Krun (; myz, ࡊࡓࡅࡍ) or Akrun () is a

Mandaean Mandaeans ( ar, المندائيون ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. They ...

lord of the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

. According to

Mandaean cosmology Mandaean cosmology is the Gnostic conception of the universe in the religion of Mandaeism. Mandaean cosmology is strongly influenced by Jewish, Babylonian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, Manichaean and other Near Eastern religions and philosophies. E ...

, he dwells in the lowest depths of creation, supporting the entirety of the physical world.

In mythology

Krun is the greatest of the five Mandaean lords of the

, the others being

Shdum In Mandaeism, Shdum (Šdum) ( myz, ࡔࡃࡅࡌ) or Ashdum (Ašdum) is a demon in the World of Darkness (''alma ḏ-hšuka'') or underworld. Hibil Ziwa encounters Shdum during his descent to the World of Darkness in Chapter 1 of Book 5 in the ''R ...

Hag HAG is a Swiss maker of model trains. The company was founded by Hugo and Alwin Gahler on 1 April 1944 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The Gahler brothers originally manufactured model trains in O scale but due to competition, particularly by Märk ...

Gaf GAF may refer to: Military * General of the Air Force, US * Ghana Armed Forces * Guardia alla Frontiera, Italy Other uses * Gaf, a Perso-Arabic letter * Gaf (Mandaeism), a demon of the Mandaean underworld * GAF Materials Corporation, an Americ ...

, and

Zartai-Zartanai In Mandaeism, Zartai-Zartanai ( myz, ࡆࡀࡓࡕࡀࡉ ࡅࡆࡀࡓࡕࡀࡍࡀࡉ) is a demon in the World of Darkness (''alma ḏ-hšuka'') or underworld. Hibil Ziwa encounters Zartai-Zartanai during his descent to the World of Darkness in Chap ...

, according to the 5th book of the right half of the ''Great Treasure'' (''

Ginza Rabba 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 ...

'') of the Mandaeans, their most sacred text. He is represented by the image of a lion on the ''

skandola The skandola (literally meaning "dwelling of evil") is a ritual talismanic seal used by Mandaeans to protect against evil. Description The skandola is an iron ring with a chain attached to an iron knife. It is used as a sacred talismanic seal. ...

'' talisman, which is used to seal the graves of the newly dead. The epithet most frequently associated with him is ṭura rba ḏ-bisra, "the great mountain of flesh."Drower (1937), p. 270.

In astronomy

The Mandaean community of Iraq and Iran is one of the few communities from the Middle East that still preserve the ancient

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

n tradition of divination by the stars and heavenly bodies (

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...

), directly from its source, even retaining the traditional

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

names for the stars and the visible planets. Despite this unique distinction, the Mandaeans had previously been unrepresented in astronomical place-names. Starting March 20, 2015, the Search for Extraterrestrial Life solicited names, and votes on names, from the interested public for the features of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

and its satellites, which had yet to be documented.

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

professor

Charles G. Häberl Charles G. Häberl (born 1976 in New Jersey, United States) is an American religious studies scholar, linguist, and professor. He is currently Professor of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures ( AMESALL) and Religion ...

initiated a social media campaign, "Vote Krun," to recognize the Mandaeans by bestowing a

Mandaic Mandaic may refer to: * Mandaic language * Mandaic alphabet ** Mandaic (Unicode block) Mandaic is a Unicode block containing characters of the Mandaic script used for writing the historic Eastern Aramaic, also called Classical Mandaic, and the m ...

name upon one such feature. The Vote Krun campaign noted that since the time of

Percival Lowell Percival Lowell (; March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, and furthered theories of a ninth planet within the Solar System. ...

and

Clyde Tombaugh Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer. He discovered Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. At the time of discovery, Pluto was cons ...

, heavenly cosmography had expanded beyond names from Greco-Roman antiquity to the celebrated figures of many cultures and traditions, but not yet the Mandaeans. A dark region along the equator of the dwarf planet Pluto, immediately to the right of the large bright feature

Tombaugh Regio Tombaugh Regio () is the largest bright surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto. It is just north of the equator, to the northeast of Cthulhu Macula and to the northwest of Krun Macula, which are both dark features. Its western lobe, a -wide p ...

, has been named "Krun Macula" by NASA scientists. In real-color images, Krun Macula appears as a dark red patch.

Notes

Sources

* {{Mandaeism footer Demons in Mandaeism Giants

In mythology

In astronomy

See also

Notes

Sources