Actually the noun ''sabà ''means ''soldiers, army, military service'' <ref>KOELER-BAUMGARTNER, ''HALAT'', II, p.934, s.v. ''sabà''.</ref>, but we guess that, if the Hebrew root ''SBA ''– both in nominal and in verbal form – has really some connections with the historical beginnings of the Sabian question, it is absolutely not because Sabianism is an astral religion or a form of heavenly idolatry, since the Harranian Sabianism itself cannot be entirely reduced to that. It is very tempting, for example, to imagine that the word had some relations with the cult(s) practised in a military environment, namely within a human milieu made up of mixed ethnical elements, by various nationalities, where the ''strangers’ '' dominant presence was the rule rather than the exception <ref>See for example, for Imperial times, J. HELGELAND, “Roman Army Religion”, or E. BIRLEY, “The Religion of the Roman Army: 1895-1977”, ''ANRW ''II, 16, 2, pp.1470-1505 and 1506-41. The figure of the “Stranger”, Salman, in Ismailian historiosophy, is a leit-motif in the works of CORBIN (see for example “Rituel Sabéen”, n.144 ff. or more particularly the monography ''Salman Pak''). </ref>. For the moment, however, without increasing what L. Massignon once felicitously called ''le roman syncrétistique des Sabéens''<ref>L. MASSIGNON, “Esquisse d’une Bibliographie Qarmate”, in ''A Volume … to E.G. Browne ''(cit. above n.32), p.333. </ref> with other fruitless speculations, it is worth paying more attention to the semantic values of the Hebrew root, considering the literary sources which allow us to see more in detail its several practical uses. Following this theme, one is given a genuine surprise: through the ''Torah'', in fact, the terms connected to this root systematically recur in relation with the particular priestly duties and privileges of Levi’s tribe. Let us read, for instance, chapter IV of ''Numbers'', verses 1-3: ''And the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying: ‘Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers, from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, ''to do the work ''in the tabernacle of the congregation’ ''<ref>Cf. ''Samuel'', 2, 22.. </ref>.

It is not difficult to see the close semantic links between the military service and the special tasks imposed on the members of the Levite clan which can be paralleled because of the similarity that exists between the soldier’s heavy burdens and the Levite’ weighty responsibilities consisting in carrying out their sacerdotal duties in the Temple. But there is more than that. The concept of ''service'' seems in fact to recur not fortuitously through the available textual evidence about the Sabians, since we have to do with two items occupying a significant position in the already quoted Arabian manual of Magic ''Gayat al-Hakìm''. The first one is a general definition of the ''Sabians'', where it is said that they are nothing else but ''the Nabataean ''servants ''of Chaldaeans''<ref>PSEUDO-MAJRITI, ''Das Ziel des Weisens'', ed. RITTER p.80 (''… al-Sàbi’a, wa hum mamàlik al-nabtmin al-kasdàniyyìn''); GT by RITTER-PLESSNER, p.83. It is worth noting that the Harrànians are often called “Chaldaeans”, even if generally this information is handed down by the same Muslim authors asserting the usurpation of the name “Sabians” by them since al-Ma’mùn’s times: HAMZA AL-ISFAHANI, ''Tàrìkh sìnì mulùk al-‘ard wa al-‘anbiyà'', LT GOTTWALDT, p.4 (''Chaldaei occidentis tractum occupabanteorumque nepotes in urbis Carrarum atque Edessae hodieque reperiuntur'')[ed. JAWAD AL-IRANI ALTABRIZI, Berlin 1340 H., p.7: “Today (10th centurt A.D.) their descendants live in the city of Harràn and Rùhà (modern Urfa). They gave up this name (Chaldaeans) from the time of the caliph al-Ma’mùn and adopted the name ''sàbi’ùn''”]; AL-KHAWARIZMI, ''Mafàtih al-‘ulùm'', ed. Van VLOTEN, p.36 (“The Chaldaeans [''Al-kaldàniyùn''] … are they who are called ‘Sabians [and] Harrànians’. Their members live in Harràn and Iraq. They adopted the name ''sàbi’ùn ''at the time of the caliph al-Ma’mùn”); AL-NADIM, ''Fihrist'', ET DODGE, p.745 (“… ''Harnàniyah al-Kaldàniyyìn'', known as the Sabians”). ABU YUSUF, the head-judge of the Caliph Harùn al-Rashìd, states that the people of Harràn are Nabataeans and refugees from Greece (''Kitàb al-kharàj'', 5th ed. Cairo 1396 H., p.43). According to AL-MAS’UDI, ''Kitàb al-tanbìh wa al-‘ishràf'', ed. cit. (above n.150), p.31, the term “Nabataeans” refers to the Syriac-speaking people (cf. SPENCERTRIMINGHAM, ''Christianity among the Arabs'', p.146 f. and notes, for other references and details), whereas he uses the term ''Kaldàniyùn ''for denoting people who live in the marshes between Wasit and Basra in Southern Iraq, namely the group of Sabians opposed by him to the Harrànians and elsewhere denoted by him with the term ''Kimariyùn''. The relations which FARIS-GLIDDEN, “The Meaning of Koranic ''Hanìf''”, p.17 f., deduce from these traditions is worth of attention: “It is also noteworthy that the Nabataean and Koranic usage of ''hanìf ''in a favorable sense is paralleled in other Semitic languages only in the Eastern Aramaic dialect of Harràn, with which it has other linguistic affinities. Moreover the religion of the Harrànians as a Syro-Hellenistic syncretism has a good deal in common with the worship of the Nabataeans; it is also not without significance that the Aramaeans of Harràn are frequently referred to in Islamic literature as Nabataeans (Nabat), as well as Chaldaeans (Kaldànìyun). What little is known of the traditions of these people fits very well into the general picture of their culture as one sees it reflected from other sources: Nonnos’ mith of the Nabataean Lykourgos and Theodore Bar Koni’s story of the origin of ''hanpùtho ''at Athens are of the same tendentious character”. The latter story, in particular, deserves special attention, because what the texts literally recites appears at first sight quite problematic: “Il en est qui ont dit que c’est après l’olivier qui poussa à Athènes qu’ils [the ''Hanpè'']reçurent cette appellation, car olivier en langue grecque se dit ''elaià ''et paien ''halious ''(''Héllen ''?)” (THEODORE BAR KONI, ''Liber Scholiorum'', ed. ADDAI SCHER, ''CSCO'', ''Script. Syri ''26, p.285; FT by R. HESPEL - R. DRAGUET, ''CSCO'', ''Script. Syri ''188, p.213): we believe, indeed, that the only way for understanding this passage is to see in the last word not a wrong transcription of the term ''Héllen ''as the translators suggest, but a hint to the cult of Hypsistos, whose name in Hebrew is just ''Elyon ''(cf. above n.272). </ref>; in the Latin version of the work, the ''Picatrix'', the whole expression is slightly different, but the semantic bulk of ''service'' remains unwavering: ''Zabii ''= servi ''capti Chaldaerum ''<ref>''Picatrix. The Latin Version of the Ghàyat al-Hakìm'', ed. PINGREE, p.46. </ref>. The second text is relevant by itself, because it is part of the ''Gaya''’s introduction to the Sabian planetary prayers: ''And among the operations of the Sàbians is what al-Tabari the astrologer says concerning the drawing down of the power of the planets. He says: ‘That which is known to me concerning the drawing down of the planets and their services which I found attributed to the leaders of the Sabians and the servants of the temples, is what I will say. They say …’ ''<ref>PSEUDO-MAJRITI, ''Das Ziel des Weisens'', ed. RITTER, p.195; GT by RITTER-PLESSNER, p.206 (text also in DOZY-De-GOEJE, “Nouveaux Documents pour l’Etude de la Religion des Harràniens”, p.300, followed by a FT, p.341). It is tempting to think that the “leaders of the Sabians” and the “servants of the temples” eventually denote here the same class of persons, namely the Sabians in general ''tout-court''. According to several Muslim authors the Sabians had temples of different shape in honour of the seven planets (plus five else, all of circular shape, in honour of Abstract Entities such as the Primal Cause, the Reason etc.): AL-MAS’UDI, ''Murùj'', FT IV, p.61 (FT by PELLAT, II, p.535) ; AL-DIMASHQI, ''Nukhbat aldahr'', FT p.41 f.; AL-SHAHRASTANI, ''Milal'', GT p.76 f. (FT ''Les Sabéens de Shahrastànì'', by G. MONNOT, p.171 