Buckley - Mandaic Literature

Mandaic Literature
Oxford Handbooks Online

Mandaic Literature
Jorunn J. Buckley
The Oxford Handbook of the Literatures of the Roman Empire
Edited by Daniel L. Selden and Phiroze Vasunia
Subject: Classical Studies, Middle Eastern Languages and Culture, Classical Religions and
Mythologies
Online Publication Date: May 2016 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199699445.013.9
Abstract and Keywords
Still extant, the Mandaeans are the longest-surviving Gnostic people from the era of late
antiquity. Belonging to the rubric of Gnostic Baptists, the Mandaeans may have had a
historical connection to John the Baptist before they emigrated to Iraq and Iran in the
first century. In terms of sheer bulk, their enormous literary canon—which exists in a
variety of forms, and in their own language, Mandaic—has no rival among Gnostic
groups. This literature, including the Ginza (The Book of Adam), their holy book, is
described, with an emphasis on the most prominent documents and with reference to the
principal western scholars and translators of Mandaean texts.
Keywords: Hellenistic Religions, Gnosticism, Ginza, Manda d-Hiia, The Book of John
Who are the Mandaeans?

The last Gnostics surviving from the time of late antiquity, the Mandaeans have lived in
southern Iraq and in south/southwest Iran since the middle—or end—of the first century
CE. They are probably not indigenous to those regions, but precisely how early they
arrived there, and from where, are matters of scholarly dispute. If the Mandaeans came
from the West (still the favoured theory), they may have left from present-day northern
Israel or from Syria, keeping to seasonal rivers (wadis) where available and followed the
Euphrates into Babylonia and beyond.1 If the Mandaeans had a historical connection to
John the Baptist, and were already baptizers when they emigrated, rivers would have
been essential to their survival and religious identity. In recent decades, Mandaean
populations have declined drastically in Iraq and Iran, due to persecutions and wars, and
their numbers in diaspora around the world are difficult to assess. Possibly, there are
about 50 000 to 70 000 Mandaeans at present, but acculturation and a dispersed, limited
religious leadership provide signs of considerable stress and change.
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Mandaic Literature
As noted, the Mandaeans have a large number of religious texts in their own language.
Mandaic, an east-Aramaic language, has its own alphabet. Some texts remain
untranslated into Western languages; others are known to exist but have not been
examined by Western scholars. The largest holdings of Mandaean texts are likely to exist
in private, Mandaean ownership, whether in the traditional homelands or in exile.
European collections of Mandaean texts in academic or museum collections exist, but
some documents (scrolls or codices) may not yet be identified as indeed being Mandaic.
Up until recent times (and perhaps, still) Mandaean priests transcribed the texts by hand
in the old-fashioned way. Mandaic computer fonts have also become available in recent
years. Maintained over many hundreds of years, the very format of the Mandaean books
or scrolls remains established according to firmly held rules. Even in those texts that
contain artwork the art is formalized according to geometrical patterns whose origins
have not been studied until very recently.2 According to ancient Mandaean standards,
there must be no wavering in the faithful transmission of the texts. Assertions of correct
transcriptions can be found in the priestly colophons appended to completed work. Some
colophons contain curses on any transcriber who might be tempted to abbreviate or omit
a text-portion, for such actions are considered severe sins.
The Ginza
The main and best-known Mandaean text is the Ginza (‘Treasure’), the holy book. It is also
called ‘The Book of Adam’. In the seventh century, Mandaean traditions tell us, this book
was presented to Muslim authorities in order to protect the Mandaeans as the ‘book
people’. To secure such a status, which would prevent forced conversion to Islam, two
factors were needed: possession of a holy book, and a monotheism-recognized prophet—
in the Mandaean case, John the Baptist.3 The Ginza from 1615, Hunt. 6 in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, is the most impressive one I have seen, but any Ginza is a hefty codex:
xxvii, plus 619 pages in Mark Lidzbarski’s 1925 German edition and translation, which
remains the only scholarly translation.4 The text is divided into the Right Ginza and Left
Ginza (GR and GL, respectively). On reaching the end of the right side, a reader needs to
turn the book upside down in order to access the left side, which starts at the opposite
end. Almost all Ginzas possess this feature. Perhaps the tradition arose in order to make
the text resemble in style the Mandaean inscribed clay bowls, which are often buried in
pairs, one serving as a lid to its companion. In this way, the text does not escape but
remains within its confines.
A conglomerate, indeed, an anthology, the Ginza had certainly reached its final form by
the mid-seventh century, when Mandaean authorities presented the book to Muslim
leaders, as noted. Whether the various parts of the Ginza had already been collected prior
to this time is not known. If the codex had already existed because of internal, native
Mandaean needs, the Ginza would not have been produced, hurriedly, in order to appease
Muslims. The colophons do give an indication of how old some parts of the Ginza are, and
GL’s colophon goes back in time further than the others.5 The Ginza has seven colophons,
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but Lidzbarski did not include any of them in his edition and translation. To consult the
Ginza colophons in the four Paris Ginza manuscripts used by Lidzbarski a reader must
turn to the original manuscripts, or to H. H. Petermann’s 1867 version, which gives the
Mandaic text only.6
Making the text more accessible, one surmises, Lidzbarski divided the Ginza into 21
tractates: 18 tractates of GR and 3 of GL. In addition, he separated many of the tractates
into smaller, numbered sections. His basis for this format was the occurrence of the
formulaic Mandaic expression, ‘In the name of the great, alien [i.e. other-worldly] Life,
the exalted one, who is above all works.’ There are variations of this formula, but they are
similar enough, so that Lidzbarski took each to indicate the start of a new segment of the
text. Regarding the seven colophons, it is important to know where these occur. The first
colophon comes after the first Ginza segment, GR 1–13, which ends on p. 287 in
Lidzbarski’s edition. At some point, these 13 parts (perhaps originally scrolls?) were
considered to be one unit. As to who decided this and on what basis, we may never know.
To begin, let me briefly describe the 13 texts. In GR 1, we find blessings heaped on the
Light-Beings, descriptions of the Light-World and of creation, the sending of a Light-
World envoy to earth, and extensive moral instructions. Lidzbarski divides GR 1 into 204
sayings/sections. The text carries no title. GR 1 and GR 2 seem to have a common source
and it would certainly be possible to consider them as containing a type of ‘core’
Mandaeism. Both books begin with a presentation of the highest beings in the Light-
World, then explain central Mandaean technical terms, move on to ethical and ritual
instructions, and warn against interactions with other religions.
These first Ginza texts clearly assume an ‘insider’, Mandaean audience. That is, none of
the materials seem to be written for missionary purposes. The style and content are
instructional as well as highly polemical. Attentive readers will sense an immediate and
vital interest in community consolidation. Anti-Judaism statements are prevalent, the
error of the Jews pinpointed: they have misunderstood their own religious traditions. This
feature may well be a historical indication of Mandaeism’s real home, so to speak. The
Mandaeans were probably sectarian Jews.
As for Christianity, in GR 1, section 201 and GR 2,1 section 136 one finds virtually
identical statements. In the first, Christ’s activities take place in the period of Pilate, who
is identified as ‘king of the world’.7 Nowhere else but here—and in GR 2, 1—does Pilate
appear; his name is unattested in other Mandaean literature, as far as we know. ‘The
prophet of the Jews’, Christ, enters history during Pilate’s reign in (Jewish) history, and
Christ gathers his loyal party members, the planets. An immediate opponent to Christ,
the Mandaean messenger/saviour Anuš-utra competes with him, and it is Anuš who
performs the types of healing usually attributed to Jesus. He converts Jews to the
Mandaean religion.
In GR 2, 1, section 43 directs the Mandaean believer to help free a prisoner, not just by
paying bail in silver or gold but by using the opportunity to turn the newly freed person
into a Mandaean.8 In short, we find a surprising openness to the issue of conversion.
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Conversely, apostates from inside the Mandaean fold are treated in detail in section 95 of
the same text.9 Here, a recalcitrant Mandaean, compared to a crooked vine, is offered
three chances at righting himself. If he still objects to re-entering the true faith, those in
charge of the community will have him killed, and the crooked vine faces ‘the consuming
fire’, a frequent image of punishment in Mandaean texts. Now, another, new community
member must be found. This means maintaining a set number (but how large?) of
community members. We see here a recruitment issue, similar to the rules among the
Dead Sea sectarians.10
Why the ‘native editors’ of these two very similar texts, GR 1 and 2, decided to include
both texts in the Ginza is not clear, but readers of Mandaean literature soon note the
religion’s love of ever-multiplying texts. What we moderns might judge to be irritatingly
repetitive is obviously not so in the native view. For instance, Mandaeism contains a great
number of creation myths, variations of the ‘descent into the underworld’ texts, and
repetitive polemics. While there is little concern for any orthodoxy in the realm of
mythology, the arena of ritual is a different matter. Here, strict rules and regulations
apply.
Unlike GR 1, GR 2, 1 does carry a title, ‘The Book of the Lord of Greatness’. GR 2 includes
praises of the Light-World, creation stories, the sending of moral teachings to Adam,
revelations about history, end-of-the-world speculations, information about the world’s
four epochs, anti-Christian materials, confession of sins, exhortations, and teachings on
marriage. ‘The Book of Jordan’ is the title of the second part of GR 2, 2, in poetic form.
The untitled brief GR 2, 3 is also a poem, unlike GR 2, 4, a prose-text on marriage.
GR 3, ‘The Book of the Living, First Teachings’, is the largest of the Ginza tractates,
presenting a vast creation myth. Various primordial emanations are described, and the
chief saviour figure, Manda d-Hiia (‘Knowledge-of-Life’) is instructed to descend from the
Light-World in order to prevent the soon-to-be creators—who scheme to construct the
world—from committing stupid or fatal errors. Elaborate stories of the demonic Ruha and
her planet sons, of the creator Ptahil, and of Adam and his wife Hawwa appear here.
These named figures are among the most prominent mythological dramatis personae in
Mandaeism.
The next Ginza tractate, GR 4, is short and contains a fragmentary text about the ‛utra
(Light-World figure) Hibil’s descent into the underworld. This seems to be an alternative
version of GR 3, where Manda d-Hiia, not Hibil, performed this feat. It is worth noting
that parts of the Mandaean liturgies (to be treated below) are found in GR 4, prayers that
belong to the oldest elements of Mandaean literature.
Lidzbarski gives GR 5 five sections. The first (related to the GR 4 tradition) tells of Hibil’s
underworld journey. In Lidzbarski’s estimation, GR 5, 1 ranks top as regards Mandaean
literary quality.11 Having gone through elaborate preparations for his task, Hibil says:
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As I now descended and dipped my feet into the black water, and wanted to put
them [i.e. his feet] onto the walls dividing darkness from light, they [i.e. the walls]
pulled away from me for a thousand miles, and I entered the first world of
darkness, where Ruha lived. In that world, I dwelled for a thousand myriad years,
and nobody knew that I was there. In that world, I was hidden from their eyes.
Then spoke the great mystery that was given to me, ‘We will go downward.’ Then I
went below this world and came to the world of the great Zartai-Zartanai. I don’t
know what kind of thing his figure resembled. Then I spoke to them, ‘Do you see,
‘utras, my brothers, what kind of thing this Zartain-Zartainai resembles?’ Then I
spoke to him, ‘Chained and suppressed be this figure of yours, Zartai-Zartanai,
and that of your spouse Amamit.’
Years by years, and generations by generations I was there, and they did not know
about me, and we performed rituals, prayers, and death-masses.12
Note here that Hibil, incognito, is not alone, but is accompanied not only by the speech-
empowered mystery given to him in the Light-World—a force urging him onward,
downward—but also by his brother-‘utras. Together with them, Hibil performs the
Mandaean rituals which, according to the religion, originate in the world of light and
must be carried out below. This feature emphasizes the point: Hibil acts like a faithful
Mandaean priest-official.
GR 5, 2 describes Manda d-Hiia’s heroic acts of destroying the demons. The text’s title is
apt: ‘Destruction of all Idols of the House’ (i.e. of the earthly world). Old Testament
material appears, including the famous Mandaean twist on Psalm 114. Here, the dramatic
events of the fleeing sea, the Jordan turning back, and the mountains skipping like rams/
lambs are given a new context. It is no longer the celebration of Israel’s leaving Egypt,
but the appearance of the Mandaean supreme entity ‘Life’, sending the world into total
confusion. Using the Old Testament text for its own purposes, GR 5, 2 delights in its own
re-description and expansion of the text. Another version of a ‘borrowing’ of Psalm 114 is
found in the Mandaean prayer number 75.13 In addition to Psalm 114, GR 5, 2 also makes
use of Isaiah, chapter 5.14
GR 5, 3 deals with the soul’s dramatic travels through the maṭaratas—the ‘toll-stations’ on
the way to the Light-World. The soul controls her fear at each step upward and, after
demonstrating her power, subdues each of the watchers. The first watch-house
inhabitants are the blinded crazy dogs; the second is the virgin (Ruha); the third, Zan
Hazazban; the fourth Jur, Jahur and Arhum; the fifth Pilpin-Pipin; the sixth, Christ; the
seventh Jorabba; and the eighth, Ruha (again), whose harp of lust rests on her shoulder
(183–189). Toward the end, the soul says of Ruha, Christ, and the planets that they
‘resemble flies sitting on the edge of a pot. Their wings are hit by the steam coming
toward them, so that they fall into the pot’ (190; author’s translation).
In tractate GR 5, 4, John the Baptist baptizes Manda d-Hiia (who appears in the guise of a
little child), while GR 5, 5 offers a peculiar devaluation of the otherwise positively
portrayed figure Šilmai, here called ‘The Lord of the House’. He is clearly a member of
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Ruha’s coterie in this context. In his introduction to the story, Lidzbarski judges this text
to be of alien origin.15 But a reader might well ask: what does ‘alien’ mean? What are the
criteria for such a judgement? An assumed Mandaean ‘orthodoxy’? It is obvious that
Mandaeism not only borrows from many traditions, but that the religion revels in
polemics against them.
GR 6 tells the marvellous story of a Noah/Utnapishtim figure named Dinanukt, a half-

