Too often outsiders imagine that [[Noahite]] refers to a recent or even only a Talmudic innovation. The following article examines some of the history of the movement. '''"God-Fearers: A Solution to the Ancient Problem of the Identity of the Sabians" ''' reflects the research of Alberto Fratini and Carl Prato and contains their contributions on the Sabei and the Sabeismo.<ref>[http://www.ricerchefilosofiche.it/ God-Fearers: A Solution to the Ancient Problem of the Identity of the Sabians]</ref>
==Premise==
==The Hebrew Root ''SHUBH''==
For more details see [[Teshuvah]].
Actually such an opinion, to which we subscribed without reserve in our previous study, could only be half a truth. There exists in fact the Hebrew root ''SHUBH ''which is very interesting for our purposes, even if nobody – as far as we know – ever recognised any inter-linguistic relation between it and the two Arabic roots which we are dealing with. W.L. Holladay, for example, when surveying in chapter I of his ''Theroot SHUBH in the Old Testament, ''various instances of ''the root in cognate languages'', records the verb ''tawaba ''which ''occurs in classical Arabic in a great variety of meanings, some of them paralleling Hebrew usage. According to Lane’s ''Lexicon ''<ref>E.W. LANE, ''An Arabic-English Lexicon'', repr. New-York 1955, I, 1, p.361 ff. </ref>the verb in the first form has the meaning ‘he returned to a place to which he had come before’, exactly the central meaning which we shall assign to ''shùbh''; then, after having remembered two further uses of the verb in the IV form (causative) and in the X form (reflexive), he reckons among the ''less assured proposals'' a Jacob Barth’s suggestion, according to which ''the adjectives ''sobhàbh'', ''sobhèbh ''‘disloyal, faithless’, and the noun ''meshùbhà ''‘faithlessness’, are to be distinguished from the Semitic root ''twb'', and to be rather connected with the Arabic root ''s’b''=''syb'', ‘free, untrammeled’ '' <ref>J. BARTH, ''Wurzeluntersuchungen zum Hebraischen und Aramaischen Lexicon'', Leipzig 1902, p.48 f.. </ref>.
Looking at the walls of the cellar, one soon notices, among the figures which Vibia meets in her journey after-death, two singular characters who cannot but attract our attention: Mercurius <ref>DIOGENES LAERTIUS, ''Vit. Phil. ''VIII, 1, § 31, reproducing a I century B.C.E. apocryphal work, informs us that Hermes escorts the souls after their separation from the body to the Most-High (''epì tònHypsiston''); cf. CUMONT, “ Hypsistos”, p.11 and n.1 as well as “Les Mystères de Sabazius”, p.74 and n.4, for the mythological figure of Hermes ''psychopompos''.</ref>, who escorts her to Pluto’s (''Dis Pater'') transmundane court of justice, and a Good Angel (''Angelus Bonus'') <ref>The mention of Angelus Bonus, whom CUMONT (“Hypsistos” p.4 and ns.6-7, p.5 and n.1, “Les Mystères de Sabazius”, p.72 f. and ns.1-4) thought to be an evident sign of the connection of these Roman findings with the Jewish religious culture, has been long discussed, starting with JAMAR’s criticism (“Les Mystères de Sabazius”, p.43 ff.): the bibliographical references quoted in the last notes allow the reader to acknowledge the main partakers of the scholarly debate.</ref>, who introduces her to seven ''happy'' guests (''bonorum iudicio iudicati'') taking part in a banquet <ref>For a quite clear reproduction of these paintings, see JOHNSON, “The Present State of Sabazios Research”, p.1605; for the text, see LANE, ''Corpus Cultus Iovis Sabazii'', II, p.31 f.; exaustive bibliography in M.J. VERMASEREN, ''De onderlinge betrekkingen tussen Mytras-Sabazius-Cybele'', in ''Academiae Analecta'', Bruxelles 1984, p.34 ff. About Angels’ cult, see however below, pp. 29-31.</ref>. Is it a simple coincidence to find here some traditional figures of an Hermetic environment such as Hermes/Mercurius and Agathodaimon/Angelus Bonus, which all textual sources universally point to as being the two greatest Harranian prophets? <ref>The Harrànians claimed that Hermes and Agathodaimon were not only their own prophets, but also their first masters in their quality of mediators between men and the Holy Heavenly Beings and, above all, God, the absolutely transcendental “God of the gods” (for which definition see below p. 34 and n. 304): for Medieval Muslim sources, see GREEN, ''The City of the Moon-God'', at the relative chapter; GUNDUZ, ''TheKnowledge of Life'', p.157 f. (al-Nadìm, al-Mas’ùdì, al-Bìrùnì, al-Baghdàdì, Ibn Hazm, al-Dimashqì, al- Shahrastànì, Bar-Hebraeus), where different transcriptions of the names (''‘Adìmùn, ‘Agàdhìmùn,‘Aghàthàdhìmùn, ''etc.; ''Harmis'', ''Harmas, Haràmasah ''etc.) are recorded. For the equation Hermes-‘Idrìs, which is a traditional identification thorough Islamic exegetical tradition (cf. ''Qur’àn ''19, 56-7; 21, 85), and the further equation ‘Idrìs-‘''Aknùkh/Khunùkh ''etc. (= Biblical Henokh/Enoch, according to AL-BIRUNI, ''Chronology''., p.188, or to AL-MAQDISI, ''Kitàb al-bad’ wa al-ta’rìkh'', Paris 1899-1903, ed. and FT by C. HUART, ''Le Livre de la Création et de l’Histoire'', III, Paris 1903, p.12: “… Idrìs is no other than Enoch … He was the first prophet who received a mission after Adam ... He is the first who traced characters by means of pen … His name among the Greeks is Hermes” [we quote from W. SCOTT, ''Hermetica'', IV, Oxford 1936, p.252]), see M. PLESSNER, art. “Hirmis”, ''EI2 ''III, pp.479-81, or for example Y. MARQUET, “Sabéens et Ikhwàn al-Safà’”, ''SI ''24 (1966), p.36 and n.3, and p.56 ff.; for Agathodaimon, M. PLESSNER, art. “Agathùdhìmùn”, ''EI''2 I, p.244-5, whereas the identification with Adam’s son Seth (''Shìth'') is quite late, because it seems to have been firstly proposed only in the VI H./XII c. by AL-SHAHRASTANI, ''Milal'', GT by T. HAARBRUCKER, ''Religionspartheien und Philosophen-Schulen'', Halle 1851, II, p.3 (and then by ALDIMASHQÌ, ''Nukhbat al-dahr'', FT M.A.F. MEHREN, ''Manuel de la Cosmographie du Moyen Age'', Copenhague 1874, p. 46 f.; ABÙ AL-FIDÀ’, ''Al-mukhtasar fì akhbàr al-bashar'', ed. H: FLEISCHER, Vogel 1831, pp.14, 148; BAR HEBRAEUS, Ta’rìkh ''mukhtasar al-duwal'', ed. A. SALHANI, Beirut 1890, p.12); cf. G. MONNOT, “Sabéens et Idolàtres selon ‘Abd al-Jabbàr”, ''MIDEO ''12 (1974), p.30; R. REITZENSTEIN, ''Poimandres'', Leipzig 1904, p.170 ff.; but above all H. CORBIN, “Rituel Sabéen et Exegèse Ismaélienne du Rituel”, ''Eranos Jahrbuch ''19 (1950), pp.181-246, who does not waver in connecting such a phenomenon to Ismailism and to Ismailian Historiosophy.</ref>
But, provided that our basic hypotheisis is correct, we have more. The words composing Vincentius’ epitaph again attract our attention, since they are: ''Numinisantistes Sabazis Vincentius hic est qui sacra sancta Deum mente pia coluit''. Well, if the last words have a technical sense, if, consequently, the sentence ''colere Deummente pia ''defines a special class of believers, namely people close to a Monotheistic religious view as the equivalent Greek expressions ''sèbein/sèbesthai tòn theòn ''clearly do, and if, finally, the central meaning of Arabic ''Sàbi’ùn ''is precisely ''mid-Converts'' <ref>Obviously we use the expression in a non-technical sense, having already signalized its inaccuracy above, n.116. It is worth noticing the equation ''Sàbi’ ''– “Convert” proposed by De BLOIS, “Sabians in Arabia”, p.52, even if we cannot agree with him for the further identification ''Sàbi’ ''– “Manichaean”“[[Manichean]]”, nor, of course, with M. GIL who tries to prove the truthfulness of this relation in his study “The Creed of Abù ‘Amir”, ''IOS ''12 (1992), pp.9-57.</ref>, or rather ''people turning themselves towards the ''Theos Hypsistos’ ''cult'', because of the heavy, massive influence of the semantic bulk carried on by such Greek verbs and by the parallel Greek nouns (''sebòmenos/oi tòn theòn'', ''theosebès/èis'': we leave aside the corresponding Latin ones), we have found here a significant set of religious connections with Harràn and the Harrànian Sabians which, we believe, deserves further investigation.
