page_title: Mandaeism
section_title: Scriptures
hierarchical_section_title: Mandaeism / Beliefs / Scriptures
caption_attribution_description: Čeština: Abatur jako vyvýšený soudce nad zemřelými, Abaturův svitek. English: Image of Abatur at the scales from Diwan Abatur. Italiano: Raffigurazione di Abatur dal Diwan Abatur, uno dei testi gnostici del mandeismo. Un'altra immagine del Diwan Abatur, dove Abatur è ritratto presso la sua bilancia. Latina: Abatur ad libram. Imago in Diwan Abatur. Nederlands: Weegschaal van Dhiwan Abatur.
context_page_description: Mandaeism or Mandaeanism, also known as Sabaeanism, is a monotheistic and gnostic religion with a strongly dualistic cosmology. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. The Mandaeans have been counted among the Semites and speak a dialect of Eastern Aramaic known as Mandaic. The name 'Mandaean' is said to come from the Aramaic manda meaning "knowledge", as does Greek gnosis. Within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the Arabic: صُبَّة‎ Ṣubba or Sabians. The term Ṣubba is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, the neo-Mandaic is Ṣabi. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called "Christians of Saint John".
  In the Quran, the "Sabians" are mentioned three times alongside Jews and Christians. Most critical scholars today believe this term refers to the Manichaeans/Elkaisaites, an Abrahamic religious group that followed Jesus and was unrelated to the gnostic Mandaeans. Confusion of the two occurs primarily among non-Arabic speakers, to whom the Quranic word aṣ-Ṣābiʾūn seems similar to the word Ṣubba.
context_section_description: The Mandaeans have a large corpus of religious scriptures, the most important of which is the Ginza Rba or Ginza, a collection of history, theology, and prayers. The Ginza Rba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or "Left Ginza", and the Genzā Yeminā or "Right Ginza". By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century. The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans or their predecessors during the late Parthian Empire at the very latest.
  The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by magic bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious manuscripts are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
  Although the Ginza continued to evolve under the rule of the Sasanian Empire and the Islamic caliphates, few textual traditions can lay claim to such extensive continuity.
  Another important text is the Haran Gawaita which tells the history of the Mandaeans. According to this text, a group of Nasoraeans (Mandean priests) left Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century CE, and settled within the Parthian Empire. 
  Other important books include the Qolusta, the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, which was translated by E. S. Drower. One of the chief works of Mandaean scripture, accessible to laymen and initiates alike, is the Mandaean Book of John (Lidzbarski, Mark. "Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer". Giessen : Töpelmann.), which includes a dialogue between John and Jesus. In addition to the Ginza, Qolusta, and Draša, there is the Dīvān, which contains a description of the 'regions' the soul ascends through, and the Asfar Malwāshē, the "Book of the Zodiacal Constellations". Finally, there are some pre-Muslim artifacts that contain Mandaean writings and inscriptions, such as some Aramaic incantation bowls.
  The language in which the Mandaean religious literature was originally composed is known as Mandaic, and is a member of the Aramaic family of dialects. It is written in a cursive variant of the Parthian chancellory script. Many Mandaean lay people do not speak this language, though some members of the Mandaean community resident in Iran and Iraq continue to speak Neo-Mandaic, a modern version of this language.
caption: Image of Abatur at the scales from Diwan Abatur
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