Codex Marshall 691

{{Short description|Mandaic manuscript}}

{{Infobox manuscript

| name = Codex Marshall 691

| location = Bodleian Library

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| Also known as = Marsh. 691

| Type = Codex

| Date = September 5, 1529

| Place of origin = Huwayza, Safavid Iran

| Language(s) = Mandaic

| Scribe(s) = Adam Zihrun, son of Bihram Šitlan (Adam Zihrun bar Bihram Šitlan)

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| Material = Leatherbound

| Size = 4 × 5 inches

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| Script = Mandaic

| Contents = Mandaean prayers

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Codex Marshall 691 (abbreviated Marsh. 691) is a Mandaic manuscript currently held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It is the oldest Mandaic manuscript that is currently held at a European institutional library and is a prayerbook containing dozens of Mandaean prayers. The contents of the manuscript remain unpublished. Its colophons have been studied in detail by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley.

Description

Codex Marshall 691 is a small leatherbound codex with 116 pages that measures approximately 4 inches by 5 inches.{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=1800 Years of Encounters with Mandaeans|date=2023|location=Piscataway, NJ|publisher=Gorgias Press|series=Gorgias Mandaean Studies|volume=5|issn=1935-441X|isbn=978-1-4632-4132-2}}{{rp|55}} As a prayerbook ("Qulasta"), it contains various Mandaean prayers, including the rahmia.{{cite web | editor-last=Morgenstern | editor-first=Matthew | website=The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon | url=https://cal.huc.edu/get_file_info.php?coord=74422 | title=Rahmi | access-date=2024-07-27}} According to its colophons, it was copied in September 5, 1529 A.D., in Huwayza{{cite book|last1=van Bladel|first1=Kevin|year=2017|title=From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|doi=10.1163/9789004339460|isbn=978-90-04-33943-9|url=https://brill.com/view/title/34389}}{{rp|70}} by Adam Zihrun, son of Bihram Šitlan.

Thomas Marshall's servant had donated the book (obtained by Marshall via Dutch merchants) to the Bodleian Library in 1689 or 1690, after Marshall's death.{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history|publisher=Gorgias Press|publication-place=Piscataway, N.J|year=2010|isbn=978-1-59333-621-9}}

The codex contains three colophons. In the third colophon of the codex, a blessing is given to Sayyid (Sultan) Badran (whose rule began in 1514) and his family, the Musha'sha' Shi'ite/Ghulat ruler of Khuzestan during the Safavid dynasty. Blessings given to Muslim rulers are rarely found in Mandaean colophons.{{rp|56}}

See also

References

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