the evidence for women priests in mandaeism

8/7/2019 The Evidence for Women Priests in Mandaeism

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THE EVIDENCE FOR WOMEN PRIESTS IN MANDAEISM

Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine

1. INTRODUCTION

ONE way to obtain a sense of Mandaeism's life through the ages is systematically to

study the Mandaean colophons, that is, the extensive scribal copyist lineages and post-

scripts appended to almost all Mandaean manuscripts. For nearly eighteen centuries, Man-

daean priests have copied the texts of their religious tradition, meticulously listing their

scribal ancestors as part of the formulaic manner of ending the task of transcribing a

manuscript. Thousands of names run like threads through the centuries, connecting each

scribe to his predecessor in the task. Thus a "fabric" made up of individuals is created. By

correlating colophons, we may detect central scribes, and these may be placed, with varying

degrees of certainty, in history. Colophons and their postscripts also yield information on

geography, political and social conditions (including persecutions), doctrinal disputes, clans

of scribes, and scribal centers. Whether older or newer, texts are always transcribed for

someone's salvific benefit, either the scribe's own, or for someone in his immediate family,

or for a paying client. In accordance with age-old custom, at the beginning of the d ocument

the scribe records the name of the person for whom the text is copied.

Traditionally, priest-families own books and manuscripts, while laypersons do not, andpriestly offices tend to run in families, though by no means exclusively from father to son.

Continuing my work on an ever-expanding project on Mandaean colophons, now stretching

over eleven years, I have been struck by the occurrences of women's names in colophons.

How is one to evaluate these names occurring among the thousands of male names? Women

copyists, library owners, and book owners can, in the main, be categorized as priests.

Colophon sections in which masbuta (baptismal) names predominate and which contain

women's names cannot necessarily be used to demonstrate that the women were priests.

Furthermore, a woman who has a text copied for her benefit is not a priest unless co ntextual

evidence supports it. But women appearing in a clear initiate relationship in lineages of

priests as indicated by copyists, are, in almost all cases, priests.Mandaeans may be designated in relationship to mothers or to fathers. Only rarely do

names relating a person to his/her mother, i.e., masbutanames, occur in colophons. In-

stead, initiation-relationships are given according to the formula "son of," followed by the

name of the "father," whether this be in fact a bloodline father or not. But the formula

"daughter of" also exists in colophons, as it does elsewhere in Mandaean literature. Thus,

the expression "daughter of" would indicate that the woman is designated in relationship to

her initiator, whether male or female. Anyone of "pure" family can be made a priest, by

[JIVES 59 no. 2 (2000)] 2000 by The University of Chicago.

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9 4 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

a candidate's own father or by another priest. The designation "son of" indicates a "spiri-

tual" father/son relationship; likewise, "daughter of" expresses a woman priest's relationship

to her initiator, regardless of blood-family relationship. Thus, a priest not initiated by his

blood-father, in a sense, has two fathers.

Because Mandaean women priests are not supposed to have existed-despite what wehave fo u n d - I will first present the ambiguous material regarding women priests before I

turn to the evidence that ought to be taken seriously as more positive proof of their exist-

ence, viz., the women's names in lists such as colophons.

II. CONFLICTING EVIDENCE

The Lightworld being (`utra) and messenger Hibil Ziwa warns against ordaining women as

priests, "... beware lest ye set the crown (of priesthood) upon a woman or upon a ganiba (a

person set aside because of uncleanliness) because there can be no putting aside with the

First Life."' A ganiba is a person isolated because of ritual impurity,' and the wordtranslated by Drower as "putting aside" is gnubta, "theft" or "ritual uncleanliness.

This warning occurs in the ATS tractate called "Wound and Healing," which is concerned

with techniques for overcoming ritual impurities. One specific topic is ritual accidents or

errors in the initiation of a priest. Sections 2 and 3 of this work, just prior to the above quo-

tation, deal with the possibility of women in the initiate's or the initiator's family commit-

ting acts that obstruct the proper proceedings in the priest-initiation ritual.

One may assume that Hibil Ziwa's admonition would have been unnecessary if the idea

of women priests were completely foreign in Mandaeism. Such warnings indeed show that the

practice was known and that it was debated and debatable. According to the logic in the

section, women are associated with the ritually unclean, and therefore they are not permitted

to become priests. But one should also consider the situation from the opposite angle: the

predominant gender balance attested in the mythologies of this religion. For the male

Lightbeings have wives, even the supreme Being, the First Life itself, whose spouse is

called Dmut Hiia, the "Image of Life."`'

Next, one may turn to the term tarmidata, literally "female tarmidas,"5which Drower has

consistently translated "women of priestly family." For instance, in A.' I, ii, in paragraphs

treating destinies after death, one finds the following admonition: "I will instruct you

concerning women of Elect Righteous (stock); women of priestly and of lay families; as to

those who are perfect and those who fall short of perfection ... But priests' wives who. . . .

tribulation will come upon them at death."' While translating "of priestly and of layfamilies," Drower states that the text literally says "priestesses and laywomen." She then

adds that Mandaean priestesses do not exist.'

E. S. Drower, The Thousand and Twelve Questions

(Alf Trisar Suialia): A Mandaean Text (Berlin. 1960),

Book II, Part iii a, p. 196 (5) (hereafter ATS). (The ref-

erences to this work reflect Drower's quite complicated

system, with section numbers given in parenthesis).2 See E. S. Drower and R. Macuch. A Mandaic

Dictionary(Oxford, 1963). p. 77b (hereafter MD).3 Ibid., p. 96a.

