Stvdia Antiqva A Student Journal for the Study of the Ancient World Fall 2007 Volume 5, Number 2 Brigham Young University Provo, Utah Studia Antiqua A Student Journal for the Study of the Ancient World Brigham Young University Editor in Chief Faculty Review Board Daniel O. McClellan Ancient Scripture Dana M. Pike Faculty Adviser Asian and Near Eastern Language Michael D. Rhodes Stephen D. Ricks Church History and Doctrine SANE Faculty Advisor Richard Neitzel Holzapfel Dana M. Pike Classics Norbert H. O. Duckwitz SANE Committee Richard C. Lounsbury Dave Nielsen, President Breanne White, Vice President Svetlana Tamtik, Secretary Joseph Petramalo, Events Seth Kohrman, Historian/Web Lucas Hill, Advertising Printed by Brigham Young University Print Services, December 2007 ISSN: 1540-8787 Financial contributions were made to this volume by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, the Ancient Near Eastern Studies program, and the Students of the Ancient Near East. Studia Antiqua is a semiannual student journal dedicated to publishing the research of undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines of ancient studies at Brigham Young University. The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Students of the Ancient Near East, Brigham Young University, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Studia Antiqua accepts manuscripts for publication year-round. Manuscripts should be sent to [email protected], and should include a title page with the author’s name, major, and year in school. For submission guidelines and other valuable resources, please visit the SANE website at kennedy.byu.edu/academic/ANES/sane.php. ii Table of Contents Volume 5, Number 2 Fall 2007 Editor’s Preface . iv Articles: Richard Thomas, The Israelite Origins of the Mandaean People. 3 Doug Marsh, The Battle of Marathon: The Stunning Victory and Its Contribution to the Rise of Athens. 29 Scott Preston Sukhan Nibley, “Have Ye Inquired of the Lord?” Inquiry Patterns in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. 41 Dave Nielsen, Clement of Rome as Seen through an Apostolic Paradigm. 61 Brief Notes: Avram R. Shannon, The Achaemenid Kings and the Worship of Ahura Mazda: Proto-Zoroastrianism in the Persian Empire. 79 Trevan G. Hatch, Magic, Biblical Law, and the Israelite Urim and Thummim. 87 Justin Soderquist, The Essence of Faith: An Exegetical Analysis of Hebrews 11:1–3. 95 Joseph Petramalo, An Exegetical Look at Genesis 39: Potiphar’s Wife and Joseph. 101 iii Editor’s Preface As this issue of Studia Antiqua goes to press, a small handful of students are making final preparations for the Students of the Ancient Near East Symposium on Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphical Literature, which will take place on Friday, December 7, at 9:00 am in rooms 3211 and 3223 of the Wilkinson Student Center. Some of the presenters received ORCA grants to fund their research and others funded it on their own, but for each of them the symposium represents a unique and special opportunity to present their research in a professional artmosphere. Dr. Daniel C. Peterson, Dr. Gaye Strathearn, and Dr. Stephen D. Ricks will also be presenting at the conference. This is the first issue of Studia Antiqua published under the auspices of the BYU Religious Studies Center. This has been an invaluable resource. Devan Jensen and Dr. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, with their cadre of editors, have contributed considerably to this issue. Without their expertise this issue would not have been possible. Kent P. Jackson began this semester as our faculty adviser, but his new position as Associate Dean of Religious Education prevented him from dedicating as much time to Studia Antiqua as he felt was necessary. As a result, Michael D. Rhodes has accepted the invitation to become our new faculty advisor. We look forward to the dynamic he will bring to our publication. Also new to the ranks is Dave Nielson, who replaces Justin Watkins as president of SANE. Justin is prepar- ing to enter graduate school at the Catholic University, in Washington, D.C. Dave Nielson is a senior in the Ancient Near Eastern Studies major with a Greek/New Testament emphasis. An article of his can be found on page 95 of this issue. Dave also recently submitted a paper to the Society of Biblical Literature’s regional meeting and won an award for best undergraduate paper. He and I will both be presenting papers at that meeting in Denver. Readers may notice that our format has become somewhat malleable of late. We have been experimenting with different formats, but we feel the present issue represents our most productive blend of professionalism and clarity. The new logo on the cover is a stylized depiction of the Students of the Ancient Near East logo. The oil lamp is intended to