Ancient Tales of Giants

from Qumran and Turfan

Contexts, Traditions, and Inluences

Edited by

Matthew Goff,
Loren T. Stuckenbruck,
and Enrico Morano

Mohr Siebeck
Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.
MATTHEW GOFF is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism in the Department
of Religion at Florida State University.
LOREN T. STUCKENBRUCK is Professor of New Testament and Second Temple Judaism in the
Protestant Faculty of Theology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
ENRICO MORANO is retired teacher of Classics in High Schools and the current President of the
International Association of Manichaean Studies (IAMS).

ISBN 978-3-16-154531-3
ISSN 0512-1604 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament)

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie;

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© 2016 by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. www.mohr.de

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Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

 Table of Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V
List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX

Matthew Goff
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Part One

Gibborim and Gigantes

Antecedents, Reception, and Comparative Contexts
from the Hebrew Bible and Greek Literature

Brian R. Doak
The Giant in a Thousand Years: Tracing Narratives of Gigantism
in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Samantha Newington
Greek Titans and Biblical Giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Michael Tuval
“Συναγωγὴ γιγάντων” (Prov 21:16): The Giants in the Jewish Literature
in Greek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Part Two

Tales of Giants in their Ancient Jewish Context

The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Book of Watchers, and Daniel

Joseph L. Angel
The Humbling of the Arrogant and the “Wild Man” and “Tree Stump”
Traditions in the Book of Giants and Daniel 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

VIII Table of Contents

Amanda M. Davis Bledsoe

Throne Theophanies, Dream Visions, and Righteous(?) Seers:
Daniel, the Book of Giants, and 1 Enoch Reconsidered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Ida Fröhlich
Giants and Demons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Matthew Goff
The Sons of the Watchers in the Book of Watchers and the Qumran Book
of Giants: Contexts and Prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Loren T. Stuckenbruck
The Book of Giants among the Dead Sea Scrolls: Considerations of
Method and a New Proposal on the Reconstruction of 4Q530 . . . . . . . . . . 129

Part Three

Enochic Traditions in Central Asia and China

Exploring Connections and Afinities between
Giants in Ancient Judaism and Manichaeism

Gábor Kósa
The Book of Giants Tradition in the Chinese Manichaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Enrico Morano
Some New Sogdian Fragments Related to Mani’s Book of Giants and the
Problem of the Inluence of Jewish Enochic Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

John C. Reeves
Jacob of Edessa and the Manichaean Book of Giants? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Jens Wilkens
Remarks on the Manichaean Book of Giants: Once Again on Mahaway’s
Mission to Enoch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Index of Citations of Ancient Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Modern Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

 Some New Sogdian Fragments Related to
Mani’s Book of Giants and the Problem of the
Inluence of Jewish Enochic Literature

Enrico Morano
Turin/Berlin

Enochic inluence on Manichaean tradition has long been recognized. In an

epoch making and often cited article of the early thirties of the last century
W. B. Henning noted:
Es muss einer besonderen Untersuchung vorbehalten bleiben, zu entscheiden, ob Mani
außer der Gigantengeschichte noch dies oder jenes seinem Henochbuch entlehnt hat;
wenn z. B. in einem persischen manich. Text [M5750] als Zahl der Dämonen 200 angegeben
wird, so geht diese Zahl gewiss auf die 200 ἐγρήγοροι des äth. Henoch (VI 6) zurück.1

Much has been written ever since, both on the Book of Giants and on Enochic
literature, but many details still remain obscure, owing to the scantiness of the
primary literature and to the poor state of the manuscripts.2
The present paper aims to give further evidence of the important role that Jew-
ish tradition played in the development of Mani’s religion. In the irst part, two
still unpublished Sogdian texts from, or related to, Mani’s Book of Giants will
be presented and edited for the irst time. In the second section, a Sogdian text
written on a fragmentary page of a bifolio and clearly linked to Jewish Enochic