human, half-book who journeys to the upper worlds. The Syrian Nestorian historian
Theodor bar Koni (late eighth century) refers to this text, quoting from it (if it indeed is
the same one), but he says that it belongs to the Kantaeans (or to the Dositheans, as
Lidzbarski emphasizes).16 Bar Koni’s rendering appears in an odd language, a kind of
Syriac, not Mandaic. Was the Ginza intelligible (or available) in languages other than
Mandaic at bar Koni’s time? Did bar Koni read Mandaic? We do not know. The gist of GR 6
is polemical: the argument revolves around whether reliance on learned book-religiosity
trumps gnosis revealed by heavenly, visionary travels. The latter side wins.17 GR 7’s
single section contains words of wisdom from John the Baptist. Scholars have taken the
Arabic form of his name, ‘Yahia’, as proof of the tractate’s post-Islamic date. GR 8’s sole
section has Manda d-Hiia warning believers against Ruha. GR 9 has two parts. The first is
named ‘The Destruction of the Seven Stars’, a polemical portrayal of the planets as the
origin of false religions. Muhammad turns up here, equated with Nerig/Mars. GR 9, 2 tells
of a mysterious figure, ‘Staqlus, the young boy’, created from the heavenly Jordan. This
section contains the concept of ‘the only-begotten god’, known from the Orphic traditions,
says Lidzbarski in his introduction to this text.18 The single, composite tractate making up
GR 10 is a creation story entitled ‘The Book of the Radiance that Shines in the
Pihta’ (Pihta is the term for the sacramental bread in Mandaeism).
The title of GR 11, ‘The Mystery and the Book of the Great Anuš’, seems misplaced, says
Lidzbarski. The text contains peculiarities in terms of grammar, and Lidzbarski thinks
that it stems from a different tradition than the other Ginza texts (250). Its creation story
features Ruha and the planets battling the forces of the Light-World. GR 12 has no fewer
than seven sections. Among these, one may note that in the first, the ‛utra Anuš is the
speaker, while sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 are alphabetic hymns. Of these, GR 12, 4 is identical
to one of the Mandaean prayers found in the liturgies, a prayer used in the rituals for a
new priest and for marriage. GR 12, 6 describes the world of evil and its king—a counter-
piece to GR 12, 1, it seems. The last part, GR 12, 7, connects to GR 12, 1. It deals with the
sacred direction, the north, and with the cosmic ocean. Finally, GR 13 is a priestly prayer
exhorting the community.
There is no doubt that GR 1–13 alone testifies to a developed Mandaean Gnosticism. Most
of the religion’s literary genres are here, in both prose and poetry: moral teachings,
creation myths, polemics, liturgy, sapiental traditions, and so on. In a larger context, one
may note that the ‘heavenly travels’ theme, so prevalent in Mandaean texts, is
internationally Hellenistic. Internally, for Mandaeism itself, it is worth emphasizing that
the first 13 books in GR at the very least presuppose large parts of the liturgies as found
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in The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans (= CP; more on this below). Thus, the
primacy of CP and other liturgical materials can be assumed.
At the end of the first 13 books of the Ginza comes GR’s first colophon, which in all Ginzas
that I have seen, ends with the copyist Ram Šilai, a Jewish name.19 In the 1560
Bibliothèque Nationale Ginza, Ms. A, the colophon after the first 13 books carries a very
long postscript.20
Each of the next four GR texts carries a colophon, which shows that these were originally
separate units, perhaps in scroll form. GR 14, a short prose text, is titled ‘The Book of the
Great Nbaṭ’ (Nbaṭ is a Light-World figure). Lidzbarski notes that this book shows the
same grammatical oddities as GR 11, but its contents resemble GR 3.21 Twenty pieces of
poetry make up GR 15: here, a revealer delivers speeches and exhortations. GR 16
consists of 11 poems, and parts of them occur in the GL liturgies and in The Book of John
(= JB; more on this text below). GR 16 comprises 11 poems and is closely related to GR
15. In GR 17, which has two sections of poetry, the speakers are the personified Mana
(‘vessel’, ‘matrix’), the Great Life (the supreme Light-World being), and the Lord of
Greatness. That all three are present in this text seems to show some degree of conflation
of traditions.
GR 18 is highly unusual: an apocalyptic world history, stating that the world is 480 000
years old. Political and religious prophecies are striking here and GR 18 sets out history
from the beginning of the world to the coming of the Arabs. Indeed, the book specifies
that the Arabs have been in power for 71 years and GR 18 includes the last of the
Sassanid rulers among the Arab kings. Lidzbarski dates the text to the mid-seventh
century, while others would put it earlier. Significant historical information can be
gleaned from the mythologized materials in GR 18.22
At this point, as noted, one must rotate the Ginza 180 degrees in order to find the
beginning of the left part, GL. Comprised of three tractates, GL concentrates on the fate
of the soul after the death of the body. GL 1 has four sections, and the first is a prose
piece telling the wondrous story of the first man to die, Adam’s son Šitil. Adam does not
want to die, and tells the angel of death to take Šitil instead. After consulting with the
Light-World, the angel complies. But when Adam is allowed to see, in a vision, the
splendid life his son now enjoys in the upper regions, Adam regrets his cowardly
behaviour and decides he wants to die too. But he is reprimanded: no human can
determine the time of their death.
The next three sections deal with Adam, his death and ascent; warnings against mourning
for the dead; and descriptions of the tollhouses, the maṭaratas, testing the soul on its path
from earth to the Light-World. All GL 1 parts are in prose.
GL 2 has no fewer than 28 sections of poetry. Each one begins with the formulaic
statement, ‘I am a Mana of the Great Life.’ Finally, 62 poems comprise GL 3. They mainly
deal with the destiny of the soul. Long prayers alternate with shorter ones and several of
them belong to the prayer category ‛nianas (‘responses’). GL’s colophon stretches far
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back, to around the year 200, further than other colophons. In all likelihood, GL belongs
to the oldest (so far recoverable) stratum of Mandaean religion.
As a whole, GL is shorter than GR, but GL is in many ways the more impressive, in terms
of the expected focus on the soul’s destiny. Much of the content seems almost
‘generically’ Gnostic. On the basis of GL alone, we can surmise an identifiable Mandaean
Gnosticism, but how does this compare, in age and content, to other forms of early
Gnostic texts and traditions? In-depth comparisons with Valentinian Gnosticism, for
example, need to be done.
The Book of John