4 For an investigation of positive female mytho-

logical imagery in Mandaeism, consult chap. 2 in my

Female Fault and Fulfilment in Gnosticism(Chapel Hill

and London. 1986). pp. 20-38.5 A tarmidamarks the lower rank in the two-tiered

Mandaean priest-system.ATS, Book I. Part ii, p. 172 (sec. 239). The text is

missing at the indicated break.7 Ibid., p. 172, n. 2.


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THE EVIDENCE FOR WOMEN PRIESTS IN MANDAEISM 95

What Drower renders as "women of priestly ... families," however, is in the original

"tarmidata," while the expression for "priests' wives" is "`n`.saiun d-tardmidia."8 I do not

understand these as identical terms. Tarmidiata (an alternative plural oftarmidata) occurs also

in ATS II, v (a), which, like ATS II, iii is also entitled "Blow and Healing." The paragraph in

question in concerned with the fate of women after death. Drower again translates tarmidiata"women of priestly family" and again adds in her note that tarmidata are not priests.'

But in conversations with Mandaeans, Drower learned that women priests did exist in the

past but that there had been none within recent memory. She says,

I have been told several times that sex is not a bar to priesthood. There have been women priestsand ganzivri, though a woman ganzibra can only perform one marriage ceremony: moreover in theGinza (13th book, rt. side), there is a mention of Mandaean priestesses.10

Referring to the ATS passage in which Hibil Ziwa warns against ordaining women as priests,

Drowner makes it clear that she also knows that the names of women occur in the great

commemoration prayer for the dead, entitled:Ahahatan: "Our Ancestors.""Turning to the just mentioned Ginza evidence found by Drower in Mll, one finds that in

Book 13 of the Ginza, the word "tarmidiata" occurs in a section dealing with the Mandaeans

who shirk their religious duties to the extent of converting to other religions. Specifically,

criticism is raised against men taking wives from other religions, who thereby automatically

convert to these religions, and against "Jungerinnen" (tarmidiata), who be-come converts. In

his note to this problematic word, Lidzbarski states that tarmidiata can-not mean "women

priests" because they do not exist in the religion.'' But the tractate called "The Good Shepherd"

in The Book of John blesses the "tarmidiata" who free them-selves from Ruha's traps.'- Here

Lidzbarski offers no note regarding his translation "Jungerinnen," which allows the reader to

interpret these women as female tarmidas.

R. Macuch considers the very topic of female priests a "bad joke"14 and refers to what he

sees as an unquestioned distaste for female religious leadership in "the Orient." But the matter

cannot be settled that easily, in my opinion, and scholarly consensus has been too rash in

concluding that female priests did not exist. Drower evidently finds it difficult to come to a

firm conclusion, but she wishes to take seriously what Mandaeans themselves tell her.

When I asked the Mandaean poet Lamea Abbas Amara15 about this issue, she told me that

her grandfather, himself a priest, remembered hearing about women priests, but he had never

met any. They had existed before his lifetime. Lamea also knew the rule,

8 ATS, transliteration section, p. 49.

9 Ibid., p. 263 (sec. 296), with n. 4.]0 Drower, The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran(Leiden,

1937 and 1962), p. 147 (hereafter MII). Ganzibra, "trea-

surer," (modern pronunciation: ganzivra/ganzorra) isthe

higher priestly office. Drower is referring to the main

Mandaean "holy book." See M. Lidzbarski. Ginza: Der

Schatz oder das grof3e Buch der Mandaer (Gottingen,

1925 and 1978). The Ginza isdivided into a right and a

left section, abbreviated GRand GL, respectively. I will

return to the Ginzaevidence below.

This will be treated below; it is prayer no. 170 in

Drower. The Canonical Praverbookof the Mandaeans(Leiden, 1959) (hereafter CP). Prayer no. 170 is found in

CP, pp. 151-54.Lidzbarski, GR, Book 13, p. 285, sec. 22, with n. I.

13 Idem, Das Johannesbuch der Mandrier (Giessen,

1915) (hereafter JB), p. 50.14 "Fauler Witz" (personal communication, 24 March

1992).15 A leading Mandaean intellectual from a priestly

family on her mother's side. Amara lives in the United

States in California. Drower knew Amara's family.


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9 6 JOURNAL. OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

reported by Drower in MIl, regarding women priests as otficiants at marriage ceremonies.

In fact, when Lamea stated to me that Mandaeans have had no women priests in recent

memory, she added that if such a woman priest were to perform a marriage ceremony, this act

would automatically cause the loss of her priestly office. That such a ritual role is cause for

expulsion from priesthood is a stronger statement than Drower's in MI/.

In Ahwaz, Iran. in 1996. I discussed the topic of women priests with the Mandaeanlearned layman (vu/tffct) Sheikh S. Choheili. He stressed that it is very difficult for a

woman to be a priest but readily acknowledged that they had existed in the past. To my

surprise, he knew of Haiuna, the ethnarch and frequently mentioned copyist." When I

continued, inquiring why there would have been women priests, his reply was simply: "be-

cause they wanted to [be priests[." This I take to be a significant answer because it does not

assume a woman inhabiting priestly office to be a provocation against male-dominated views

but, instead, emphasizes a woman's own wish and decision.

I I I . WOMEN'S NAMES IN "FOE CANONICAL PRAYLRBOOK,

IN OTHER LITURGIES, AND IN THE . IOHANv/ SRUCH

I begin with a particular noncolophonic document, which in the context of colophon

research turns out to be a magnificent historical source. It is the great commemoration

prayer of the dead, CP170: Abahaton, "Our Ancestors. ' Recited annually, Abahatan pro-

vides an extensive list of named Mandaean priestly luminaries throughout the centuries. It

also contains names of various Lightbeings, of John the Baptist. and of Mandaean layper-

sons. The prayer divides the human beings into the categories "Mandaeans" (i.e., layper-

sons). tarmidas (the lower priestly office), gcn zibras, and ri.s ant/a, "leaders of the people."''