1 Walter Bruno Henning, “Ein manichäisches Henochbuch,” SPAW.PH (1934): 27–35 (32).
2 See, above all, John C. Reeves, Jewish Lore in Manichaean Cosmogony: Studies in the Book
of Giants Traditions (HUCM 14; Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992) and Loren
T. Stuckenbruck, The Book of Giants from Qumran: Texts, Translation, and Commentary
(TSAJ 63; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997), both with exhaustive literature. A recent survey of
the texts of Mani’s Book of Giants is given in Enrico Morano, “New Research on Mani’s Book of
Giants,” in Der östliche Manichäismus. Gattungs- und Werksgeschichte. Vorträge des Göttinger
Symposiums vom 4./5. März 2010, ed. Zekine Özertural and Jens Wilkens (AAWG 17; Berlin:
de Gruyter, 2011), 101–11. An Italian translation, with commentary, of all the published frag-
ments of Mani’s Book of Giants is found in Enrico Morano, “Il ‘Libro dei Giganti’ di Mani,” in
Il mito e la dottrina. Testi manichei dell’Asia centrale e della Cina. Vol. 3 of Il Manicheismo, ed.
Gherardo Gnoli et al. (Milan: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2008),
69–107, 367–73.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

188 Enrico Morano

literature, is edited here for the irst time. All these texts are part of the Berlin
Turfan collection.3

I. New Texts from the Sogdian Version

of Mani’s Book of Giants (?)

1. “Res Gestae Gigantis Sāhm”: So10701a (T I D) + So20193b (TM363) and

So10700a (T I D) + So20193a (TM363)

The irst text to be published here, possibly from the Sogdian version of Mani’s
Book of Giants, is preserved in four fragments from the same manuscript joined
together to form two incomplete pages of seventeen lines each.4 Unfortunately,
no complete line is preserved, which makes it dificult to understand the context.
The giant Sāhm (sʾxm kwy) is often mentioned and there is possibly in the text
a dialogue between other giants, when they commit injustice (pδʾty) and start to
kill (ptyxwʾy). A messenger (from heaven? or from Enoch?)5 is mentioned twice
and an army is also mentioned. The ocean appears to be red, possibly because
of blood. In the second sheet the number 100 appears three times, apparently
associated with giants, “perfect ones” (fem.?), and once out of context.6 The
fragment could perhaps be placed in Seq. 4 of my reconstructed narrative of the
Book of Giants, when the giants begin robbing wives and killing one another.7

3 It is my pleasant duty to thank the Berlin-Brandendurgische Akademie der Wissenschaften

(BBAW) and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz for their kind permission
to consult and publish these texts. I am particularly grateful to all the staff of the Turfanfor-
schung of the BBAW for making me always welcome on my frequent visits to the Academy.
4 For a detailed description of these manuscripts, see Christiane Reck, Mitteliranische Hand-

schriften. Teil 1: Berliner Turfanfragmente manichäischen Inhalts in soghdischer Schrift (VOHD

18; Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag, 2006), 61–62 (So10701a), 236 (So20193b), 60–61 (So10700a +
So20193a).
5 The messenger in question could be also Mahaway. See Jens Wilkens’ article in this volume,

n. 96.
6 Or a multiple: the number appears always after a lacuna or an incomplete word.
7 “SEQ. 4 – The giants begin robbing wives and killing one another and other creatures. Sāhm

has a dream in which a tablet was thrown in the water. It seems to have borne three signs fore-
shadowing anguish, escape and destruction. Narīmān has a dream in which he sees a garden full
of trees in rows. Enoch is asked to interpret the dream: the trees are the watchers and the giants.”
See Morano, “New Research,” 102–3. In the transliteration of texts please note the following:
“[.?.]” = lacuna of unknown length; numbers in [square brackets] indicate the approximate
number of missing characters; dots in (brackets) indicate illegible letters.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

 Some New Sogdian Fragments Related to Mani’s Book of Giants 189

a) So10701a [T I D] + So20193b (Fig. 1)

/R/H/ {red}[.?. wy]δβ(ʾγ)? ❀ /R/H/ [… ex]position(?)