f.); cf. SEGAL, “Pagan Syriac Monuments in the Vilayet of Urfa”, p.115 ff., who believes to recognize such shrines in the archaeological remains of Sumatar Harabesi; HJARPE, ''Les Sabéens Harràniens'', pp.90-2, who usefully compares these Medieval texts. The best introduction to the subject is the more than once quoted “Rituel Sabéen”, pp.1-44, by CORBIN (repr. in Idem, ''Temple et Contemplation'', Paris 1980), who connects the idea of the heavenly temples (and of the shrines built in order to be their earthly representations) to the great spiritual Shi’ite and/or Ismailian tradition: according to these doctrines, the Sabians represent the first religious group during the present (hiero-)historical cycle to which the divine Revelation has been transmitted, followed by the Brahmans, the Zoroastrians, the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims (see once again H. CORBIN, “Epiphanie Divine et Naissance Spirituelle dans la Gnose Ismailienne”, ''ErJb ''23 (1954), p.186; Idem, ''Temps Cyclique et Gnose Ismailienne'', Paris 1982, p.110; or also MARQUET, “Sabéens et Ikhwàn al-Safà”, ''SI ''24 [1966], p.53 n.1; but see also above at n.195 the comparative table, for the relation Moon-Sabians-Revelation). Thus, it is not difficult to understand why the Sabians might be seen - as the ''Ghàya''’s passage seems to state – in terms of the Primeval Custodians/Servants of the Temple. As it is wellknown, the expression “Servants of the Most-High God” is used by Luke in ''Acts'', and precisely when the demon-possessed slave girl denotes Paul and Silas at Philippi just by means of such an attribute: the reason why Paul appears greatly troubled and irritated by this fact, so that he does not waver to exorcize the demon provoking the bitter reaction of her masters for the consequent loss of money, is explained by P.R. TREBILCO, “Paul and Silas ‘Servants of the Most High God’ (Acts, 16, 16-18)”, ''JSNT ''36 (1982), p.62, in interesting terms: “Only to a Jew or Judaizer would the title Theos Hypsistos have suggested that Yahweh was meant … Paul’s annoyance and consequent action were caused by the fact that the girl was confusing those to whom he was preaching. His anger was aroused by the fact that she was exposing his own proclamation to a syncretistic misunderstanding. He acted to remove the danger”. For the concept of “Servant”, “Slave” (Ar. ''‘abd''; Hebr. ''ebed'') in religious sense, see BIKERMAN, “The Name of Christians”, pp.119-23. </ref>. We think that the Jewish linguistic background had certainly played a very remarkable role in modelling the Arabic verb(s) ''saba’a/sabà ''and upon the name(s) ''Sabian/Sabians'' connected with them, both from the point of view of the Hebraic wisdom and from the common usage of language, as we have learnt dealing with the root ''SHUBH ''and with some technical figures of the Hebraic culture like the ''[[gertoshàb]]'', as well as with some proper names such as ''Elizabeth <ref>D. KELLERMANN, art. “''Gur, ger ''etc.”, ''TWAT'', I, p.989 f. Talmudic references also in REYNOLDSTANNENBAUM, ''Jews and God-Fearers at Aphrodisia'', p.48 and ns.168 and 171. </ref>. ''From a strictly etymological point of view, however, we are convinced that, if all these linguistic elements are fully pertinent, they must be considered at the same time in terms of progressive semantic intersections, issuing with an ever-increasing meaningfulness from the original noun which we believe does not come from Hebrew.

At this point, we have become familiar with a wide semantic field, the general co-ordinates of which are expressed by terms and concepts such as ''People(s), Nation(s), Greek(s), Soldier(s), Stranger(s), Servant(s), etc.''. Is there any coherence in that? We think so, mostly after having acknowledged the historical relationships between the particular roles played by these groups of people in reference to the prevailing religion according to the double-faced perspective according to which such a phenomenon was viewed in Late Antiquity, also beyond the frontier of the Roman Empire.

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