From Jerusalem to the Karun: What Can Mandaean Geographies Tell Us

The origins of the Mandæans as a distinct religious community and their early history remain shrouded in myth and legend. The primary source for the early history of the Mandæans is the Scroll of Inner Harran, a collection of legends that detail their settlement in a territory identified as “Inner Harran” (Haran Gauaita), sometime during the first century CE. In this lecture, Charles Häberl examines the potential geographical locations of “Inner Harran” and evaluates them in light of existing sources on the oral and written geographies of the region.