Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
This historical study argues that the Mandaean religion originated under Sasanid rule in the fifth century, not earlier as has been widely accepted. It analyzes primary sources in Syriac, Mandaic, and Arabic to clarify the early history of Mandaeism. This religion, along with several other, shorter-lived new faiths, such as Kentaeism, began in a period of state-sponsored persecution of Babylonian paganism. The Mandaeans would survive to become one of many groups known as Ṣābians by their Muslim neighbors. Rather than seeking to elucidate the history of Mandaeism in terms of other religions to which it can be related, this study approaches the religion through the history of its social contexts.
Price: $53.00
Pages: 154
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Leiden Studies in Islam and Society
Publication Date:
16 February 2017
ISBN: 9789004339439
Format: Paperback
"Van Bladel’s book is a significant contribution to the field of Mandaeism and will hopefully spur further interest in its neglected texts. Its interdisciplinary import is no less substantial... Van Bladel’s book is (...) not only a story of the Mandaean past, but a window into Sasanian Mesopotamia and the forging of “religious communities” beyond the “Greco-Roman” boundaries. For these reasons, it demands serious consideration among scholars interested in situating the Bavli in its Iranian context, the Church of the East, and the Sasanian Empire in general."
Jae H. Han in Ancient Jew Review, March 2018.
Jae H. Han in Ancient Jew Review, March 2018.
Kevin T. van Bladel (Ph.D. 2004, Yale University), is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at The Ohio State University. He is the author of many studies on the classical Near East including The Arabic Hermes (Oxford 2009).