No women tarmidas are mentioned in CP 170, but among the gan.Ibras there are two

women: Hawa daughter of `Daiia, and Anhar Kumraita daughter of Simat. Note that both are

named in relation to their mothers. This is consistent with the liturgical setting, which calls

for ntasbttta names throughout. Hawa's and Anhar Kumraita's immediate successor in the

list is a male priest whose son/initiate,'" Ramuia son of Qaimat. can be dated with certainty

to the years 638-40. Considering the placement of the two woman gan:ibras in the list, we

may thus date them to ca. 700."'

Nowhere else have I found these women mentioned, neither as gan:ibras nor as copyists.

Because they are listed explicitly as gan:ibras, one cannot doubt their status. But in a

different context. I might not have concluded that these women were priests. Why not? Thereason is the ntasbtrtctidentification, obligatory in liturgies.

In a class by herself is the already mentioned Haiuna, CP170's sole woman risatna,"head of the people" or "leader of the people: She was therefore automatically also a gan-

't 'She will he dealt with below.

17Two shorter versions of it can be found else-

where but will not be dealt with here. Comparativeresearch on different versions of CP 170 would yieldvaluable historical material, due to the different namesfound in the prayer. especially among a copyist's owncontemporaries and Mandaeans within his or her recentmemory.

Is In a separate. not yet published study. I haveattempted to place historically almost all of the Man

daean priests named in this prayer. This is only possibleon the basis of colophon research.

19Why I designate Ramuia in this way. i.e., as

"son/initiate,'' will become clear below.20 For Ramuia and his historical period, see the

material in my, The Colophons in The Canonical Praerhook- qt the Manaaeans," JNES51 (1992 ): 33-50. Forfurther details regarding scribal information in ('P's

copyist lines. see ibid.


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zibra. Elsewhere, Haiuna was often identified in another role: as daughter of Tihwia andYahia. No other female scribe turns up as consistently as she does. MHZ, ATS, CP, The

Great Prayer, ARZ, and Marsh. 691 are texts in whose colophons she appears." Presidingover her scribal center in the town of Tib (east of the Tigris) together with her son, Bainai

son of Zakia, who was also an ethnarch, Haiuna was a Mandaean female leader of singularstatus. So far, however, I have not found her indisputably attested as initiator.

At times, a scribe described Haiuna as "son," an error that appears only rarely in Man-

daean colophons. '- '- But it is an understandable mistake, for the scribe was of course used to

writing "son of." since most copyists were men. It would thus be easy to make an error when

a woman's name appeared. Scribes would seldom deliberately change the gender of a name,

thereby trying to suppress the presence of women copyists and priests. '-3

Lady Drower's published copy ofCPdates from 1802, in the Persian Khuzistani town of

Huwaiza. The book (sidra), a large codex, was based on one owned by a scribe's own

paternal grandmother, Anhar daughter of Sarat. Herself a copyist, Anhar was probably a

priest, since her lineage is given according to the one used for priests. When Adam Yuhana

copied CP, he states that he copied the two first parts of it by using a book that belonged

to Anhar, on whom he lavishes the standard praises due a "pure cloud," a common desig-

nation for a Mandaean woman of excellent reputation. According to Adam Yuhana, his

grandmother was of pure mind, devout, and "without fornication or adultery.' While her

masbutaname is Anhar daughter of Sarat, her given name is " 'Diia daughter of Adam son of

Sa'ad, of the clan Suiria. She copied the book from a scribe frequently encountered in

CP: '-6 Ram Yuhana son of Yahia Zihrun. One may assume that Adam Yuhana's grand-

mother was no longer alive at the time of his copying CP, twenty years after his first-attested

copied text, Pasar Harsia,-"which dates to 1782.In colophon 1 of CP,-s there are four other women, who are clearly copists and/or book

owners. The first is Saha daughter of 'Aziz Sakma, with the family name Wasia, who may be

dated to the mid-seventeenth century. Her masbuta name was Hawa Mamaina, and shecopied her work from the frequently mentioned copyist Bihram BrHiia of the Kuhailia

clan.

2 'The new texts in this list are: The BaptismofHibil

Ziwa, the second text in Drower. The Hama Gaaaitaand the Baptism of Hibil Ziwa (Vatican City. 1953)(hereafter MHZ): the Bodleian Library's profuselyillustrated MS Asiat. Misc. C 12 (R): Diem, d-gadaharho .soma d-mara d-rabuta u-dna,! kusta The scroll ofthe great prayer, the name of the Lord of Greatness and

the Image of Truth] (hereafter The Great Prayer)(unpublished): Alma Rin4oa Z ta, (=The First Smaller

World), the second text in Drower. A PairofNasoraeanCommentaries (Two Priestly Documents) (Leiden. 1963)(hereafter ARZ): Bodleian's Marsh. 691. the oldestMandaean manuscript in Europe. a little praverbookcopied in 1529 (unpublished).

