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The Heritage of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East

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The architect (1)

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11 Language, communication, libraries and education




 		Keywords
building
Christ
titles
Period
3rd century CE
Roman Empire 		Channel
Apocrypha
Manichaean texts

Text
The Christ is called by the Syrian Church fathers ‘the architect’ (ardēklâ). It is a shared title, in Acts of Thomas it is applied to the Creator (6-7), to Christ (17), and to Judas Thomas (24). The Manichaean Psalms use the title and behind them the term Bān rabbâ ‘Great builder’, which is analogous. The word ardēklâ or ardēkal derives from Akkadian arad ekalli, ‘slave of the palace’, which was in Neo-Babylonian times a special profession, carpenter and builder.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Acts of Thomas 6-7
Acts of Thomas 17
Acts of Thomas 24

Bibliography

Murray 1975, 223-224Murray, Robert. Symbols of Church and Kingdom. A Study in Early Syriac Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1975.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001365.php

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