Ethel, Lady Drower ( Ethel May Stefana Stevens; 1 December 1879 – 27 January 1972) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

cultural anthropologist Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term s ...

, orientalist and novelist who studied the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and its cultures.Christa Müller-Kessler, Drower ée Stevens Ethel May Stefana, Lady Drower, in ''New Dictionary of National Biography'', vol. 16 (Oxford, 2004), pp. 193–194

/ref> She was and is still considered one of the primary specialists on the Mandaeism, Mandaeans, and was the dedicated collector of Mandaean manuscripts.

Biography

The daughter of a clergyman, in 1906, she was working for

Curtis Brown Curtis Lee "Curt" Brown Jr. (born March 11, 1956) is a former NASA astronaut and retired United States Air Force colonel. Background Colonel Brown was born March 11, 1956. He graduated from East Bladen High School in Elizabethtown, North Carolin ...

, a London literary agency when she signed

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

to write ''

Bohemia in London ''Bohemia in London'' (1907) was Arthur Ransome's seventh published book, and his first success. The book is about literary and artistic London in the 1900s, and the area of London covered is Chelsea, Soho, and Hampstead. He had moved to London i ...

''. In 1911, she married Edwin Drower and after his knighthood became Lady Drower. As E. S. Stevens, she wrote a series of romantic novels for

Mills & Boon Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK Ltd. It was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher. The company moved towards escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. In 1971, the ...

and other publishers. In 1921, she accompanied her husband to Iraq where Sir Edwin Drower was adviser to the Justice Minister from 1921 to 1947. Among her grandchildren was the campaigning journalist Roly Drower. Her works include the comprehensive description and display of the last practising gnostic Mandaeans' rituals, rites, and customs in ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic, Legends, and Folklore'', ''The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans'' (a translation of the Qolasta), ''The Secret Adam: A Study of Nasoraean Gnosis'', and ''The Peacock Angel'' (novel about the

Yezidis Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in ...

), editions of unique manuscripts such as astronomical divinations (

omen An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient history, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages ...

) (''The Book of the Zodiac'') and magical texts (''A Book of Black Magic''; ''A Phylactery for Rue''), and relevant translations of Mandaean religious works such as ''The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa'' and ''The Coronation of the Great Šišlam''. Drower's final major work titled ''Mass and Masiqta'' or ''Messiah, Mass and Masiqta'' remains unpublished to this day, and it is unclear if the full manuscript exists. Before her scholarly activity, "Already under her maiden name of Ethel Stefana Stevens, Lady Drower had been inspired by the Orient. Between 1909 and 1927, she published 13 novels, and she was the author of two delectable books of travel." Ethel, Lady Drower died on 27 January 1972, aged 92. She was survived by her children, including daughter, Margaret "Peggy" Hackforth-Jones, and other family members.

Awards and honors

Drower received several honours for her scholarly contributions: *honorary

DLitt Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

*honorary DD from

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

*honorary fellow of the

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

*the Lidzbarski gold medal for her work on the Mandaeans and their literary transmission on 1 October 1964

Drower Collection

The Drower Collection (DC), held at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

, is the most extensive collection of Mandaean manuscripts. The collection consists of 55 manuscripts, many of which Drower had obtained through the Mandaean priest Sheikh

Negm bar Zahroon Ganzibra Negm bar Zahroon (Mandaean baptismal name, baptismal name: Adam Negm bar Zakia Zihrun ; ; born 1892, Huwaiza; died 1976, Qal'at Saleh District) was a Mandaean priest. He is known for his role as E. S. Drower's main field consultant who he ...

. Drower donated MSS. Drower 1-53 to the

in 1958. MS. Drower 54, ''

The Coronation of the Great Šišlam ''The Coronation of the Great Šišlam'' (or ''The Coronation of Shishlam Rabba''; ) is a Mandaean religious text. The text is a detailed commentary on the initiation of the tarmida (junior priests), with detailed discussions on masbuta and masi ...

'', was given to the library by Lady Drower in 1961. MS. Drower 55, Lady Drower's personal notebook, was added in 1986.Mandaean manuscripts given by Lady Ethel May Stefana Drower
Archives Hub. After her death, some of Drower's private notebooks were obtained by

Rudolf Macúch Rudolf Macúch (16 October 1919, in Bzince pod Javorinou – 23 July 1993, in Berlin) was a Slovak linguist, naturalized as German after 1974. He was noted in the field of Semitic studies for his research work in three main areas: (1) Mandaic ...

. These notebooks are not part of the Bodleian Library's Drower Collection. MS. DC 2, which was copied by Sheikh Negm for Drower in 1933, mentions the

Mandaean baptismal name Mandaean names can include both birth names (i.e., secular names) and baptismal names (i.e., religious names; also called maṣbuta names or zodiacal names), called ''malwasha'' () in Mandaic. Birth names Mandaean birth names are secular names ...

