The Kentaeans were a Gnostic religious group of Mesopotamia from around the 5th century AD. They are often thought of as a Gnostic sect that is closely related to but distinct from the Mandaeans.[1]

Historical sources

The Kentaeans are mentioned near the end of Book 3 and at the beginning of Book 9.1 in the Right Ginza,[2] as well as in Qolasta Prayer 357.[3]: 251  The Ginza Rabba identifies the Kentaeans with Kiwan (Saturn) and criticizes them for their fasting.[2] They are also mentioned by Arab historians such as Ibn al-Malāḥimī as the Kintānīya, while aš-Šahrastānī refers to them as the Kintawīya.[1]: 41  Al-Masʿūdī briefly mentions them as the Kinṯāwīyūn.[1]: 42 

References to both the Kentaeans and Mandaeans can be found in three 6th-century Syriac Christian texts, namely the Cyrus of Edessa's Explanation for the Fasts, the Acts of Symeon bar Ṣabbāʿe, and the title of a lost work by Nathaniel of Šahrazur.[1]: 26–34  Van Bladel (2017) argues that both the Mandaeans and Kentaeans likely originated during the mid or late 5th century in the Sasanian Empire.[1]: 34–36 

Common origin and schism with Mandaeans

Theodore bar Konai (c. 792 in the Book of the Scholion) considers the Mandaeans, whom he refers to as the Dostaeans, to be an offshoot of the Kentaeans.[1]: 19  Van Bladel (2017) argues that the Kentaeans (Classical Syriac: ܟܢܬܝܐ, romanized: kntyʾ), who derived their teachings from Abel, and Mandaeans are closely related to each other, and that they had become distinct from each other due to a historical schism.[1][4][5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 van Bladel, Kevin (2017). From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004339460. ISBN 978-90-04-33943-9.
  2. 1 2 Gelbert, Carlos (2011). Ginza Rba. Sydney: Living Water Books. ISBN 9780958034630.
  3. ↑ Drower, E. S. (1959). The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
  4. ↑ Bukovec, Predrag; Bladel, Kevin Van (2018). "Review: From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes". Iran & the Caucasus. Brill. 22 (2): 211–213. ISSN 1609-8498. JSTOR 26548938. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  5. ↑ Han, Jae Hee (2018-03-05). "From Sasanian Mandaeans to Ṣābians of the Marshes". Ancient Jew Review. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
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