Rustam, Raḫaš, Yazd and Sīmurġ – The Legend of Rustam and Sohrāb in the Version of the Mandaeans. A Paradigm of Acculturation

Khuzestan with its capital Ahwaz and Iran‘s largest and only navigable waterway, the Karun that discharges into the Persian Gulf, features a tremendous historic and cultural heritage, and is noted for its ethnic diversity. This applies not least to the monotheistic gnostic Mandaeans (mandāyi – also called Ṣābeʾin, sobbī or Nasoreans) who most likely immigrated from Palestine during the first centuries A.D. and whose traditional settlements are located on both sides of the Iraqi-Iranian border strip in the river systems of the Euphrates, the Tigris and Karun. Scientific research contributed a good deal to examine Mandaean script and language with strong Parthian influence and a multitude of Iranian loanwords. Regarding the religious and profane literature special attention had been drawn to Iranian shares in the numerous Mandaean orally handed down legends – among them a Mandaean version of the tragedy of „Rustam and his son Sohrab“ which is incorporated in the Shāhnāme, the „Book of Kings“ – the national epic of Greater Iran. This legend is supposedly based on a Parthian tradition and had not only been adopted but rather adapted by the Mandaens who gave the storyline a different shape and a happy end. This brings into focus the age-old religious beliefs and practices of the last Gnostics of ancient Mesopotamia.

Rustam, Raḫaš, Yazd and Sīmurġ – The Legend of Rustam and Sohrāb in the Version of the Mandaeans. A Paradigm of Acculturation Keywords:

Mandäer , Tragödie von „Rustam und seinem Sohn Sohrab“ , Akkulturation