of work ever lost.

Great Thread S+F

Kind Regards,

Elf

reply to post by Rising Against


Wow, I've hard only a little bit about this book but the sheer size of the thing once actually comprehended is amazing. I'm sure our Roman history would have been a lot clearer if we still had one of these running through the press.

Great thread! Stars (many) and flag for the OP. I've always had an interest in lost texts and even started researching back when I was 16 hunting around dusty old book stores in downtown Toronto. I actually found an original set of the translation of the Keys of Solomon by MacGregor Mathers at Fifth Kingdom book store (5 books, cost me $100 in 1972, sold them in 1978 for $1500, should have kept the originals...).

It's actually quite disturbing that we as a species, because of religious or political agenda, destroy so much of our own history. Maybe someday, if and when we collectively mature, this kind of behavior will stop, but I somehow doubt that. Greed, avarice and wanton power mongering will I am sure continue to exist for many more centuries to come.

Look at how much information is still suppressed or hidden outright, such as UFO's, assassinations, politically motivated plane crashes, space observations, etc. In many cases you can't even get a good copy of laws and legislation like ACTA or the updated Copenhagen Treaty, but we are meant to follow legislation and laws without knowing it or understanding it's contents. It's a pretty stoopid world at times.

Cheers - Dave

[edit on 3/7.2010 by bobs_uruncle]

S&F! This is a great thread! I wonder how many of the "lost books" are unknowingly stored in the Vatican? How many books end up in libraries without being cataloged?
Of course the Vatican is notorius for "hiding" text that might challenge church teaching. Fortunately, the Church is not anxious to destroy manuscripts. (Fundamentalists and Evangelicals are a different story.)
It would be nice if a group could come together to search for some of these lost books.

We also need to document and publish the verbal histories of ancient peoples and take them seriously.

Great thread OP! This reminds me of George Orwell and the "memory hole." Who knows how many countless pieces of history have been lost because the written accounts of the time conflicted with the current beliefs of the ruling elite.

To me my favorite is the lost gospel of Juda. He's my hero in the bible and it is because of his lost text, that really showed and seemed to prove what I already knew inside that he was Jesus Best friend.

There are other books out there and some I think are useless pieces of Junk, but they should never be burned for if they are, they will never be read.

there are also lost gospels found in the dumps of Egypt. They were taken from there and a University, I believe Oxford is trying to put together what they took from this dump and the things they are saying are eye openers.

reply to post by serbsta


Thanks for making this thread serbsta. I have always been interested in lost books/scrolls etc. I think that these lost items hold very important history. The Library of Alexandria probably contained a vast amount of knowledge, that could have been very useful today, unfortunately it was destroyed along with most of its contents. I can't even imagine what information was lost. Then again, maybe nothing was lost.

S&f, awesome thread serbsta! I am sure a lot of you are already aware of this site, Sacred Texts but I have to give them a plug here.

Wow really cool thread. I enjoy learning about books that may have some historical significance but at the same time it makes me sad because we may never find these texts. But on the same note as the poster above I just found this site while looking for The Book of Enoch and thought I would share the link. Enjoy.

Forbidden Books

Please don't forget the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Book of Hennoch, and the Voynich Manuscript

Love to get my hands on the writings of Hypatia who among other things was a female philosopher from the third century. There were also many books by religious scholars that critiqued Christianity and compared it to other religions that were contained within the great library(check "The Pagan Christ" by Tom Harpur for a more extensive list). As a student of sociology i would also love to get my hands on Emile Durkheim's later works on Homicide and morals that were believed to be destroyed by the Nazi's in WW2 (Durkhiem was jewish and lived in France up until his death).

Thanks for the thread. Very interesting.

nice overview...

I personally believe that important works were saved from Alexandria and whisked away, and I believe the Vatican is holding a great deal of them. They hold the secrets of humanity and aren;t sharing with anyone else.