#mandaeism

[otherworldmythology]

Ruha - ࡓࡅࡄࡀ

Queen of the World of Darkness (alma ḏ-hšuka) in Mandaeism. She rules with her son, Ur; in one myth she is lead by the light-born figure Hibil Ziwa and trapped in a middle-realm. With her child after he is born she produced children who represent the seven planets and twelve constellations. In creation she represents the 'spirit' of the human whole, where her opposite, Ptahil, represents the 'soul', neither being able to produce anything without the other. She is said to have created Eve in her image and, in many stories, is spoken about more like a demon or seductress, whereas in others she is simply a fallen ruler and mother figure. She speaks in the way a wise mystic would, rather than an evil demonness, leading to conflicting beliefs of how she should be viewed, drawing parallels to the figure of Sophia in Gnosticism.

Pantheon: Mandaeism

Domain or Function: Queen of the World of Darkness, mother of dark figures.

Alternate Names: Namrūs, Hiwat (ࡏࡅࡀࡕ), has many epithets referring to her in both negative and positive light.

Character Traits: She is most commonly said to be evil and represent darkness but in several versions of her tales she is written as wise, humanlike, and sometimes kind.

Visual Traits: She is only said to wear a blue cloth or veil.

Symbolism: Waters of the underworld, seven planets, twelve constellations.

Sources: 1 2

[marsserpent]

Names of Liliths in Mandaeism

Ginza Rabba | The Mandaean Book of John/Drāšā ḏ-Yaḥyā

Zahriel

The Haran Gawaitha

Sufnai

Diwan Abatur, or Progress Through the Purgatories

Zuṭ

---

Another Look at the Mandaic Incantation Bowl BM 91715 - J. N. Ford

Azat/Arwazat

---

Mandaic Incantation Texts - Edwin M. Yamauchi

Text 21: Lidzbarski, 1902, V, Louvre A.O. 2629:

Haldas

Taklath

grand-daughter of Zarni

Buznai

Text 23, Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur - James A. Montgomery, No. 38, CBS 2941:

Yannai

Text 25, Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur - James A. Montgomery, No. 40, CBS 9005:

Buznai

Text 28: Gordon, 1937 O, no. 91724 in the British Museum, partly paralleled by Montgomery's No. 40:

Buznai, angel.

Text 30: Gordon, 1941, Hilprecht:

Zatan

Text 33: Yamauchi, 1966, Yale, same bowl as "The Story of Bguzan-Lilit, Daughter of Zanay-Lilit - Christa Müller-Kessler":

Buznai

daughter of Zanai

Zanai, the daughter of Eglima

---

Mandaic Incantation(s) on Lead Scrolls from the Schøyen Collection - Ohad Abudraham, Matthew Morgenstern

MS 2087/11 a

Sidamus

MS 2087/11 b

Ṣupntan - unattested in other source, but compare ṣupnia/ṣupnai lilita, a name that appears in both epigraphic texts and in the Haran Gawaitha.

izdandu lilita (MS 2054/76: 47)

iazdanduk lilita (BM 91775)

---

Notes on the Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the British Museum - James Nathan Ford

100M - BM 117881

Halbas

Itklat (Taklat in Segal 2000)

Mšišta (Qašišta in Segal 2000)

Piṭyara

Piṭyaruta

Pigdta

Nala

Niula

Siqupta

the lilith of the night

the lili of the day

107M - BM 91777

Lilith Ispandarmid, who calls herself Lady Ispandarmid

Lady ... the lilith, the mother of all humartas and all curses and imprecations

Lilith that calls herself Nanay

lilith Zarni, sister of …

who calls herself Mamay

---

The Story of Bguzan-Lilit, Daughter of Zanay-Lilit - Christa Müller-Kessler

YALE YBC 2364/BM 132948

Buznay/Bguzan

Zanay

----

Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins - Edwin M. Yamauchi

Suf-Suda, son of the lilith Sufat

---

Divine Names on the Spot III, Naming and Agency in Ancient Greek and West Semitic Texts - Thomas Galoppin, Sylvain Lebreton, "Demon names, onomastic sequences, and incantation specialists in Mandaic incantations from late-antique Mesopotamia - Enrico Marcato"

MS2087/1

Martinai

Hiṭurpa-Sania

Bganit-Ṣupnia

MS2054/22:13

Ṣupnai

---

Mesopotamian Magic, Textual, Historical, and Interpretative Perspectives - Tzvi Abusch, Karel van der Toorn, "Interrelations between Mandaic Lead Rolls and Incantation Bowls - Christa Müller-Kessler"

Incantation on lead roll BM 132947

Komiš

Namlik

Npazat

dog-like Lilit

BM 132168

dog-like Lilit

BM 91777

Ispandarmid

Anahid

---

Studies in the Syriac Magical Traditions - Marco Moriggi, Siam Bhayro, "A Mandaean Lamella and Its Parallels - Matthew Morgenstern, Ohad Abudraham"

BM 132957

Buznai

Komiš

Ṭripit

Dnapaṭ Dinariṭ

Namlik

Malkiat

Šašqalia

Hṭaṭit

Yaldat

Azaṭ

Npazaṭ

Lilith the raiser of dogs, who calls herself Mamai

Ispandarmid, the lilith who called herself Lady

Anahid

the lilith who sits upon Mount Qalia

lilith that rested and sits and calls herself Nanai d-Nhat (Note 180-181: perhaps nanai ḏ-nhat is intended to explain the origin of the syncretistic goddess Nanai Anahid)

 Qinrati(a), the lilith, daughter of Šarai, who calls herself the goddess of Beṯ M(a)na

O. Abudraham, 'Three Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the Yosef Matisyahu Collection' (Hebrew)

Punaqitai (Matisyahu 1:3–4)

---

Reddit link: "Names of Liliths in Mandaeism"

Tumblr Community link: @lilith-lamashtu

[jokezm]

[squidzard]

Here's something I've been thinking about for a while that I haven't really seen anyone else talk about yet. It's no secret that Genshin draws from Gnosticism, but there are two denominations with concepts that really align with a lot of the recent lore. So I'll try to explain the comparisons I've noticed to the best of my ability, keeping in mind I have no professional knowledge on these subjects and this is just from searching the internet. so yeah, this is all overly simplified and there's always a chance I got something wrong.