(i.e., spiritual name given by a Mandaean priest, as opposed to a birth name) of E. S. Drower as

Klila In Mandaeism, the klila () is a small Myrtus, myrtle () wreath or ring (translated as "circlet" by E. S. Drower) used during Mandaean religious rituals. The klila is a female symbol that complements the ''taga (Mandaeism), taga'', a white crown w ...

pt Šušian (), as her middle name Stefana means 'wreath' in Greek. MS. DC 26, a manuscript copied by copied by Sheikh Faraj for Drower in 1936, contains two ''qmahas'' (exorcisms). MS. DC 26 is dedicated to Drower's daughter,

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

("Peggy"), who is given the Mandaean baptismal name ''Marganita pt Klila'' ("Pearl, daughter of Wreath") in the text.

Letters

In 2012,

Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley (born Jorunn Jacobsen, 1944) is a Norwegian-American religious studies scholar and historian of religion known for her work on Mandaeism and Gnosticism. She was a former Professor of Religion at Bowdoin College. She is ...

published a compiled collection of E. S. Drower's letters. The book includes texts of Drower's correspondence with Cyrus H. Gordon, Rudolf Macuch, Sidney H. Smith, Godfrey R. Driver, Samuel H. Hooke, and

Franz Rosenthal Franz Rosenthal (August 31, 1914 – April 8, 2003) was the Louis M. Rabinowitz Professor of Semitic Languages at Yale University from 1956 to 1967 and Sterling Professor Emeritus of Arabic, scholar of Arabic literature and Islam at Yale from 196 ...

Bibliography

Works as E. S. Stevens

''The Veil: A Romance of Tunis'', New York, F.A. Stokes, 1909.
*''The Mountain of God'', London, Mills & Boon, 1911. * Two works reviewing the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

in 1911 - "Abbas Effendi: His Personality, Work, and Followers" in '' Fortnightly Review'', and "The Light in the Lantern" in ''

Everybody's Magazine ''Everybody's Magazine'' was an American magazine published from 1899 to 1929. The magazine was headquartered in New York City. History and profile The magazine was founded by Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker in 1899, though he had little r ...

''. *''The Long Engagement'', New York, Hodder & Stoughton, 1912. *''The Lure'', New York, John Lane, 1912. *''Sarah Eden'', London, Mills & Boon, 1914. *''Allward'', London, Mills & Boon, 1915. *''"--And What Happened"'', London,

, 1916. *''The Safety Candle'', London, Cassell and Company, 1917. *''Magdalene: A Study in Methods'', London, Cassell, 1919. *''By Tigris and Euphrates'', London, Hurst & Blackett, 1923. *''Sophy: A Tale of Baghdad'', London, Hurst & Blackett, 1924. *''Cedars, Saints and Sinners in Syria'', London, Hurst & Blackett, 1926. *''The Losing Game'', London, Hurst & Blackett, 1926. *''Garden of Flames'', New York, F.A. Stokes, 1927. *''Ishtar'', London, Hurst & Blackett, 1927. *''Folk-Tales of Iraq, set down and translated from the vernacular by E. S. Stevens'', New York, B. Blom, 1971.

Works as E. S. Drower

''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic, Legends, and Folklore''
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937.

London: J. Murray, 1941. *''Water into Wine: A Study of Ritual Idiom in the Middle East'', London: Murray, 1956.
''The Secret Adam: A Study of Nasoraean Gnosis''
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960. *
A Mandaic Dictionary
' with Rudolf Macuch, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963.''damienlabadie.blogspot.gr''
/ref> *''Drower's Folk-Tales of Iraq'', edited by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2007.

Translations as E. S. Drower

*''The Book of the Zodiac = Sfar malwašia: D. C. 31'', Oriental Translation Fund XXXVI; London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1949. *
Šarḥ ḏ qabin ḏ šišlam rba
(D. C. 38). Explanatory Commentary on the Marriage Ceremony of the great Šišlam'', text transliterated and translated, Rome: Ponteficio Istituto Biblico, 1950. *'' Diwan Abatur or Progress Through the Purgatories'', text with translation notes and Appendices, Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1950. *''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 ...

and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa: the Mandaic text reproduced, together with translation, notes and commentary'', Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1953. *''Mandaeans. Liturgy and Ritual. The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans'', translated with notes, Leiden: Brill, 1959. *
Alf trisar šuialia

The Thousand and Twelve Questions ''The Thousand and Twelve Questions'' ( ; Modern Mandaic: ''Alf Tressar Ešyāli'') is a Mandaean religious text. The ''1012 Questions'' is one of the most detailed texts on Mandaean priestly rituals. It is kept by Mandaean priests in the shk ...

: A Mandaean Text'', edited in transliteration and translation, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1960. *''

'', Leiden: Brill, 1962. *
A Pair of Naṣoraean Commentaries: Two Priestly Documents, the Great First World and the Lesser First World
', translated, Leiden: Brill, 1963.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drower, E. S. British anthropologists 1879 births 1972 deaths Place of birth missing Place of death missing Cultural anthropologists British women novelists British romantic fiction writers British women romantic fiction writers 20th-century British women writers 20th-century British novelists British women anthropologists Scholars of Mandaeism Translators from Mandaic