TheHaran Gawaita (Mandaic:ࡄࡀࡓࡀࡍ ࡂࡀࡅࡀࡉࡕࡀ, meaning "InnerHarran" or "InnerHauran";Modern Mandaic:(Diwān) Harrān Gawāythā[1]) also known as theScroll of Great Revelation, is aMandaean text which recounts the history of theMandaeans asNasoraeans fromJerusalem and their arrival in a region described as "Inner Harran ('haran gauaita) which is called the mountains of Madday" (Mandaic:ṭura ḏ-madai), which some scholars have identified withMedia.[2][3] TheHaran Gawaita continues the historical narrative of the MandaeanBook of Kings,[4] adding a new eighth age to the seven described in that work.[5]
The text was published for the first time in 1953.[6]
The text is in theMandaic language and script. It is of unknown authorship.
The recipients of the text are stated to be those disciples who must persevere in their faith during theArab age, meaning that it must post-date theearly Muslim conquests at the least. Furthermore, the text makes repeated reference toBaghdad, a city built in 762, and as such is likely to also post-date the 8th century.[6]
According to the Haran Gawaita,John the Baptist was baptized,initiated, and educated by the patron of theNasirutha (secret knowledge),Enosh (Anush or Anush-ʼuthra), thehierophant of the sect.[7]: 6–7 This research was conducted by the Oxford scholar and specialist on the Nasoraeans,Lady Ethel S. Drower. According toJorunn J. Buckley, the Mandaeans see themselves to be former Judeans based in Jerusalem that loved Adonai until the birth of Jesus.[8]: 49 [3]: 96 TheseNasoraean disciples of John the Baptist[7]: IX are aware of thedestruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE, but they did not leave because of this. They fled before 70 CE due to persecution by a faction of more normative Jews. With the help of a king namedArtabanus, whom the MandaeanBook of Kings identifies explicitly withArtabanus IV and describes as "one of our forefathers",[9] they travel to a region described as "Inner Harran ('haran gauaita) which is called the mountains of Madday" (Mandaicṭura ḏ-madai), which some scholars have identified withMedia.[10] The traditional pronunciationMadday (rather thanMāḏāy 'Media') and its identification with aJebel Mandai "Mandaean mountain"[11] argue against this identification.[12]
MSRRC 3E is another manuscript of the Haran Gawaita. The manuscript was copied by Zihrun br Iahia Iuhana br Adam Zihrun inDezful in 1174 A.H. (1760-1 A.D.). It has been digitized and analyzed byMatthew Morgenstern.[15]
A German translation, which makes use of Drower's manuscripts as well as two additional privately held manuscripts, was published in 2020 byBogdan Burtea.[16]
^Häberl, Charles (2022).The Book of Kings and the Explanations of This World: A Universal History from the Late Sasanian Empire. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.ISBN978-1-80085-627-1.
^"And sixty thousand Nasoraeans abandoned the Sign of the Seven and entered the Median Hills, a place where we were free from domination by all other races." Karen L. King,What is Gnosticism?, 2005, Page 140
^abBuckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2010). Turning the Tables on Jesus: The Mandaean View. InHorsley, Richard (March 2010).Christian Origins. Fortress Press.ISBN9781451416640.(pp94-111). Minneapolis: Fortress Press
^abBladel, Kevin Thomas van (2017).From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the marshes. Leiden studies in Islam and society. Leiden; Boston: Brill. pp. 7–8.ISBN978-90-04-33943-9.
^abDrower, Ethel Stefana (1953).The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
^Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002).The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-515385-5.OCLC65198443.
^"And sixty thousand Nasoraeans abandoned the Sign of the Seven and entered the Median Hills, a place where we were free from domination by all other races." Karen L. King,What is Gnosticism?, 2005, Page 140
^Drower, Ethel S. (2002).The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: their cults, customs, magic, legends, and folklore. Gorgias reprint series (2nd ed.). Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. p. 316.ISBN978-1-931956-49-9.
^Les textes de Nag Hammadi: - Page 111 Jacques E. Ménard, Université des sciences humaines de Strasbourg. Centre de recherches d'histoire des religions - 1975 "This part of the theory is based on a sort of « History of the Mandaean Movement », called Diwan of the Great Revelation, called Harran Gawaita (the Inner Harran) published in 1953 by Lady ES Drower s». It begins, after a preamble and a .."