In the introduction to his edition and translation of the codex, Das Johannesbuch (JB),
Lidzbarski says that this collection of Mandaean texts was probably intended as a
supplement to the Ginza.23 Also known under the name Drašia d-Malkia (‘The Teachings
of Kings’), JB was perhaps renamed in order to honour John the Baptist, who is respected
as a legitimate prophet in Islam. While JB in its present form belongs to a post-Islamic
stage, much of the material in it is old, especially the moral instructions and the
mythologies. Lidzbarski gave the text 37 tractates, supplied them with titles, and then
divided the text into 76 chapters. JB probably acquired its name because of the long
tractate 6, which focuses on John the Baptist. Except for one, each chapter here—19 to 33
—begins with the enigmatic formula, ‘Yahia preached in the nights; Yuhana in the dusk of
the night.’ One notes that both the Arabic (Yahia) and the Aramaic (Yuhana) forms of
John’s name are used. Was this done in order to appeal to an Arabic-speaking audience?
In Ahwaz, Iran, in October 1973, I was allowed to see and handle the JB owned by the
famous priest Sh. Abdullah Khaffagi. Incised on lead—all the pages and the two covers
consist of somewhat frayed leaden plates—the book is heavy. I doubt that another lead JB
exists. No English translation of JB has yet appeared, but professors Charles Häberl and
James McGrath are currently at work on this task. Lidzbarski’s JB edition gives proof of
his own impressive talents in calligraphy, as the facsimile part of the book contains the
copy of Lidzbarski’s handwritten Mandaic. This segment takes up roughly half of the
published book.
Unlike the Ginza, JB contains only one colophon, at its end. In the eight copies I have seen
of JB, seven of the JB colophons share many features. Most of the JB codices I have seen
stem from the seventeenth century. The mentioned chapters 18 to 33, on John the Baptist,
have long been of interest to scholars. There are details here (much is polemical) on
Jewish priests and authorities, and on their consternation as John’s emergence is foretold.
No other late antiquity text offers as much information on John the Baptist as does this
Mandaean source (early Christianity pales in comparison).
Chapter 30 of the tractate ‘Yahia-Yuhana’ begins:
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Yahia preached during the nights; Yuhana during the evenings of the night. Yahia
preaches during the nights; radiance rose upon the worlds. Who told Jesus, who
told Jesus the Messiah, the son of Miriai; who informed Jesus, so that he went to
the bank of the Jordan and spoke to him, ‘Yahia! Baptize me with the baptism! And
the name that you usually utter, utter it over me, too. If I prove myself to be your
pupil, then I will remember you in my writing. If I do not prove myself as a pupil,
then erase my name from your page.’ Then Yahia answered Jesus the Messiah in
Jerusalem, ‘You have lied about the Jews and lied about the priests. You have cut
off the seed in men and childbirth and pregnancy in women. The Sabbath that
Moses has made binding, you have cancelled [it] in Jerusalem. You have betrayed
them by [blowing] horns, and you have promulgated shameful things by the
shofar’ (103–104).
JB also includes John’s debates with Jesus, who is portrayed in an unflattering light. In
contrast, Jesus’s mother Mary (Miriai), is a Mandaean heroine. The central figure in
tractate 7, Miriai has left Judaism for Mandaeism, and is even a priest. Her son Jesus
unfortunately goes astray, and creates his own religion.24 As seen above, this is hinted at
in JB, chapter 33.
As does the Ginza, JB takes a great interest in Light-World beings, whether fallen ones
who have become too enmeshed in the creation of the world, or those who keep more
aloof, focusing on their messenger roles. The latter figures are usually more confident of
their immunity to nefarious forces. Several JB tractates are interesting precisely because
they show the complexities of the ‘utra roles. Many of the ‘utras in JB are portrayed as
suffering beings, tired and depressed about their work. Hibil, Anoš, and Abatur (the latter
is the personified scales) are examples. The miracle-performing ‘utra Anoš competes with
Jesus in Jerusalem. Yošamin the Peacock appears, the prototype of a prideful priest. JB
tractates such as ‘Hibil’s Lament’, ‘Abatur’s Lament’, and the one on Noah’s son Šum lend
a somewhat tragic—and typically Gnostic—tone.
Here is the beginning of Hibil’s lament in JB,
In the name of the Great Life; may the sublime light be exalted!
I rejoice—how much I will rejoice, afflicted as I now am and grieved in the house
of the evil ones! How much I will rejoice in my heart over the works that I have
created in his world! How long must I go, and how long sink within all worlds!
How long must I illuminate the ‘utras and how long lift up the treasure to the
house of the Great Ones!
How I will rejoice! And my soul looks toward the father! How I will rejoice in the
works that I did to the poor and to the young ones! How I will quiet my heart, and
how (I will) calm my conscience! How long must I bring into the world the power
of the ‘utras and the speech of the Great Ones? How long must I suppress the
demons and kill the rebellious ones?25
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Homesick for the upper worlds, Hibil is tired of his job on earth, which must continue as
long as the world stands. But he looks forward to the future, to the relief of his duties. To
‘lift up the treasure’ means to perform the Mandaean rituals, which, as noted, originate in
the Light-World, are sent down to earth, and must be propelled back up to their home. In
GR 5, 1, to bring the rituals downward was indeed one of Hibil’s tasks, as he prepared to
descend into the underworld, the not-yet-created-earth.
Female Light-World figures call on the faithful Mandaeans and JB starts, in fact, with
‘Kušṭa’s Questions’. Here, Kušṭa, the personified Truth, stands at the edge of the upper
worlds, shouting questions downward to the earth. The ‘Good Shepherd’, Manda d-Hiia,
in tractate 3, appeals to his endangered sheep. This shows an unmistakable connection to
the figure in the Gospel of St John, chapters 10, 11, and 14.26
Polemics against other religions, especially Judaism and Christianity (but also Islam)
characterizes much of the literature in JB, giving evidence for actual historical
interactions with these religions. The ‘Soul Fisher’ text, tractate 8, presents head-
breaking problems of translation, and much of Lizbarski’s text has lacunae here.
Technical terms on fisheries abound. Indeed, there is a striking emphasis on manual
work, on labour, in certain segments of JB, and this has so far escaped scholarly notice.
More seriously, scholars have unfortunately tended to underrate JB as a whole. While
Mandaean rituals are assumed in JB, they are never treated as designated, specific topics.
JB contains neither liturgies nor ritual commentaries, but it has moral teachings and
devotional pieces. Much of JB demonstrates an unusually high literary quality, with
beautiful phrases and poetic expression. The style, however, is prose throughout.
Liturgies
To refer to Mandaean prayers as ‘hymns’, as many scholars do, is not strictly correct,
because no prayers are really sung in Mandaeism. Priests pray in a rapid, monotonous,
special-register voice, which they have learned as part of their training. They learn
prayers by heart. The religion operates with various categories of and terminologies for
prayers. The Qulasta, ‘the collection’, is the name given to the liturgies. Liturgies often
vary in size. Lidzbarski published his Mandäische Liturgien, based on two manuscripts, in
1920.27 Much later, Lady E. S. Drower (1879–1972), one of the foremost scholars of (and
the only dedicated fieldworker among) the Mandaeans, acquired a fuller version (Drower
Collection [= DC] 53), which was published in 1959 as The Canonical Prayerbook of the
Mandaeans (= CP). Helpfully, Drower supplies the facsimile Mandaic text in the back of
the book. As far as we know, Drower’s edition offers the most complete version of the
liturgies and is the one treated here.
Subject to constant use, often outdoors, liturgies need frequent re-copying. They are
seldom sheltered for long in their white cotton bags. Drower’s CP is a codex containing
prayers of varying lengths, from a few lines to about 12 pages in translation. No other
Gnostic liturgies can match the Mandaean ones for sheer bulk. Only the Manichaean
prayers may possibly pose as close rivals. Containing 414 prayers in all, CP is an
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impressive volume, although quite a few of the prayers, especially towards the end, are
duplicated.
Originally consisting of separate scrolls (kurasas), DC 53 has eight colophons. Where the
eight colophons appear tells us that the preceding texts were considered, long ago, as
separate texts. Some parts are obviously older than others. GL, as noted above, contains
the only colophon stretching back to c. 200, that is before the famous Mandaean copyist
Zazai of Gawazta, who can be dated to the 270s.28 (Zazai, however, is absent from GL’s
colophon). Regarding CP, four of its eight colophons have Zazai as their first (i.e. last
listed and therefore most ancient) human copyist. CP’s contents are:
1. The prayers numbered CP 1–31: ‘The Book of Souls’. Titled in this way, these are
the baptismal prayers. (Mandaeans perform repeated baptisms.)
2. CP 32–72: the masiqta (death mass) prayers.
3. CP 73 and 74: the two ‘Letter’ (‛ngirta) prayers. Colophon 1 follows this section.
4. Three long prayers of praise: CP 75–77. After them comes colophon 2.
5. CP 78–103: the so-called ‘responses’ (‛nianas). The third colophon appears.
6. CP 104: a rušuma, i.e., ‘signing’ prayer and CP 105, which is entitled ‘The Healing
of Kings’.
7. CP 106–164: the rahmas, ‘devotions’ prayed three times a day.
8. CP 165–169. These five are named ‘The Fruits of Ether’. CP’s fourth colophon
appears here.
9. CP 170: Ṭabahatan, ‘Our Ancestors’, a prayer of great significance as a historical
resource.29
10. CP 171–178.
11. The acrostic prayer CP 179.
12. CP 180–99, prayers for priest initiation and for marriage. (Recall here that some
of these prayers are found in GR 12, 4.) The fifth colophon appears at this point.
13. CP 200–284. Of these, CP 205–256 are priest initiation prayers, and the last 23
are duplicates of other prayers. The sixth colophon follows.
14. CP 285–304 (duplicates of others). The seventh colophon follows.
15. CP 305–329: priest initiation prayers, followed by CP’s last colophon.
16. The remaining prayers CP 330–414 (some of which are very long, while others
are repetitions of earlier ones), have no colophon. This seems to testify to the
Qulasta’s inconclusiveness, a lack of a clear canonical boundary.
Mandaean religion operates with a number of technical terms for prayers. A ‘fastening’
prayer, for example, is the opposite of a ‘loosening’ one, as the latter dissolves the
situation/reality that has been evoked/created by the former. To mix up prayers for
different purposes, intended for different ritual contexts, will not do, although some
prayers are used in more than one ritual. The versatile prayer CP 35 is, in fact, dubbed
‘good for all occasions’.
Colophons 1, 4, 5, and 8 end with the third-century scribe Zazai of Gawazta. On the basis
of the prayers preceding these colophons, we are able to appreciate a fully fledged
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Mandaeism. We may date these liturgies to the third century, or earlier. The centre of
Mandaeism is its rituals. The lack of anti-Islamic polemics in CP gives a clue to the age of
the liturgies. In terms of a recognized ‘holy text’ in the Islamic sense, it is the Ginza, not
CP, that merits such a status. Perhaps we can say that for external recognition, the Ginza
was central, while for internal Mandaean purposes, a coherent and codified liturgy was—
and remains—crucial. No other Gnostic religion gives as complex and well-documented
information on rituals as Mandaeism does.
The first of CP’s colophons attests to the copyist Nukraya, who lived in southern Iraq
during the very earliest Islamic period. He says that he consulted no fewer than seven
manuscripts when he made his copy of CP 1–74.30 Two of these documents, Nukraya
specifies, belonged to non-Mandaeans. What does it mean, historically, that parts of
Mandaean liturgies could be found among outsiders? Were the Mandaean baptismal
prayers, the death-mass, and the two ‘ngirta (‘letter’) prayers ‘generically Gnostic’
enough—so to speak—to be familiar to non-Mandaeans? Was it common to have the books
of other religions in, say, Christian libraries? In Nukraya’s environment, could non-
Mandaeans read Mandaic? Recall my questions raised above, regarding GR 6: who could
read Mandaic? What level of linguistic dexterity was common in the early and pre-Islamic
era in the greater Babylonian arena? Were Mandaic texts respected by outsiders, and
even translated, when needed?
Several segments of CP contain added instructions to the priest, roughly of the type,
‘When you say prayer a, at point b in the ritual, make gesture c, and then deal with ritual
implement d.’ The term zharas (literally: ‘warnings’) refers to the insertion of names,
which alerts the ritual officiant to mention the astrological name of the individual person
(in a baptism, for instance) at precise spots in a prayer. In the prayers for each of the
seven days of the week, the text specifies when a prayer is to be uttered: morning,
midday, or evening (before sunset, that is—no prayers are to be said after dark).
One of the Friday prayers, CP 149, begins,
In the name of the Great Life! May the sublime light be magnified!
At the door of the house of the people [bit ama: ‘synagogue’], her mother meets
Miriai, her mother meets Miriai, and she questions her straightforwardly, ‘Where
do you come from, my daughter Miriai? Your face plucks colour from the rose.
Your face plucks colour from the rose, and your eyes are full of sleep. Full of sleep
are your eyes, and your brow bears the marks of vigil!’ And she answers her, ‘Yes,
these two or three days my brothers stayed in my father’s house. My brothers
stayed in my father’s house, chanting wondrous chants. At their voice, at the
sound of the discourse of the ‘utras, my brothers, no sleep came to my eyes. No
sleep came to my eyes, and my brow kept vigil.’ ‘Have you not heard, Miriai, what
the Jews say about you? The Jews say, ‘Your daughter is in love with a man, she
hates the Jewish religion and loves the Naṣiruta [Mandaean priestly wisdom].’31
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Related to JB’s long segment on Miriai, CP 149 deals with Miriai’s conversion to
Mandaeism. It is worth noting that priests utter this prayer (among others) every Friday.
Quite a surprising number of Mandaean prayers contain polemics. In this case, the
contents underscore the importance of remembering Mandaeism’s original religious
home, Judaism. Obviously, backsliding into it must not occur.
As noted, several CP prayers also occur in the Ginza. Liturgies for specific rituals display
a certain sense of drama, as the lurking forces of evil need to be exorcised. For instance,
CP 15, 16, and 17 in the baptism prayer sequence are exorcisms. At the end of CP 31, the
last prayer in the baptism liturgy, a named copyist, Yahia Adam, son of Sam Šaiwia,
reassures the reader of his faithful copying of the scroll: ‘When the scroll of Ramuia son
of ‘Qaimat found in the possession of Haiuna, daughter of Yahia and Bainai, son of Zakia,
came into my possession, I put it together and arranged it as it was written originally, and
removed nothing from it.’32
On the basis of colophon research, one may place these mentioned priests/copyists fairly
accurately in their historical periods.
Belonging in a set of prayers lacking a colophon, CP 353 stands out in its portrayal of the
endangered Mandaean pihta, the sacred ritual bread. At a certain point in history
(according to Mandaean mythological reckoning), the pihta is dispersed among the 362
nations/languages).33 The bread has lost its light and the entire ritual is corrupted. The
personified bread speaks:
Naṣoraeans who eat me falsely will be burnt upon coals of fire; the baptized in
water who eat me with a clot of blood will be made to dwell with the demon
Mahzur. Any woman who does not believe in prayer and praise: make no bread
[pihta] with her!34
To be burnt on coals of fire probably refers to punishment after death. Eating the pihta
with ‘a clot of blood’ looks like a perverted Mandaean baptism ritual, one in which a pihta
has been combined/mixed-up with the Christian host. Does this point to a time period in
which the baptism ritual has been infiltrated by Christian neighbours? So it seems. No
scholarship has dealt with the demon Mahzur, but there is a possible clue in the Ps.-
Jonathan Targum on Genesis.35 Expanding on Gen. 1:14, Ps.-Jonathan lists, among other
specifics on time-reckonings and festivals, a term translated as ‘the cycles of the sun’.
This is the translation of the word mahzur and now, in CP 353, the prayer criticizes the
Jewish calendar as being infiltrated by a demonic force named Mahzur.
In addition to CP, Mandaeans also possess unknown numbers of small collections of