==Tertium Genus==
Well, we perceived that a similar version of the facts suddenly opened a window on the truth: what more could one desire than this? It was the extremely plain description of the phenomenon of Proselytism in relation to the Jewish people <ref> The ''LXX ''normally traslate the Hebrew ''ger ''with ''prosèlytos'', even if often we have to do only with resident aliens, namely with stangers living in Palestine but not converted to Judaism (cf. for example the expression ''ha-ger ‘asèr yagur be-ysra’èl ''[''Ex''. 14, 7] which is rendered with ''oi proselyteuòntes en tò Israèl,'' “whoever among the strangers dwells in Israel”. In the course of centuries, though, the original connotation of the word took a socio-religious tract that will become the final meaning of the term (cf. the references quoted above n.60). It is worth noting the Greek transcription ''geìoras ''of the aramaean ''giyyorà ''(''Ex''. 12, 19; ''Is ''14, 1; but see also PHILO, ''Conf. ling''., 82; JUSTINUS, ''Dial''. 122, 1[''geòras ''beside ''prosèlytos'']; JULIUS AFRICANUS, ''Ep. ad Arist''., 5, in EUSEBIUS, ''Hist. Eccl''., I, 7, 13 [''geiòra''i = ''prosèlytoi'']), though, unfortunately, nothing similar happened in the Arab or Syriac versions of the ''Acts ''in relation to the word ''sebòmenos''/''o''i (''tòn theòn''): the ''Peshitta ''uses in fact in this case the participial form of the root ''DHL'', while Arabic uses the participle of the verbs ''‘abada ''and ''tawaqqa ''or ''ittaqa ''(''khàfa ''for ''oi phoboùmenoi''/ “fearers”). 194 bis) For the origins and the historical developments of Jewish Proselytism, an excellent but quite up-todate bibliography is contained in the already quoted art. “Proselyte, Proselytisme”, ''DB'', Suppl. VIII, cols.1353-6 (A. PAUL); see therefore also the bibliographical references quoted above n.60. It is to be stressed the semantic correspondence between the Greek verb ''prosèrkhomai'', “to go towards, to lean, etc.”, and the above observed semantic nuance of the Arabic verbs ''saba’a''/''sabà ''(p.8 f. and notes). Though noticing that “''Sàbi’ ''… came to serve as one of the several designations for ‘proselyte’ “, BUCK, “The Identity of the Sàbi’ùn”, p.173 – as well J. WANSBROUGH, ''The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition in IslamicSalvation History'', London 1978, p.102 – does not arrive to the same unavoidable conclusion of ours; but see also below n.197, for the meaning ''prosèlytos ''= “convert to Christianity” or more in general “a person approaching anything new”. For Abraham as a prototype of proselytes, see W. BOUSSET - H. GREESMANN, ''Die Religion des Judentums in spathellenistilichen Zeitalter'', Tubingen 19263, p.186; or also SIMON, ''Verus Israel'', p.205 n.5; actually Abraham, as well as Job, continues to be remembered as preeminently “God-fearing” (Abraham: ''4 Macc. ''15, 28; ''TNaph. ''1, 10; Anon. in EUSEBIUS, ''Praep. Ev''., ix, 17, 3; in ''Genes., ''22, 12, he is not “God-fearing”, but one who “fears God”; Job: Ps. ARISTEAS in EUSEBIUS, ''Praep. Ev''., ix, 25, 4). For the parallel between Job and Abraham, see also ''b. Sotah, ''31a, cited by WILCOX, “The ‘Godfearers’ in Acts”, p.106, who argues that Luke is putting Cornelius, like Simeon and Lydia, within this tradition. For Proselytes, see finally NOCK, ''Conversion'', p.61 f. and p.109.</ref>, of its first chronological manifestation … <ref>194 bis</ref>; or rather it was in this sense that we were tempted to interpret the excerpt: it seemed in fact to confirm on the whole our hypothesis about the equation Sabians–God-Fearers, by laying the foundation stone of the theoretical building. Though pointing to the same direction, however, the ''Chronology''’s text says literally something slightly different, but in order to understand what such a thing would be we have to look at al-Bìrùnì’s complementary definition of the Sabians which we started from, the one contained in his ''Kitàb altafhìm'', the ''Book of Initiation in the Elements of the Art of Astrology''.
Here, in the relevant section dealing with the ''Horoscope of Religions'' <ref>Cf. p.253 of the ET by R.R. WRIGHT, London 1934, who also provided the edition of the text. Here, not only a mutual relation Planets-Religions is drawn, each Religion being put in correspondence in its turn also with a single People. The “Horoscope of Religions” theme probably appears for the first time into a similar form in ABU MA’SHAR, ''Kitàb al-milal wa-l-duwal'', ed. and ET by K. YAMAMOTO - C. BURNETT, ''Abù Ma’shar, on Historical Astrology'', 2 Vols., Leiden–Boston–Koln 2000 (the first vol. contains the Arabic text and the ET; the second one the medieval LT by IOHANNES HISPANUS [''DeMagnis Conjunctionibus''], Glossaries and Indexes), whose close relationship with AL-KINDÌ (cf. O. LOTH, “Al-Kindì als Astrolog”, ''Morgenlandische Forschungen. Festschrift H.L. Fleischer'', Leipzig 1875, pp.263- 309), and consequently with Sabian-Harrànian milieu, is very well-known. This circumstance might have given rise to an unusual link of the word ''Hanpè/Hanìf ''which can be found in the 2nd Treatise, ''Differentia ''viii, of ''De Magnis Conjunctionibus'', where one reads: ''dixerunt quia Saturnus habuit significationem super ''hamf''ì'' (f. C viii r.). A marginal gloss of the Code Ms. Vaticanus Reginensis Latinus 1285 containing this work (folios 43r.– 99v.: the gloss in question is in folio 58r. l.29) – written by the same IOANNIS HISPANUS according to R. LEMAY, ''Abù Ma’shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth Century'', Beirut 1962, p.14 n.4 - comments the expression as it follows: ''Super legem illorum a quibus Mauri ducunt legem suam, id estab illis qui fuerunt ''ab Abraam ''usque ad Moysen ex parte Ysmaelis, ''i.e. ''super legem Ismaelitarum''. A theoretical connection with Ismael’s progeny, namely more in general with ''Hunafà’''/Gentiles, doubles therefore the other one previously acknowledged (1st Treatise, ''Diff. ''iv, f. A vii r.; Vat. Reg. Lat. 1285, f. 46 v. a) Saturn-Judaism. In fact “Abraham through Ishmael was the progenitor of the Arabs. He therefore must have been the founder of the religion of the ''Hunafà’''” (R. BELL, “Who were the Hanìfs?”, ''MW ''20 [1930], p.124). In reality, there was a mistake, because the original text – according to the new edition of YAMAMOTO-BURNETT – displays the word ''khalifà’''/”caliphs” (Vol. I, p.152 l.8, ET p.153): but what might have given origin to the