Not all doctoral theses get published. Those that deserve to are often found in monograph series with generic covers. Sandra van Rompaey’s Mandaean Symbolic Art stands out from this usual state of affairs by being not merely distinctively formatted but beautiful. Even before one begins to engage with the contents (which are rich and absolutely unique in the history of scholarship), the fact that Mandaean artwork is found throughout the book makes this perhaps the only doctoral dissertation that one might also want to have as a coffee table book. As one of the few scholars working on matters of Mandaean scripture and religious history, I hope that the combined aesthetic and intellectual force of van Rompaey’s book will perhaps attract some more scholars into this field. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few.
When I describe the book as unique, it is not hyperbole. Sandra van Rompaey is the only art historian to have undertaken academic research of this sort on Mandaean art. There is literally only one book on this subject, and it is this volume by van Rompaey. I doubt that there is anyone who has seen an illustrated Mandaean scroll who does not find them fascinating. But even were someone only interested in the verbal content of these manuscripts, van Rompaey demonstrates that attention to the images is crucially important for understanding the words that appear alongside and around them. As she puts it, “the illustrated component of the major scrolls constitutes a coherent, stylistically distinct, and richly symbolic body of work in its own right…the artwork is integral to the function, purpose, and meaning of the scroll in which it appears; it is not of secondary importance to the text in conveying the scroll’s various levels of meaning. The Mandaic text and illustrations work in partnership, with each dependent on the other for the whole to function as a doctrinal document” (p.17).
Van Rompaey surveys all the relevant scrolls and all available manuscripts, offering corrections where older editions contained incomplete photographs, and bringing unpublished scrolls such as Dmuth Kushta and the “protection scroll” known as the Poor Priest’s Treasury. She also consulted copies in the private collections of Mandaean priests and occasionally includes a photo or discussion of these.
The importance of gender duality in Mandaean cosmology becomes clear from the study, yet on the other hand it reveals that female lightworld figures are far outnumbers by their male counterparts. While Mandaean priests today are all men, the lightworld figure ‘zlat is depicted holding a drabsha (banner) in priestly fashion. The inversion of two and only two figures on the scrolls makes a connection between them, highlighting the parallel between them, the birth of Adam Kasia and the birth of the soul, represented by Mara d-Rabuta (Lord of Greatness).
Van Rompaey focuses a great deal of attention on parallels from Dura-Europos in an effort to contextualize and thereby elucidate the imagery in the scrolls, which is often mysterious even when the text tells the reader in words what they are looking at. Some of the parallels are indeed striking, and further analysis through other lenses may lead to important insights. One that is particularly striking is the similarity of depiction between the Semitic deity Iarhibol and the Mandaean Hibil. Might the latter’s name (the Mandaic form of Abel) involved a deliberate play on the name of Iarhibol?
Close attention is given to the depiction of the drabsha, and parallels with the Roman vexillium. More discussion of the striking difference between the drabsha in Mandaean illustrations and its appearance in real life would have been helpful, but the book on the whole makes clear that this may be but one more instance of Mandaean illustrations offering symbolic representations of objects as of persons and plants. It is striking that, while various persons celestial and terrestrial are depicted in mostly similar fashion, date palms are depicted each in a distinct manner (p.248).
Those interested in Jewish and Christian art will find both the similarities and differences significant and fascinating. The Arian baptistry in Ravenna is visually very different, and yet intersects with Mandaean artwork in featuring date palms, river baptism, and John the Baptist’s use of a staff and a sprig of leaves (pp.266-268).
Van Rompaey is consistently cautious even as she dares to be the first to take steps in offering analysis and drawing conclusions about this material. She emphasizes the limitations of comparison between material from different cultures and traditions. She also emphasizes “the limitations of a deductive process based purely on the analysis of textual and visual elements, without the inner knowledge and intuitive understanding possessed by an experienced Mandaean priest” (p.126). The book thus also includes frequent references to explanations from Mandaean priests, especially Rishama Brikha Nasoraiia, the only Mandaean priest who is also a professor of religious studies.
This book is important, not because it provides the last word on this topic, but because (as was emphasized at the beginning) it provides the first word. There has never before been a study of this sort, and it is my hope that the volume will not only be widely read for the insights it provides, but also lure others into this field of study to build on the solid foundation that van Rompaey has laid.
As an academic volume published by Brepols, Mandaean Symbolic Art is an expensive book unlikely to be purchased by those outside of academia, which is unfortunate. The study is a very detailed academic one and thus the text is not the sort of thing that a general audience will typically find fascinating. Academics will, however, and I thus urge those of you in this and adjacent fields to purchase a copy, and/or recommend it for purchase to your local academic and public libraries.
The publisher has made a sample of the book available:
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