/R/1/ [.?.]ʾ/nt syxwʾy /R/1/ […] took away
/R/2/ [.?.](δ)yw(ʾn)t /R/2/ […]to that
/R/3/ [.?. s]pʾyn(t) /R/3/ […]revolts
/R/4/ [.?.](.)δ kw /R/4/ […] to
/R/5/ [.?.](.) krmyr /R/5/ […] red
/R/6/ [.?.]mxʾsmwtry /R/6/ […]great ocean
/R/7/ [.?.](c)ʾnkw βʾwʾnt /R/7/ […]as they approached
/R/8/ [.?.](..) [ 6–8 ] /R/8/ […]
/R/9/ [.?.](.)xtʾnt cʾβ /R/9/ […]they […] as much as
/R/10/ [.?. t]yk(w)šʾnt wʾnkw /R/10/ […]they looked so
/R/11/ [.?.](p)rʾny /R/11/ […]bring(?)
/R/12/ [.?.](.)z x/γ(ʾ)[.](t) /R/12/ […]
/R/13/ [.?.]prywy-(δ) /R/13/ […]for that
/R/14/ [.?.]kwy pšy /R/14/ […]giant afterwards
/R/15/ [.?.]ty ZKw /R/15/ […] the
/R/16/ [.?.]δ ʾspʾδ ZY /R/16/ […] the army and
/R/17/ [.?. ](wδt)y pšy sʾr /R/17/ […] afterwards

/V/H/ ❀ (..)[.?.] /V/H/ […]

/V/1/ ʾysʾnts(k)[wn .?.] /V/1/ they come[…]

/V/2/ tym[.?.] /V/2/ again[…]
/V/3/ rty [.?.] /V/3/ and[…]
/V/4/ kwy z/n(w)[.?.] /V/4/ giant […]
/V/5/ wʾβ šm(ʾ)[x.?.] /V/5/ said: “you (?)[…]
/V/6/ Lʾ prmʾt[δʾrt .?.] /V/6/ […]did not order
/V/7/ CW(RH) ʾ(n)[.?.] /V/7/ self […]
/V/8/ […](t) MN[.?.] /V/8/ […] from […]
/V/9/ šwk tδy nyδ(t)[.?.] /V/9/ sits there silent […]
/V/10/ tʾmʾsʾr nʾ [.?.] /V/10/ toward me do not […]
/V/11/ ○○ pʾrZ-Y m(.)[.?.] /V/11/ . But [.?.]
/V/12/ (.)[..]y ZY m[.?.] /V/12/ […] and […]
/V/13/ wynδ[ʾ(?).?.] /V/13/ you see(?)[…]
/V/14/ tkwš(δ)[ʾ .?.] /V/14/ look[…]
/V/15/ sʾxm k(w)[y .?.] /V/15/ giant Sāhm[…]
/V/16/ wʾxšt ʿM[.?.] /V/16/ speeches with(?)[…]
/V/17/ mrʾz-ty p(..)[.?.] /V/17/ helpers […]

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

190 Enrico Morano

b) So10700a [T I D] + So20193a [TM363] (Fig. 2)

/R/H/ [.?.](.) k(wy ❀) /R/H/ […]giant [Sāh]m (?)3

/R/1/ [.?.]tʾβtδʾrʾnt /R/1/ […]they sealed
/R/2/ [.?. rtk]δxw /R/2/ [… and w]hen he
/R/3/ [.?.](xy)pδ /R/3/ […]own
/R/4/ [.?. ](C) kwy-y /R/4/ [… 1]00 giants
/R/5/ [.?.](Z)Y MN /R/5/ […]and from
/R/6/ [.?. ](C) ʾsptyc8 /R/6/ […]100 perfect/complete (fem.?)
/R/7/ [.?.](.)y wmʾt ʾty /R/7/ […] was and
/R/8/ [.?.](.r)δʾ [ʾʾ]βrʾnt /R/8/ […]… they brought
/R/9/ [.?. s](ʾ)xm kwy pʾδy /R/9/ […] giant Sāhm the foot
/R/10/ [.?.](n/ʾ) ypʾky δstʾ9 /R/10/ […] in anger (his) hands
/R/11/ [.?. pty](š)kʾβ ZKw /R/11/ [… sm]ashed the
/R/12/ [.?. mn](x)w:y (Z)Y wntn /R/12/ [… des]troyed and so
/R/13/ [.?.](Z)Y pry-βy /R/13/ […]and cloud
/R/14/ [.?.](.) (m)xʾsmwtry /R/14/ […]great ocean
/R/15/ [.?.](p) ZY γrtʾh /R/15/ […]and mountains
/R/16/ [.?.](c)ywy-δ /R/16/ […]thereafter
/R/17/ [.?.]δ C /R/17/ […] 100

/V/H/ (❀ m.)[.](p.)[.?.] /V/H/ …

/V/1/ kwy-y (pty)[xwʾy.?.] /V/1/ giants kil[led? …]

