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Mani's Last Journey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

The most detailed account of Mani's last days is contained in the Coptic “Narrative on the Crucifixion” (Polotsky, Man. Hom., pp. 42 sqq.). As I had occasion to point out before, this “Narrative” had been quoted by the Christian Jibrā'īl b. Nūḥ in his anti-Alanichaean book which was still available to al-Bērūnī (Chronology, 20819–22).

During the brief reign of King Hormizd Mani went to Babylonia, where he stayed until the accession of Bahram I. After some time he left Babylonia and slowly travelled down the River Tigris, visiting his communities on the way. He reached Hormizd-Ardašīr (Ahwāz, Sūq al-Ahwāz), one of the four chief towns of Susiana, from where he started on a journey to the north-eastern provinces of the Sasanian empire. But he was forbidden to go there and compelled to turn back to Susiana. From Hormizd-Ardašīr he journeyed to Mesene, thence up the River Tigris in a boat to Ctesiphon. From the capital he went to “the Pargalia”, where he was joined by Bαατ. He travelled to Kholassar, and from this town he reached Belapat, where he was destined to die. The route taken by him on the journey from Kholassar to Belapat is not known, as there is a gap in the manuscript. While the situation of “the Pargalia” remains unsettled, that of Kholassar (Khalasar) is well defined by a comparison of the itinerary given by Isidorus Kharacenus with the Arab geographers (journey from Ctesiphon to Holwan):—

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Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1942

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References

page 941 note 1 OLZ., 1935, col. 224.

page 941 note 2 His surname “the Brave” (MPers. nēva, cf. BSOS., IX, p. 848Google Scholar, n. 3; the ideogram ṭb misread tag by Markwart, , Catalogue, p. 19Google Scholar) has been mistranslated in the Homilies, 42, 18 (“the good king”: the MPers. word has both meanings).

page 941 note 3 Man. Horn., 4226, 30: “the Assyrians.” Cf. Cephataia, 18626, “Babylon the city of the Assyrians” = 18711 “the country of the Assyrians”. See further Nöldeke, Tabari, 15, n. 3, Chavannes-Pelliot, TraitéMan., 146, n. 1. Also Sogdian swryk = Babylonian, , ZDMG., 90, p. 16Google Scholar.

page 941 note 4 Unconvincing Schaeder apud Polotsky, Man. Hom., p. 44, n.

page 941 note 5 Cf. Schaeder, ibid.

page 941 note 6 Stathmoi Parth., 2/3.

page 941 note 7 To Baghdad: Ya‘qubi, k. al-bulāan, 32016 sq., Qudamah, 19315 (etc.); to Holwan: Ibn Khurdadbih, 1814–198, Qudamah, 19717 sqq., Ibn Rustah, 16313 sqq.

page 942 note 1 On Kiepert's, H. map Formæ orbis antiqui, fol. v, Syria, Mesopotamia, Assyria, ArmeniaGoogle Scholar Artemita is placed too far to thfe north-east. For further information see the text accompanying his map, p. 7, col. a. The number given by Strabo (500 stadia), although clearly rounded off, agrees well with Isidorus. 500 stadia are 88 o 8 kilometres (55⅕ miles), 15 parasangs at 5,940 metres are 89.1 kilometres. The LXXI mp. Given by the Tab. Peut. should be corrected in LXI mp. 90–3 kilometres = 508 stadia). Isidorus's schoenus is here evidently the same measure as the Arabic parasang (while in Persia proper 4 sch. equal 3 par.).

page 942 note 2 In spite of this statement one might consider the Arabic name a corruption of, say (Karkhā) d'Artemita > *Dartemita > *Dartemida *Dartedima. Such a form, if thought to contain dair “monastery”, could be spelt etc.

page 942 note 3 Cf. Minorsky, , Ḥudūd, pp. 381 sq. As stated BSOS., IX, 843, the name contains “Antiochus”, not “Antiochia”.Google Scholar

page 942 note 4 A small piece from the centre part of a page. Text written in two columns. There is nothing to show the original sequence of the columns; instead of ABCD as given here it might have been CDAB.

page 942 note 5 [Restorations], (damaged or doubtful letters).