misunderstanding of the medieval translator, who exchanged a common term such as “caliphs” with a problematic one ? We reproduce here a skech-map of the main medieval sources treating the problem of the cosmic corrispondences Planets – Religions, since the end of the IX century (Abù Ma’shar/Al-Kindì) till up the XIII century (Roger Bacon): Placet Abù Ma’shar (Al-Kindì) De Planetarum patrocinniis (''CCAG ''VII) Al-Bìrùnì Gàyat al-Hakìm, III,1 Gàyat al- Hakìm, III,7 Roger Bacon Saturn Judaism Judaism Judaism (Judaism) Judaism Judaism Jupiter Faiths Christianity Christianity Christianity Christianity Faiths Mars Paganism Idolatry Idolatry Idolatry Idolatry Caldaean Religion Sun Idolatry Religion of the Magianism Mazdaeism Persian Aegyptian Fire .Brahamanism. Cult of Pneumatic Spirits Religion Religion. Cult of the Heavenly Army Venus Islam Islam Islam Islam Islam Mercury Christianity Judaism. Debate about Dogmatism [Heterodoxy] Heterodoxy Heterodoxy (Zindìk) Religion of Wise men. Heresy Christianity Moon Doubt, Development, Change and Desertion from one’s Faith Religion of the Greeks (Revelation of the Mysteries) Adherents of the prevailing Religion [Sabianism] Sabianism Revelation Religion of the Children and of the Youths [Harrànian Sabianism] Sect of the Antichrist (Bibliographical refernces: ABU MA’SHAR, op. cit., I, p.44 f.; ''CCAG'', VII, p.95 ff.; AL-BIRUNI, ''Kitàbal-tafhìm ''(''Book of Initiation in the Elements of the Art of Astrology''), p.253; ''Gàyat al-hakìm ''(ref. below n.296), p.156 ff., and p.206 ff.; ROGER BACON, op. cit. (above n.161), p.253 ff.). The relation Moon- Sabians does not deserve any comment, if one keeps in mind the role of Harràn as cultic capital of the Sumero-Babylonian Moon-God ''Sìn'': by this point of view, it is not too hazardous to suppose that the expression “the Religion of ''the Children and of the Youths''”, explicitly connected by the ''Gàya ''with Sabianism, may be a textual error: the writing of the Arabic words ''al-sabìàn wa- l-ahdàth'', in fact, is indeed very similar to the expression “the Sabians of Harràn” (''al-sàbiya bi-l-Harràn'') so that the former graphic sequence may easily changed with the latter. On the other hand, how can one explain the presence of such subjects as “the children and the youths” in this context ? </ref>, where the seven planets are put in correspondence with just as many universal religions, one finds the Moon - namely the lowest of the seven heavenly bodies, naturally associated with Harràn because of the Sumero-Babylonian cult of the Moon-God ''Sìn'' whose worship was still alive in this ancient city, proud of its religious traditions, during the Muslim Middle Ages <ref>Cf. above p.2 and n.15; below p.33 and ns. 291-2.</ref>– placed in parallel with the Sabians, just as one might have expected. But really surprising is the formula by which al-Bìrùnì delimits Sabianism, since Sabians become now the ''Adherents of the Prevailing Religion'' (''alladhìna bi-dìn kulli gàlibin'') <ref>AL-BIRUNI, ''Kitàb al-tafhìm'', p.253.</ref>. Perfectly fitting! Impeccable! It is impossible to define in a better way the idea of what has been called, to use a infelicitous expression indeed, ''mid-Conversion'' <ref>Cf. above n.116; p.18 and n.149. The circumstance that God-Fearers in certain Diaspora communities attended at synagoge’s assemblies “nicht als ‘Anhange’, sondern als - gegenuber Juden und Proselyten freilich ungleichwartige - Bestandteile der judischen Gemeinden” (BELLEN, “''Synagogé tès Ioudaìon kaìTheosebòn''”, p.172), makes SIMON think that “das stunde ziemlich in Analogie zu den Katechumenen der Alten Kirche, nur mit dem Unterschied dass der Katechumenat ein vorlaufiger Stand ist, wahrend bestimmte, ja sogar der Grossteil der ''sebòmenoi ''ihren Status das ganze Leben behalten” (art. “Gottesfurchtiger”, col.1068). It is interesting to notice a gloss to the word “Sabian” found in one Ms. of a summarized version of TABARÌ’s ''Tafsìr ''(''Tarjama i tafsìr i Tabarì'', ed. H. Yaghmàì, IV, p.1054) by De BLOIS, “Sabians in Arabia”, p.52 n.52, according to which ''Sàbi’ùn ''= ''[[Nighòshagàn]]'', ''i.e. ''a Persian word usually employed for denoting “Manichaean hearers” (it is well-known that Manichaeans divided the believers into a number of grades, the “hearers” being separated from “initiates” and having consequently a role similar to Christian ''katekhoùmenoi''), even if obviously we disagree with the French scholar’s opinion about the identity Sabians- Manichaeans; this fact does not mean, however, that the term ''Sàbi’ùn ''could not sometimes have included ''also ''Manichaean groups in Central Arabia and in the neighbouring regions. For the Christianizing of the term ''prosèlytos ''see P.B. BAGATTI, ''The Church from Circumcision. History and Archaeology of Judaeo-Christians'', ET by E. HOACLE, Jerusalem 1971, pp.237-39, and also (with J.T. MILIK) ''Gli scavi del'' Dominus Flevit ''(Monte Oliveto – Gerusalemme)'', I, Jerusalem 1958, p.21: the author supposes that the Judaeo-Christians had an institution called “Proselitate”, similar to a “Catechumenate”, but his hypothesis is considered quite hazardous. In ''The Church from Circumcision'', p.210 figs. 13, 17 and 13, 20, Bagatti also records, in a funerary context, the symbol ''S B + ''which he reads in the same way tentatively proposed by Du MESNIL Du BOISSON, ''MUSJ ''1959, namely that it “se lit vraiseblament ''S(otèr) B(oethòs) + (= Khristòs)''” (p.39, cf. p.42 no.138), who reproduced in addition the sequences, in Greek letters, ''Z a b ''(“au dessous, une palme dressée”) (p.16 no.34), and ''Z b E ''(p.31 no.104), which evidently contradict a similar possibility.</ref>. A general but not generic formula, where among many other things one recognizes also the devotional position of the four ''Hunafà’ ''whom we have met above: to make Conversion a well-identified phenomenon, one needs not only a private spiritual feeling enlarged to massive dimensions, but also a dominant religion, namely a cult able to have a prevalent position over the others. In any case, that was how the process developed in the course of history: only when a single religion, Christianity, became the official Religion of the Roman Empire, in fact, did Conversion begin to be acknowledged as a clear, unquestionable fact, representing a social and religious reality that people could eventually conceive without difficulties and therefore express without linguistic ambiguities.
