THE STAR WORSHIPPERS OP MESOPOTAMIA. 243 



REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING PAPER. 



Colonel C. R. CoNDER, R.E., D.C.L., writes : — 



The Star Worshippers of Mesopotamia. — Mr. Zwemer's paper on 

 this curious sect is very interesting, and there can be little doubt 

 that the star worship points to early Semitic paganism, though 

 the details suggest that it may have come indirectly through the 

 Masdean system of Persia. The Mendaites or Sabians resemble 

 several other strange sects of Syria and Persia, such as the Druzes, 

 for instance, but their system does not recognize Islam as fully as 

 do the Druzes, Isniailiyeh and Anseiriyeh (whose name is also 

 connected with that of the Nazarenes by some ) ; and it is fairly 

 clear that it is descended from the Syrian Gnosticism of the second 

 century A. D., to which the Druzes also owe much. The Mendaite 

 language and alphabet are Aramean, and somewhat distantly 

 related to the speech and script of the Nestorians. Naturally the 

 Nabathean alphabet is related. The Nabathean " Book of Agri- 

 culture," now, I believe, only known thi-ough the Arabic transla- 

 tion of Kuthami, contains a curious myth of the death of Tammuz ; 

 and the Sabians are said to have preserved the rite of mourning 

 for Tammuz down to the tenth century A.D., though ignorant of its 

 meaning (see Baring Gould's Curioiis Myths of the Middle Ages, 

 pp. 278-283, and Maimonides More Nebushim, iii, 29). The 

 beliefs of the Sabians or Mendaites have been compared with the 

 teaching of the Gnostic Carpocrates, containing a strong Mazdean 

 (i.e., Zoroastrian) element. They were also akin in their teaching 

 to the Elkesaites of the third century — an Essene Gnostic sect 

 accepting Elxai as a prophet, as did also the Ebionites of Bashan 

 (Hippol ix, 13; Epiphanius xix, 2— 5). Elxai accepted the Jewish 

 system of sacrifice, and regarded Christ as a reincarnation of Adam. 

 The Elkesaite Eucharist consisted of bread, salt and water. The 

 spread of Gnosticism to the mouth of the Euphrates, aiid into 

 Arabia, appears to have been due to the followers of Beryllus, to 

 the Ebionites, and to the Nazarenes of Bashan in the second 

 century A. D. (Epiphanius, Hosres, i, 40; iii, 75-79). 



Having carefully studied Capt. Prideaux's Sketch of Sabean 

 Grammar, I venture to remark that it has nothing to do with 

 the Sabians. It is the language of the Sabean Arabs of Yemen, 

 about 200 B.C., written in quite a difTerent character — usually called 