page 943 note 1 Some such word could perhaps be recognized in ]sy’ (if complete). Cf. sy- “to appear” or “come”, Ghilain, p. 91. sy’ might be 2nd sing. subj.

page 943 note 2 This passage is not clear; one should have m’’wr.

page 944 note 1dgd (= Sogd. tγt-) supplies the preterite to ’dyh- (cf. Sogd tys, cf. ‘zgd: ’zyh-.

page 944 note 2 Very doubtful. To fill the gap it would be necessary to restore [hwl's’]r.

page 944 note 3 Not clear. In proper Parthian “I announced” should be ’wm wyfr'št, while wyfr'št hym should mean “I have been announced”. But cf. MPers. kēšān nibištēnd “who wrote” (ZII., ix, 241, n. 1), and similar lapses.

page 944 note 4 A numeral is missing.

page 944 note 5 The etymology proposed by Herzfeld, Altpers. Iss., p. 53, for Parthian ’bjyrw’ng fails to account for the final -w'ng, which certainly cannot be explained from -pānak (as Bartholomae assumed, Zair. Wb., p. 165; this would be -b’ng). I prefer to find in ’bjyrw’ng the middle participle of upa/abi + grab “to grasp, learn”; cf. pdgyrw- and (as to g/j) ’bg'm-: ’bj'm-, hngft: hnjft, etc.

page 944 note 6 I have not succeeded in finding the correct restoration of the relative clause. ]rd'rb[, of which rd is uncertain, suggests [šh]rd'r, or possibly [s’]rd'r, but b does not seem to be separated. If we restore [šh]rd'r, gr[ would be a complete word. However, one hesitates to invent a Gar-šahrdār (a king of Gharchistan, or a kōfdār, Markwart, , Catalogue, pp. 69Google Scholarsq.). The restoration of ky gr [šh]rd’r b[wd] would not take into account the last word, which might be br'd. Sentences such as ky gr šhrd'r bwd br'd or ky gr šhrd'r b't br'd are grammatically unsatisfactory. One wḥmn appears as the addressee of one of Mani's epistles, k. al-fihrist, 33623, ed. Fluegel.

page 944 note 7 Allberry, , Man. Psalm-book, 34 13Google Scholar. By a coincidence is also a place-name in Coptic = OPers. uv(a)ž(iy)a-, Man.MPers. hwjyg, Syr. (Bēth) Hūzāyē, etc.

page 944 note 8 A point (turning p into f) may have been lost in the Parthian fragment.

page 944 note 9 The spelling suggests b'ṭ (or b‘ṭ) in the Syriac original. Cf. b';ṭ' ZDMG., xliii, p. 3957 = bṭ’, ibid., 3949, 3969 (a bishop of Lāšom).

page 945 note 1 A century later, the nahapet of the Saharunikެ bears the name of Bat. He played a rôle in the political life of Armenia after the murder of King Pap. For further references see Huebschmann, Arm. Gr., 32, and Justi s.v.

page 945 note 2 The normal spelling of the ending -āyē is -y' in Syriac, -’yy’ in Mandaic, but 'y or -'yy in Jewish Aramaic. The peculiar spelling -yy cannot be ascribed to the type of Aramaic used by Mani, as the few available scraps suffice to show (see Burkitt, Rel. of the Man., pp. HI sqq.). In loan-words -'y replaces Aram, -āyā, as e.g. in hnvm'y. Cf. also Man. MPers. myšn'yg'n “Mesenians” = mšnāy-īg-ān with a Persian suffix (as in Pahl. HBWM'DYK); in Pahl. both forms occur: myšrCy Pahl. Vd., I10, and myšn'dylc'n, Gr.Bd., 2074.

page 945 note 3 Maqdisi (Muqaddasi) 13315. Elsewhere this term is applied to the three districts of Nahrawān only (Ibn Khurdadbih 1317, Qudamah 23511).

page 945 note 4 Ibn Khurdadbih 612. On the institution of this province by Khosrou I, see Noeldeke, Tabari, p. 239.

page 945 note 5 Cf. Sachau, Ausbreitung des Christentums in Asien, pp. 28 sq.

