Three Mandaean Phylacteries

Abstract

The following three qmahia are all inscribed on a long, narrow slip of yellowed Persian paper originally kept in a metal tube and worn by the owner. It is number 33 of my collection. The list of copiers together with their genealogies which usually ends such documents is missing and the writing is poor. The scribe makes mistakes, for instance, being unfamiliar with the word lilipiatha he writes at first “liliatha piamana” (nonsense), then several times “liliatha”, but becoming convinced at last that he is mistaken, he transcribes thereafter lilipiatha as written in the roll from which he copied. He occasionally omits a word though it is obvious that he intended to write it. In such cases I have inserted what is missing in brackets. Another peculiarity is that the laqab or worldly name of the person for whom the phylactery was written is given as well as the religious or magical name. In most magic documents the latter alone is given. From the laqab, Shabur br Dahba, it may be deduced that the owner was of the Iranian group of Mandæans who dwell on the banks of the Karun River.