/V/2/ pty[xwʾy.?.] /V/2/ kil[led? …]
/V/3/ xw(rt)[.?.] /V/3/ ate[…]
/V/4/ sʾxm k[wy .?.] /V/4/ g[iant] Sāhm[…]
/V/5/ kwy wm(ʾ)[t .?.] /V/5/ giant was[…]
/V/6/ ʾzγnt MN[.?.] /V/6/ a messenger from[…]
/V/7/ kwyšty py(r)[.?.] /V/7/ giants […]
/V/8/ kwy-y (.)[…]s ○○ (rt)[y .?.] /V/8/ giant […]. An[d …]
/V/9/ pδʾty pty-x(w)[ʾy .?.] /V/9/ injustice killed[…]
/V/10/ rty sʾxm kw(y)[.?.] /V/10/ and the giant Sāhm[…]
/V/11/ ʾzγnt ○○ (r)[ty .?.] /V/11/ messenger. A[nd …]
/V/12/ ptryš (t)[.?.] /V/12/ destruction(?)[…]
/V/13/ sʾxm (k)[wy .?.] /V/13/ g[iant] Sāhm[…]
/V/14/ škrcy (.)[.?.] /V/14/ to lead(?) [.?.]
/V/15/ βn/rsx/γyt nʾ[.?.] /V/15/ ??? [.?.]
/V/16/ xyr ○○ rt(š)[n .?.] /V/16/ departed. And […] them[…]
/V/17/ ʾʾp z-m(p)[ .?.] /V/17/ water shore[…]

8 If this word is the feminine of ʾspt-, we should expect ʾsptc(h). Feminines in -yc are known

only in month names. I thank Nicholas Sims-Williams for this remark.

9 These words are partly concealed under a piece of paper stuck to the fragment. The little

piece belongs to So10701+/R/10/ (t]ykwšʾnt). See Reck, Mitteliranische Handschriften, 61.

10 If the reading (kwy) is correct, the preceding missing word could be emended to [sʾx](m),

the name of the giant often quoted in the fragment.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

 Some New Sogdian Fragments Related to Mani’s Book of Giants 191

2. The Fall of the Demons’ Abortions: So14255 and So14256

The second text comprises two fragments from the same page but not joined
directly, So14255 and So14256.11 In the irst part, the text describes the fall of
the demons’ abortions, how they fall in the four parts of the world, how they
lived, and what they were called in the four regions. The second part describes
how the demonic couple Pēsūs and Shaklūn devour the abortions’ offspring, so
as to eat as much light as they can. This part is very similar to M7800/II.12 If this
belongs to the Book of Giants, it could have been a kind of cosmogonical pro-
logue to the book. I presented this, thus far, unpublished text in Saint Petersburg
in October 2013 during the conference “Pre-Islamic Past of Middle Asia and
Eastern Iran,” dedicated to the memory of Boris Il’ich Marshak (1933–2006) and
Valentin Germanovich Shkoda (1951–2012). Soon it will be published entirely
and commented upon in the journal Manuscripta Orientalia.

II. New Sogdian Texts related to Enochic Literature

1 Enoch 17–19 and 21 give an account of Enoch’s irst journey through the cos-
mos: eventually he sees a mountain that reaches to heaven, like the throne of God
(18:8), and the prison for the stars that transgressed the Lord’s command and for
the angels who were promiscuous with the women (18:12–19:2):
And beyond this chasm I saw a place and (it had) neither the irmament of heaven above
it, nor the foundation of earth below it; there was no water on it, and no birds, but it was
a desert place. And a terrible thing I saw there – seven stars like great burning mountains.
And like a spirit questioning me the angel said: “This is the place of the end of heaven
and earth; this is the prison for the stars of heaven and the host of heaven. And the stars
which are rolling over in the ire, these are the ones which transgressed the command of
the Lord from the beginning of their rising because they did not come out at their proper
times. And he was angry with them and bound them until the time of the consummation
of their sin in the year of mystery” (1 En. 18:12–16).13
And I went around to a place where there was nothing made. And I saw there a terrible
thing – neither the high heaven, nor the (irmly) founded earth, but a desert place, prepared
and terrible. And there I saw seven stars of heaven bound on it together, like great moun-