Manichaeism was founded around the idea that the prophet Mani is the fourth prophet sent by the Father of Greatness, the others being Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus. In their cosmology there exist two worlds, the World of Light and the World of Darkness. The King of Darkness, who is often descripted as being composed of five archons (the sinners), left the Dark World to attack and consume the Light World. So the Father called upon/created three beings to protect itself called the three creations. The First Creation was the Mother of Life, who in turn created the Original Man. The Original man and his five sons representing the five elements (ether included) fought the Darkness, but they lost and the sons were fed to the five archons while the Original Man was trapped in darkness. The Second Creation was the Living Spirit, who rescued the Original Man with the Mother of Life and the two of them with the power of either the Spirit or the Man's sons created the mortal world using the stolen light. They formed the sun and the moon, described as ships (chariots?) and the elements as wheels, sort of. The Third Creation is the Third Messenger, who teamed up with the androgynous Virgins of Light to seduce the demons of the Dark World. After a very long and gross process, this would lead to the first humans, Adam and Eve, to be descended from the demons.

Next up is Mandaeism, which is actually still practiced these days. The story stars off pretty similar, with their being a Light and Dark World. The Light World is ruled by the Great Life Hayyi Rabbi and filled with uthras, which are basically angels. He's called the First Life because he has three emanations that split of from him one after the other. The Second Life Yushamin, also sometimes the first angel, rebelled with his sons against the Great Life but inevitably fail. The Third life is Abatur, son of Yushamin, who doesn't have a lot said about him but he is described as a judge of the dead. Last is the Fourth Life Ptahil who is also one of the two demiurges, creators of the earth. He teams up with Ruha, who is the mother of the King of Darkness Ur as well as the sevent planets and the zodiac. Also Ptahil is Ruha's nephew kind of, it's a bit weird.

These aren't a one for one match and I left out some bits, but there are a ton of parallels we can make. The Descenders and the Four Emanations or the four prophets. The Five Sinners and the archons that make up the King of Darkness. It could also tie into the myth of the primordial human being the product of the god of light and the king of darkness. I don't have the brain to fit this all into a theory, but feel free to let use it as inspiration if you want to.

[eirikrjs]

sir,i think that mandaeism is a very good background for a smt game. mandaeism is gnostic religion,that means they can keep yhvh is evil trope. theie god is hayyi rabbi,maybe they can make him associated with great will. there are many angels around him,means that we can see many non yhvh angels. demonic planets,dark world queen ruha(another Empty/Void race) and darke ur .In short, the potential is enormous.

I don't disagree! But when people ask me questions like "would so-and-so god" or "this-or-that mythology" work well in SMT, the answer is usually "Yes," but that would be a boring response, so I instead tend to think how likely it is that Atlus will adapt said gods or mythologies. Because the thing is, the series has rarely expanded its diversity of mythological regions and pantheons/religions since the 80s; most of the series to this day is still derived from from the same general pool of Japanese mythology/Hinduism/Judaism/Christianity/Norse/Celtic that has constricted the franchise since the novels and the first two MT games. A recent exception was the long-overdue inclusion of African gods like Anansi and Onyankopon--and their inclusion I think was at the behest of Doi himself.

So while the future may actually shine a little brighter on the prospect of a greater variety of gods and myths, I strongly doubt Mandaeism is going to be considered, due to:

Too much overlap with the series' existing "Monotheism" paradigm; SMT will not add a Mandaean John the Baptist instead of a Christian one, for example.

The Mandean angels are out because SMT is oversaturated with angels at this point; despite this, a literal Milton OC angel in Abdiel was added to SMT5. This says they aren't thinking far beyond their traditional wheelhouse of Jewish/Christian for such "divine messengers."

There's no existing precedent for Mandaeism in the series. That will sometimes reveal a lot about where the creative impetus is, since SMT is an ouroboros of recycling ideas.

Basically, I'm saying it's a bit too creative/obscure for Atlus!

[thoughtportal]

Mandaeism: The Last Gnostic Religion?

[estera-shirin]

Incantation bowls

Incantation bowls are a form of protective amulet found in archaeological digs in upper Mesopotamia (now Iraq and Iran), especially in Nippur. They were typically written in Aramaic, most commonly Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, but also in Mandaic, Syriac, and pseudo-Aramaic. The bowls with pseudo-script were likely "forgeries" (in that they did not contain amuletic text) made by merchants for illiterate clients.

Jews, Christians, Mandaeans, Zoroastrians, and polytheistic worshippers all appear to have used incantation bowls, and these objects reveal blurry lines between the different religions. As a Penn Today article notes, "the names of rabbis appear in bowls with otherwise Christian-themed texts and the name Jesus Christ appears on an incantation bowl in Hebrew script."

^ 5th or 6th century CE Aramaic incantation bowl found in Ctesiphon, Mespotomia (now Iraq).

^ 5th-6th century CE Mandaic incantation bowl found at Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia (now Iraq).

^ 5th-6th century CE pseudo-Aramaic incantation bowl found in Mesopotamia.

[tinyuglyworld]

Mandaean baptism in the Karun River in Ahvas, Iran. Photographed by Mehdi Pedramkhoo, 2018