Mandaeans
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Search complete. 15 mentions across 11 episodes found for "Mandaeans".
Sep 29, 2026
Razib KhanHOST
You know, in the early periods or early centuries, there's the Ebionites who were the Jewish Christians.
Razib KhanHOST
And I think if we understand this diversity and the remnants of this diversity like, you know, groups like the Mandaeans and whatnot in the Middle East, I think it makes a lot more sense that Islam, you know, well, frankly emerged piecemeal and, you know, integrated aspects of the earlier religious milieu that we, is not visible to us right now.
Kyle OrtonGUEST
I think that's right.
Kyle OrtonGUEST
I think you can...
Simon MattacksNARRATOR
The people living here included Aramaic-speaking communities, Persians, Arabs, Kurds, and Greeks.
Simon MattacksNARRATOR
There were Christians, Jews, Mandaeans, and Zoroastrians.
Simon MattacksNARRATOR
But from the seventh century onward, Iraq was officially under Muslim rule.
Simon MattacksNARRATOR
There was a period of mass immigration following the Arab conquest, which led to Iraq becoming one of the most populous regions in the Islamic world.
Alex RiveraGUEST
But yeah, it's just basically this union of the opposites, right? They have...
Alex RiveraGUEST
this uh black crow or a peacock emerging from uh you know this double-headed figure the rubis right um but um it's all about you know all it's all very right phoenix kind of symbolism right um it's like and then um now then i also talk about the sacred head you know which is an obvious um symbol that you see in the in the baphomet and the mythos um which connects to various figures, surprisingly enough, like including like John the Baptist, you know, and John the Baptist, he was, uh, He essentially started a wisdom mystery cult that sort of like morphed into other groups like the Mandans and also like the Simonians with, you know, who followed after Simon the Magician, Simon the Magus, right? And, you know, the nice Templar, you know, they're, you know, they view...
Alex RiveraGUEST
John the Baptist as his patron saint, basically.
Alex RiveraGUEST
So they identified him.
Alex RiveraGUEST
Also, the Freemasons also revered John the Baptist as well as the true Messiah.
Alex RiveraGUEST
And that's what the Mandans also believe in as well.
Alex RiveraGUEST
So they sort of like repudiate the idea that Jesus is the Messiah.
Alex RiveraGUEST
He's like a false messiah.
Lloyd DeJonghHOST
And this should also be ascribed to this region, Syria, right? The northern Levant.
Lloyd DeJonghHOST
This is certainly also true of the Mandaeans from Manda.
Lloyd DeJonghHOST
Mandaeans, Mani, from Manda, the gnosis or the knowledge, see they are Gnostic as well, who appeared in southern Iraq and Iran, and of their literature, these Mandaeans use the name the Nazareans.
Lloyd DeJonghHOST
Does that sound-- Nazareans, anyone heard of those guys? JC, Nazareans sound familiar?
JCGUEST
Yeah, I'm sure that if Adam was here, he would actually give us a lot more detail about that, but, uh, yeah.
Sarah SassoonGUEST
It's like a very complex area, and then you have the Yazidis.
Sarah SassoonGUEST
You have the Mandaeans.
Sarah SassoonGUEST
You have many minorities in this region, ancient peoples that we don't really know enough about because they were taken over and persecuted just as the Jews were.
Sarah SassoonGUEST
So now, for example, there's a Mandaean community in Sydney that, that have reached out to me, and I've gotten to know them, and I follow their content on Instagram.
Sarah SassoonGUEST
You have many minorities in this region, ancient peoples that we don't really know enough about because they were taken over and persecuted just as the Jews were.
Sarah SassoonGUEST
So now, for example, there's a Mandean community in Sydney that have reached out to me and I've gotten to know them and I follow their content on Instagram.
Sarah SassoonGUEST
And they've got fascinating traditions.
Sarah SassoonGUEST
And they speak of when they lived with Jews as well in Iraq and the relationships they had.
Andrew M. HenryHOST
This is a body of evidence showing that Jewish communities in Mesopotamia recognized her as a demonic foe in everyday life, leading them to develop ritual strategies to nullify her.
Andrew M. HenryHOST
Now, different religious communities used incantation bowls, like Mandeans and Christians.
Andrew M. HenryHOST
but most of these bowls were composed in Babylonian Jewish Aramaic, and we see a ton of overlap between rabbinic texts and these bowls.
Andrew M. HenryHOST
Not only do they date to around the same time that the Talmud was completed, but rabbis may have been the ritual specialists who helped to compose the incantations.
Earl FontenelleHOST
And all these nascent religious specialists and bureaucrats are coming into contact with people like Christians and Jews, which were already on the Arab radar, but also a lot of people who weren't on the Arab radar before the Arabs left Arabia.
Earl FontenelleHOST
I'm talking about Manichaeans, Zoroastrians, various Christian and Jewish sects known as Gnostics nowadays, the early Mandean community, Buddhists, And so much more.
Earl FontenelleHOST
Questions were being asked.
Earl FontenelleHOST
We have seen that there was already, from very early on, a movement identified, within the believer's community, identified as the Shi'a Ali, the faction of Ali.
43 MINS LATER
Earl FontenelleHOST
And some of them, some Shi'i, not the imams of the, you know... nowadays more mainstream Shi'i movements, but certain early Shi'i, have been discussed in terms of Islamic Gnosticism.
Earl FontenelleHOST
And that's not in the vague sort of sense of Gnosticism, like if you make claims to privilege special knowledge or modes of knowing, then you are a Gnostic sort of way.
Earl FontenelleHOST
I mean, in the much more historically concrete way of there were lots of Jewish and Christian Gnostic sects, Manichaeans, Mandeans, in the southern Iraqi area lying on the Roman-Sassanian borderlands.
Earl FontenelleHOST
And so, quote, it is no wonder that it was precisely Iraq where the young Islam came into contact with Gnostic teachings and had to engage with them, end of quote.
Miguel ConnerHOST
Who are the Sabaeans exactly? I mean, most people that are somewhat educated see the Sabaeans were those who were in control of Mecca before the rise of Muhammad.
Miguel ConnerHOST
The Mandeans have been called the Sabaeans throughout history.
Miguel ConnerHOST
It's a name that's been given to a lot of places, to a lot of people in the Middle East.
Miguel ConnerHOST
But who exactly are the Sabians in your estimation?
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