THE STAR WORSHIPPERS OP MESOPOTAMIA. 239 



John i, 18), and had a series of incarnations beginning with 

 Abel (Hibil) and ending with John the Baptist ! Besides all 

 these there is yet a third life called 'Ateeka (Arabic JL^Jj 

 ancient ?) who created the bodies of Adam and Eve, but 

 could not give them spirit or malve them stand upright. — 

 To pause here for a moment. If the Babylonian trinity or 

 triad has its counterpart in the Mandaen Fera, Ayar and 

 Mana Babba, then Manda Haijye is clearly nothing but the old 

 Babylonian Marduk (Merodach), first-born, mediator and 

 redeemer. Hibil, the first incarnation of Manda, also has a 

 contest with darkness in the underworld even as Marduk 

 with the dragon Tiamat. 



The Sabean underworld has its score of rulers, among 

 others these rank first : Zartay, Zartanay, Hag, Mag, Gaf\ 

 Gafati, Anatan and Kin^ with hells and vestibules in plenteous 

 confusion. Hibil descends here, and from the fourth vestibule 

 he carries away the female devil Bulia (_. ,) the daughter of 



Kin. This Ruha, Kessler afiirms, is really an anti-Christian 

 parody of the Holy Spirit, but from conversation witli the 

 Sabeans I cannot believe this to be true. By her own son 

 Ur ( jjj) Ruha becomes the mother of all the -planets and signs 

 of the zodiac. These are the source and controllers of all evil 

 in the world and munt therefore be propitiated. But the sky 

 and fixed stars are pure and clear, the abode of Light. The 

 central sun is the Polar Star, with jewelled crown standing 

 before the door of Abathur, or "father of the splendours" (from 

 -)ni^ = to be rich). These "splendours," seons, or primary 

 manifestations of deity, are said to number three hundred 

 and sixty (which is only a Semitic way of expressing many), 

 with names borrowed from the Parsee angelology (Zoro- 

 astrianism). The Mandasans consider all the Old Testament 

 saints except Abel and Seth false prophets (Gnosticism).* 

 Trae rehgion was professed by the ancient Egyptians, who, 

 they say, were their ancestors. Another false prophet was 

 Yislm Mashiha (Jesus Christ), who was in fact an incarnation 

 of the planet Mercury. Jt)hn the Baptist, Yahya, appeared 

 forty-two years before Christ and was really an incarnation 



* See the history of Gnostic teaching, especially that of the Ophites and 

 Sethians. All the evil characters in the Old Testament, with Cain at 

 their head, were set forth as spiritual heroes. Judas Iscariot was repre- 

 sented as alone knowing the truth. Only I find no large account of the 

 serpent in the Sabean system ; this may be otherwise accounted for. 