Hypsistarii, Sebòmenoi/Phoboùmenoi (tòn Theòn), Theosebeìs, Massaliani,Euphemitai, Caelicolae, Hunafà. ''Adherents of the Prevailing Religion'': let us pay attention to the first term. ''Adherents'' simply means ''Symphatizers'' <ref>Cf above p.15 and ns.70-1 for a subtle theoretical distinction between these terms.</ref>, ''Close to'', ''To get ready for'', it does not mean ''Full Converts'', which is exactly the case of the God-Fearers. Probably al- Bìrùnì should have added to the last words of his definition the attribute ''Monotheistic'', since we always have to do with people who made the fundamental step to turn themselves to the faith in One Most-High God, in One Supreme Deity <ref>As we have said (above p.1 and n.2), that is the sense by which we assume the expression following MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, p.119.</ref> in reference to whom the other lesser deities play often the role of heavenly messengers, of angels, as the Oracle from Oenoanda – that is from the Northern Lycian site where one of the rare ''Hypsistarii''’s cult-places has been found – explicitly states by Apollo’s mouth: ''Born of itself, untaught, without a mother, unshakeable, not contained in a name, known by many names, dwelling in fire, this is God. We, his angels, are a small part of God'' <ref>The Oracle was firstly published by G.E. BEAN, ''Journey in Northern Lycia 1965-67'', D. Ak. Wien Phil.-Hist. Klasse 104 (1971), pp.20-2 no.37; see the fine commentary by L. ROBERT, “Un Oracle Gravé à Oenoanda”, in ''Opera Minora Selecta'', V, Amsterdam 1972, pp.617-39 (previously published in ''CRAI ''1971); for a discussion about the Oracle here quoted, whose first three lines are also reproduced into the so-called ''Theosophy of Tubingen ''(late V c. C.E.) as well as into LACTANTIUS’ ''Divinae Institutiones ''(1, 7), see MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, p.86 ff., where also the original Greek text and its translation are given. </ref>. But it is true, also, that after the final victory of Christianity God-Fearers’ communities – whose names historically range from ''Hypsistarii'', ''Hypsistariani'', to ''Theosebèis'', ''Sebòmenoi tòn Theòn'', ''Caelicolae ''etc. - but also the lonely individuals seeking after God known by the name ''Hunafà’ ''in the Near Eastern desert regions felt the attraction of Christianity by often achieving their spiritual way through a full Conversion to the Cross, while in previous times they were gravitating around the prevalent Monotheistic groups settled throughout the geographical areas where they lived, which as a rule were Jewish ones.
Al-Bìrùnì’s first-quoted text also turns the reader’s thought to the Jewish context, even if the Persian writer seems to believe that the Jewish presence along the Euphrates and Tigris valley is connected to a religious reality that will come along after several centuries, namely the migration from Palestine into Southern Mesopotamia of some Hemerobaptist sects as Elkesaits and Mandaeans <ref>The migration of these sects from Palestine has been often put in doubt: see for example E. PETERSON, “Urchristentum und Mandaismus (Nachtrag)”, ''ZNW ''27 (1928), pp.91-98. We wish to recall here that CHWOLSON’s identification (cf. ''Die Ssabier''’s Index, s.vs.) of the religious group called by al- NADIM, ''Fihrist'', ET p.811, the ''[[Mughtasila ]]''(“Those who wash themselves”), or ''[[Sàbat al-batà’ih]]'', with the [[Elkesaites ]] and the Mandaeans is valid only for the former group, as the discovery of the so-called ''Mani-Codex ''has demonstrated once for all: ''Der Kolner Mani-Kodex … ''kritische Edition … herausgegeben und ubersetz von Ludwig LOENEN und Cornelia ROMER, ''Papyrologica coloniensia ''14, Opladen 1988. </ref>. But if one interprets the information by means of al-Bìrùnì’s second excerpt, one sees rather the real influence that Zoroastrianism had on Hebraic religion, because it was precisely during the ''Babylonian captivity'' that some typical features of Hebraism such as the juxtaposition Good-Evil and God-Satan or concepts such as the Last Judgement and the Resurrection of the Dead came into being <ref>On the Jews in Babylonia, also during the Persian period, see the up-to-date bibliography in SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, § 31 ns.11 ff. </ref>. To sum up, we have supposed that al-Bìrùnì’s first text was only to be connected with such a historical phenomenon; on the other hand, it had relations with the historical rising of Jewish Proselytism, and reminded for example a well-known textual passage by Josephus mentioning the transfer of the Jews from Babylon to Asia Minor by Antiochus III at the end of the III century B.C.E. <ref>Antiochus settled two thousand Jewish families in Lydia and Phrygia: granting them the right to follow their own laws and other privileges. JOSEPHUS, ''Ant. Jud''., 12, 149-50, quotes the relevant passages of the letter of the king to his governor Zeuxix: for the authenticity of this document, see the discussion in SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, 1, p.17 n.33; TREBILCO, ''Jewish Communities'', p. 5 ff. </ref>: it was from this original bulk that many well-organized Jewish communities spread throughout Asia Minor and elsewhere, exerting a strong spiritual attraction on the surrounding Gentile milieu, as archaeological findings have proved with certainty. In Afrodisia <ref>We limit ourselves to quote again TREBILBO’s book, where large space is reserved to the most important Jewish communities in Asia Minor (Sardi, Priene, Acmonia, Apamea), with exaustive bibliography. </ref>, in particular, Gentiles’ involvement in the local synagogue appears to have been really massive, since more than half of the people attending the cult-place were Gentiles whose status range across the entire social spectrum, from the highest civic positions and liberal professions to craftsmen and simple workers <ref>See REYNOLD-TANNEMBAUM, ''Jews and God-Fearers'', pp.116-23, for a detailed analysis of “the trade designations” in Aphrodisia’s inscription. </ref>: it is worth noting, once again, that such people were not fullconverts, but plain ''theosebeìs'', God-Fearers, whereas only three individuals are recorded in the engraved inscription mentioning the donors’ names of the beneficent institution which they contribute to as ''proselytoi ''<ref>REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit.: for the mention of ''prosèlytos ''see p.5, face A, ll.13, 17, 22 (“The important fact that 3 persons are explicitly called proselytes … in a period in which Jewish proselytism was forbidden by imperial decree, is a strong testimony of the powerful influence of the Jewish community of Aphrodisia”: P. W. Van der HORST, ''Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity'', p.171 [from the study “Jews and Christians in Aphrodisia in the Light of Their Relations in Other Cities of Asia Minor” contained in the same volume, pp.166-81, and firstly published in ''NedTTs ''43 (1989) pp.106-21]): Commentary pp.43-48, where also the problem of the imperial legislation is treated. </ref>, namely people legally converted to Judaism <ref>Cf. the previous note, and above p.12 and ns. 90-92. </ref>. Probably the Roman laws prohibiting circumcision and conversion to Judaism since Hadrian’s times played a significant role in such a meagre number of persons claiming explicitly that ''passing of the boundary'' which Juvenal so greatly feared and bitterly mocked: here, in fact, most of the no-Jews prefer to remain in the more neutral religious position of Juvenal’s ''pater metuens sabbata'', worshipping ''nubes et caeli numen ''and abstaining from ''carne suillam ''rather than that of the son who decides to make the last step and thus ''mox et praeputia ponit ''without any reserve <ref>Cf. above p.14 and n.113. </ref>.
