Mandaeans, The descendants of one of Mesopotamia's ancient civilization

By Kemal Yildirim

Who are Mandeans?Mandaeans (Arabic: ةَئِمْندَائِيُّون ٱل َّصابٱل, romanized: aṣ-Ṣābiʾah alMandāʾiyūn) are an ethnoreligious group native to the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia and are followers of Mandaeism, a monotheistic Gnostic religion. They were probably the first to practice baptism and are the last surviving Gnostics from antiquity. The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, a Semitic language that evolved from Eastern Middle Aramaic, before many switched to colloquial Iraqi Arabic and Modern Persian. Mandaic is mainly preserved as a liturgical language. In the aftermath of the Iraq War of 2003, the Mandaean community of Iraq, which used to number 60,000-70,000 persons, collapsed; most of the community relocated to nearby Iran, Syria and Jordan, or formed diaspora communities beyond the Middle East. The other community of Iranian Mandaeans has also been dwindling as a result of religious persecution over that decade.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 6202524944
• ISBN13: 9786202524940
• Release Date: April 2020
• Publisher: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing
• Length: 108 Pages
• Weight: 0.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"