2'This happens. for instance, in MHZ, p. 44.23Other forms of suppression occur. however. as

we shall see. Macuch, struggling with Haiuna's ap-pearance. decides that her husband, Bayan. must bedead, otherwise hi.s name, not hers, would be listed:see his, "Anfange der Mandaer." in E Altheim and R.Stiehl. eds.. Die Amber in der alien Welt. vol. 2

(Berlin. 1965), pp. 76-190. But Bayan is a rarely at-tested form of the name of Haiuna's son Bainai, and inno way can he be construed as her husband. Bainai'sfather is Zakia, who may well be Haiuna's husband.

24 ('P facsimile. p. 120.An added difficulty in dealing with Mandaean

names is that everyone, even today, has a baptismal

name and an official, "secular," name.26 And also attested in Drower. Sarh d-Qabind'Sis`lam Rba: Explanatory Commentary on the Mar-riage-Ceremomv of the Great Siloam, Biblica et Orien-talia 12 (Rome, 1950) (hereafter Sarh d-Qabin).

27 DC (=Drower Collection in the Bodleian Library)12: Pasar Har.sia (The Exorcism of Wi,t:arils) remainsunpublished.

'`

sThis first segment of CP covers prayers CP I--74,

which contains parts of the oldest liturgies. CP haseight colophons, indicating that eight discrete segmentsof the texts at some point existed in separate scrolls.


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98 JOURNALOF NEAREASTERN STUDIES

Soon after 1500-but possibly later---a woman copyist named Mariuaria daughter of Adam

Sapur son of Yahia Sapur and the well-known copyist Yahia Adam son of Yuhana Sitlan

copied one another's books. It is because of Yuhana Sitlan, who can be dated with certainty to

1480,2" that Mariuaria may be placed (approximately) in time. She appears in a priestly

lineage, which indicates her status, and she is not identified by a ma,chuta name. In DC 42'sversion of the Abahatan,'n in its list ofganzibras, the ganzibra Adam Zakia son of Mariuaria is

mentioned. He may very well be this same Mariuaria's son. I suggest this connection because

her name is highly unusual.

Mariuaria also occurs in the Mandaean collection of prayers in de Morgans "The Book of

Souls"" colophon (a colophon that follows CP), and she may be the woman for whom DC 37,

Santa d-Masihfan Rba The scroll of the great overthrower),''- was originally writ-ten. This

exorcism, which has only three copyist lineages. was last transcribed in 1861 by Yahia

Bihram son of Adam Yuhana.' The document ends with the statement that it was written for

the "pure cloud'" Mariuaria daughter of Saria Yasmin and that the exorcism was found in a

book belonging to a man named Adam son of Hawa. Because these two in-stances give onlymasbuia names, it is difficult to know whether this is the same Mariuaria. As noted, there are

only a few lineages in this document. It is not unlikely that DC 37 originated with Adam, who

perhaps was Mariuaria's father. As we have seen in the colophon of CP I, his full name is

Adam Sapur.

During the early Islamiic period-an age of text consolidation" _____at the time when the

copyist Nukraia son of Sitil made use of seven copies of the `Book of Souls." three women's

names occur in colophon I of CP. One is Sadia, who owned a scroll copy used by Brik

Manda. Corruptions in the text appear at this point, but it is possible that the nearby-

mentioned Harmuz, next to the scroll owner Sadia, is a son of Dukt (which is a woman's

name), Soon after the enumeration of the owners of the seven copies consulted by Nukraia,the name Sabur son ofDukt, shows up. He cones from the land of "Masian IMesene), which

is in the land ofBurka" (the latter may refer to a bend in a rived.' In any case, it is striking that

two men here are designated as sons of Dukt and that they are listed in a normal initiand

relationship to her. I do not take these to be ina.ybuta designations. for these do not appear in

this part ofCP's colophon I. Thus, Dukt may well be a priest with two initiates: Harmuz and

Sabur"Among the seven manuscripts that Nukraia examined, the sixth was owned by Faruk son

of Marspindu Abuzdagad, the second woman's name in CP's colophon 1 at Nukraia's time.

Significantly, Faruk was listed as Marspindu's initiate. Her full name was given, which is

unusual.

Colophons 2 and 3 in CP have a clustering of women who may be dated to the early eigh-

teenth century. The first one is Mudalal daughter of Dihdar Salim son of Dihdar Ganim, of

29 See my "The Colophons in The 0mon calProverbook," p. 37.

zit Bodleian's Sur -h d-Thuhuta(unpublished).

t One of the four texts in J. de Morgan. Mission

scientific/he en Perse, Vol. 5, Etudes Lirtguistiques. Scrie

2. Textes mandaites (Park. 1904).32 Unpublished.

For the heroic scribe Yahia Bihram, son of Adam

Yuhana, see my study. 'Glimpses of a Life: YahiaBihram, Mandaean Priest:' Hrstai_cofReligions 39

(1999); 32-49.

3a See the views of Macuch, "Anfange der Mandaer,"

pp. 159-65. and K. Rudolph. "Quellenprobleme zutn

Ursprung and Alter der Mandaer. in J. Neusner, ed.,Christianity, Judaism, and Other Greco-Roman Cults:

Studies for Morton Smith atSoils(Leiden, 1975 Vol. 4,

pp. 112-42, especially pp. 125, 139-42.

35 Today, modern Mandaeans often refer to the town

of Amara and its surroundings at "Misan." In-deed, theTigris makes a noticeable bend here.


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1 0 0 J O U R N A L O F N E A R E A S T E RN S T U D I E S

manuscript A is Adam Zihrun son of Bihram Sitlan, who copied Marsh. 691 one hundred

years earlier.