Beyond such vague elements, we know very little about the God-Fearers’ cultic practices. From Oenoanda’s text one learns that sometimes their cult had solar features, because of the Oracle’s prescription to the faithful to pray in direction of the rising sun, namely facing east, gazing up at heaven and offering prayers to the allseeing Aether <ref>See the last two lines of the Oracle (refs. above n.201). The adjective ''epòptes'', “all-seeing”, is usually attributed to Helios (cf. S. MITCHELL, ''Anatolia: Land, Men and Gods in Asia Minor'', II, Oxford 1993, p.47), even if it is also applied to ''Theòs Hypsistos ''in a dedicatory formula from an Alexandria’s inscription virtually conflating the Highest god and the Sun god, or in another one from a Pergamum altar completely associating both divinities (dedication to ''Helios Theos Hypsistos''): texts in MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, nos. 284 and 186. </ref>. A tendency to solar Monotheism comes also out from J. Ustinova’s speculations about the Iranian background of the religious position of the ''thiasoi'', the cultic associations – called ''eispoietoì adelphoì sebòmenoi theòn hypsiston'', but also ''synodos ''of ''thiaseitai ''or ''thiasòtai ''– worshipping ''Theòs Hypsistos ''in Tanais and in several other Greek colonies on the Northern shore of the Black Sea in the first half of the II c. C.E. <ref>Being collected within ''Corpus Inscriptionum Regni Bosporani ''(''CIRB''), eds. V.V. STRUVE ''et alii'', Moskow-Leningrad 1965, and firstly published by V.V. LATYSHEV in Russian, these inscriptions – as it is well-known – represent the key-stone of the old and influential study of E. SCHURER, “Die Juden im Bosporanische Reiche und die Genossenschaften der ''sebòmenoi theòn hypsiston ''ebendaselbest”, ''Sitzungberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'', I, 1897, pp.220-5, but above all of the already quoted “Les Mystères de Sabazius et le Judaisme” of CUMONT, who pointed out to the syncretistic features of these religious communities and whose conclusions had been accepted and discussed by many scholars after him: E.R. GOODENOUGH, “The Bosporus Inscriptions to the Most High God”, ''JQR ''47 (1956-7), pp.1-44; B. LIFSHITZ, “Le Culte du Dieu Très Haut à Gorgippia”, ''RFIC ''92 (1964), pp.157-61; M. TATCHEVA HITOVA “On the Cult of Theòs Hypsistos on the Bosporus” (in Russian), ''VDI ''1 (1978), pp.133-42 (cf. ''SEG ''28 [1978], p.1648); MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, pp.133-5 (nos.83- 104), are only few examples. A good edition and translation of the texts can be found in LEVINSKAYA, ''The Book of Acts in Its 1 c. Setting ''(Appendix 3), pp.226-46. </ref>, though we reject her general conclusions <ref>J. USTINOVA, “The Thiasoi of Theos Hypsistos in Tanais”, ''HR'', 31 (1991), pp.150-80 (cf. ''SEG ''42 [1992], p.726); Eadem, ''The Supreme Gods of the Bosporan Kingdom'', p.183 ff. (“Cult Associations on the Bosporus”). For a widespread tendency to solar Monotheism in Late Antiquity, the classical study of F. CUMONT, ''La Theologie Solaire du Paganisme Romain'', Paris 1909, is still to be considered a reference mark. For the solar character of the Harrànian popular religion, see TUBACH, ''Im Schatten des Sonnengottes'', ''passim''. </ref>. We should not dwell here on the connection established by E. Schurer more than one century ago between these groups of Monotheistic or quasi-Monotheistic believers and the ''metuentes'' attested by epigraphic and literal evidence in the Latin West <ref>''CIJ'', I, 2, nos. 5, 285, 524, 529, 642; (M. STERN, ''GLAJJ ''II, p.105, thought that ''metuens ''could be only an abridgment of the fuller formula ''deum metuens ''and hence was definitely used technically: “It is hard to conceive that either ''metuens ''or ''sebòmenos ''is used in the general sense of ‘religious’ ”). The participles ''metuens ''and ''timens ''can also be found in Christian inscriptions (E. DIEHL, ''ILCV'', Berlin 1961, nos. 3359a, 3416a, 4779, 6 [''metuens''], 1339-41, 1172 [''timens'']): in both cases, however, the formula would actually refer to God.fearers. For a Latin transcription of the Greek ''theosebès ''into Latin letters, cf. J.B. FREY, ''CIJ'', I, 2, Città del Vaticano 1936, no.228 (= D. NOY, ''JIWE'', II, no.207, Rome: Eparchia ''theosebes''; but cf. FELDMAN, “Jewish ‘Sympathizers’ in Classical Literature and Inscriptions”, p.204 n.24: “Frey, who is very eager to find ‘sympathizers’ in his inscriptions, is wrong in not recognizing a possible one here”), and ''CIJ ''I, 2, LIFSHITZ, ''Prolegomenon ''no.619a (= ''JIWE'', I, no.113, Venosa: Marcus ''teuseves''; cf. B. LIFSHITZ, “Les Juifs à Venosa”, ''RFIC'', 90 [N.S. 40] [1962], pp.367-71). For a discussion, besides ROMANIUK, “Die ‘Gottesfurchtigen’ im Neuen Testament”, ''passim'', and LAKE, “Proselytes and God-Fearers”, ''BC'', ''passim'', see LEVINSKAYA, ''The Book of Acts in Its 1 c. Setting'', pp.68-70. The references to ''metuen(te)s ''are collected by SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, 1, p.168 n.74. For literary evidence, see below n.217. The term ''Theosebés ''is an equivalent of ''Sebòmenos ''(''tòn theòn''): normally in inscriptions the former is preferred because of its shorter form. </ref>, but above all with the ''sebòmenoi ''(''tòn theòn''), the ''phoboùmenoi ''(''tòn theòn''), the ''Hellenes ''whom Saint Paul regularly meets in the course of his indefatigable mission <ref>God-Fearers in ''Acts. ''Chap. x: description of a model God-Fearer, ''i.e. ''the centurion Cornelius denoted as ''eusebès kaì phoboùmenos tòn theòn ''expressing his piety by means of almsgiving and costant praying (x, 2) and enjoing a good reputation among Jews (x, 22). It is worth noting with PINES, “The Iranian Name for Christians and God-Fearers”, p.147, as “according to the Acts of the Apostles, the first Gentile converted to Christianity was one of the God-fearers”. Cornelius’ episode is the turning point of the book: from here, ''Acts'' is the history of this mission. xiii, 16 (''phoboùmenoi tòn theòn''); 43 (''sebòmenoi prosèlytoi''): the passage has been long discussed, because of its apparent self-contradiction, the words used here by Luke denoting two different classes of believers. Generally two solutions to the problem have been proposed: the first one is that ''prosèlytoi ''is a wrong word, namely an ancient gloss or “a careless expression” (KUHN-STEGEMANN, ''RE'', Suppl. IX, col.1253; KUHN, ''TWNT'', VI [1968], p.743; E. HAENCHEN, ''Die Apostelgeschichte'', in ''KritischeexegetischeKommentar uber das Neue Testament'', III, Gottingen 1959, p.355 n.5 [ET, Oxford 1971, p.413 n.5]; ROMANIUK, loc. cit., p.81; LIFSHITZ, “Du Nouveau sur les Sympathisants”, p.80; H. CONZELMANN, ''Acts of the Apostles'', Philadelphia 1987, p.106); the second coincides with the position of the scholars who reject any technical sense of the word ''sebòmenoi ''(FOAKES-JACKSON, ''BC'', V, p.88; WILCOX, “The ‘God-Fearers’ in Acts: A Reconsideration”, p.181 f.). But particularly worth of interest is a third possibility, namely the suggestion of LEVINSKAYA, ''The Book of Acts in Its 1 c. Setting'', p.47, who argues “that ''prosèlytos ''is used here in the same manner as in Mattew in a basic ‘verbal’ sense of ‘coming to any-thing new’”: she had in fact checked a semantic value of the term/verb ''prosèlytos''/''prosèrkhetai ''present in some Christian texts such as the ''Homiliae ''of ASTERIUS OF AMASEA, the ''Praescriptio ''of MARIA OF CASSOBELA, and a passage of CLEMENS OF ALEXANDRIA, where “alongside the traditional meaning there began to develop another one, namely ‘a convert to Christianity’ ”, hence the more general “idea of approaching anything new”, by which interpretation obviously all contradictions cease to exist); 50; xvi, 14; xvii, 4, 17; xvii, 17; xviii, 6-7 (''sebòmenoi ''[''tòn theòn''] and ''sebòmenoi Hèllenes'': the abridged formula ''oisebòmenoi ''could also be explained by the commandment of not naming in vain God: cf. J. KLAUSNER, ''Von Jesus zu Paulus'', Jerusalem-Amsterdam 1950, p.55; LIFSHITZ, ''ibidem''). We should add to these items three passages mentioning “Greeks” (xiv, 1, xviii, 4 and xix, 10: ''Ioudaìous kaì Hellenas''), whose identity is certainly not different from the ''sebomènon Hellènon ''previously mentioned in xvii, 4 (cf. REYNOLDSTANNEMBAUM, ''Jews and God-Fearers'', p.51). For other direct or indirect Greek literary references to God-Fearers (Epictetus, Filo, Josephus), see BERTRAM, art. “Theosebès”, ''TWNT ''III, p.123 ff.; COHEN, “Respect for Judaism by Gentiles According to Josephus”, pp.416-9 (who counts as many as five instances in ''AJ'': 3, 217; 3, 318-9; 20, 34; 20, 41; 20, 195; and four in ''BJ'': 2, 454; 2, 463; 2, 560; 7, 45); MARCUS, “The ''Sebòmenoi ''in Josephus”, pp.247-50. Talmudic references to ''yere’i ash-shamayyim ''(“Heaven Fearers”, where “Heaven” is the traditional metonymy for God) are collected and discussed by I. LEVY, “Le Proselytisme Juif”, ''REJ ''50 (1905), pp.1-9; 51 (1906), pp.29-31; and by SIEGERT, “Gottesfurchtiger”, pp.110-27; add REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit., p.48 f. and notes; FELDMAN, “Jewish Sympathizers”, p.207 f.; and the lemma ''jàre’'', ''TWAT'', s.v</ref>in the synagogues of Asia Minor and Greece where he preaches the evangelical message (but in other meetingplaces also, mostly after Paul’s last theological break with the Jews <ref>EPIPHANIUS, ''Panarion'', 80, 1-2, compares Messalians’ places of prayer with extra-mural Jewish sanctuaries, like the cultic place outside the city walls where Paul met the God-fearing Lydia, or another one built by the Samaritans in the shape of an open-air theatre, adding that they also used buildings similar to churches: cf. below p.26.</ref>: ''Thus I shall go to Gentiles'') <ref>''Acts'', xviii, 6.</ref>, and who consequently appear to be the original bulk of the emerging Christianity according to Luke’s ''Acts''.
