| Book of the Zodiac Sfar Malwašia | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Religion | Mandaeism |
| Language | Mandaic language |
TheBook of the Zodiac (Classical Mandaic:ࡎࡐࡀࡓ ࡌࡀࡋࡅࡀࡔࡉࡀ,romanized: Sfar Malwašia;Modern Mandaic:Asfar Malwāši[1]) is aMandaean text. It covers Mandaeanastrology in great detail.[2] The book is used to obtain aMandaean's baptismal name (malwasha).[3] It is also an important source on Mandaeannumerology.[4]
An English translation of the text, based on Manuscript 31 of theDrower Collection (DC 31), was published byE. S. Drower in 1949.[5] The manuscript is akurasa, or unbound manuscript consisting of loose sheets.[6]
Buckley has also located a privately held copy of theBook of the Zodiac dating from 1919, which belonged toLamea Abbas Amara inSan Diego.[7]
There is also a manuscript of theBook of the Zodiac from 1789 CE that is currently held at theBibliothèque National in Paris, which was used by Drower and may have also been used byNicolas Siouffi.[6]
Drower's manuscript (DC 31) consists of 289 pages in Mandaic. There are 20 individual books or sections, which are:[6]: 44–48
There is also an appendix (labeled asPart II in Drower's text) that discusses omens, predictions, remedies, eclipses, and other topics.[6]