JB was copied repeatedly, by the same scribes, during a relatively short period during

Yasmin Mudalal's lifetime, which makes it difficult to place her in history. A T . in the DC 36

manuscript,' seems to be a safer source for Yasmin Mudalal in the attempt to place her in

time. I would put her in the early sixteenth century. It is possible that her father is identical tothe copyist mentioned above, (Adam) Bihram son of Adam Zarzuia,' 4 who copied from his

mother's. i.e., Sarat Yasmin's text, according to CP's colophon 2, mentioned above. If this is

the case, we have an example of a male copyist whose mother and daughter were priests and

copyists. This almost suggests a family tradition. The daughter, Yasmin Mudalal, was the

wife of a well-known gau:ibro, who obviously had no objections to female priests. When

Mhatam Zihrun copied MS A of ./B, he said that he used the book belonging to "his pure

s p o u s e . ' She may well have brought this book from her father's house as part of her dowry,

or she may have copied it herself.

When Ram Yuhana son of R a m ' copied DC 30 in 1752, a ,/B manuscript bought by

Drower in 1937, he transcribed the text for the benefit of a pious woman named Mamania

daughter of `Atr Maysud. She is mentioned in a priestly lineage, which perhaps is anindication of her status. I have not encountered her in other colophons.

Two other, though unnamed, women are mentioned in JB. The first one appears two

scribal generations after Yasmin Mudalal. Yasmin Mudalal's hook was copied from one

owned by Yahia son of Bihram, of the clan Gadana, and Yahia had made his copy on the

basis of one owned by his own mother. The second unnamed woman, too, is indicated as a

mother, and she appears in MS B ofJB, a couple of generations after Yasmin Mudalal. This

woman seems to have been the mother of Baktiar Tilidia. who, together with his mother,

appears as the book's owner."

Colophon 2 of CP ends with the mention of the ethnarch Haiuna. who is the only woman

copyist in colophons 3 and 4 of CP, as well as in 7 and K The prayers in these last twocolophons are identical to prayers found in earlier parts of CP. Colophon 3 ends with the

often encountered 'Qaiam son of Zindana. All of Zindana's three sons/initiates are consis-

tently named in relationship to her and not to a man. The three male copyists and priests

appeared during the early ninth century. when nursbrrta names seemed to be uncommon in

colophons, so one may assume that Zindana was a priest. I have not, however, found her

attested as a copyist. A great-grandson of Zindana, Ram Zihrun Bihdad. is mentioned as a

scribe in CP's colophon 3, and he used a scroll owned by Qaiam son of Zindana.

Early scribal luminaries such as Ramuia, Sganda, and Zazai of Gawaz.ta14 are often re-

ferred to in relationship to both parents. Still, these ethnarchs seen to he initiated by men, and

the urasbuto designations may simply imply a type of double designation.5" But Qaiam son of

Sarat, who appears early in the postscript of CP's first colophon, is placed only in

13 One ofthe manuscripts used by Drower; the otherone is DC 6.

94 The name is slightly garbled but in a manner con-sistent with other compressions of names in colophons.

JB. p. 282.

' Ram Yuhana also copied DC 42. which contains aversion of the intercession prayer for the dead (see n. 17above).

r'Yet another spelling for us!cul, "craftsman.

7"See Lidzharski,JR_pp. 282 and 289 (the two ref-

erences show inconsistencies).

49 Famous, earl\men ofMandaeism. found very

frequently.~~ I do not have a Firm opinion on this matter yet.


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relation to her, not to a father. `Qaiam appears three lineages earlier than Ramuia, i.e.,

probably in the sixth century. `Qaiam is mentioned in the following context:

.. . Anus Alaha copied from the diwan of `Qaiam son ofarat, and `Qaiam copied from Qai(u)ma

son of Brik-Alaha, and Qaiuma copied f rom Sganda son of Ya sm in . . . . 5

Note that in this list only the middle scribe, Qaiuma, appears linked to his father/initiator.

The two others are mentioned in relationship to their mothers. Both are early, frequently

occurring copyists, and they may have been initiated by their mothers, though at this stage

of my research I hesitate to make that conclusion.

I V . WOMEN INTHE G1NZA

No woman copyist appears in the first of the seven colophons of the Paris Ginzamanu-

scripts.52 The only woman's name here is Zindana, who is consistently invoked in relation-

ship to her son `Qaiam, who is familiar as aGinzacopyist. GL'scolophons, which in all GLmanuscripts are nearly identical to one another beyond a certain point because they cohere

at the end, all have lama daughter of Qidra, as the last copyist. This woman is the earliest-

named copyist in Mandaeism, male or female. She lived earlier than Zazai of Gawazta,

who can be dated to ca. 270.

All GLcolophons that I have seen, however, consistently avoid making S 'lama the last

copyist by using the phrase: "the father of 'lama daughter of Qidra." But the father is

never named. This suspect circumlocution is unusual enough to warrant the conclusion

that the presence of a woman copyist as the most ancestral had to be "explained away."

Several Mandaean colophons tend to list Lightworld beings (i.e., nonhumans) as copyists in

the generations before Zazai of Gawazta, for instance, Manda d-Hiia and the First Life. This

serves to cement the status of the earliest copyists, of course, showing that the text

ultimately derives from the Lightworld. But GL's colophons have no such Lightworld

figures, only human ones."

Another early female copyist in the GLlist is Miriai daughter of Simat, probably named

for the Mandaean ancestral heroine Miriai mother of Jesus.5" A priest-lineage relationship

may be present here, for no scribes in GL'scolophon seem to be given mashtitanames. In

Hunt. 6,55 Miriai shows up as copyist without parental/initiator designation. She was the

immediate predecessor to Qaiam son of Zindana, and he copied from a sapta (scroll)

owned by Miriai. She, in turn copied from Sam son of Sakara son of Zakia, who copied

from Ruzba son of Hawa. A male scribe who apparently had a female initiator at this early

stage of the colophon is significant.