page 945 note 6 E.g., Ada St. Ularis, 671, ed. J.-B. Abbeloos. In an earlier article (Orientalia, v, p. 85) I unfortunately followed Fluegel's identification of Jōḫā with Coche (one of the towns of al-Madā'in) without having inquired further into the matter. Most authors correctly distinguished the two localities (Le Strange, Lands of Eastern Caliphate, p. 42; Sachau, loc. laud., p. 29; and others). According to Sehaeder Jōḫā stands for Coche as well as Gaukhai. It seems to me now that it always refers to Gaukhai.

page 946 note 1 I have left out the following clause: “On its eastern bank are the two districts of Rādhān.” This statement cannot be reconciled with the remainder of Yaqut's article (nor, for that matter, with anything else). Le Strange (ibid., p. 35) defines ar-Rādhānāni as “the district round al-Madā'in which stretched eastward from the Tigris to the Nahrawān canal”. In the Sasanian division of Babylonia Upper and Lower Rādhān formed one kūrah with Ctesiphon, Kalwādhā (near Baghdad), Nahr-Bīn, etc. (Ibn Khurdadbih 66–8). Maqdisi (541,1155) counts ar-Rādhānāni to Samarra, not, however, to Baghdad. Therefore, these two districts lay to the north of Baghdad, probably near the Nahr Rādhān between the Shatt al-‘;Aḍaim and the Diyala (cf. Syr. Rādhān, Sachau, ibid., p. 56)

page 946 note 2 But a miserable one if Jōḫā were Coche (as was assumed by Fluegel, Mani, p. 122, and is still maintained by Schaeder, ibid., p. 23, n. 2, for Yaqut's article). It would be like saying: Westminster lies between Bristol and Yorkshire.

page 947 note 1 See the itinerary apud Ibn Rustah, 18813–15.

page 947 note 2 Cf. Sehaeder, ibid., p. 23. Gaukhai is mentioned in the opening words of the chapter on the Manichaeans in the k. al-fihrist (3281) where one expects to find the name of Mani's birthplace stated. However, the decisive words are hopelessly corrupted. Fleischer's restoration of the text (accepted by Fluegel in his edition, and followed also by me, Orientalia, v, 84 sqq.) is no longer tenable. It involves (1) a wrong name, Qunnā instead of dair Qunnā, (2) the existence of a “bishop of the Arabs” in Gaukhai in the third century (an absurdity), (3) the misstatement that originally Mani had been a Christian bishop (similar although less pretentious fabrications are occasionally found in purely Christian sources, e.g. Chronicle of Siirt, cf. Sachau, ibid., p. 38, and Bar Evrāyā, Hist, of the Dynasties, 129 u. ed. Salhani). Although the correct restitution of the passage eludes me, I should like to propose (= an-Nahrawān) in the place of According to al-Beruni (Chronology, 2087–8), who quotes Mani's own writings, the prophet was born in the village of on the upper canal. However, the canal of Kūthā lay far to the west, between the Euphrates and the Tigris. It is tempting to restore and explain it as a transcription of Gaukhai peculiar to al-Beruni. As to (otherwise unknown), this is obviously corrupt and should be brought into agreement with 'brwmy' the name of Mani's birthplace according to Theodor bar Konay (see Schaeder, ibid., p. 23, n. 3); hence to be read or .?

page 948 note 1 See ZDMG., 90, p. 9.

page 948 note 2 The first column is missing.

page 948 note 3 The second column is missing.

page 948 note 4 Only the point on top of the r is visible.

page 948 note 5 Or possibly 'nd[yšyd].

page 948 note 6 On the spelling of this name in MPers. see Schaeder, Iranica, p. 69.

page 948 note 7 'n = 'ny is very rare, cf. BBB., s.v.

page 949 note 1 The wording seems to suggest that the story was told in the form of a prediction by Patecius. The muddle in the tenses may be due to mistranslation from Syriae.

page 949 note 2 Probably = “he passes through the gate.” Read 'rg'wyft.

page 949 note 3 Partially illegible' word. Probably the name of one of the gates of Belapat. The passage evidently refers to the imprudently ostentatious entry into the capita] by Mani. Cf. Man. Horn., 4511 sqq.