prayers. One Mandaean prayer-book hid for generations in the Bodleian Library, at
Oxford University, under the call number Ms. Syr. E 15. Placed under the category ‘Syriac
Mss’, this wrongly identified little prayer-book copied in 1849 consists of 151 folios glued
to book-pages. Another one, also acquired long before the Drower Collection in the
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Bodleian Library existed, is the book of Mandaean prayers from 1529, Bodleian’s Marsh.
691. It remains the oldest known Mandaean manuscript in the West.
Priestly commentaries A
Mandaean literature includes several works one may characterize as ‘priestly
commentaries’. In these texts, Mandaean rituals, liturgies, and the multiform mythologies
are presupposed. Therefore, the commentaries constitute a special category of highly
intellectual texts, often delving into esoteric meanings of letters, words, actions, and
gestures. Speeches by Light-World figures, mystical creation doctrines, alphabet
speculations, teachings on secret correlations, and kabbalistic-type esoterica abound.36
Warnings are often provided, to the effect that a particular text of this kind must be
revealed solely to an elite, the innermost circle of Mandaean priests.
The Thousand and Twelve Questions (Alf Trisar Šuialia [= ATŠ]) is a collection of such
mystical texts.37 Originally consisting of seven separate scrolls, they at some point
became consolidated into one. Six colophons appear in the book as we now have it. Of
these, the first colophon is of primary interest, as it extends back in time to Zazai. The
copyist of ATŠ’s manuscript DC 36 is Zakia Zihrun, son of Ram, and his detailed
information is extremely helpful in providing documentation for the priests of the still
existing Kuhailia clan, to which Zakia Zihrun himself belongs. He copied the text in
Shushtar, Khuzistan, Iran, in 1677. During the many decades since Drower’s translation
and edition of the text, based on the two manuscripts DC 6 (copied in 1557) and DC 36,
scholars have given this text minimal attention.
The longest scroll in Mandaean libraries, ATŠ is frequently consulted, and must be
present in the škinta (‘cult-hut’) during certain rituals. Texts such as ATŠ are interested in
establishing Light-World provenance and standard for the correct performance of specific
rituals. Because all Mandaean rituals have their origin in the Light-World, one might say
that these ritual texts’ presence provide a Light-World aura. Indeed, in the earthly arena
of performed rituals, as ‘live witnesses’ watching the proceedings, the texts function as
proxies for their Light-World originals.
Apart from simple drawings of four concentric circles and a rectangle, ATŠ is un-
illustrated. Drower’s edition contains a transliteration of the whole text, its translation,
and a slim booklet in a pocket in the back holds a copy of the facsimile. Drower divided
this daunting text into two Books, with subsections. She considers the material in ATŠ to
be old, possibly dating to the early Christian centuries.38 It has obvious relationships to
Jewish mysticism and Kabbalism.
Book I, i carries the title now given to the entire work. It assumes an established
priesthood, a tradition of esoteric knowledge reserved for the priestly elite, and the
abiding relevance of such traditions. The seemingly hypothetical ‘what if’ format of the
numerous questions regarding possible ritual errors, and the meticulous lists of esoteric
relevance of words, gestures, and sequences in rituals may test the patience of readers.
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People who are not Mandaean priests or scholars may be unprepared for the focus on
such minutiae.
For instance, as illustrations of the focus on ritual errors, I give the following: if, during a
masiqta (death-mass), the officiating priest performs the ritual handshake but omits the
rinsing water (the halalta), then ‘that masiqta is useless and that priest must be baptized
with fifty baptisms and shall recite the Great Commemoration for that soul alone, (thus)
repairing the loss’39 And, if water from another source accidentally falls into the water in
the priest’s glass bottle (during the masiqta ritual), ‘that masiqta is void, for the Seed
must not be alloyed. If water falleth into the wine-bowl after “Biriawis” and “Thy name,
(O) Life, is surpassing” have been recited over it, that masiqta is void’.40
In the first quotation, the Great Commemoration is the title of a particular prayer, CP 170.
In the second quotation, the two prayers identified by their names (based on the first
word or two of those prayers) are CP 44 and CP 45. Both are masiqta prayers. Reading
such sections of ATŠ, one must be familiar with the liturgies and with the literary styles in
esoteric commentaries in order to make sense of the warnings and instructions. In short,
it is necessary to obtain a grasp on the native Mandaean logic of such texts.
Unfortunately, scholars have instead tended to judge sources such as ATŠ as
unintelligible, arbitrary, decadent, historically late, and demonstrating a decline from
earlier, putatively pristine traditions.
Book I, ii is called ‘The Explanation of the Body’, and its contents resemble parts of Diwan
malkuta ‘laita (‘The Scroll of Exalted Kingship’ [= DM’L]), which is discussed below. The
Lord of Greatness here in ATŠ impersonates the original soul. It was the Primordial
Datepalm who created the Lord of Greatness, says the text.41 This is a bit unusual, for the
Datepalm is more often set in the context of its partner, the female Primordial Wellspring.
But here she, the Wellspring, is not only the spouse of the Lord of Greatness but also the
mother of the 24 letters of the alphabet, the abagada. (In DM’L, one of the illustrations
depicts the Wellspring with the letters in it.) In ATŠ Book I, ii, we find that the letters of
the alphabet are in danger of destroying themselves halfway into the alphabet, but they
luckily come to their senses and take each others’ hands and agree to work in harmony,
i.e. to construct a workable language.42
Regarding creatures born from eggs, a reader learns,
there is none which drinketh milk. For it imbibeth its milk in that egg; consumeth
it; scrapeth it clean, and, (having) taken its portion, there will be no milk
afterwards for it. Because its father and mother hath no ears, it (also) hath no
ears, because the ears are contained in the egg. And all (creatures) that come
from an egg, that move (swim) about in water, have no ears, and (creatures) which
have no ears do not carry their young in their bellies, or bring forth, nor hath (the
female) milk in her teats. And any (animal) that is not a mammal feeleth neither
heat nor cold until it is killed in its habitat.43
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Posing a seemingly endless list of questions (perhaps 1012!), the prototypical priest
Šišlam Rba interacts with the Great Nbaṭ, the father of the ‛utras. Among the issues are
Panja (the Mandaean intercalary five-day period), the marriage ceremony, the priest
initiation, the rahmas, and errors in rituals. Book I, ii also warns against forgetting to tie
the sacred belt (himiana). Here, one finds a reference to Khuzistani rulers and to
Christians, but none to Muslims.
Book II, iii a–b carries the title ‘Accidental Impurity and its Cure’. If the priest, during a
baptism, makes a mistake while uttering CP 80, don’t worry! So says ATŠ ([43], 210). But
an error in the following prayer, CP 81, produces a defect in that baptism. ‘The Agreed
Form of the Masiqta of Šitil; of the Dabahata and of the Dukhrania’ are found in Book II,
iv. These sections deal with specific rituals. Book II, v is called ‘Blow and Healing’, which
is the Mandaean expression for ritual error and its rectification.
The next text deals with the marriage celebration of Šišlam the Great. Book II, vi treats
burial; the next one contains a segment called ‘Of postulants and priesthood’, and the
third, ‘Concerning the postulant’s first baptism: Admonitions.’ Book II, vii is very similar
to lines 970–1042 in DM’L. The colophon in Book II, vii goes back to Zazai of Gawazta, as
does DM’L’s sole colophon, and this feature speaks to the age of these two text(s).
At the end of ATŠ appears the scroll Haran Gawaita (HG) (for this scroll, which Drower
published separately, see discussion following), but in Drower’s edition of ATŠ, a couple of
prayers, not HG, end the book. Ramuia, a copyist active in the year 638, writes, ‘When I
wrote this Diwan [scroll] it was in separate treatises. I wrote them down and collected
these reliable mysteries all into a single scroll.’44 Addressing himself to future priests,
Ramuia says of the scroll, ‘I have preserved it so that its beauty, fame and honor may be
yours, and forgiveness of sins. And Life is victorious. Saka [‘end’].’45
Priestly commentaries B
DM’L, mentioned in A, above, carries a lone colophon bearing a close resemblance to the
three earliest colophons in ATŠ, but there are fewer copyists. Beautifully illustrated, DM’L
is perhaps extant in the West only in one copy (aside from Mandaean libraries in exile)—
DC 34 in the Bodleian Library. Dealing with the ritual sequences in the priest initiation
and with the esoteric meanings of segments of this ritual, DM’L was, until fairly recently,
untranslated.46 Like ATŠ, DM’L takes an interest in ritual mistakes and in mystical
correlations. The text features question-and-answer formats.
This document has 1363 lines, and focuses on a specific part of the initiation ritual for the
lower-rank priest, the tarmida. The whole ritual takes 68 days, and DM’L deals
specifically with the first two days. Priest initiations contain clusters of separate rituals:
baptism, sacred meals, and even a masiqta. Like no other Mandaean text I know, DM’L
delves into the issue of how a ritual works, what it actually does. The text states precisely
the effects of certain prayers at specific points in the proceedings, and even the effects of
particular phrases in prayers. Further, these results are spelled out as to whether the
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energies affect elements or figures in the Light-World, on earth, or in the initiate’s own
body. The religious logic functions like this: ‘Line A in prayer B leads to situation C, which
will produce effect D in a future segment of the ritual.’ And effects can even be
retroactive: a currently enacted ritual may affect a specific point in a ritual that took
place long ago!
The focus on the novice is this: he learns to create himself, as a new kind of being ever
alert to his own correct gradual development. Not only his body, but the ritual
implements are also important. And these tools must be awakened for both present and
future use. DM’L deals with several rounds of development, so that a tool not needed
right at the moment must still be the focus of attention. The reason is that if the attention
of the novice is not correctly focused at present, the future ritual context will be harmed;
it will not have been prepared in the correct manner. There is a clear sense of the
practical preparation for what one may call the ‘ritual work-shop’.
Symbolisms and discourses on arcane subjects (e.g. correlation among minerals and
plants; the male sexual organ’s resemblance to a date-pit) occur in DM’L. What appear to
be sudden intrusions soon turns out to be a recognizable pattern in DM’L, as the text’s
mere mention of a word sets off associations leading, it may seem, into totally arbitrary
directions. Then, without warning, the text is back to where it left off, most often in a
particular ritual segment.
At the crowning of the novice, four prayers that have a special effect when uttered
together—CPs 1, 3, 5, and 19—are, says DM’L, for the four corners of the heavens. Not
only that, these four are also ‘the four coverings of gelatinous matter; they are the four
mysteries (kasiata) that dwell in the body; they are blood, gall, mucus, and moisture, on
which a seal is placed’47
Finally, DM’L gives the priest novice’s last duty in the initiation ritual: he must perform a
death-mass for his teacher (who is not dead—this ritual segment constitutes a test-case,
in fact). DM’L explains:
For the novice is like a builder who constructs a beautiful palace; if he did not put
a brick in its (proper) place, all that he built is spoilt. If he does not read the
masiqta for his teacher, that building and palace are not beautiful. For the masiqta
is the roof of the palace, and all the rahmas hold together the garment, so that
pure Ether takes them before the Lofty King.48
Similar to DM’L, the Mandaean text The Coronation of the Great Šišlam (= Cor.)49 also
treats the priest initiation ritual, but it is much shorter, has no illustrations, and reads like
a perfunctory manual. It follows the prayer-sequence in DM’L to a large extent, starting
with the priests gathering to begin the initiation of a new colleague. But there are none of
the fascinating, esoteric interpretations and associations found in DM’L. Drower, when
preparing to publish Cor., had two manuscripts on hand: one from 1599 (DC 54, in her
own collection) and one from 1880 (in the British Library).
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Priestly commentaries C
Drower’s A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries50 contains two illustrated texts: Alma Rišaia
Rba ([= ARR] ‘The First Great World’) and Alma Rišaia Zuṭa ([= ARZ] ‘The Lesser Great
World’), short ritual commentaries for priests. The framework here is revelations by
Light-World beings. ARR and ARZ are not quite handbooks, though the reader is taken
step by step through rituals such as the masiqta and the dukrana (‘commemoration’). As
in major parts of ATŠ and of DM’L, the emphasis rests on esoteric interpretations of
gestures and words. ARZ, copied in 1564, begins with a plaintive question: Why has
priestly wisdom strayed so far from its ideal? This text has an interesting jealousy-scene
in which a couple of ‘utras (depicted as primordial priests) become upset and disgruntled
when the Lord of Greatness dismisses them from his presence, seeming to prefer a third
‘utra, who was also present. Why, the two ask, was Shaq-Ziwa given private, secret
knowledge denied the two others?
The two scrolls ARR and ARZ are published together, with their facsimiles rolled up
tightly and stored in a cardboard cylinder accompanying the translated texts. ARR is the
more impressively illustrated document, with birds, a profusion of trees and plants, the
primordial Datepalm and the Wellspring, Light-World denizens, and ritual objects. Brik
Yawar, son of Bihdad, the well-known Mandaean copyist active in the late seventh
century, reacted with fear to the scroll ARR, he admits. He suspected a counterfeit text, a
product of the dark forces. Neither water nor fire were able to consume the scroll, which
proved its Light-World provenance. Ramuia, son of ‘Qaimat, had copied the text earlier
than Brik Yawar, and he reacted to it in a more practical manner: he feared no dark forces
but rather worried that the text might become lost. The scroll originally belonged in a
book, Ramuia says.51
ARR presents the primordial Adam who thinks that he is king of all. But then he receives
a Light-World letter from Pure Ether. Adam inhales the scent of the letter, sneezes (always
a good sign in Mandaeism!), and then makes a petition admitting that he, Adam, certainly
was wrong in his assumption of superiority—a familiar Gnostic theme. ARR speculates on
the maturation of the foetus in the womb, and contains its own version of the great
commemoration prayer CP 170, Abahatan (‘Our Ancestors’), a historical source mentioned
earlier. Adam Abulfaraš, a famous copyist, Mandaean leader and a wonder-worker in the
very earliest Islamic times, seems to have had help from a colleague in copying the
illustrations—a most interesting piece of information.
In a letter of 27 September 1964, to Lady Drower, Rudolf Macuch observes, ‘The ARR and
ARZ contain no single Arabic word. How could a person acquainted with Mandaean
literature and aware of the influx of Arabic words into Mandaic in Islamic times consider
them as post-Islamic?’52 And Drower notes that two of the Mandaic letters appear in an
unusual, archaic form, resembling the script on early, inscribed bowls.53 (On the bowls,
further discussion follows.)
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Šarh d-Parwanaiia is a scroll of 962 lines (in its DC 24 copy), a ritual manual dealing with
the ceremonies for the five-day Panja (Parwanaiia) ritual.54 In the Mandaean calendar,
these are the auspicious days when unclean deaths of the previous year are ‘tidied up’
and rectified, and the dead suitably incorporated into the assemblies in the Light-World.
Demonic forces are at their weakest during Panja, assuring unimpeded access to the
Light-World. Therefore, the rituals during that time carry special efficacy. Mandaeans
long departed are commemorated, forgiveness of sins emphasized, and the
communication between the living and the dead is more favourable than at any other time
of year. Like Cor., mentioned above, the Šarh leaves a somewhat perfunctory impression,
as it lacks the high-flying esoteric interpretation found in documents such as DM’L or ATŠ.
Possibly, the Šarh dates back to c. 1400. So far, at least, it cannot be ascertained to be a
very old document.
Zihrun Raza Kasia ([= ZRK] ‘Zihrun, the Great Mystery’) is another text dealing with
unclean deaths.55 Particular prayers and rituals are necessary for those who have died
from snakebite, attacks by wild animals or insect bites. Illustrated after the masiqta part,
the text has 559 lines. There are interesting pieces of information in this text regarding
the priest-helper, the ašganda. Yušamin, the ‘Second Life,’ the prototypical priest, is both
an elevated ‘utra and also, unfortunately, an ambiguous figure of warning. The reason is
that he has performed errors in rituals. That contradicting values inhere in Mandaean
‘utras is nothing new, but here in ZRK we learn of a particular error of Yušamin’s: he has
sinned by performing a ritual without the ašganda.56
The erased staff across the ašganda in the illustrated part of ZRK may be connected here:
why is ZRK demonstrating an interest in the role of the ašganda? Does this reflect a
particular debate on the ašganda’s office at the time of ZRK’s composition? Another part
of ZRK says that Ramuia, the famous copyist, experienced a revelation in a stone hut on
top of a mountain.57 Why does Bainai even mention the revelation, and what was the
content of it? We do not know. Did Mandaean leadership acknowledge the validity of
ongoing revelations as late as during the early Islamic period?
Šarh d-Qabin d-Šišlam Rba, the ‘Explanatory Commentary on the Marriage Ceremony of
the Great Šišlam’, is DC 39 (copied in 1802), a short text in book format.58 Even priests
performing marriages today read from their copies of this book. The ritual for marriage is
based, as the title suggests, on its Light-World model. Many of the prayers are not at all
recognizably Mandaean, but seem to belong to a larger, Near Eastern trove of songs/
poems for marriage. Some of them occur also in CP.
Numbered as Part IV, the last segment in Drower’s edition of the Šarh has a section called
‘The weekly forecast for hourly fortune’.59 From Sunday to Saturday, each of the 24 hours
obtains its due. Under the power of the moon and Saturn, respectively, the fifth and sixth
hours on Friday night are evil. The second hour of daytime on Saturday, on the other
hand, is under Jupiter and favourable for a number of actions, such as petitions, business,
and building a new house.60
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The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa (published by Drower in 1953, together with the Haran
Gawaita, discussed below) has the facsimile folded up at the end of the book. The
illustrated scroll treats the baptism ritual, the maṣbuta. It starts dramatically, with the
figure (Yawar) Hibil Ziwa, trembling with fear and awe, appearing before the great king
in the Light-World.61 Setting Hibil Ziwa at ease by grasping his right hand in the
Mandaean handshake, the kušṭa, the king assures Hibil of the strength he will soon
obtain. The 360 baptisms that Hibil undergoes equip him with the necessary power to
avoid any long-term imprisonment by the dark forces. A short version of Hibil’s
underworld adventure follows (the much longer version, in GR 3, has been treated above).
After some time, Hibil is liberated and ascends once more to his proper home in the
Light-World. His baptisms—at both ends of his journey—are the origin of the central
baptism ritual in Mandaeism. The ritual’s Light-World provenance is firmly set. In fact,
the main focus of this scroll is the baptism liturgy, recognizable from the sequence in CP
1–31. The illustrations feature trees, rows of identified priestly prototypes with their
margnas (staffs), banners, and other ritual tools, mainly the trays with ritual foods.
Three diwans
Certain Mandaean illustrated scrolls (diwan) do not belong to the rubric ‘ritual
commentaries’. Drower’s edition and translation of the just-treated Šarh d-Qabin
published in 1950, is bound together with one of the most lavishly illustrated Mandaean
scrolls, Diwan Abatur or ‘Progress through the Purgatories’ (= DiwAb). It is 48 feet
(14.4m) long, a foot (30cm) wide, and dates to c. 1743. Folded up in its own pocket, the
facsimile consists largely of a map of the soul’s way to the Light-World. The text starts
with Abatur, the ‘utra who became the personified scales. In a state of anxiety, Abatur
asks Hibil Ziwa, the higher-ranking ‘utra, how to deal with certain sins and
transgressions adhering to the ascending souls. Hibil Ziwa tells Abatur to calm down.62
Instructions follow. But more strikingly, it is the illustrations in DiwAb that give the most
vivid impressions of what awaits the Mandaean soul.
When studying DiwAb, it is best to unfold the entire scroll in order to appreciate its
cartoon-like format. Drower calls the illustrations ‘archaic and suggestive of a Cubist
form of art’.63 Many Light-World denizens appear. First come two text-segments, in
rectangles. The subject matter is four named chains (or, forgers of chains), says the
text,64 though these chains are not at all clearly depicted. Below sits Ptahil in a frame.
Then, in the centre of the scales, appears Abatur, in charge of weighing the ascending
Mandaean souls. It is a task Abatur does not like much, according to JB, as already noted.
In fact, the depicted Abatur in DiwAb looks a bit downcast.
Other figures appear below Abatur. In the right scale is the purest of all souls, Šitil,
Adam’s son, who agreed to die prior to his father (the story is in GL 1). So, all souls are
weighed against that of Adam’s pure son. Various ‘utras appear below, some with
margnas diagonally across their bodies, showing their priestly status. Correctly, the
šgandas lack staffs. Klilas (myrtle crowns) hover on the priestly staffs; incense holders
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are placed in front of the priests. Alone, Simat Hiia (‘Treasure of Life’), the wife of the
First Life, stands on her throne. Two figures are below her. A separate segment gives a
description of the land of Ptahil.
Then, the text shows four figures standing on a masted ship. Next comes the enormous
tree, Šatrin, whose fruits suckle children who died too young to be baptized. The fruits
look like date-clusters. After a long text-section, with conversations among ‘utras, pairs of
chained animals appear. We are now in the regions of the real purgatories containing
lions, dogs, wolves, and a two-headed worm, followed by various demonic figures with
musical instruments. These frighten the soul. Specific ritual sins (by both priests and lay-
people) are emphasized, and punishments are to be meted out accordingly. A triangle-
headed, chained monkey appears; next, a lone lion.
Four figures, with a throne beneath them, come next, and various demonic forces,
including personified leprosy and, lower down, figures carrying cymbals and arrows. A
huge, nameless personage without eyes is on the left, enclosed in a frame. Above him is
Guban, who brandishes his emblem, a comb, which he uses to comb ‘Ur’s head (‘Ur is the
dragon monster in Mandaeism). In fact, the various hairstyles of the figures now begin to
strike the viewer.
A further number of figures appear before we arrive at three large ships, with figures and
various implements, mainly steering-paddles. On the prow of the first ship is Ruha, and
Adonai is one of the figures holding on to the mast. The moon-ship—the last vessel—has a
golden, named steering-paddle: this is Harbi’el.
This scroll has not received any serious, sustained analysis, for its readers seem to
remain, above all, puzzled. DiwAb has been known for a long time: the Carmelite father
Ignatius in Basra saw it in the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Entitling the scroll
Mandäischer Diwan, J. Euting published it in 1904 in Strasbourg.65 Adding an appendix to
her published DiwAb, Drower lists almost four pages of names of supernatural beings in
the text. At the end of her Preface, she says: ‘Finally, I have made little attempt to
interpret what is seemingly unintelligible and probably corrupt, and I doubt whether this
is possible. This applies particularly to the descriptions of the drawings. A guess at
anything but the literal translation would be an unwarrantable liberty.’66
‘The Scroll of the Rivers’, Diwan Nahrawata (= DiwNahr), translated and edited by Kurt
Rudolph in 1982,67 is based on two manuscripts, both originally from Iran. DiwNahr
consists mainly of an intricate, curious map of the three rivers Tigris, Euphrates, and
Karun. Added are canals and tributaries, a few mountains, and even the well called
Zamzam, in Mecca. The scroll also features the usual Mandaean priestly prototypes and
trees. Rudolph notes that the river called ‘the little Tigris’, which dried up in the tenth
century, is shown on the map, and he therefore places the origin of this text to a time
between the beginning of Islam and the tenth century.68
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The scroll was mutilated, says one of the copyists, because in a time of persecution,
enemies came and tore up Mandaean texts and threw the pieces in the rivers. DiwNahr
seems to have been particularly offensive. Then, individuals from among the persecutors
approached the Mandaeans who had fled, and offered to sell them some of the rescued
fragments! The Mandaeans agreed. Two named Mandaean brothers are identified as
having repaired a badly damaged DiwNahr 69 and these two Mandaeans can be dated to
the sixteenth century. Therefore, this particular persecution and destruction of Mandaean
documents did not occur during the mid-nineteenth century—in or around the time of the
famous cholera epidemic—as the text might seem to imply, but several centuries earlier.
‘The Scroll of the Great Creation of the Image/Likeness of Truth’, the Lord of Greatness
(Diuan Qadaha Rba d-Dmut Kušṭa) is a long, illustrated scroll, so far unpublished (though
it is the focus of a 2005 PhD dissertation by the Mandaean priest and scholar H. S.
Nasoraia Brikha).70 Found outside of the DC texts in the Bodleian Library, this document
—copied in 1818 by a well-known Mandaean priest in Qurna on the Tigris –nevertheless
came to the library from Lady Drower in 1954.71
At the beginning of the scroll, a primordial banner (drabša) appears in a triangular frame
of rivers, with two rubies hanging from the banner’s top. Two supports, one of diamond,
the other of gold, hold up the frame. The scroll has a section of an impressive geometric
pattern, in honeycomb fashion, containing letters of the alphabet, the elements, planets,
and zodiac signs. Pictures in this scroll include: a silkworm, a hornet, and 14 heaps of
salt. In a row below that come the seven days of the week and further down, the Light-
World female figure Kanat sits in a dome of pure crystal. This diwan shows strong
similarities with contents in ATŠ, especially on mystical teachings and on alphabet
speculations. It is a pity that an edition and translation of this very unusual scroll remains
unpublished.
Other texts
Of the many other Mandaean documents, only a few will be mentioned here. Drower’s
first large translated Mandaean text was ‘The Book of the Zodiac’ (Sfar Malwašia [=
Sfar]), in 1949. This curious multifarious work, which gives evidence for the religion’s
central interest in astrology, is in book, not scroll, format. Oddly enough, it contains
almost no direct Mandaean material. Drower had hoped that this text would appeal to a
Western public fascinated by astrology; unfortunately, she was mistaken.72 Two modern
scholars have recently noted that this text needs renewed attention,73 because it contains
traditions from a variety of Near Eastern—and even Greek—sources.
Usually seen as a late creation, Sfar reflects at least one trait from the Sassanian
period,74 and while the colophon cannot be traced back farther than c. 850, parts of the
text are probably much older. Mandaean astrological names (which every Mandaean still
obtains soon after birth) are listed in Sfar, with numerical values attached to each name.
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Sections of Sfar abound in information on the planets, the zodiac signs, weather
predictions, spells, omens, and predictions of personal fates based on birth date and
zodiac sign. Section VII, for instance, starts with these words, ‘This is an Explanation of
the counter-spells to drive out devils, Šidi, and Piqdi; and the Counter-Spells which
Solomon, son of David, taught and revealed from the Explanations which Hibil-Ziwa
declared.’ (Šidi and Piqdi are types of demons). A person born under the sign of
Capricorn, at the beginning of its reign, under Jupiter, ‘will be tall, long of limb, and
handsome’, and lucky in his transactions. If the sun is surrounded by a circle at dawn, in
the month of Nisan, ‘according to Harmus the Hakim, thieves will cut the roads, children
will die, there will be heat, and there will be disease amongst the population, then there
will be bitter cold.’75
As already noted, Haran Gawaita (= HG), DC 9, was attached as the last scroll to
Drower’s DC 36, ATŠ. HG exists in other manuscripts as well, sometimes independently of
ATŠ. The very term ‘Haran Gawaita’ means ‘inner Haran’, and ‘inner’ (vs. ‘outer’) in
Mandaeism is a common expression for ‘mystical’ or ‘hidden’. A short text with a sudden,
corrupt beginning and marred by numerous double circles at its start (usually a sign of a
broken text), HG contains the legend of the Mandaeans’ exodus, due to persecution, from
Palestine to the East. For that reason alone HG has attracted much attention, but its
historical value is difficult to ascertain. The colophons offer no reliable information about
HG scribes prior to c. 1600.
That the Mandaeans had their origin in Jerusalem (or at least in Palestine) has remained
a highly debated topic, and whether Haran Gawaita refers to a mythologized place or a
real geographical one is contested. King Ardban, who protected the Mandaeans
according to HG, is most likely the Arsacid Ardban (who ruled around 11–38 CE), who had
a history of assisting Jewish groups in Mesopotamia. Mandaeans gave up Judaism, says
HG, cryptically. But what type of Judaism? And where? In Palestine, or in Babylonia? If
the Mandaeans experienced Christian influence in Palestine, it would be surprisingly
early. Anti-Christian polemic does appear in the text. HG also says that the Mandaeans
abandoned ‘the Sign of the Seven’ (planet worship), which—to some scholars—indicates
that they were indigenous to Babylonia, but as a wayward ‘Jewish’ group. That the
Mandaeans went further eastward to Media, as the text states, is highly suggestive, since
the Mandaic alphabet clearly developed in Luristan, Iran.76
HG has its own version of the John the Baptist legend, and subsequently lists seven
human Mandaean leaders installed—in identified locales—by an ‘utra. Several of these
leaders are known from colophon evidence, and can therefore not be dismissed as
entirely legendary.77 In short, HG needs renewed attention to sort out its mixture of
historicity and mythology.
Several DC texts in the Bodleian Library remain unpublished. Drower transliterated and
partly translated many of them, in her blue notebooks.78 A few so far unpublished texts
will be mentioned here. First, the so-called ‘Poor Priests’ Treasury’ consists of 12
exorcisms. On the back, this collection has Arabic talismans, and one drawing of a male
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figure has numbers on his limbs. Second, the most popular Mandaean zrazta (‘talisman’)
is ‘The Zrazta of Hibil Ziwa’, which has five parts. The DC 44 manuscript is from 1794 (by
the same copyist as DC 28, DiwNahr); it is 4.5 inches (11cm) wide, and has no fewer than
2135 lines. J. De Morgan published part of it in facsimile,79 but he supplied no translation.
Third, DC 11 contains a tiny roll, an illustrated talisman in its original protective metal
case. The text is 2.5 inches (6.25cm) wide, on thin paper, and the scroll ends in a wooden
cylinder. That feature makes the item easier to roll up. Otherwise, delicate dexterity of
digits is necessary to roll up an unfolded scroll properly, especially when the paper is
brittle.
DC 40, from 1831, ‘The Exorcism of Salt’, may, at the time of writing, be under
publication. The personified salt is invoked against barrenness, illness, and other devils/
maladies.
Bowls and lead strips