For the cultic features of the Western ''metuentes'', what we have observed in Juvenal’s satyrical verses <ref>Above in the text and n. 209.</ref>is perhaps enough; in reference to God-Fearers’ practices in ''Acts ''one must rather stress the crucial decision of Jerusalem’s Council (51 C.E.) <ref>For “The Apostolic Council of Jerusalem”, see K. LAKE’s ''Note XVI'', in ''BC'', I, 5, pp.195-212.</ref>, where the duties of such Gentile Converts to Christianity were fixed once and for all: ''Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood'' <ref>''Acts'', xv, 19-20. </ref>. What is that? It is just the moral-religious code which, according to rabbinical tradition, every man is obliged to follow, and in particular the stranger, the ''resident alien'' (''[[gertoshàb]] '', ''ger ash-sha’ar'') in the State of Israel <ref>For the equivalence ''ger(ei) [[toshàb ]] – ger(ei) ash-sha’ar – ben(ei) Noah, ''cf. SCHURER-VERMESMILLAR- GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, 1, p.171; STRACK-BILLERBECK, ''Komm. z.NT'', II, p.722 f.; MOORE, ''Judaism'', I, p.341; REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit., p.48 f. and 58 f. </ref>: the so-called ''Noachite Laws'' <ref>''Talmud'': ‘''Aboda Zara'', (8, 4) 64b; ''Sanhedrin'', 56a; ''Ger. ''3, 1; cf. the arts. “Laws (Noachian)”, ''JE ''VII, pp.648-50 and “Noachite Laws”, ''EJ ''XII, cols. 1190-1; see also J. BONSIRVEN, ''Le Judaisme Palestinien auTemps de Jesus-Christ'', I, Paris 1934, p.251; KLAUSNER, ''Von Jesus zu Paulus'', p.345. We reproduce the list given by REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit., p.59, and their relative remarks: “What were the seven commandments? On the one hand, we find commandments against 1) idolatry; 2) incest; 3) murder; 4) profanation of the name of God; 5) robbery; 6) a positive commandment on the duty to form instruments of justice; 7) a ban of eating parts cut out of living animals. On the other hand we are told that the tanna’itic school of Manasseh omitted from the Noachite commandments those on the courts and on blasphemy (nos. 6 and 4 above), and substituted prohibitions of emasculation and ‘forbidden mixture’ (of plants, in ploughing, etc.)”.</ref>. There exist various versions of such prescriptions <ref>Cf. for example ''The Book of Jubilees'', 7, 20 ff., which hands down a quite different list. The set of prescriptions contained in ''Acts'', xv, 19-20 (and repeated in the next passage 28-9), however, is specially worth of attention, since it “is the only one that bears any systematic relationship to the set of religious laws which the Pentateuch makes obligatory upon resident aliens” (“Noachite Laws”, col.1190); cf. also ''Ps.Clementines'', ''PG ''II, col.221. </ref>, but it is interesting to notice now that after this historical decision Christians Converts coming from Gentilism, namely uncircumcised Christians (''Ecclesia ex Gentibus'') <ref>“The Apostolic decree, a rule agreed at the Apostolic Council where Paul, Peter and others met to discuss the extent to which the gentile converts to Christianity had to follow Jewish Law, is currently agreed by many to be a kind of Christian God-fearers’ rule” (REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit., p.61, with bibliographical references at n.261); cf. SIMON, ''Verus Israel'', p.392: “Le décret apostolique, fixant comme condition à l’admission des Gentils la pratique des precepts dits noachiques, se place dans la mème ligne de la propagande juive”. </ref>, God-Fearers, at least the ''sebòmenoi/phoboùmenoi ''(''tòn theòn'')/''Hellenes ''contacted by Paul and other apostles, ''Hunafà’'', at least the ''Hanìf ''Zayd whose devotional practices are the only ones to be explicitly stated in the ''Sìra ''<ref>A fundamental correspondence between these different cathegories of people are also suggested by the English translator of the ''Sìrah'', A. GUILLAUME who, when commenting ibn Ishàq’s portrait of Zayd, pointed out that “the influence of the Jewish formula, taken over by early Christianity, is clear” (''The Life ofMuhammad'', p.99 n.2). Cf. however above, p.21 f. and ns. 188-192. </ref>, Sabians, whom many traditions consider as Noah’s heirs and consequently followers of the ''Noachite Laws'' <ref>See the authors and the works quoted by CHWOLSON, ''Die Ssabier'', II, p.563 (cf. I, p.271 and n.1), and p.592 f. (cf. GREEN, ''The City of the Moon-God'', p.13); add Khalìl ibn Ahmad who, according to al- Qurtubì, ibn Kathìr and ibn Hayyàn, states that “the Sabians believe that they belong to the religion of the prophet Noah” (quoted by GUNDUZ, ''The Knowledge of Life'', p.25).</ref>, and finally Harranians, whose capital city is said to have been founded by Noah or by some of his relatives (a son or a nephew) after the Flood <ref>For textual references to ibn al-Kalbì, Yàqùt and Bar Hebraeus, see again CHWOLSON, op. cit., II, p.553 and p.549 f. (cf. I, p.311), who, in relation to Bar Hebraeus, mentions Sem’s son Arpakshad, whereas in BUDGE’s translation of the ''Chronicon ''(cit. above n.159), p.7, one finds out the name of Noah’s nephew Shàlàh. AL-TABARI, on the other hand, in his ''History ''claims that ''Sàbì ''is another name of Lamech, the father of Noah (''Ta’rìkh al rasùl wa al-mulùk'', ed. M.J. De GOEJE, repr. Leiden 1964, I, p.178 [ET ''TheHistory of al-Tabarì'', New York 1987]: the great poligraph accepts this derivation of the name ''Sàbi’ùn ''from an eponymous hero together with the other one proposed by him in his ''Tafsìr'': see below p.30 and n.271); cf. AL-ASH’ARI, ''Tashìl al-sabìl'', Comm. ad ''Sùra ''2, 59 (quoted by CHWOLSON, II, p.563, cf. I, p.271). For the opinion that the Sabians claim to be followers of the religion of Noah, see AL-TUSI, ''al-Tibiyàn fì tafsìral-Qur’àn'', I, ed. Najaf 1376 H./1956, p.282 (Comm. ad ''Sùra ''2, 62); KASHANI, ''Minhaj al-sàdiqìn fì ilzàmal-mukhàlifìn'', III, ed. Teheran 1346 H.S./1927, p.283 (Comm. ad ''Sùra ''2, 62): cf. Mc AULIFFE, “Exegetical Identification of the Sàbi’ùn”, p.97 and p.100; add the modern Muslim lexicographers quoted by CHWOLSON, II, p.592 f. , and the authors cited in the previous note. </ref>, appear to share to some extent the same ethicalreligious duties.