At some point in the 17 00 s- t he exact date is era se d- Ya hi a Bihram son of Adam, copied

Paris manuscript D of the Ginzafor the benefit of craftsman `Abadala son of Nasim. YahiaBihram worked from a hook owned by Badriiah, a "pure cloud," whose lineage

51 See CP, p. 71. with my emendation.52 For details on the Ginzacolophons, their scribes.

and the datability of some scribes, see my "The Colo-phons in H. Petermann's Ginza Rabba."

53 Paris manuscript D's GL colophon is cut off afterthe eighth lineage.54 For the figure of Miriai. see my "The Mandaean

Appropriation of Jesus' Mother. Miriai;' Norum Testa-mentum 35(1993): 181-96.

5 5 Hunt. 6 isan enormous, archaic-looking, unpub-lished codex in the Bodleian, and it is dated to 1615. To

my knowledge, it has never been studied by scholars.It appears to be a Ginza, but further research is neces-sary in order to determine this.


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102 JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

consists of a list of men numbering between ten and thirteen names. s" I have not encoun-

tered her except in this manuscript.

Hawa daughter of Yuhana (or Yahia) Zakia is consistently listed as editor of the scrolls

included in colophons 4. 5, and 6 in all four Paris manuscripts of GR.' The verb "sheassembled" is used in connection with her, and it testifies to her editorial abilities. The

frequently encountered copyist Bayan son of Adam Supartaiia made use of her copies. 5s Incolophon 3 of MS C, it seems that she copies the text for the salvific benefit of her brother.

Yuhana Dihdar son of Anus Mu`alia.' This priest, Yuhana Dihdar, is one of the true

luminaries in Mandaean priestly history, a man who had many priest-initiates.

The last copyist of colophons 5 and 6 is Yahia Sam son of Sarwan, and in a private Ginzalocated in Flushing, New York,'" colophon 6. and in the manuscript Hunt. 6 an odd cir-

cumlocution occurs: `"the father of the daughter of Yahia Sam son of Sarwan." Because the

immediate copying successor is the female book owner and copyist Sadia Mamania daughter

of Hibil son of Anus son of Bihram Sitil, it may be that Sadia Mamania was the daughter. If

so, her initiator was not the same man as her bloodline father, who belonged to a different

lineage. Sadia Mamania is attested in several other Ginzamanuscripts as well.

In addition to the above-mentioned Hawa daughter of Yuhana, another Hawa, a daughterof Nukraia, is found in Ginzacolophon 3 in all four Paris manuscripts. She also turns up in

the two San Diego, California Ginzas'' and in a colophon in Hunt. 6. Hawa daughter of

Nukraia was the third to the last copyist ofGR15 and belongs to early Islamic times. This

colophon ends with cQaiam, son of Zindana. There can be no doubt about Hawa's priestly

status. Paris manuscripts C and D say that the scribe Zakia-who lacks any named initiator

_________ uses her copy (Hawa may have been his init iator).

DC 22, a well-preserved Ginza"' copied in 1831 by Ram Zihrun son of Bihram Sam,

testifies to four other women. Ram Zihrun transcribed this Ginza for Anhar daughter of

Sarat Simat and Dihdar Karam. Her given name was Za cripa. A long lineage of male names

was connected to Dihdar Karam's name, and I do not assign priestly status to Anhar, who in

the context clearly is a beneficiary. Her masbuta name appears along with that of her

father, but she was not attested as hook owner or as scribe. As a beneficiary, she paid for

the scribal services rendered, as was customary. According to Ram Yuhana's statement in his

introductory remarks to his GL colophon, Anhar gave plentiful offerings for the scribe's

task.

Unlike Anhar, an unmistakable female book owner and priest, who lived ca. 1700, is

found in the first colophon of DC 22. She was Mamul Dihgan," daughter of the craftsman

Bihram son of Mansur. "A `pure cloud', pious and proper, who stretched out her hand for

tarmidasand ganzibros,"Mamul Dihgan is attested as a scribe in the San Diego Ginzasand

in the Flushing Ginza. Ram Yuhana son of Ram, the scribe of DC 30 (JB), is datable to1733, and he appeared there as having used Mamul Dihgan's copy ofJB. In DC 22, unlike

in DC 30, an additional scribal link comes between Ram Yuhana and Mamul Dihgan.

st ' There are variations in the colophons regardingBadriiah's lineage.

She is, however, left out of MS C. colophon 5. 5s InHunt. 6. one other lineage intervenes between Hawa

and Bayan.59 The text seems corrupt here, however, as this is

one of the instances in which the verb "assembled."

usually occurring in connection with Hawa, is used inthe masculine form.

no In care of Nasser Sobbi.t" I Owned by Lamea Abbas Amara.

62 In the Bodleian Library.a3 In DC 22 she is referred to only as "Dihgan."


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Her direct predecessor is another female scribe, Yasmin Bana "daughter of a father of

ganzibras, Yahia Bihram." One of the California Ginzasstates that Yasmin Bana ownedone of the copies used by Mamul Dihgan to transcribe that Ginza. Yasmin Bana appears inits colophon 3 and in the first colophon of DC 22. She belonged in a long, illustrious

lineage of priests. Her father/initiator Yahia Bihram was one of the scribes of ATS, CP,

and Marsh. 691 and can be dated to ca. 1440. Yahia Bihram held ganzibra status, as didthe next two men in the scribal line.