Mandaean artefacts reach the international antiquity market; in the last few decades,
illegal trafficking has increased. During the coalition forces’ presence in Iraq—with or
without the knowledge of the UNESCO 1980 rule against illegal trade in antiquities –
military personnel contacted scholars and antiquities dealers. Some years ago, an
internationally known dealer in antiquities advertised for sale three Mandaean lead rolls,
in five pieces. Such lead rolls are not as rare as they may sound and, being pre-Islamic,
usually from between the fifth and the seventh centuries in Iraq, these objects command
attention in certain circles.
Lead strips or rolls and inscribed ‘magical’ clay bowls constitute the most ancient
Mandaean literature. Unlike texts on paper, these items are durable, if luck prevails.
Tightly rolled-up lead rolls used to be impossible to flatten, because they break. But more
recent X-ray techniques seem to have solved this problem. Lead rolls that have lain
unopened in museums and university collections around the world may now become
accessible. Harvard University Semitic Museum, for instance, has more than twenty. So
far, they have kept their secrets.
E. Yamauchi gives a good overview on the rolls (and the bowls), listing the scholars who,
up to the time of his article, had done research on these Mandaic language items.80 Like
the bowls, the rolls belong to what one may call an international, cross-religious culture
in Mesopotamia, and they come from southern Iraq and south-western Iran. Inscriptions
dwell on exorcisms, love spells, and appeals to divine and demonic forces. In much of the
ancient world, it was common to write curses and protective amulets on thin metal
sheets. The placing of curses—and the overthrowing of them—constituted a precise
science.
A roll translated by A. Caquot contains names of Babylonian deities, and even Jesus
appears (in a negative light). Part of the text in this roll threatens any demon that might
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try to thwart a ‘binding’ oath. The house of such a demon will begin to shake, and
condemnation will be upon him until the Day of Judgement.81 For comparison, one might
note that CP 15, a baptism prayer, begins with the words: ‘Bound is the sea, bound are
the two banks of the sea! Bound are the devil and demons, the demon-visitants [piqdia],
haunting spirits, and satanic amulet-spirits.’82
In October 1964, when R. Macuch was preparing lead rolls for publication,83 he wrote in
despair to Lady Drower about a disconcerting discovery: he thought a certain linguistic
feature seemed to show that the rolls could not be pre-Islamic. This went completely
against Macuch’s (and almost everybody else’s) theories, and he lost several nights of
sleep over the matter. Lady Drower, however, had a different interpretation and set
Macuch right, to his great relief.84
Amulets made to order will carry the name of the customer. A small ‘against the evil eye’
Mandaean amulet in brass, in the shape of an eye when the piece is turned sideways,
hangs on my office wall. It belonged to Lady Drower but it is quite modern, and was not
made for her, but for a named male person. The two small, drilled holes at either end of
the item indicate that it could be sewn on to a garment.
Inscribed clay bowls are often paired, buried under thresholds in order to protect the
house and its inhabitants. Illustrations often appear on the bowls. The script tends to
begin at the centre, moving outward in spirals, but sometimes the bowl is separated into
sections by borders, with text in triangular spaces inside. An article by E. C. D. Hunter
shows such examples in three bowls in the British Museum.85 As noted, one bowl serves
as a lid for its companion, protecting the text inside so that it does not escape. That the
holy text, the Ginza, is arranged in the same manner, with GR upside down to GL, is not by
chance, in my view.
H. Pognon was the first to publish on Mandaean incantation bowls at the end of the
nineteenth century.86 Several other scholars followed his lead, not least because of
continued new archaeological finds in Mesopotamia. The Mandaic language on the bowls
turned out to be very close to the oldest stages of Mandaean religious texts. This shows
that these so-called ‘magical’ texts presuppose some of the very old Mandaean texts, such
as liturgies and mythologies. The temptation simply to assign the bowls and other very
early artefacts to a later, ‘degenerate’ stage has been challenged. Earlier generations’
obsession with the question of ‘Mandaean origins’ was closely tied to the so-called
magical contents of the bowls (and also of the metal rolls). In recent years, however, the
bowls and rolls are studied independently of the question of origins.
In 1977, K. Rudolph identified 21 Mandaean inscribed bowls among the 392 Jewish-
Aramaic and Christian-Syriac ones he found in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.87 Whether
these items still exist is uncertain. E. C. D. Hunter’s studies of bowls have paid attention,
for example, to the images on the bowls, to the figures’ dress, hair, and other
distinguishing features.88 In one study, she supplies a map of the archaeological contexts
of excavated bowls in Nippur in 1989.89
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C. Müller-Kessler’s interests include the language of the amulets—for instance the

