The Mandean legend of Sam (1)

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The Mandean legend of Sam, son of Noah, contains some echoes of the Gilgamesh Epic.

Mandean Legend of Sam, Son of Noah:
At the moment in the Mandean burial that the body is being lowered into the tomb the lofani (or ritual meal) is begun. This lofani is called the ‘Sam Raia’ after Sam, son of Noah. The legend is that Sam, who was the progenitor of the Subba race (= Mandeans), and a shepherd, lived after the Flood to a great age. When he was 750 years old, he had become infirm, and could no longer perform the ritual ablution (rishama) without help. The Seven Planets appeared to him and began to tempt him with visions of this world, but in vain, for Sam was weary of his body and the imperfections of this world and longed for the world of light. Then he perceived Hibil Ziwa in the shape of a priest, who said to him, “Rise and make thy rishama!” Sam replied that, owing to infirmity, he was unable to do so without help. Hibil Ziwa repeated his command, and Sam, rising, felt that his body had become as strong and light as that of a man of twenty-four. He performed the rishama, and Hibil Ziwa offered him the alternative of a continuation of this miraculous youth, so that he might live out a span of a thousand years, or that he should leave his body and proceed towards the worlds of light. Standing there, in all youthful strength, the old man chose the latter. So he died, and Hibil Ziwa instructed the priests and Mandeans, his children, who had gathered together, how to prepare the body for death, the rites for burial, and how lofani must be eaten for the dead. Hence the name, ‘Laufa of Sam the Shepherd’. The familiar name in the Arabic mixed with Mandean is the ‘Thuwāb Sām bar Nūh’ (Clothes for Sam son of Noah).

Source (list of abbreviations)
Mandean Legend of Sam, Son of Noah

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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