''The Baptism of Hibil Ziwa'' or ''Diwan Maṣbuta ḏ-Hibil Ziwa'' (, "Scroll of the Baptism of Hibil Ziwa") is a Mandaean illustrated scroll. It describes the

soteriological Soteriology (; ' "salvation" from σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religions. In the academic ...

descent of

Hibil Ziwa In Mandaeism, Hibil () and/or Hibil Ziwa () and sometimes pronounced Hīwel is referred to an uthra ("excellency", an angel or guardian) from the World of Light or the son of Adam (then; only referred as Hibil). Hibil, the man, is considered to b ...

to the

World of Darkness ''World of Darkness'' is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Werewolf: The Apocaly ...

, and his

baptisms Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

before and after. The scroll is essentially also a commentary on the ''

masbuta Maṣbuta (; pronounced ''maṣwottā'' in Neo-Mandaic) is the ritual of immersion in water in the Mandaean religion. Overview Mandaeans revere John the Baptist and practice frequent baptism (''masbuta'') as ritual purification, not of initia ...

'', or Mandaean ritual baptism. The scroll is lavishly illustrated, showing figures of dozens of

uthra An uthra or ʿutra (, Neo-Mandaic ''oṯrɔ'', traditionally transliterated ''eutra''; plural: ʿuthrē, traditionally transliterated ''eutria'') is a "divine messenger of the light" in Mandaeism. Charles G. Häberl and James F. McGrath transl ...

s and mythological creatures and realms.

Synopsis of narrative

The beginning of the text is missing, and the text as it exists opens with Yawar Hibil approaching the King of Light, who baptises him in 360 yardeni, clothes him in 360 robes of light, and bestows him with the Great Mystery, seven staves, and other attributes. Hibil is dispatched to the

, descends to confront and seal

Krun Krun (; ) or Akrun () is a Mandaean lord of the underworld. According to Mandaean cosmology, 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 lor ...

, and ascends to the world of Qin, where he secretly takes the mysteries of the jewel, mirror and bitter herb from Qin when she reveals them, and captures

Ruha Ruha (pronounced /ˈruːhə/) is a term with spiritual connotations found across various religious traditions. In Arabic, Ruh () signifies "spirit" or "soul" and is a fundamental concept in Islam, referring to the divine breath of life.Esposito, ...

, who is pregnant with Ur, also taking

Ptahil In Mandaeism, Ptahil () also known as Ptahil-Uthra (uthra, "angel, guardian"), is the Fourth Life, the third of three emanations from the First Life, Hayyi Rabbi, after Yushamin and Abatur. Ptahil-Uthra alone does not constitute the demiurge but ...

. He ascends further to the world of

Gaf Gaf (; ), is the name of different Perso-Arabic alphabet, Perso-Arabic letters, all representing . They are all derived from the letter Kaph, kāf, with additional diacritics, such as dots and lines. In name and shape, it is a variant of ''kaph ...

and offers prayers to the King of Light, who sends for

Manda d-Hayyi In Mandaeism, Manda d-Hayyi or Manda ḏ-Hiia () is an uthra (angel or guardian) sent by the Great Life ('' Hayyi Rabbi'', or the Transcendent God) as a messenger to John the Baptist. Manda d-Hayyi is considered to be the most important uthra, si ...

to send a Letter of Kushta and phial of oil to Hibil, which are received, but Hibil and his companions remain detained by the powers of darkness, until a

masiqta The masiqta () is a mass or ritual practiced in the Mandaean religion in order to help guide the soul ('' nišimta'') towards the World of Light in Mandaean cosmology. They are typically performed as funerary rites for Mandaeans who have just di ...

is performed, following which they ascend to the middle world, alarming the guards, in response to which the Great Mana dispatches

Yushamin In Mandaeism, Yushamin () and also known as the 'Second Life', is the primal uthra (angel or guardian) and a subservient emanation who was created by the Mandaean God 'The Great Life' (''Hayyi Rabbi'' or 'The First Life'), hence beginning the cre ...

, who interrogates Hibil's identity and permits him re-entry to the World of Light. The remainder of the text is a detailed ritual commentary and instruction on the 360-fold baptism performed on Hibil after returning, which is a form of baptism traditionally used to restore ritual purity to a priest.

Manuscripts and translations

The ''Diwan Masbuta d-Hibil Ziwa'' and the

Haran Gawaita The ''Haran Gawaita'' ( Mandaic: , meaning "Inner Harran" or "Inner Hauran"; Modern Mandaic: ''(Diwān) Harrān Gawāythā'') also known as the ''Scroll of Great Revelation'', is a Mandaean text which recounts the history of the Mandaeans as ...

were published, with English translation, by

E. S. Drower Ethel, Lady Drower ( Ethel May Stefana Stevens; 1 December 1879 – 27 January 1972) was a British cultural anthropologist, orientalist and novelist who studied the Middle East and its cultures.Christa Müller-Kessler, Drower ée Stevens Ethe ...

in 1953. Drower's translation was primarily based on manuscript 35 of the

Drower Collection This article contains a list of Mandaic manuscripts, which are almost entirely Mandaean religious texts written in Classical Mandaic. Well-known Mandaean texts include the ''Ginza Rabba'' (also known as the ''Sidra Rabbā''), the ''Mandaean B ...

