The Hurrians and the Gnostics

Subartu:

The land of Subartu (Akkadian Šubartum/Subartum/ina Šú-ba-ri, Assyrian mât Šubarri) or Subar (Sumerian Su-bir/Subar/Šubur) is mentioned in Bronze Age literature. The name also appears as Subari in the Amarna letters, and, in the form Šbr, in Ugarit.

Subartu was apparently a polity in Northern Mesopotamia, at the upper Tigris. Most scholars accept Subartu as an early name for Assyria proper on the Tigris, although there are various other theories placing it sometimes a little farther to the east, north or west of there. Its precise location has not been identified. From the point of view of the Akkadian Empire, Subartu marked the northern geographical horizon, just as Martu, Elam and Sumer marked “west”, “east” and “south”, respectively.

The Sumerian mythological epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta lists the countries where the “languages are confused” as Subartu, Hamazi, Sumer, Uri-ki (Akkad), and the Martu land (the Amorites). Similarly, the earliest references to the “four quarters” by the kings of Akkad name Subartu as one of these quarters around Akkad, along with Martu, Elam, and Sumer. Subartu in the earliest texts seem to have been farming mountain dwellers, frequently raided for slaves.

Eannatum of Lagash was said to have smitten Subartu or Shubur, and it was listed as a province of the empire of Lugal-Anne-Mundu; in a later era Sargon of Akkad campaigned against Subar, and his grandson Naram-Sin listed Subar along with Armani (Armenians), -which has been identified with Aleppo-, among the lands under his control. Ishbi-Erra of Isin and Hammurabi also claimed victories over Subar.

Three of the 14th century BC Amarna letters, Akkadian cuneiform correspondence found in Egypt, mention Subari as a toponym. All are addressed to Akenaten; in two (EA 108 and 109), Rib-Hadda, king of Byblos, complains that Abdi-Ashirta, ruler of Amurru, had sold captives to Subari, while another (EA 100), from the city of Irqata, also alludes to having transferred captured goods to Subari.

There is also a mention of “Subartu” in the 8th century BC Poem of Erra (IV, 132), along with other lands that have harassed Babylonia. In Neo-Babylonian times (under Nabopolassar, Nebuchadrezzar II and Nabonidus), Subartu was used as a generic term for Assyria. The term was still current under Cambyses II, who mentions Subarian captives.

Subartu may have been in the general sphere of influence of the Hurrians. There are various alternate theories associating the ancient Subartu with one or more modern cultures found in the region, including Armenian or Kurdish tribes. Some scholars, such as Harvard Professor Mehrdad Izady, claim to have identified Subartu with the current Kurdish tribe of Zibaris inhabiting the northern ring around Mosul up to Hakkari in Turkey.

Shupria (Shubria) or Arme-Shupria (Akkadian: Armani-Subartu from the 3rd millennium BC) was a Proto-Armenian kingdom, known from Assyrian sources beginning in the 13th century BC, located in the Armenian Highland, to the southwest of Lake Van, bordering on Ararat proper. Scholars have linked the district in the area called Arme or Armani, to the name Armenia.

Weidner interpreted textual evidence to indicate that after the Proto-Armenian (Hurrian) king Shattuara of Mitanni was defeated by Adad-nirari I of Assyria in the early 13th century BC, he then became ruler of a reduced vassal state known as Shubria or Subartu. The name Subartu (Sumerian: Shubur) for the region is attested much earlier, from the time of the earliest Mesopotamian records (mid 3rd millennium BC).

Together with Armani-Subartu (Hurri-Mitanni), Hayasa-Azzi and other Indo-European populations of the region such as the Nairi fell under Kingdom of Ararat rule in the 9th century BC, and their descendants (according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia) later contributed to the ethnogenesis of the early Armenians.

Shupria is mentioned in the letter of Esarhaddon to the god Assur. Esarhaddon undertook an expedition against Shupria in 674, subjugating it.

Sabians:

The Sabians of Middle Eastern tradition are a variety of monotheistic: Gnostic (Mandeans), Hermetic (Harranian) as well as Abrahamic religions mentioned three times in the Quran with the people of the Book, “the Jews, the Sabians, and the Christians.” In the hadith, they are described merely as converts to Islam, but interest in the identity and history of the group increased over time, and discussions and investigations about the Sabians begin to appear in later Islamic literature.

Mandaeans:

Mandeans (Modern Mandaic: Mandaʻnāye, Arabic: aṣ-Ṣabi’a al-Mandā’iyūn) are an ethnoreligious group indigenous to the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia and are followers of Mandeism, a Gnostic religion. The Mandeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, a Semitic language that evolved from Eastern Middle Aramaic, before switching to colloquial Iraqi Arabic and Modern Persian.

Sabians, baptizers, identified with the Mandeans, believed “there is no God but God”, like the Jews and later the Christians. Mandaeism’ is an eastern religious sect that professes and practises an admixture of Christian, Jewish, and heathen doctrines and customs. The members of the sect live in Lower Babylonia, in the territory of Wasiṭ and Bassora, near Khuzistan, and speak the languages of the localities in which they are settled (Arabic and Persian).

Their sacred books are in an Aramaic dialect which has close affinities with that of the Talmud of Babylon, and they are written in peculiar characters resembling Old Palmyrenian script. Besides the name “Mandeans,” derived from (= “word of life”), the most important figure in the Mandean religious system, they take, in their dealings with other communions, the name of “Sabians,” and call the wise and learned among them “Nasoreans”.

Although the Mandeans adopted John the Baptist and his cousin Enosh Uthra, Christianity is regarded by them to have been the invention of Saul of Tarsus who they believe to be a false prophet and/or pseudo-messianic figure. In Christian tradition, miracles are reserved for Jesus and baptism for John, though Christ did baptize. In Mandean tradition, John does both, and looks much like the gospel Jesus.

John the Baptist, who came in the days of Pilate, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and raised the dead. So, John does the same miracles as Jesus, contrary to the fourth gospel—“John did no miracle”. As successive Essene Nesiim, John and Jesus had similar characteristics particularly healing Jewish apostates, and so were mixed up.

Mandeans say Jesus is a false messiah, but the true one was Enosh-Uthra. Enosh-Uthra, the “good man”, taught a dualism of truth and error, light and darkness, and life and fiery death, Essene teaching. After unmasking Christ, who was crucified, He ascended to the Abode of Truth, but will return at the End.