The Israelite Origins of the Mandaean People
Richard Thomas
ON the banks of the Euphrates River exists a small community of faithful
known as the Mandaeans. In their own language, derived from Aramaic,
the word mandayye, from which they take their name, means “gnostic.”1 The
religious practices of these people, which dominate most aspects of their lives,
are the last remaining traces of ancient gnosticism in the world today.2 The
origin of the Mandaeans is much debated, and it will be the focus of this paper.
The Mandaeans claim that their ancestors came from Judea and originally
practiced complex baptismal ordinances, the focal point of their religion, on
the Jordan River. They claim that soon after the start of the Common Era,
they were persecuted by the Jews and left Palestine, in a mass exodus of around
60,000 individuals, to eventually settle on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
There they have stayed, according to their oral tradition and their written
record, for nearly two millennia.
They are relatively few in number (commonly estimated to be less than
15,0003), and they do not seem to have played a very important role in the
shaping of world history. However, understanding the origin of this group can
lead to a better understanding of the religious makeup and practices of Judea at
the dawn of Christianity. In the course of this paper, I will show that there is
evidence which links the origin of Mandaeism very closely to Judea and the
pre-Christian sectarian, or non-Jewish, sects centered on the Jordan River which
preserved the heritage of the preexilic Israelite temple cult. Though I will not be
able to conclusively show this to be the case, I believe that the evidence which I
will present will show the above stated thesis to be a strong possibility.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&context=studiaantiqua

Richard Thomas graduated from BYU in April 2006 with a degree in history. He is
studying Greek and Hebrew and is planning to continue biblical studies in graduate 
school.
BYU ScholarsArchive 
Citation Thomas, Richard. "The Israelite Origins of the Mandaean People." Studia Antiqua 5, no. 2 (2007). https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ studiaantiqua/vol5/iss2/4