Ur (demon)

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Ur (also monster , dragon and dark king ) is a mythical figure of the Mandaeans . It is identical to the biblical Leviathan .

Ur is considered the lord of darkness and adversary of the world of light. As a personification for all evil (lies, rebellion and death) he represents the negative opposite pole to the light king Mana rubre .

With Ruha , his mother, sister and wife, he created dark worlds, populated with demonic beings. The Mandaeans believe in a purification of the souls within. There are guardhouses (so-called mattarathas ), in which the souls of sinners are tormented so much that they wish for a second death, which, however, does not (yet) come over their spirits. At the end of the days, the souls of those Mandaeans who could be purified would be freed from Hibil from Ur's throat . After that, Ur, together with the souls remaining in it, will be wiped out, since all demons and unrefined dead die the second death, so that “whoever does not strip off the dirt goes out [...] and perishes”, “as if he had never been there would."

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Jonas : The Gnostic Religion, 3rd ed., Boston 2001, p. 117.
  2. ↑ The Book of John of the Mandaeans, ed. u. trans. v. Mark Lidzbarski , Part 2, Giessen 1915, pp. 98-99.
  3. ↑ Ginza . The Treasure or the Great Book of the Mandaeans, ed. u. trans. v. Mark Lidzbarski , Quellen der Religionsgeschichte Vol. 13, Göttingen 1925, p. 183.
  4. ↑ Ginza, ed. u. trans. v. Lidzbarski, pp. 185-186.
  5. ↑ Kurt Rudolph : Theogony. Cosmonogy and Anthropogony in the Mandaean Scriptures. An investigation into literary criticism and the history of tradition, Göttingen 1965, p. 241.
  6. ↑ Ginza, ed. u. trans. v. Lidzbarski, p. 203.
  7. ↑ The Book of John of the Mandaeans, ed. u. trans. v. Lidzbarski, p. 187.
  8. ↑ Ginza, ed. u. trans. v. Lidzbarski, pp. 588-589.
  9. ↑ Ginza, ed. u. trans. v. Lidzbarski, p. 321.