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Vortrag von Michele Scarlassara In the Name of ‘Jesus the Life-Giver’: Three Newly Identified Middle Persian Lamellae in Manichaean Script

02.07.2026 | 16:00 c.t. - 18:00
2026 Scarlassara

2026 Scarlassara

The paper presents three newly identified Middle Persian metal lamellae (gold, silver, and copper) written in Manichaean script from the Wolfe Family Collection in Jerusalem. These objects constitute the first known epigraphic evidence combining Middle Persian language, Manichaean script, and explicitly Manichaean liturgical formulae in a ritual–apotropaic context. The lamellae contain closely related ritual texts designed to protect a woman named Zurwān-dukt from a harmful entity termed pakhshag. Liturgical Manichaean elements — including the Trinitarian invocation and references to “Jesus the Lifegiver”—are embedded within a ritual framework closely aligned with late antique Aramaic ritual technologies, particularly Syriac bowl incantations. On a more general level, these ritual objects are a valuable addition to the limited corpus of Middle Persian Manichaean ritual texts and highlight an aspect of Manichaean practice rarely attested in surviving sources. The ongoing edition of these new materials invites further reflections on the circulation of liturgical formulae in ritual texts, the material forms of scribal ritual practices, and the lived religion of Manichaean groups in Late Antiquity.

Zeit & Ort

02.07.2026 | 16:00 c.t. - 18:00

Fabeckstr. 23/25
Raum 2.2058 und online auf Webex

Schlagwörter

  • Semitic Research Colloquium