particular focus in the incantations, on body parts.90 In her 2010 article, she translates a
previously unpublished DC text, DC 20, and compares it to document 5 in DC 43. Both of
these are on paper. But Müller-Kessler observes, regarding the 1935 copy of DC 43, that
this manuscript, ‘presumably had early forerunners that are bound to turn up on bowls or
metal amulets as in the case of other DC examples.’91 Overlaps among metal strip
amulets, bowl texts, and incantations on paper can be assumed in the earliest literature,
the liturgies, for example, as seen in the example of CP 15, above.
Concluding remarks
Sometimes moving, but mostly settled along much-travelled sections of the Silk Road
network, the Mandaeans developed their own language, known as Mandaic. They were
not isolated, countrary to long-held scholarly opinions. Linguistically, they may seem to
have set themselves apart, but this does not equate to cultural or religious isolation.
Polemics is a very good indicator of interaction with other religions, and polemics against
other religions occur in many kinds of Mandaean literature, even in the liturgies.
Mandaeans always lived on other peoples’ territories, which means necessary
interactions with the religions of others. Polemics against stated, identified groups
reflects real, historical interactions. If those groups were unable to read Mandaic, would
the use of the Mandaic language itself provide a shield of secrecy, a certainty that no
outsiders would obtain access to the texts? Or, were ancient Mandaic texts translated, for
reasons of missionizing, intellectual discussion, or defamatory purposes?
That there was a set method for conversion—and for bringing apostate Mandaeans back
into the fold—is clear in GR 1, 1.92 Regarding this testimony, it is worth noting that
potential converts listen to the Mandaean texts being read to them.93 GR 1, 1, does not
state that those persons could read the texts, but hearing implies an intelligible language!
Which one(s)? Who would be impressed by the display and contents of somebody else’s
sacred texts? In pre-Islamic Mesopotamia: Jews and Christians, certainly.
In the third century, the Zoroastrian priest Kartir includes ‘baptists’ in his list of enemy
religions in the Sassanian empire.94 And we have noted bar Koni, who knew GR 6 and
‘translated’ it. Who claims—or denounces—other religions’ texts? Brazenly accusing the
Jews of misunderstanding their own traditions, the Mandaeans insist that they possess
the correct, insider knowledge. To assert that Jesus betrays his own Mandaean religion is
a related tack. In both cases, Mandaeism is truer, more ancient, pure.
Manichaeans borrowed parts of the Mandaean literature, as noted. This is perhaps

