Mandaeism

The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ; Greek: , , or , ) or Essenians were a mystic Jewish community during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE.

thumb|Mandaic language|Mandaic [[incantation bowl from Southern Mesopotamia c. 200–600 CE – Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada]] Mandaeism (Classical Mandaic: ), sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism, is a Gnostic, Dualistic and ethnic religion with Greek, Iranian, and Jewish influences. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Mandaeans consider Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, and John the Baptist to be prophets, with Adam being the founder of the religion and John being the greatest and final prophet.

Mandaeans (Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ) ( ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet.

thumb|upright=1.2|"... and the Sabians", Quran 5:69 The Sabians, sometimes also spelled Sabaeans or Sabeans, are a religious group mentioned three times in the Quran (as , in later sources ), where it is implied that they belonged to the 'People of the Book' (). Their original identity, which seems to have been forgotten at an early date, has been called an "unsolved Quranic problem". Modern scholars have variously identified them as Mandaeans, Manichaeans, Sabaeans, Elchasaites, Archontics, Hanif| (either as a type of Gnostics or as "sectarians"), or as adherents of the astral religion of Har

sect of 4th-century Christianity described by Epiphanius of Salamis

transcendental deity of the Mandaeans