11 See Reck, Mitteliranische Handschriften, 111–12.

12 This text is published in Werner Sundermann, “Mani’s ‘Book of the Giants’ and the Jewish
Books of Enoch: A Case of Terminological Differences and What It Implies,” in Irano-Judaica
III: Studies Relating to Jewish Contacts with Persian Culture Throughout the Ages, ed. Shaul
Shaked and Amnon Netzer (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1994), 40–48 (45–46).
13 The Greek has here “for ten thousand years,” cf. the passage below (1 En. 21:6). The

Ethiopic derives apparently from a corrupt Greek Vorlage which had ἐνιαυτῷ μυστηρίου instead
of ἐνιαυτῶν μυρίων. See Michael A. Knibb, The Ethiopic Book of Enoch: A New Edition in the
Light of the Aramaic Dead Sea Fragments, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), 2:106. The
translation of the quoted passages from 1 Enoch are taken from this source (pp. 105–8).

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

192 Enrico Morano

tains, and burning like ire. Then I said: “For what sin have they been bound, and why
have they been thrown here?” and Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me and led
me, spoke to me and said: “Enoch, about whom do you ask? About whom do you inquire
and ask and care? These are (some) of the stars which transgressed the command of the
Lord Most High, and they have been bound here until ten thousand ages are completed,
the number of the days of their sins” (1 En. 21:1–6).

Knibb argued that “the account of the journey is intended as a revelation of

the true mysteries in contrast to the “worthless mystery” that the watchers had
revealed to mankind, through which evil (τὰ κακά) had been introduced into the
world (16:3).”14 This theme may have appealed to Mani, since we ind in one
page in Sogdian language and Sogdian script, So20220/II/ [K20; X1],15 under
the heading “Autumn Sermon” (xzʾn wyδβʾγ),16 a lament of the rebel stars who
were bound to the irmament because they were guilty of abandoning their place
and homeland and bringing destruction upon the world. Although it is not clear
whether this text is connected with the Book of Giants, its link to Enochic liter-
ature cannot be denied.17

a) “Lament of the Bound Rebel Stars” (So20220/II/) (Figs. 3–4)

/II/R/H/ ❀ wy-δβʾγ ❀ /II/V/H/ {red}❀ xz-ʾn ❀

/II/R/1/ sʾr ʾsxwstʾkt ʾkrtʾnt /II/V/1/ [Z](K)h yʾnʾkh ʾβcʾnpδh ZKw
/II/R/2/ ZY ZKwy ʾnxrwz-ny cntr pʾr /II/V/2/ δyšty ◦ rty šmʾxw mγwn
/II/R/3/ βstʾkt ZY prkyštʾkt /II/V/3/ [ʾ]xwsʾntth ʾkrtʾsδδʾ
/II/R/4/ {blank} /II/V/4/ rty wʾnkw ʾšmʾrδʾrδ MN
/II/R/5/ rty wʾy wʾy ZY rxt rxt /II/V/5/ mʾxw pyδʾr ZY ZK ʾspynch
/II/R/6/ šmʾxw ʾstʾrʾkt ky ZY šw /II/V/6/ ZY šʾyknh ptsʾcʾnt kʾm
/II/R/7/ prʾγt δʾrδ ZKw xypδ /II/V/7/ rty mʾxw wδ ʾxšy-wnʾkt
/II/R/8/ ʾwtʾkh ZY ʾpzʾth ◦ (r)[ty] /II/V/8/ […](h ..) pʾtʾxšʾwʾnth
/II/R/9/ šy kw kymy-(δ) [sʾ](r rty)[ …] /II/V/9/ [ 6–7 ](. ZY)[…]mʾkw ʾʾδʾkw
/II/R/10/ (mrty sʾr) […](.)sδδh p(r)[w] /II/V/10/ [..](w) Lʾ wʾc[ʾym]kʾm ◦ rty
/II/R/11/ r(nx M)[N c](y)wyδ pyδʾ[r] /II/V/11/ [w]ʾnkw mʾyδ c(ʾ)n[w …….]ʾkh
/II/R/12/ ʾw(..)[…]h ʾšmʾx […] /II/V/12/ [ZY δ]mʾnh δyš(t)[….] xw
/II/R/13/ cwpr sʾr […](ty)[…] /II/V/13/ [ 9–10 ] βstʾy-m
/II/R/14/ zʾwrky-nw ʾxš[ʾwnh] /II/V/14/ […… pr]kyštʾym ◦ rty
/II/R/15/ βstw δʾrt (rty prk)[yš]t /II/V/15/ šy c[ym]ʾnty Lʾ prʾšt
/II/R/16/ δʾrt ZY ms ʾkrtʾnsδδh /II/V/16/ (w)βʾym ZY βy[k]sʾr Lʾ
/II/R/17/ MN ʾnxwncy (ZKw kw)sy /II/V/17/ wxsʾym cywyδ pyδʾr
14 See Michael A. Knibb, “The Use of Scripture in 1 Enoch 17–19,” in idem, Essays on the