among the very few, clear instances of Mandaeans as suppliers of knowledge. Untroubled
by fears of religious contamination, Mandaeism takes scoops from many other religions.
Mandaeism even makes isolated use, in an off-hand way, of certain non-Jewish and non-
Christian Greek/Hellenistic traditions (this matter remains unstudied). Babylonian
materials are surely present, too. But Mandaeism, in a mood of generous inclusivity, lays
claim to all of this as its own. Mandaeism only tangentially inhabits a place we normally
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associate with the Roman imperial literary heritage. Instead of shunting Mandaeism into
a remote corner, scholarship ought really to start with Mandaean literature, then move
into larger, concentric circles of comparison. But that approach has not yet begun. Some
precursory steps, unhampered by older stereotypes and judgemental attitudes about
‘heresy’, are now being taken.95
The sheer variety of genres of Mandaean literature is astonishing for a Gnostic religion,
and the Nag Hammadi Library from Egypt pales in comparison. It is possible that the
Mandaeans invented Gnosticism.96 Whatever the case, their non-Christian character
probably rescued them from being declared heretical and the literature has survived
along with the people.
Suggested readings
Bodleian Library. Catalogue of Miscellaneous Mss. and Minor Donations, n. d. Oxford.
Buckley, J. J. 1987. ‘Mandaean Religion.’ Encyclopedia of Religion vol. 9, 149–153. M.

Eliade, ed. New York: Macmillan.
Buckley, J. J. 1989. ‘Evergreen Elijah: Ritual Scenes from Jewish Life in the Middle East.’
Edited by J. J. Buckley, with a preface by Emile Marmorstein. In Approaches to Ancient
Judaism VI, 3–63. Studies in the Ethnography and Literature of Judaism, J. Neusner and E.
Frerichs, eds. Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press.
Buckley, J. J. 2002. The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People. Oxford: OUP.
Drower, E. S. 1937. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran. Leiden. (Reprinted with a foreword
by J. J. Buckley. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2002.)
Fourouzandeh. M. and A. Brunet. 2001. Baptists of Iran. Les Baptistes d’Iran. Tehran: Key
Press.
Lupieri, E. 2001. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Translated by Charles Hindley.
Grand Rapids, MI.: W.B. Eerdman (Italian original, 1993.)
Macuch, R., ed. 1976. Zur Sprache und Literatur der Mandäer. Studia Mandaica 1.
Berlin: de Gruyter.
Shapira, D. 2004. ‘Manichaeans (Marmanaiia), Zoroastrians (Iazuqaiia), Jews, Christians

and Other Heretics: A Study in the Redaction of Mandaic Texts.’ Le Muséon 117, 3–4:
243–280.
Shapira, D. 2010. ‘On Kings and on the Last Days in Seventh Century Iraq: A Mandaean
Text and Its Parallels.’ ARAM 22: 133–170.
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References
Editions and translations
Buckley, Jorunn J. 1993. The Scroll of Exalted Kingship: Diwan Malkuta ‛Laita. American
Oriental Society, Translation Series 3. New Haven, Conn.
Buckley, Jorunn J. 1997. ‘Professional Fatigue: “Hibil’s Lament” in The Book of John.’ Le
Muséon 110: 367–381.
Burtea, B. 2005. Das mandäische Fest der Schalttage: Edition, Übersetzung und
Kommentierung der Handschrift DC 24 Šarh d-parunaiia. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Burtea, B. 2008. Zihrun, das verborgene Geheimnis. Eine mandäische priesterliche Rolle.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Caquot, A. 1972. ‘Un phylactère mandeén en plomb.’ Semitica 22: 67–87, plus four plates.
De Morgan, J. 1904. Textes mandaites. Mission scientifique en Perse, part 5, Études

linguistiques 2. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.
Drower, E. S. 1949. The Book of the Zodiac (Sfar Malwašia). London: Oriental Translation
Fund 36.
Drower, E. S. 1950. Šarh d-Qabin d-Šišlam Rba: Explanatory Commentary on the

Marriage-Ceremony of the Great Šišlam. Leiden: Brill.
Drower, E. S. 1950. Diwan Abatur; or, Progress through the Purgatories. Vatican City:
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
Drower, E. S. 1953. The Haran Gawaita and The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa. Vatican City:
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
Drower, E. S. 1959. The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans. Leiden: Brill.
Drower, E. S. 1960. The Thousand and Twelve Questions: A Mandaean Text (Alf Trisar
Šuialia). Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Drower, E. S. 1962. The Coronation of the Great Šišlam: Being a Description of the Rite of
Coronation of a Mandaean Priest According to the Ancient Canon. Leiden: Brill.
Drower, E. S. 1963. A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries (Two Priestly Documents): The

Great ‘First World’; The Lesser ‘First World.’ Leiden: Brill.
Euting, J. 1904. Mandäischer Diwan. Strasbourg: Trübner.
Lidzbarski, M. 1915. Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer. Giessen: Töpelmann.
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Lidzbarski, M. 1920. Mandäische Liturgien. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft

der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, phil.-hist. Klasse, NF 17.1. Berlin: Weidmannsche
Buchhandlung (Reprint, Hildesheim, 1962).
Lidzbarski, M. 1925. Ginza: Der Schatz oder das grosse Buch der Mandäer. Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Macuch, Rudolf. 1967, 1968. ‘Altmandäische Bleirollen’ (Erster Teil) (91–203). In Die
Araber in der alten Welt, vol. IV, F. Altheim and R. Stiehl, eds; and ‘Altmandäische
Bleirollen’ (Fortsetzung) (455–468); also vol. V.
Müller-Kessler, C. 2010. ‘A Mandaic Incantation Against an Anonymous Dew Causing

Fright (Drower Collection 20 and Its Variant 43E),’ ARAM 22: 453–476 and ‘A Mandaic
Lead Roll in the Collections of the Kelsey Museum, Michigan: Fighting Evil Entities of
Death,’ ARAM 22: 477–493.
Nasoraia, B. H. S. 2005. ‘A Critical Edition with Translation and Analytical Study of Diwan
Qadaha Rba d-Dmuth Kušṭa (The Scroll of the Great Creation of the Image/Likeness of
Truth)’, unpublished PhD dissertation.
Petermann, J. H. 1867. Sidra Rabba: Thesaurus sive Liber Magnus vulgo ‘Liber Adami’
appellatus, opus Mandaeorum summi ponderis. 2 vols. Leipzig: Weigel (Reprint:
Piscataway, N. J. 2007).
Pognon, H. 1894. ‘Une incantation countre les genies malfaisants en mandaite.’ Mémoires
de la Société linguistiques de Paris 8, 192–234. Paris.
Pognon, H. 1898. Inscriptions mandäites des couples de Khouabir. Paris: H. Welter.
Rudolph, Kurt. 1982. Der Mandäische ‘Diwan der Flüsse’. Abhandlungen der Sächsischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, phil.- hist. Klasse 70.1. Berlin: Akademie
Verlag.
Yamauchi, E. 1999–2000. ‘Mandaic Incantations: Lead Rolls and Magic Bowls.’ ARAM 11–
12: 253–268.
Articles and books
Arbel, D. 2010. ‘ “Acquainted with the Mystery of heavens and Earth”, Sfar Malwašia,
Mesopotamian Divinatory Traditions and 3 Enoch.’ ARAM 22: 227–242.
Buckley, Jorunn J. 2008 ‘Conversion and Other VIIIth Century Community Issues in
Mandaeism.’ Le Muséon 121, fasc. 3–4: 285–296.
Buckley, Jorunn J. 2010. The Great Stem of Souls. Reconstructing Mandaean History. 3rd
edn. Piscataway, N. J.: Gorgias Press.
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Mandaic Literature
Buckley, Jorunn J. 2012. Lady E. S. Drower’s Scholarly Correspondence. An Intrepid

English Autodidact in Iraq. Leiden: Brill.
Buckley, Jorunn J. ‘The Embattled Mandaean Bread, the Pihta.’ ARAM 25, 1 and 2, 2013
(p. 365-371).
Drower, E. S. and R. Macuch. 1963. A Mandaic Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Häberl, Charles G. 2013. ‘Dissimulation or Assimilation? The Case of the Mandaeans.’

Numen 60: 586–615.
Hunter. E. C. D. 1998. ‘Who are the Demons? The Iconography of Incantation Bowls.’
Studi epigrafici e linguistici 15: 95–115.
Hunter. E. C. D. 2008. ‘The Language of Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the Early Islamic
Era.’ In Und das Leben ist siegreich! And Life is Victorious. Mandäische und
samaritanische Literatur. Mandaean and Samaritan Literature, 117–126. R. Voigt, ed.
Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Nasoraia, H. S. B. and G. Trompf. 2010. ‘Reflecting on the “Rivers Scroll”.’ ARAM 22: 61–
86.
Rochberg, F. 1999–2000. ‘The Babylonian Origins of the Mandaean Book of the Zodiac.’
ARAM 11–12: 237–247.
van Rompaey, S. 2012. ‘Mandaean Symbolic Art.’ PhD dissertation, Latrobe University,
Australia.
Rudolph, K. 1996. Gnosis und Spätantike Religionsgeschichte: Gesammelte Aufsätze.