In his first colophon in DC 22, the scribe Ram Zihrun (mentioned above) says that his

father, Bihram S a m - o n whose Ginzacopy Ram Zihrun relied-transcribed the text for a

woman, Hida Harbuiah daughter of Mahnus and `Ardabara. She bore the nickname Kasla,

"jewel." In the next two colophons, however, and in his GLcolophon, Ram Zihrun revealed

that his father copied these parts of the Ginzafor the benefit of Mamania daughter of Hawa

Mamania and of custadSabarah. 6a Because of their designations, I consider neither of the se

two female beneficiaries to be priests.

But somewhat earlier in the scribal lineage, a woman book owner by the name of Hawa

Simat daughter of Adam appears. She lived in about 1700, and she occurs in all the colo-phons of DC 22's, except the first. 65 The much earlier Hawa daughter of Yahia Zakia-the

woman scribe met before and consistently called "gatherer," i.e., "editor"-appears in col-

ophon 3 of DC 22 as she does in all the Ginzas. Sadia Mamania daughter of Hibil-also

seen bef ore -ap pea rs as scribe in her usual spot in colophon 5. The female scribes towards

the end of the GLcolophon of DC 22 consistently follow the same pattern as in other copies

of the text that I have examined.

None of the female beneficiaries of the 1880 San Diego Ginza appear to be priests.Here, the beneficiary of the first copied section, i.e., GR1-13,66 is Maliha, also calledParha,67 daughter of Hawa, while the rest of this Ginzawas copied for the benefit of Hawadaughter of Simat and of Pras.

It is only for the first part of the Ginza that the scribe Sheikh Idan used Ram Zihrun'scopy, and Ram Zihrun himself transcribed histext for a woman, Sarat Simat, with the givenname Zacripa, daughter of Hawa and Sheikh `Aziz. She may very well have been the mother

of the woman for whom Ram Zihrun copied DC 22 (see above). The women have different

lineages, but both bore the same given name, Za cripa. As already noted, the priestly scribes

Mamul Dihgan and Yasmin Bana figure prominently later on in this Ginza'slineages, asthey also do in DC 22.

The Flushing Ginza was copied in 1928 by Sheikh Abdullah son of Sam of Baghdad,who died in 1981, and was based on a copy owned by Bihram son of Ram Zihrun. Bihram is

the scribe of DC 40: The Exorcism of Salt,65which he had copied in 1831. Both of thesetexts, the Ginza and DC 40. were copied for the salvific benefit of specifically namedwomen. Bihram based his work on a scroll owned by Bibia Mudalal, his initiator's wife

and perhaps Bihram's own mother.69 Bibia Mudalal occurs in the Flushing Ginza in thesame manner as she does in other colophons, as a scribe and a book owner. Later on in the

64 It is not unusual to copy separate parts of a very 67 Perhaps "money."

larQe text, such as the Ginza, for different clients. 68This little scroll. Pasar Mihla, DC 40 in the

35The last of the GR colophons in DC 22 is lack- Bodleian, remains unpublished and untranslated.ing, or I may inadvertently have overlooked it. 69 See my "Glimpses of a Life," for the family rela-

66 GR has eighteen separate parts, whereas GL is tionships here.made up of three "books."


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same scribal lineage, the names of Mamul Dihgan and Yasmin Bana appear, familiar from

DC 22 and from the San Diego Ginzas. The only new woman in the Flushing Ginza is the

beneficiary ofGL, and her nickname is Kaspa, "silver."

There is another New York Ginza, on Long Island in New York, dating from 1937 or

1940.70 The copyist Yahia Ram Zihrun son of Zakia Zihrun is fifty-two years old. he writes,

and his beneficiary is a woman, Hawa Simat, also known as Mkafat (or Mkafaf ) daughter

of Sahaib." As no woman priests have existed in the current century. she is not a priest.

Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that Yahia Ram Zihrun would have copied for the benefit

of a woman long since deceased. He conducted his work on the basis of the book of Haa gia

daughter of Safel, whose lineage is very long and consists almost entirely of secular names.

Her name is not attested elsewhere, and I doubt that she was a priest. But Haa gia's copy was

based on Bibia Mudalal's Ginza.

In the list of names in the Long Island Ginza, there is a large gap for approximately

sixteen lineages, but what we do have is consistent with the other Ginzas. In the second

colophon of this Ginza, Mamul Dihgan and Yasmin Bana are left out and Bibia Mudalal is

said to have copied this part of the Ginza, i.e., GR 14, though she is omitted in colophon 3.Additional discrepancies occur in this codex.

Bibia Mudalal surfaces later, in GL's colophon as well. She seems to have had at least

one namesake, since the mother of Sam Bihram, Bibia's father-in-law, a woman who may

well be Bibia's own grandmother, bore the same name. It appears that we have a family

tradition. Through her marriage to her cousin Ram Zihrun, Bibia Mudalal entered into the

Buhair, 'Aziz, and Kuhailia clans, while her own father's families were on his mother's side.

Kamisia and on his father's Rig Draz." All five are well-known priestly clans. Bibia Mudalal

was a cholera survivor along with her brother Yahia Bihram and her cousin/ husband Ram

Zihrun. It is possible that she was made a priest soon after the 1831 epidemic. as the otherswere. Her lineage is identical to her brother's."

V. CONCLUSION

So far, I have found about thirty women priests in Mandaeism. Admittedly, some are only

tentatively identified as priests. My first evidence was drawn from the prayer CP170. The two

female ganzibras listed there. Hawa and Anhar Kumraita, can be dated to ca. 700. Haiuna, theonly woman in the roster of nine ethnarchs in this prayer, is attested in many colophons.