Book of Enoch and Other Early Jewish Texts and Traditions (SVTP 22; Leiden: Brill, 2009),
111–23 (112).
15 See a full description of the sheet in Reck, Mitteliranische Handschriften, 242–43.
16 This reading, and translation thereof, was suggested by Nicholas Sims-Williams. See Reck,

Mitteliranische Handschriften, 243 n. 5.

17 A connection with the Book of Giants was proposed by Jens Wilkens apud Reck, ibid.,

243 n. 6.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

 Some New Sogdian Fragments Related to Mani’s Book of Giants 193

/II/R/18/ rty swγtwδʾrδ ZKw /II/V/18/ ZK βγyšth ZKw wγʾmʾkw

/II/R/19/ xypδh ZY xypδh ʾwtʾkh /II/V/19/ zʾwr MN mʾxw ʾʾsʾntkʾm
/II/R/20/ ZY ZKw xypδ ʾβcʾnpδh ZY /II/V/20/ rty ms pʾtʾxšywnʾyʾkkh
/II/R/21/ šw npδw ZY ktskntʾkh /II/V/21/ MN mʾxw ʾyt δʾrʾnt
/II/R/22/ prwystδʾrδ prwh y(w) /II/V/22/ {blank}
/II/R/23/ xypδh mntγrβʾkyʾkh rty /II/V/23/ rty nwkr yʾnʾkh rʾz-h
/II/R/24/ prywy-δ zmnwh cʾnkw [Z](Y) /II/V/24/ (n)[ʾy-]wkw ZY RBkh xcy ZY

Translation
H/V-R/ Autumn Sermon (?)
/R/1/ were taken, bound and imprisoned in the Zodiac.
/5/ And woe, woe, alas, alas, you stars, you have abandoned your place and your home-
land! […] and /10/ to this and to the man you have […] in deceit because of […] you above
[…] powerful rulership /15/ he bound and imprisoned, and also you have become from
the battle […] and you burnt your own place and /20/ your own world, and in your own
stupidity you have turned it into *ruin18 and destruction. And in that time when
/V/1/ this world was built. And you have become altogether happy and thus thought:
they will fashion for /5/ us this resthouse and palace and we, who are rulers here and in
authority, /10/ will not let go anyone […] And thus, when [our …] and mind was built the
[…] we have been bound and imprisoned. And /15/ we shall not be able to escape from
it and shall not be released out of it, because the gods will take from us the strength to go
about /20/ and also they have taken away from us the ruling power. Thereupon this is a
profound and great mystery, and …

III. Conclusion

It is a common opinion that Mani composed his Book of Giants in his native
Aramaic dialect, and after that the Middle Persian version was made, from which
the Sogdian and the Uyghur versions derive.19 Of the Sogdian version Henning

18 The word npδw is unknown. Perhaps it is connected with npδ- (“to lie down”)? Alterna-

tively, can npδw be a postposition cognate with Old Persian nipadiy, thus šw npδw (“thereaf-
ter”)? Cf. pyšpδw (“behind, after”). See Nicholas Sims-Williams and Desmond Durkin-Meis-
terernst, Texts from Central Asia and China. Part 2: Dictionary of Manicahaean Sogdian and
Bactrian. Vol. 3.2 of Dictionary of Manichaean Texts (CFM.S; Turnhout: Brepols, 2012), 165. I
thank Nicholas Sims-Williams for this suggestion.
19 See Walter B. Henning, “The Book of the Giants,” BSOAS 11 (1943–46): 52–74 (55). Hen-