page 949 note 4 Cf. M 4 b 15 āz nabēn…āvaržōg wadisgār “cunning Greed…malicious Lust” (a remarkable translation of the word nbyn in this passage was given by Schaeder, Urform, p. 116, n. 1: nbyn = NPers. nābīn!). But possibly “the cunning of the Greed” would be a more correct rendering, as in other passages nbyn is a substantive: ws [….]‘xš’dyft oo nbyn ‘wṯ [….. ]’ c mrdwhrrCn wynyd [ ] ' wd ptwyd “He experiences and suffers much distress, malice and … from the side of mankind” (M 295 R 5–7); nbyn 'wd dybhr pdmwxṯ qyf'ẖ qhn'n msyšt'd hrw yhwd'n “Caiaphas the High Priest and all Jews clothed themselves in malice and wrath” (M 734 R 7–9). One could derive nabēn from Parthian dab (Mir. Man., iii, and BSOS., IX, p. 82, where also dbyn), assuming the sporadic interchange of a voiced plosive with the nasal of the same group. Such interchange is well attested for the labials (mostly in words containing a nasal sound), for example Pahl. angumēn: Pers. angubīn, Pahl. mang: Pahl. and Pers. bang, MPers. -manǧ, NPers. munǧ: Oss. binjä (see Sogdica, p. 45), Saka bīysma (Bailey, BSOS., VIII, p. 120): Av. maēsman. A case in point is provided by the place-name Mandalī (between Badrai and Khaniqin) from MPers. *Vandanīg, *Bandanīg (Arab Geogr. Bandanījīn, etc.: see Le Strange, op. laud., emendations to the second printing), where we have m from b, and l from n (cf. r from n in MPers. xwamr, etc.). It is more difficult to find cases of d/n. There is, of course, MPers. nbyg (Sogd. npyk), if from OPers. dipi-, to fall back on; cf. also the case of Pers. panām.

page 949 note 5 dh'r? dhwr? The reading dbyr (Andreas) is hardly correct. One should have the Iḍāfah between k- and dbyr. More likely d … is a personal name.

page 949 note 6 Müller: xwrdn. There is a break in the paper after w, but I do not believe a letter has been lost

page 949 note 7 The reading rs[n] is incorrect; no point has broken off.

page 950 note 1 The second letter is clearly y (thus also Müller and Andreas), certainly not the lower part of n. There is a gap in the paper above k (therefore might be x). One letter is missing before -dyr. The restoration of kndyr (Salemann), or xydyr (Andreas, apud Barr, Pahl. Ps., p. 133), is therefore excluded.

page 950 note 2 Seen by Müller; now no longer visible.

page 950 note 3 Or rather rs[yy] ? Space insufficient for rs[ydn] (Salemann).

page 950 note 4 Copyist's mistake for 'yn.

page 950 note 5 Not dyw['n]. Cf. ZII., ix, 2326–8.

page 950 note 6 s[r]dg is equally possible (sārag from Av. sareδa-, srdg = Pahl. slltk).

page 950 note 7 Still seen by Müller, now broken off.

page 950 note 8 bwd hym = 1st pers. pi. (incorrect ZII., ix, p. 244)

page 950 note 9 Obviously the name of Mani's interpreter; hitherto translated “first-born” (in MPers. nxwryg, in Parthian nwxz'd).

page 950 note 10 On Kuštai and Abzakhyā see Schaeder, Gnomon, ix, p. 343. In the k. al-fihrist (not ) should be read in the place of the mysterious . ibid., 33623, 24, 3378 is clearly none other than Gabriab, .

page 950 note 11 bazm būdan is a compound verb (correctly rendered by Marr, apud Salemann, Man. Stud., p. 61; the translation proposed by Andreas apud Lcntz, ZII., iv, p. 282, hardly meets the case: šāh is certainly not a genitive), nān xwardan does not mean “to eat bread”, but “to eat”, as Hebrew āḵal Iäḥā'm, NT. ăprov σθĺω, etc.

page 950 note 12 Lit. “had not yet washed his hands”.

page 951 note 1 Salemann: “window(?),” Andreas: “tent” (Festgabef. Th. Nōldeke, 1916, p. 6). But “tent” is wiyān in MPers., i.e. wy'n (to the examples collected by Andreas: Parth. wd'n, Arm. vran, Pahl. Ps. wyd'n, Jewish Persian by'n, I have added NPers. gayān, Mir. Man., iii, p. 908; [w]yd'n should be read also in Pahlavi, in the place of xān, Ayādgār-i-Zarērn, 32/33). With wyng from wyn- “to see”, cf. Arm. dēt “guard”, ditak “watch-post” one also could point to MPers. *gōśag “spy” if from gauš- “to hear” (and not from gauša- “ear”).