But let us go on checking the available textual evidence about God-Fearers’ beliefs and rites. What Gregory of Nazianzus witnesses about the Cappadocian group called by him ''Hypsistarii ''is quite interesting, since he is speaking about his own father, converted to Christianity by some bishops ''en route ''to the Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.), thus handing down a direct and personal experience: ''The Cult was a mixture of two elements, Hellenic error and adherence to the Jewish law … Its followers reject the idols and sacrifices of the former and worship fire and lamplight; they revere the ''sabbath ''and do not touch certain foods, but have nothing to do with circumcision. To the humble they are called Hypsistarians, and the ''Pantokrator ''is the only god they worship'' <ref>GREGORIUS OF NAZIANZUS, ''Or''., 18, 5 (''PG ''35, 989D ff.). For ''Pantokrator'', see SCHURER, “Die Juden im Bosporanischen Reiche”, p.221; HORSLEY, ''New Documents'', I, p.137 and III, p.118. A cult of ''Zeus Pantokrator ''has been recently identified in Bytinia, ''I. Nicaea ''II, 1, no.1121; 2, no.1512.: the editor of these inscriptions, S. SAHIN, has rightly pointed out the relation of this cult to the worship of ''TheosHypsistos''. It must be remembered that the designation “Hypsistarii”, as well as “Hypsistiani”, was not adopted by the worshippers themselves: it was a label applied by outsiders to them (cf. MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, p.96). </ref>.
Pines’ study is especially important for two reasons: in fact it corroborates our hypothesis about the presence of God-Fearers along the borders of the Arabian peninsula or in the neighbouring regions in the historical period which we are dealing with, and it also supposes – as we do – that a confusion between God-Fearers and Christians could sometimes have appeared. Such a confusion was probably due to some similarities in cult practices between both religious groups, as we have already observed, so that in certain geographical areas and during a certain historical period both communities were perhaps called with an identical name by external observers <ref>The historical and semantic continuity between God-Ferarers and Christians is stressed by LEVINSKAYA, ''The Book of Acts in Its 1 c. Setting'', p.116: “… at least some of these groups [Hypsistarii, ''Caelicolae'', ''Theosebeis'', Massalians] were at one stage or another connected with Christianity. The Coelicolae were condemned as Christian apostates and obliged by law to rejoin the Church. The Massalians were the forerunners of the Christian sect with the same name. The father of Gregory of Nazianzus, a member of Hypsistarii, was readily converted by bishops on their way to the Council of Nicaea in 325 … Finally, if we compare the spread of Christianity among the population of the Bosporan Kingdom with that of the nearby Chersonese, a striking dissimilarity comes to light, which can be explained by the presence of numerous God-fearers who prepared the way for Christianity in the former”. </ref>. If such is the case, passages in the ''Koran ''about the ''Sàbi’ùn ''could be interesting historical testimonies of bilingualism, such as that one showed by the famous Middle- Persian Inscription from ''Kartìr'': here, the simultaneous quotation, among other religious groups, of ''nàcarày ''and ''kristiyàn'', is explained by M.L. Chaumont, who published and translated the document, in the following way: ''Les mots ''nàcarày ''et ''kristiyàn ''se rapporteraient l’une l’autre aux chrétiens orthodoxes sans aucune acception d’hérésie. Leur jusxtaposition serait l’effet d’un bilinguisme qui s’était instauré depuis peu au sein de la chrétienté perse … Il est très frappant que dans les ''Acta ''de Siméon bar Sabba’è les termes ''kristiyanà ''et ''nasorayè ''sont employés comme synonymes. Avec l’inscription de Kartìr, nous sommes peut-être à l’origine de ce double emploi. Le rédacteur du document, s’il connaissait l’un et l’autre vocable, ne savait sans doute pas qu’ils pouvaient s’appliquer à la même religion'' <ref>''La Christianisation de l’Empire Iranien'', ''CSCO ''499, Subs. 80, Louvain 1988, p.117; cf. G. WIESSNER, I, ''Untersuchungen zur syrischen Literaturgeschichte'', p.66 and p.317 ns.249, 251, 252 and 254, where one will find out all the references about the two terms as synonymous in the ''Acta''; II, ''ZurMartyreruberlieferung aus der Christenverfolgung Schapurs II'', ''AAWG'', Phil.-Hist. Kl. III.67, Gottingen 1967, p.70 f. and notes (“in the ‘B’ Life of Simeon bar Sabba’e the term ''nasraya ''is only found in the mouth of Persians”); PAYNE-SMITH, ''Thesaurus'', col.1821, s.v. “Kristiàna”, and col.2444, s.v. “Nasràya”; J.B. FIEY, ''Jalons pour une Histoire de l’Eglise en Iraq'', ''CSCO ''330, Subs. 36, Louvain 1970, p.54 n.44 (on Kartìr’s Inscription and the two names for Christians). Text and discussion of the document by Marie Louise CHAUMONT, “L’Inscription de Kartìr à la Ka’bah de Zoroastre”, ''JA ''248 (1960), pp.339-80 (the words in question are at l.10 of the Persian text). For the alleged Judaeo-Christian background of the term ''nàcarày'' (and its connection with the Aramaean term ''nàsràyà ''= from Nazareth) see H.H. SCHAEDER, art. “Nazarenòs, Nazoraìos”, ''TWNT ''IV [1941], p.879 f.; M. RONCAGLIA, “Eléments Ebionites et Elkésaites dans le Coran”, ''POC ''21 (1971), pp.101-26. For the alleged identity with a heretical group such as the Marcionites see J. De MENASCE, ''Skand-Gumanik Vicar'', p.206 f. (but see also the objections of J.M. FIEY, “Les Marcionites dans les Textes Historiques de l’Eglise de Perse”, ''Le Museon ''83 [1970], pp.183-8); cf. A. VOOBUS, “Celibacy, a Requirement for Admission to Baptism in the Early Syrian Church”, ''ETSE ''1 (1951), p.14 f. (who remarks that in the ''Acts ''of Mar Abà [VI c.] [''Jabalaha'', 2nd ed., p.213] the Marcionites are called Christians); for the equation Nazaraeans – Mandaeans (who really call themselves in such a way, see M. LIDZBARSKI, “Nazoraios”, ''ZS ''1 [1922], pp.230-3), cf. M. SPRENGLING, ''Third Century Iran'', Chicago 1953, p.58. Finally, S. BROCK, “Some Aspects of Greek Words in Syriac”, in A. DIETRICH ed., ''Syncretismus im Syrisch-Persichen Kulturgebiet'', Symposium of Gottingen 4th-8th October 1971, Gottingen 1974, pp.91-5 (with further bibliography), remarks that ''nàcarày ''and ''kristyàn ''denote “two groups of different geographical origin and of different cultural allegiance” (p.92), ''nàcarày ''being the normal term used at that time by the Persian authorities (and more in general by outsiders) for denoting Christians, whereas ''kristìyàn'' was a term introduced into the Persian area only in the mid III century for denoting the Christians of Western origin, namely those who had been settled in the Sassanid empire in consequence of Shapur I’s deportations: as far as the name used by Christians for denoting themselves is concerned, the author tentatively suggests the Semitic term ''msihaya'', because “with the growing influence of Antiochene Christianity in the Sassanid empire in the late fourth, and especially early fifth, century, the term ''kristyana ''came to be used for all Christians, irrespective of their origin, thus displacing ''msihaya''. At the same time, ''nàsrayà ''evidently gained, in Christian eyes, distinctly pejorative overtones that had originally not been present in the word” (p.94 f.). Cf. FIEY, ''Communautés Syriaques en Iran et Iraq'', p.181 f., who records in Iran, namely at Rew Ardashìr, “au moins deux églises, l’une des ‘Romains’ et l’autre des ‘Karmàniens’. Les premiers sont probablement de ces prisonniers que Sapor Ier (241-2) distribua dans toutes les villes de son empire et gràce auxquels il restaura Rew Ardashìr. Les seconds sont de vrais persans christianisés; ceux-ci, déportés de l’interieur [n.33: “je ne sais pas sur quoi se base M.lle Chaumont pour attribuer cette église aux ‘Syriens’ (p.178), ce qu’elle interprète (p.179) par de gens ‘originaires des campagnes de l’Antiochène … parlant syriaque”], célébraient leurs offices en syriaque, alors que les premiers priaient en grec”. It is not at all improbable that Muhammad used ''Nasàra ''and ''Sàbi’ùn ''as synonimes, even if the words had a different origin and possibly did not have a strictly identical meaning: our opinion is that the latter word – though referring like the former generally to Christians without any further implication – kept a close semantical link with the idea of Christians as ''tertium genus hominum ''(cf. above pp.18-22 and n.277) which played an important role also for the Muslim prophetology. [“In the Province of Arabia the baptized … were called ‘initiated’ (''oi memnemènoi'') or ‘enlightened’ (''oi pephotismènoi''), while the catechumens ranked as the uninitiated”, SPENCERTRIMINGHAM, op. cit., p.217; cf. p.103. For the problem of the catechumenate, see in particular above n.198]. </ref>.
