Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The last few years have seen an increasing number of publications dedicated to the religious community of the Mandaeans, the only surviving Gnostic sect from late antiquity.This group is something of an arcane topic, but much more than just a footnote to history.Far from being obscure, isolated, and obsolescent, they are engaged in Middle Eastern society at every level, and have produced some of the region's leading cultural luminaries, such as the Iraqi poet Abd al-Razzaq Abd al-Wahed.As the world's only surviving gnostics, they are a unique sect, even in a region known for its ancient faiths and diverse creeds; according to Joru1111 Buckley, They defy easy categorization.Neither Jewish, Christian, nor recognizably "pagan," they possess an extensive literature containing multifarious mythological traditions, and they continue to practice intricate rituals whose precise origins and antecedents are difficult to determine [ ... ] Many aspects of the religion, particularly on the mythological level, resemble those found in other Gnostic systems.But it has a distinct identity, not attributable merely to language and geography.Mandaeism's own enormous literature spans a number of genres
Source: Folia Orientalia
Author: Charles G. Häberl
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7204609052