Haran Gawaita


The Haran Gawaita is a Mandaean text which purports to tell the history of the Mandaeans and their arrival in Media as "Nasoraeans" from Jerusalem.

Text, dating and authorship

The text is in Mandaic language and script, dated to around the 4th6th centuries and of unknown authorship. An English translation was published in 1953 by Lady E. S. Drower.

Content

According to the Haran Gawaita, John the Baptist was baptized, initiated, and educated by the patron of the Nasirutha, Anush or Anush-ʼuthra, the hierophant of the sect. This research was conducted by the Oxford scholar and specialist on the Nasoraeans, E. S. Drower. Mandaeans considered themselves Judeans and are aware of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE but they did not leave because of this. They left before 70 CE due to persecution by a faction of more normative or orthodox Jews. With the help of the Parthian king Ardban II, who ruled from 11-38CE, the Mandaeans settled in Media, and later moved to southern Babylonia