===Saba'na, saba'na!===
A third testimony which we wish to discuss here comes from one of the ''Hadìth'' texts concerning the Arabic root ''SB’'', with the meaning ''changing one’s religion for another'', ''to apostatize'', which we already know as a whole. The excerpt comes from to chapter LVIII of al-Bukhàrì’s ''Sahìh'', consecrated to ''al-jiziya wa al-mwàda’ama’a àhl al-dhimma wa al-harb'', namely to the rules which Muslims had to keep when coming in contact with other populations <ref>AL-BUKHARI, ''Al-jàmi’ al-sahìh'', ed. L. KREHL - T.W. JUYNBOLL (1862-1908), II, lviii (''al-jiziyya''), chap. 11, p.296; FT by O.HOUDAS - W.MARCAIS (1903-1914), Titre lviii (''La Capitation''), chap.11 “Du cas où les ennemis vaincus disent: ‘Nous nous faisont Sabiens’, et n’ont su dire correctement: ‘Nous nous faisons Musulmans’ “), p.414. </ref>: in these cases, the problem was whether to consider these persons as being part of ''the People of the Book'', the Monotheistic communities enjoying the right of tolerance (Jews, Christians, Magians and Sabians), in exchange for the payment of a special tax, the ''jiziya'', foreseen in these cases by Islamic law. The title of the paragraph which we are dealing with is ''About the case when the enemies, after having been won, say: ‘We (want to) become Sabians (''sabà’na'', ''sabà’na'')’, without having been able to say correctly ‘We (want to) become Muslims (''aslamna'', ''aslamna'')’'' <ref>The same episode is narrated again by AL-BUKHARI, op. cit., III, lxiv (''al-maghàzi''), chap.58; FT Titre lxiv (''Des Expéditions Militaires''), chap.58 (“De l’envoi fait par le Prophète de Khàlid-ben-el-Oualìd chez les Benou-Djodzima”), p.200; and IV, xciii, chapt. 35 (''ahkàm''); FT Titre xciii (''Sentences''), chap. 35 (''Lorsque lemagistrat rend une sentence inique ou en contradiction avec l’opinion des juriconsultes, ce jugement doitètre repoussé''), p.515; the author, however, does not repeat in these last chapters the information referring to the Persian expression previously given in Book lviii, chapt.11. </ref>, and it narrates a quite strange story, indeed. While Khàlid in such a situation did not hesitate to slaughter everybody, being criticized afterwards by the Prophet who kept a distance from his fierce behaviour, ‘Umar on his side claimed that, when some enemy cried out the (Persian) word ''Matras''! <ref>In KREHL’s edition the Persian word is vocalized ''mataras''; ''matras ''is the vocalization of the FT where, at the relative note (n.2), the translation: “Ne crains pas !” can also be found. </ref>(''Do not fear!''), he had to be saved.
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.
==Conclusions==
The strength of the idea of identifying the Sabians with the God-Fearers, namely the worshippers of One Most-High God, lies in the exceptional correspondence of the latter group not only with the three Koranic paragraphs mentioning ''Sàbi’ùn'', but also with most of the Arab-Islamic sources of the Middle Ages, in spite of the often hazy, loose, or even contradictory nature of such information. As far as the ''Koran''’s passages are concerned, we believe that the chains Muslims-Jews-Christians-Sabians (''Sura ''II), Muslims, Jews, Sabians Christians (''Sura ''V) and Muslims-Jews-SabiansChristians- Magians-Unbelievers (''Sura ''XXII) should be understood in terms of a sketch-map of the Universal Religions, though not chronologically listed, in some way similar to the one contained in Aristide’s ''Apology ''or to the other one shown by the famous ''Kartìr''’s Mid-Persian ''Inscription'': consequently, we find it '''impossible that the place of the Sabian group within the Muslims’ Holy Book might be occupied by a simple sect such as Mandaeans''', even if the last important work recently published on the subject by S. Gunduz goes on presenting this old theory once again. But an even more important reason why '''only God-Fearers appear perfectly able to take upon themselves the problematic identity of this (Sabi) community ''' is that no other one possesses the singular features drawn by the definition of the Sabians often recurring in many literary sources, namely that they are ''a religious group which has no cult, scripture and prophet, admitting only the ''tawhìd'', the profession of faith: ‘There is no god but God’''. A religion with similar features is a kind of a paradox, but God-Fearers prove that the contrary is true: the available evidence about their beliefs and ritual practices, in fact, is quite meagre, as well as that about their gathering places, so that on the whole one can just state that they shared the universal code of moral-religious duties generally known by the label of ''[[Noachite laws]]''.
'''We should remember that ''[[Noah’s Laws’Laws]]'' were also the limited set of observances foreseen by the Jerusalem Council (51 C.E.) for uncircumcised Christians (''Ecclesia ex Gentibus'')'''. Together with other common religious features shared by both groups, this factor may explain why the first Latin translation of the ''Koran'', fully corroborating our theory, seems not to distinguish completely between Christians and God-Fearers; the same things happened – as Pines demonstrated - in the regions where different Iranian languages were spoken, since the name for Christians in Persia is still today just ''Tarsakàn'', ''Fearers'': this historical confusion may suggest that the ''Sabians'' mentioned by Muhammad might perhaps be nothing else but an alternative name for ''Christians''.
Our theoretical proposal is in accordance, besides, with another important traditional opinion about the Sabians, that they are a ''people who leave their religion (for another)''. Such an idea comes apparently from the Arabic root(s) ''SB’/SBW'', but we have checked the Hebrew root ''SHWBH ''which it seems likely had a very significant influence upon the Arabic one(s). Al-Bìrùnì’s statement that the Sabians are ''the adherents of the prevailing religion'' is closely connected with this line of thought, even if it seems not to derive from lexicographic sources. Needless to say, the last definition just like the previous ones cannot seriously be applied to any existing religion, nor to a religious phenomenon such as Conversion. Surely one of the factors which played a crucial role in this sense, also from a linguistic point of view, was the existence of an original group such as the God-Fearers, who are not adequately defined by a name like ''Converts'', but rather by that of ''Mid-Converts'', or even better by one of the above recorded periphrastic expressions.
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