Codex Marshall 691 | |
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Bodleian Library | |
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) |
Material | Leatherbound |
Size | 4 × 5 inches |
Script | Mandaic |
Contents | Mandaean prayers |
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 The contents of the manuscript remain unpublished.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. [1]
Codex Marshall 691 is a small leatherbound codex with 116 pages [2] that measures approximately 4 inches by 5 inches. [1] : 55 As a prayerbook ("Qulasta"), it contains various Mandaean prayers, including the rahmia . [3] According to its colophons, it was copied in September 5, 1529 A.D., in Huwayza [4] : 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. [2]
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. [1] : 56
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