She lived in early Islamic times, though later than the two ganzibras, it seems.Lamea Abbas Amara's grandfather remembered having heard that there had been women

priests, and that may explain the existence of names I have found in colophons, especiallyduring the time of women such as Bibia Mudalal. Mamul Dihgan and Yasmin Bana

belonged to a slightly earlier period. It seems that women priests tended not to be clustered

in certain historical periods. But in the early Islamic period, women luminaries such as

Haiuna especially stand out. The very early women copyists, especially in GL, indicate thatwomen held priestly office in the most ancient, pre-Islamic times, perhaps even before the

third century.

The dating is inconsistent. the moment. the list contains nearly eighty names.71 She is described as "free from menstruation." 73 Again, see my article. "Glimpses of a Life" for

Elsewhere. still part of research in progress. 1 information about these persons.have a list of Mandaean copyist-priest clan names. At


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One might add as possible evidence for the existence of female priests the intriguing tra-

dition of Miriai, Jesus' mother and a Mandaean female community-consolidating figure,

who rescued the Mandaeans from persecution in Jerusalem and became the focal point for the

community in the East. In JB'scentral story about Miriai,74 she is portrayed as a majestic

leader of the people and, most strikingly, in the role of a priest. But since this presumablyquite late text is mythological and legendary, it is exceedingly difficult to discern what sort

of historical kernel lies hidden behind the Miriai stories. Still, if there is a historical nugget

in the Miriai traditions, one might consider the possibility that the Mandaean tolerance for

women as community leaders might have contributed to the hostile climate within sectarian

Judaism/Gnosticism in the earliest years of Mandaean religion. For other forms of Judaism

may not have been so willing to accept women priests. If the issue of women priests indeed

forms part of the "Miriai-as-leader-of-the-people" emigration legend, a more secure his-

torical footing may be found. In any case, the women's names in the colophon material and

in CP 170 yield substantial, historical material.A list of the thirty-two women that I have found so far, with the texts in which their

names occur, follow below. Women who are attested only as beneficiaries of copied texts or

who otherwise cannot be given priestly status are not included. The women are listed in

approximate chronological groupings.

A. Before 270:lama daughter of Qidra: earliest attested scribe, copyist ofGL.

B. Ca. 300 to 638:Yasmin mother of 'ganda, ATS, DMCL, MHZ, CP, ZRK, Marsh. 691(ca. 430); Hawa mother of Ruzba. GL(f if th century); 'arat mother of cQaiam, CP (sixthcentury); Miriai daughter of Simat, GL(mid-sixth century); Hawa daughter of Nukraia, GRand Hunt. 6 (seventh century). 75

C. Early Islamic Period: the two gan;ibras:Hawa daughter of cDaiia and Anhar Kum-

raita daughter of Simat, CP 170 (ca. 700); the ethnarch Haiuna daughter of Tihwia andYahia, CP 170, AT, ARZ, CP, MHZ, Sari: d-Qabin, Bodleian's MS Asiat. Misc. C12 (eighth

century) ; ' ad ia , CP; Dukt. CP; Marspindu Abuzdaqad (mother of Faruk, manuscript

owner); Zindana mother of three initiates: cQaiam, Yuhana, and Bayan Hibil cQaiam, CP(early ninth century).

D. Late Thirteenth Century: Hawa daughter of Yahia/Yuhana Zakia,76 GR;Sadia Ma-mania daughter, i.e., initiate of Hibil but bloodline daughter of Yahia Sam son of Sarwan,

GRand Bodleian's Hunt. 6.

E. Fourteenth-Fifteenth Centuries: 'arat Yasmin daughter of Zakia, CP and HawaMahnus daughter of Yahia, CP; Yasmin Mudalal daughter of Adam Bihram and wife of

Mhatam Zihrun, of the clan Kuhailia, JB'sParis manuscript A and Hunt. 71 (another JBMS) (ca. 1500)."

F. Ca. 1500-1700:Mamul Dihgan daughter of Bihram (ca. 1700), GR, JB;Yasmin Bana

daughter of Yahia Bihram, GR;'a ha daughter of `Aziz Sakma, CP; Mariuaria

74 See my study, The Mandaean Appropriation of 76 Her father's name is inconsistent, wavering be- Jesus' Mother, Miriai." tween Yahia and Yuhana.

Hawa isacontemporary ofBayan Hibil, sonofBrik 77 Yasmin Mudalal is difficult to place in time; sheYawar; for more about him, see "The Colophons in The may have lived earlier, but the information from ATS

Canonical Praverbookofthe Mandaeans," pp . 38-39. seems more reliable to me.


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daughter of Adam Sapur, CP, de Morgan's liturgy collection "The Book of Souls," and

possible first beneficiary of the document DC 37: "The Scroll of the Great Overthrower"; two

anonymous women: (1) the mother of Yahia and (2) the mother of Baktiar Tilidia, both JB;

Badriiah daughter of Suras, manuscript owner, Ginza; Hawa Simat daughter of Adam, Ginza.

G. Eighteenth Century: Anhar daughter of arat, CP; Hawa Simat daughter of Adam;

Mudalal and Kiria daughters of Dihdar Salim, CP; anonymous "pure cloud," daughter of

Dihdar, of the clancAziz, CP.

H. 1831-Present: Bibia Mudalal sister of Yahia Bihram wife of Ram Zihrun. Ginza.'

A preliminary perusal of new women's names in daean female priests appear to have existed. I do not

other Mandaean colophons reveals that more Man- have firm research results yet.