Leiden: Brill.
Shapira, D. 2010. ‘On Kings and on the Last Days in Seventh Century Iraq: A Mandaean
Text and Its Parallels.’ ARAM 22: 133–170.
Notes:
( 1 ) Jorunn J. Buckley, The Great Stem of Souls. Reconstructing Mandaean History. 3rd
edn (Piscataway, N. J., 2010), pp. 291–314.
( 2 ) S. van Rompaey, ‘Mandaean Symbolic Art.’ PhD dissertation, Latrobe University,

Australia, 2012.
(3) Buckley, Great Stem of Souls, pp. 209–210.
( 4 ) M. Lidzbarski, Ginza: Der Schatz oder das grosse Buch der Mandäer (Göttingen,
1925).
Page 30 of 35

Mandaic Literature
( 6 ) J. H. Petermann, Sidra Rabba: Thesaurus sive Liber Magnus vulgo ‘Liber Adami’
appellatus, opus Mandaeorum summi ponderis. 2 vols. Leipzig 1867 (Reprint: Piscataway,
N. J., 2007).
(7) Lidzbarski, Ginza, pp. 30, 48, 30.
(8) Lidzbarski, Ginza, p. 36.
( 10 ) Jorunn J. Buckley, ‘Conversion and Other VIIIth Century Community Issues in

Mandaeism.’ Le Muséon 121 (2008), fasc. 3–4: 285–296.
(12) Lidzbarski, Ginza, p. 153–154; my translation.
( 13 ) E. S. Drower, The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans (Leiden: Brill, 1959), p.

75.
(17) Buckley, Great Stem of Souls.
(19) E. S. Drower, and R. Macuch. A Mandaic Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963),
p. 462a; M. Lidzbarski, Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer (Giessen, 1915), p. 76, n. 5.
( 22 ) D. Shapira, ‘On Kings and on the Last Days in Seventh Century Iraq: A Mandaean
Text and Its Parallels.’ ARAM 22 (2010): 133–170.
(23) Lidzbarski, Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer, p. vi.
(24) J. J. Buckley, The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People (Oxford: OUP, 2002),
ch. 5.
( 25 ) Jorunn J. Buckley, ‘Professional Fatigue: “Hibil’s Lament” in The Book of John.’ Le

Muséon 110 (1997): 367–381, see p. 371.
(26) Lidzbarski, Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer, p. 44.
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Mandaic Literature
( 27 ) M. Lidzbarski, 1920. Mandäische Liturgien. Abhandlungen der Königlichen

Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, phil.-hist. Klasse, NF 17.1. Berlin (Reprint,
Hildesheim, 1962).
( 28 ) Buckley, Great Stem of Souls.
(30) Drower, Canonical Prayerbook, p. 175.
(31) Drower, Canonical Prayerbook, pp. 129–130; author’s adapted translation.
(32) Drower, The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans, p. 129.
(33) Drower, Canonical Prayerbook, p. 245.
(34) Drower, Canonical Prayerbook, pp. 129–130.
(35) See Jorunn J. Buckley, ‘The Embattled Mandaean Bread, the Pihta.’ ARAM 25, 1 and 2,
2013 (p. 365-371).
(36) Cf. Buckley, The Mandaeans, ch. 13.
( 37 ) E. S. Drower, The Thousand and Twelve Questions: A Mandaean Text (Alf Trisar
Šuialia) (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1960).
(38) Drower, Thousand and Twelve Questions, p. 2.
(39) Drower, Thousand and Twelve Questions, [183]: 154.
(40) Drower, Thousand and Twelve Questions.
(42) Buckley, The Mandaeans, ch. 13.
(43) Buckley, The Mandaeans, [270]: 185.
( 46 ) Jorunn J. Buckley, The Scroll of Exalted Kingship: Diwan Malkuta ‛Laita. American
Oriental Society, Translation Series 3 (New Haven, Conn., 1993).
(47) Buckley, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, p. 43.
(48) Buckley, Scroll of Exalted Kingship, p. 71.
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Mandaic Literature
( 49 ) E. S. Drower, The Coronation of the Great Šišlam: Being a Description of the Rite of
Coronation of a Mandaean Priest According to the Ancient Canon (Leiden: E. J. Brill,
1962).
( 50 ) E. S. Drower, A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries (Two Priestly Documents): The

Great ‘First World’; The Lesser ‘First World’ (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1963).
(51) Drower, A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries, p. 52.
( 52 ) Jorunn J. Buckley, Lady E. S. Drower’s Scholarly Correspondence. An Intrepid

English Autodidact in Iraq (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2012), p. 181.
(53) Drower, A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries, p. 59.
( 54 ) B. Burtea, Das mandäische Fest der Schalttage: Edition, Übersetzung und

Kommentierung der Handschrift DC 24 Šarh d-parunaiia (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,
2005).
( 55 ) B. Burtea, Zihrun, das verborgene Geheimnis. Eine mandäische priesterliche Rolle

(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2008).
(56) Burtea, Zihrun, das verborgene Geheimnis, p. 49.
(57) Burtea, Zihrun, das verborgene Geheimnis, p. 17.
( 58 ) E. S. Drower, Šarh d-Qabin d-Šišlam Rba: Explanatory Commentary on the Marriage-

Ceremony of the Great Šišlam (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1950).
(59) Drower, Šarh d-Qabin d-Šišlam Rba, pp. 97–102.
(60) Drower, Šarh d-Qabin d-Šišlam Rba, p. 102.
( 61 ) E. S. Drower, The Haran Gawaita and The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa (Vatican City,1953),
p. 31.
( 62 ) E. S. Drower, Diwan Abatur; or, Progress through the Purgatories (Vatican City,
1950), pp. 2–3.
(63) Drower, Diwan Abatur, iii.
(64) Drower, Diwan Abatur, p. 7.
( 65 ) J. Euting, Mandäischer Diwan (Strasbourg, 1904).
(66) Drower, Diwan Abatur, p. iv.
( 67 ) Kurt Rudolph, Der Mandäische ‘Diwan der Flüsse’. Abhandlungen der Sächsischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, phil.- hist. Klasse 70.1 (Berlin: Akademie
Verlag, 1982).
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Mandaic Literature
(68) Rudolph, ‘Diwan der Flüsse’, p. 12.
(69) Rudolph, ‘Diwan der Flüsse’, pp. 19, 50; H. S. B Nasoraia and G. Trompf, ‘Reflecting
on the “Rivers Scroll”.’ ARAM 22 (2010): 61–86, see p. 62.
( 70 ) B. H. S Nasoraia, ‘A Critical Edition with Translation and Analytical Study of Diwan

Qadaha Rba d-Dmuth Kušṭa (The Scroll of the Great Creation of the Image/Likeness of
Truth)’, unpublished PhD dissertation (2005).
(72) Buckley, Lady E. S. Drower’s Scholarly Correspondence, p. 72.
( 73 ) F. Rochberg, ‘The Babylonian Origins of the Mandaean Book of the Zodiac.’ ARAM
11–12 (1999–2000): 237–247; D. Arbel, ‘ “Acquainted with the Mystery of heavens and
Earth”, Sfar Malwašia, Mesopotamian Divinatory Traditions and 3 Enoch.’ ARAM 22
(2010): 227–242.
(74) Rochberg, ‘Babylonian Origins’, p. 245.
( 75 ) E. S. Drower, The Book of the Zodiac (Sfar Malwašia) (London: Oriental Translation
Fund 1949), pp. 36: 80, 29, 163.
( 79 ) J. De Morgan, Textes mandaites. Mission scientifique en Perse, part 5, Études

linguistiques 2 (Paris, 1904).
( 80 ) E. Yamauchi, ‘Mandaic Incantations: Lead Rolls and Magic Bowls.’ ARAM 11–12
(1999–2000): 253–268.
(81) A. Caquot, 1972. ‘Un phylactère mandeén en plomb.’ Semitica 22: 67–87, plus four
plates, see p. 87.
(82) Drower, Canonical Prayerbook, pp. 10–11.
( 83 ) Rudolf Macuch, ‘Altmandäische Bleirollen’ (Erster Teil) (91–203). In Die Araber in

der alten Welt, vol. IV, F. Altheim and R. Stiehl, eds; and ‘Altmandäische
Bleirollen’ (Fortsetzung) (455–468), see also vol. V (1967, 1968).
(84) Buckley, Lady E. S. Drower’s Scholarly Correspondence, pp. 181–182.
(85) E. C D. Hunter, ‘Who are the Demons? The Iconography of Incantation Bowls.’ Studi
epigrafici e linguistici 15 (1998): 95–115, see plates I–III.
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Mandaic Literature
(86) H. Pognon, ‘Une incantation countre les genies malfaisants en mandaite.’ Mémoires
de la Société linguistiques de Paris 8 (1894), 192–234. Paris; H. Pognon, Inscriptions
mandäites des coupes de Khouabir (Paris, 1898).
(87) Rudolph, ‘Diwan der Flüsse’, pp. 10–11.
(88) Hunter, ‘Who are the Demons?’, p. 99.
( 89 ) E. C D. Hunter ‘The Language of Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the Early Islamic

Era.’ In Und das Leben ist siegreich! And Life is Victorious. Mandäische und
samaritanische Literatur. Mandaean and Samaritan Literature. R. Voigt, ed. (Wiesbaden,
2008), pp. 117–126, see p. 126.
(90) C. Müller-Kessler, ‘A Mandaic Incantation Against an Anonymous Dew Causing Fright

(Drower Collection 20 and Its Variant 43E),’ ARAM 22 (2010): 453–476, and ‘A Mandaic
Lead Roll in the Collections of the Kelsey Museum, Michigan: Fighting Evil Entities of
Death,’ ARAM 22: 477–493.
(91) Müller-Kessler, ‘A Mandaic Incantation’, p. 458.
(92) Buckley, ‘Conversion’.
(93) Buckley, ‘Conversion’, pp. 286–287.
(94) Charles G. Häberl, ‘Dissimulation or Assimilation? The Case of the Mandaeans.’

Numen 60 (2013): 586–615, see p. 593.
(95) cf. Häberl, ‘Dissimulation or Assimilation?’
(96) Buckley, Lady E. S. Drower’s Scholarly Correspondence, pp. 312–314.
Jorunn J. Buckley
Jorunn J. Buckley, Bowdoin College.
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Mandaic Literature

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Abstract and Keywords

Who are the Mandaeans?

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GR 6 tells the marvellous story of a Noah/Utnapishtim figure named Dinanukt, a half-

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The Book of John

Chapter 30 of the tractate ‘Yahia-Yuhana’ begins:

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Here is the beginning of Hibil’s lament in JB,

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One of the Friday prayers, CP 149, begins,

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In addition to CP, Mandaeans also possess unknown numbers of small collections of

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Regarding creatures born from eggs, a reader learns,

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Bowls and lead strips

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C. Müller-Kessler’s interests include the language of the amulets—for instance the

Manichaeans borrowed parts of the Mandaean literature, as noted. This is perhaps

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Buckley, J. J. 1987. ‘Mandaean Religion.’ Encyclopedia of Religion vol. 9, 149–153. M.

Shapira, D. 2004. ‘Manichaeans (Marmanaiia), Zoroastrians (Iazuqaiia), Jews, Christians

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Editions and translations

De Morgan, J. 1904. Textes mandaites. Mission scientifique en Perse, part 5, Études

Drower, E. S. 1950. Šarh d-Qabin d-Šišlam Rba: Explanatory Commentary on the

Drower, E. S. 1959. The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans. Leiden: Brill.

Drower, E. S. 1963. A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries (Two Priestly Documents): The

Euting, J. 1904. Mandäischer Diwan. Strasbourg: Trübner.

Lidzbarski, M. 1915. Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer. Giessen: Töpelmann.

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Lidzbarski, M. 1920. Mandäische Liturgien. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft

Müller-Kessler, C. 2010. ‘A Mandaic Incantation Against an Anonymous Dew Causing

Pognon, H. 1898. Inscriptions mandäites des couples de Khouabir. Paris: H. Welter.

Articles and books

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Buckley, Jorunn J. 2012. Lady E. S. Drower’s Scholarly Correspondence. An Intrepid

Drower, E. S. and R. Macuch. 1963. A Mandaic Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Häberl, Charles G. 2013. ‘Dissimulation or Assimilation? The Case of the Mandaeans.’

Rudolph, K. 1996. Gnosis und Spätantike Religionsgeschichte: Gesammelte Aufsätze.

( 2 ) S. van Rompaey, ‘Mandaean Symbolic Art.’ PhD dissertation, Latrobe University,

(3) Buckley, Great Stem of Souls, pp. 209–210.

(5) Buckley, Great Stem of Souls, pp. 47–49.

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