symbolize one of the many aspirations of the study of the ancient world: illumination of the past. It is our hope that students of the ancient world will view Studia Antiqua as an opportunity for growth and matura- tion within their respective fields of study and as a forum for that illumination. It is with that in mind that we present the fall 2007 issue of Studia Antiqua. Enjoy. Daniel O. McClellan Editor in Chief iv Articles The Israelite Origins of the Mandaean People Richard Thomas N the banks of the Euphrates River exists a small community of faithful Oknown as the Mandaeans. In their own language, derived from Aramaic, the word mandayye, from which they take their name, means “gnostic.”1 The religious practices of these people, which dominate most aspects of their lives, are the last remaining traces of ancient gnosticism in the world today.2 The origin of the Mandaeans is much debated, and it will be the focus of this paper. The Mandaeans claim that their ancestors came from Judea and originally practiced complex baptismal ordinances, the focal point of their religion, on the Jordan River. They claim that soon after the start of the Common Era, they were persecuted by the Jews and left Palestine, in a mass exodus of around 60,000 individuals, to eventually settle on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. There they have stayed, according to their oral tradition and their written record, for nearly two millennia. They are relatively few in number (commonly estimated to be less than 15,0003), and they do not seem to have played a very important role in the shaping of world history. However, understanding the origin of this group can lead to a better understanding of the religious makeup and practices of Judea at the dawn of Christianity. In the course of this paper, I will show that there is evidence which links the origin of Mandaeism very closely to Judea and the pre-Christian sectarian, or non-Jewish, sects centered on the Jordan River which preserved the heritage of the preexilic Israelite temple cult. Though I will not be able to conclusively show this to be the case, I believe that the evidence which I will present will show the above stated thesis to be a strong possibility. Richard Thomas graduated from BYU in April 2006 with a degree in history. He is studying Greek and Hebrew and is planning to continue biblical studies in graduate school. 1. Kurt Rudolph, Mandaeism (Lieden: Brill, 1978), 29. 2. Rudolph, Mandaeism, 1. This is considered a fact among all scholars of Mandaeism. 3. Rudolph, Mandaeism, 1. 4 Thomas: Origins of the Mandaean People In order to accomplish this, first I will cover the Mandaeans in general, discussing aspects of their religion, ordinances, record, and tradition. Then I will show how they are Gnostic in origin. I will examine early Christianity, Judaism, and heterodox sectarian Judaism, pointing out aspects of these religions that have parallels in Mandaeism. I will also identify the Nasarenes, the group from which the Mandaeans most probably originated. In order to show the beliefs of these early Mandaeans, I will examine John the Baptist and his group, which likely are the same group as the Nasarenes. Lastly, I will show how aspects of this group tie back into the pre-exilic Israelite temple cult beliefs, and show the possibility that some of the traditions of preexilic Israel were preserved by the Nasarenes. The Mandaeans I have selected to review aspects of Mandaeism which are important both for understanding the religion and for the framework of this paper. It is important to understand their ritual, beliefs, and relationship to other traditions which originated in Judea in order to understand the origins of Mandaeism. Fundamentally, Mandaeans are Gnostics. They claim to have a secret knowledge which makes it possible for their souls, after death, to return to the “Worlds of Light” from whence they came. Their gnosis is manifest in a complex series of sayings, ordinances, and rituals which are absolutely neces- sary for salvation. They have multiple books of scripture which gave them pro- tection as “People of the Book” under Arab rule.4 Primary among these books is the Ginza, which includes creation myths, underworld journeys, the story of Noah, words of wisdom from John the Baptist, doctrinal poetry, and Old Testament history with a Mandaean twist. According to Mandaean scholar J. Buckley, “The Ginza testifies of a fully developed Mandaean Gnosticism.”5 Other important works of literature include the Haran Gawaita, the Book of John, the Liturgies, and other works.6 Though the literature preserves the doc- trines, beliefs, practices, and traditions of the Mandaeans, it exists in a very confused state. Consequently, there has traditionally been reluctance among scholars to use this literature as a historical source.