Ginza Rba

The Ginza Rabba ( myz, ࡂࡉࡍࡆࡀ ࡓࡁࡀ, translit=Ginzā Rbā, lit=Great Treasury), Ginza Rba, or Sidra Rabba ( myz, ࡎࡉࡃࡓࡀ ࡓࡁࡀ, translit=Sidrā Rbā, lit=Great Book), and formerly the Codex Nasaraeus, is the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. It is also occasionally referred to as the Book of Adam.

Language, dating and authorship

The language used is Classical Mandaic, a variety of Eastern Aramaic written in the Mandaic script (Parthian chancellory script), similar to the Syriac script. The authorship is unknown, and dating is a matter of debate. Some scholars place it in the 2nd–3rd centuries,Drower, Ethel Stefana (1937). The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran. Oxford At The Clarendon Press. while others such as S. F. Dunlap place it in the 1st century.

The earliest confirmed Mandaean scribe was ''Shlama Beth Qidra'', a woman, who copied the ''Left Ginza'' sometime around the year 200 CE. Mandaean religious texts may have been originally orally transmitted before being written down by scribes, making dating and authorship difficult.

Structure

The ''Ginza Rabba'' is divided into two parts – the Right Ginza, containing 18 books, and the Left Ginza, containing 3 books. In Mandaic studies, the Right Ginza is commonly abbreviated as ''GR'', while the Left Ginza is commonly abbreviated as ''GL''. Alternatively, sometimes the Right Ginza is abbreviated as ''GY'' after the Mandaic ''Ginza Yamin'', while the Left Ginza is commonly abbreviated as ''GS'' after the Mandaic ''Ginza Smal''.

Ginza Rabba codices traditionally contain the Right Ginza on one side, and, when turned upside-down and back to front, contain the Left Ginza (the Left Ginza is also called "The Book of the Dead"). The Right Ginza part of the ''Ginza Rabba'' contains sections dealing with theology, creation, ethics, historical, and mythical narratives; its six colophons reveal that it was last redacted in the early Islamic Era. The Left Ginza section of ''Ginza Rabba'' deals with man's soul in the afterlife; its colophon reveals that it was redacted for the last time hundreds of years before the Islamic Era.Häberl, Charles G. (2007).
Introduction to the New Edition, in The Great Treasure of the Mandaeans, a new edition of J. Heinrich Petermann's Thesaurus s. Liber Magni, with a new introduction and a translation of the original preface by Charles G. Häberl
'. Gorgias Press, LLC.

There are various manuscript versions that differ from each other. The versions order chapters differently from each other, and textual content also differs.

Contents

The Ginza Rabba is a compilation of various oral teachings and written texts, most predating their editing into the two volumes. It includes literature on a wide variety of topics, including liturgy and hymns, theological texts, didactic texts, as well as both religious and secular poetry.

For a comprehensive listing of summaries of each chapter in the Ginza Rabba, see the articles Right Ginza and Left Ginza.

Manuscript versions

Manuscript versions of the ''Ginza'' include the following. Two are held in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, three in the British Library in London, four in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, and others are in private ownership.

*Bodleian Library manuscripts
** DC 22
**Huntington Ms. 6
*British Library manuscripts catalogued under the same title, ''Liber Adami Mendaice''
**Add. 23,599
**Add. 23,600
**Add. 23,601
*Paris manuscripts, Bibliothèque nationale de France (consulted by Lidzbarski for his 1925 German translation)
**Paris Ms. A
**Paris Ms. B (also called the "Norberg version," since it was used by Norberg during the early 1800s)
**Paris Ms. C
**Paris Ms. D

For his 1925 German translation of the ''Ginza'', Lidzbarski also consulted other ''Ginza'' manuscripts that were held at Leiden and Munich.

Buckley has also found ''Ginza'' manuscripts that are privately held by Mandaeans in the United States (two in San Diego, California belonging to Lamea Abbas Amara; one in Flushing, New York belonging to Nasser Sobbi; and one in Lake Grove, New York belonging to Mamoon Aldulaimi, originally given to him by Sheikh Abdullah, son of Sheikh Negm). A version of the ''Ginza'' by Mhatam Yuhana was also used by Gelbert in his 2011 English translation of the ''Ginza''. Another manuscript known to Gelbert is a privately owned ''Ginza'' manuscript in Ahvaz belonging to Shaikh Abdullah Khaffaji, the grandson of Ram Zihrun.

Printed versions of the ''Ginza'' in Mandaic include:
*Norberg version (Mandaic): A printed ''Ginza'' in Mandaic was published by Matthias Norberg in 1816.
*Petermann version (Mandaic): A printed ''Ginza'' in Mandaic was published by Julius Heinrich Petermann was first printed by the Mandaean community in Sydney, Australia in 1998. At present, there are two published Mandaic-language editions of the Ginza published by Mandaeans themselves.
*Gelbert version (Mandaic, in Arabic script): The full Mhatam Yuhana ''Ginza'' manuscript from Ahvaz, Iran was transcribed in Arabic script by Carlos Gelbert in 2021. As the fourth edition of the Gelbert's Arabic ''Ginza'', Gelbert (2021) contains an Arabic translation side by side with the Mandaic transcription.
*Al-Sabti version (Mandaic): In 2022, Rabi Rafid Al-Sabti published a printed Mandaic version of the ''Ginza Rabba'' based on a comparison of 22 manuscripts.

Translations

Notable translations and printed versions of the ''Ginza Rabba'' include:

*Norberg version (Latin): From 1815 to 1816, Matthias Norberg published a Latin translation of the ''Ginza Rabba'', titled ''Codex Nasaraeus liber Adami appellatus'' (3 volumes). The original Mandaic text was also printed alongside the Latin translation.Norberg, Matthias. ''Codex Nasaraeus Liber Adami appellatus''. 3 vols. London, 1815–16.
*Petermann version (Latin): In 1867, Julius Heinrich Petermann

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