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| Mandaean History 1700's AD |
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| 1782 Jean de Morgan (1904) writes that in 1782 many Mandaean members of the clergy were placed in prison, physically tortured by horrible means and many killed by sadistic and inhuman methods for refusing to turn over Mandaean religious literature to the Moslem authorities in Persia. C.W.F. Walch followed the theory of d’Herbelot about a western origin for the Mandaeans. He also supported the idea of the Hemerobaptists with the Mandaeans based on the descriptions of the Hemerobaptists according to the Church fathers and various early Chrisitan writers such as Epiphanius. He is the first to state that the Mandaeans were the Sabians of the Qur’an 1771 Nicolas Barkey became one of Simon’s best supporters and criticized d’Herbelot. He does have his own theory though, that the “Sabei sive Discipuli S. Joannis” (Mandaeans) are from the Gnostic sect Ophites. This is the first time a specific Gnostic sect has been cited. His is also the author of the first major publication devoted to the subject Mandaeans. 1764 Carsten Niebuhr is in the province of Lachsa where he mentions the Mandaeans. 1765 Carsten Niebuhr was in Basra where he concludes that a only a few "Sabians" lived there. He did have the alphabet transcribed by a Mandaean ferryman. |