(abbreviated DC 35), and includes an autobiographical appendix by

Yahya Bihram Yahya Bihram (also spelled Yahia Bihram; ) was a 19th-century Mandaean priest. Although initially a learned layman (''yalufa''), he became known for reviving the Mandaean priesthood after a cholera epidemic had killed all living Mandaean priest ...

following the final colophon. Portions of the text, including hymns, were also present in, and cross-referenced with, a related text in manuscript 50 (DC 50, '' Šarḥ ḏ-Maṣbuta Rabia''). A typesetted Mandaic version of DC 35 was published by

Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki Majid Fandi Al-Mubaraki () is an Iraqi-Australian writer and researcher based in the Sydney metropolitan area. He is known for his publications of Mandaic texts, including the Ginza Rba and Qulasta. Biography Al-Mubaraki is a Mandaean who wa ...

in 2002. BL Add. 23,602B, titled ''Kholasta sive liturgica Sabiorum Libri Joannis Fragmenta Mendaice'', is a book of fragments that was probably obtained by Colonel

John George Taylor John George Taylor (active 1851–1861; also known as J E Taylor and J G Taylor) was a British official of the Foreign Office, and also an important early archaeologist investigating the antiquities of the Middle East. He was one of the first arc ...

. It contains fragments of ''Maṣbuta ḏ-Hibil Ziua'' and ''

Alma Rišaia Rba '' Alma Rišaia Rba'' or ''Diwan Alma Rišaia Rabbā'' (, "The Great Supreme World" or "The Great First World") is a Mandaean religious text. The text is used for Mandaean priestly initiation ceremonies. It is written as a scroll and has numerou ...

''. MS RRC 2U, another manuscript version of ''Maṣbuta ḏ-Hibil Ziwa'', was copied in 1168 A.H. (1754–5 A.D.). DC 35 (from 1247 A.H. (1831–2 A.D.)) was copied from RRC 2U.Morgenstern, Matthew (2013)
New Manuscript Sources for the Study of Mandaic
. In: V. Golinets et. al (eds.), ''Neue Beiträge zur Semitistik. Sechstes Treffen der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Semitistik in der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft vom 09.–11. Februar 2013 in Heidelberg''. AOAT, Ugarit Verlag.

Parallels

The narrative portion of the text parallels book 5 of the

Right Ginza The Right Ginza () is one of the two parts of the Ginza Rabba, the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The other part of the Ginza Rabba is the Left Ginza. Summaries of each book (or tractate), based mostly on Häberl ( ...

, while book 4 includes a considerably shorter account of a baptism of Hibil,

Sheetil In Mandaeism, Shitil () is an uthra (angel or guardian) from the World of Light. Shitil is considered to be the Mandaean equivalent of Seth. Prayers in the Qulasta frequently contain the recurring formula, "In the name of Hibil, Šitil, and Anu ...

and Anush. It has also been compared to the

Hymn of the Pearl The Hymn of the Pearl (also Hymn of the Soul, Hymn of the Robe of Glory or Hymn of Judas Thomas the Apostle) is a passage of the apocryphal ''Acts of Thomas''. In that work, originally written in Syriac language, Syriac, the Apostle Thomas sings ...

from the apocryphal

Acts of Thomas ''Acts of Thomas'' is an early 3rd-century text, one of the New Testament apocrypha within the Acts of the Apostles subgenre. The complete versions that survive are Syriac and Greek. There are many surviving fragments of the text. Scholars d ...

References

External links

Transliterated text
(''The

Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (CAL) is an online database containing a searchable dictionary and text corpora of Aramaic dialects. CAL includes more than 3 million lexically parsed words. The project was started in the 1980s and is currently ...

'')
A scan of Drower's translation
provided by the

Gnostic Society The Gnostic Society was founded in Los Angeles in 1928, and incorporated in 1939, by John Morgan Pryse (1863–1952) and his brother James Morgan Pryse (1859–1942) for studies of Gnosticism. Stephan A. Hoeller, author and lecturer and a leadi ...

. Scanned text is partly replaced by OCR text, with some scanning errors.
Photographed scroll (DC 35) from Digital BodleianPDF of the Mandaic text (as images of text)
(Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network)

(Mandaic text from the Mandaean Network) {{DEFAULTSORT:Baptism of Hibil Ziwa Mandaean texts Baptism