page 951 note 2 The use of cy (normally = “because”) is not clear; possibly mistranslation of Syr. mā d'- (cf. Nöldeke, Syr. Gramm., p. 179)?

page 951 note 3 xwaran here probably = “banquet”, etc. (rather than “tent”), cf. BSOS., X, p. 509.

page 951 note 4 Usually translated: “queen of the hounds.” The correct rendering has at least been considered by Salemann, Man. Stud., p. 102.

page 951 note 5 Salemann “quiver”, Andreas “steed”.

page 951 note 6 i.e. the reversal of the usual formula of greeting (when receiving a friend): dryst ‘wr (or pd drwd ”y-, or drysl wys'y, all in Mir. Man., ii, where p. 313, n. 8, an incorrect translation has been given; wys'y probably “enter, come”, from wys- = Av. visa-, Air. Wb., p. 1326) = Pahl. drwdst LPM H (Ard. Vir., 107) = Aram. 'ty bšlm. With the negation also in Pahlavi, Ayādgār-i-Zarērān, 51.

page 951 note 7 An evasive answer!

page 951 note 8 The use of the Persian demonstrative pronoun gives the phrase a perceptibly contemptuous note. The king, who apparently was not very broadminded, does not seem to have been in sympathy with his father's efforts at raising the medical standard in his lands. Under Shapur I Greek and Indian scientific books, especially medical treatises, were translated into Persian (Dīnkard, 41217 sqq., ed. Madan). Like Mani and his adherents, medical science fell a victim to the reaction which under Bahrain set in against Shapur's liberal and enlightened government.

page 951 note 9 i.e. healed through exorcism.

page 951 note 10 Pers. tab u larz.

page 952 note 1 Lit. “who came to death”. It would probably be incorrect to understand the phrase as laying claims to the ability of resurrecting the dead

page 952 note 2 In my second paper on this inscription, contributed to the forthcoming Jackson Memorial Volume, I have discussed this passage in some detail.

page 952 note 3 Cf. BSOS., IX, p. 845.

page 952 note 4 His name indicates that he was born during the reign of Ardawan, the last Arsacid king, i.e. not before A.D. 213. Hence, Kerdēr may have been born in about A.D. 232, so that he was thirty years of age when Shapur concluded his Roman war, forty-five when he fought against the Manichaeans and caused Mani's imprisonment, and a little over sixty at the time of Narseh's accession to the throne. According to MHerzfeld, ibid., p. 101, he served already under Ardasir I; as far as I can see this is not said in the published inscriptions.

page 952 note 5 The original meaning of the word kerdēr is something like “efficacious” or “energetic”: cf. BSOS., IX, p. 84 (the etymology proposed there is to be cancelled). I fail to see any connection with kardarigan, qardupatu (?), oropasta, or qahramān; on qahramān from *karBra- (Lagarde) = Arm. kah = NPers. kāl- see now Sogdica, pp. 56 sq.

page 952 note 6 Cf. ZDMG., 90, p. 9.

page 953 note 1 But see Herzfeld, Kushano-Sasanian Coins, pp. 34 sq.

page 953 note 2 Note that the king accuses Mani of having neglected his medical duties. We know from other sources that the death of a relative of Bahram's, attributed to Mani's alleged negligence, formed one of the pretexts for Mani's incarceration (one of Bahrain's sisters, according to Man. Horn., 4625–6, but see Jibrā'īl b. Nūḥ apud Beruni, loc. laud., 20820–1). As this death apparently had taken place shortly before Mani appeared before the king, while Mani had not attended the court for some three years (cf. Man. Hom., 4612; he was hiding in Babylonia), this accusation seems to be singularly illfounded. As was to be expected, anti-Manichaean Christian writers have made the most of this story beginning with the author of the Acta Archelai, 9317 sqq., ed. Beeson; the son of the king: mortuus est puer in manibus eius vel potius extinctus, etc.).