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Title: The Use of Colophons and Scribal Postscripts in Envisioning Mandaean History
Author(s): BUCKLEY, Jorunn Jacobsen
Journal: ARAM Periodical
Volume: 11    Issue: 2   Date: 1999-2000   
Pages: 281-292
DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.11.2.504469

Abstract :
Almost all Mandaean texts have colophons, which are lists of names of scribes of a particular document. In colophons, the most recent scribe will specify that he conducted his task of copying in a given year, month and day, and also in which town, province, by which river, and during whose rule (Ottoman pasha, governor, Persian shah) he copied his text. After the scribe's own name comes a long list, sometimes containing a hundred names, of all copyists prior to himself who copied that particular text. If they are studied in a systematic way, Mandaean colophons can be a rich historical source. The author presents some research results and perspectives.

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