ning states that there is no trace of a Parthian version, although referring (n. 4) to a Parthian let-
ter written in Marw and addressed to Mār Ammō (previously published in Friedrich C. Andreas
and Walter B. Henning, “Mitteliranische Manichaica aus chinesisch-Turkestan III,” SPAW.PH
[1934]: 846–942 (858; b 134–36), in which an archēgos writes: “… and he has taken with him the
Kawān (Giants) and the Ārdahang and I have made another (copy of the) Kawān and of the
Ārdahang in Marw.” Since this letter was written in Marw, and was addressed to Mār Ammō,
the leader of the Parthian community, it is likely that the version referred to was the Parthian.
The existence of a Parthian version is now proven by the text contained in M813/I/, published
in Enrico Morano, “‘If They Had Lived …’: A Sogdian-Parthian Fragment of Mani’s Book of

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

194 Enrico Morano

published three fragments (C, E and G) and two important excerpts (H and I).20
After Henning’s article two other fragments from the Sogdian version of the
Book of Giants were published: M7800/II/21 and Ōtani 7447/R/ + 7468/R/.22
The latter text, although very fragmentary, is particularly interesting, because
the giant Hobabish appears: βγʾyšt / γrʾntyt kδr(y)[…] šmʾxw wʾstym / rty-šnn
sʾšt kδry [… xwβ](ʾ)βyš ʿM kwʾyšt (mwnw) (“the gods are angry. Now […] we
appointed you and it is then necessary for them [… Hob]abiš together with the
(other) giants this […]”.23
The irst of the Sogdian texts published here for the irst time sheds some light on
the giant Sāhm and his battles and quarrels with the other giants, and the twice
mentioned messenger (ʾzγnt) relates perhaps to Mahaway, the messenger par
excellence in the Book of Giants, on which see Jens Wilken’s article in this book.
The other text published here, even though it cannot be proved that it belongs
to the Book of Giants, may be of some importance, as it witnesses the interest
Mani had in the Jewish Enochic tradition.

Giants,” in Exegisti monumenta: Festschrift in Honour of Nicholas Sims-Williams, ed. Werner

Sundermann, Almut Hintze, and François de Blois (Ira 17; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag,
2009), 325–30. In this homiletic Sogdian text, just before quoting a Parthian text in which Ohyah
and his brother Narīmān are named, we ind (R/8–9/) the following phrase: mʾyδδ cʾnw wyyʾ
βγyy n(p)[ykyy]ẖ frmʾyṭ (“Thus as it is said in the Lord’s b[ook]”). It is then clear that with the
expression “the Lord’s book” Mani’s Book of Giants is meant.
20 Henning published only the recto of Text I (M500n), since at that time the verso was be-

lieved to be blank “with letters only.” See Mary Boyce, A Catalogue of the Iranian Manuscripts
in Manichean Script in the German Turfan Collection (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1960), 34. As
I discovered that on the verso of the fragment a piece of paper was in fact stuck, hiding the
contents of the page, after the restoration of the fragment I was able to publish the entire verso.
See my “New Research,” 104–5, with igs. 1 and 2, 110–11.
21 Werner Sundermann, “Ein weiteres Fragment aus Manis Gigantenbuch,” in Orientalia

J. Duchesne-Guillemin Emerito Oblata (Acta Iranica 23; Leiden: Brill, 1984), 491–505.
22 Kōgi Kudara, Werner Sundermann, and Yutaka Yoshida, Iranian Fragments from the

Ōtani Collection: Iranian Fragments unearthed in Central Asia by the Ōtani Mission and kept
at the Library of Ryūkoku University, 2 vols. (Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 1997), 1:139.
23 This text could be linked with the Middle Persian Kawān text Aj (M101j) and the Qumran

fragment 4Q203 3, on which see Stuckenbruck, The Book of Giants, 70–74.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

 Some New Sogdian Fragments Related to Mani’s Book of Giants 195

Fig. 1: So10701a [T I D] + So20193b Recto and Verso (montage). Depositum der Berlin-
Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preuß-
ischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung. Photos: Fotostelle der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

196 Enrico Morano

Fig. 2: So10700a [T I D] + So20193a Recto and Verso (montage). Depositum der Berlin-
Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preuß-
ischer Kulturbesitz, Orientabteilung. Photos: Fotostelle der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

 Some New Sogdian Fragments Related to Mani’s Book of Giants 197

Fig. 3: So20220/II/R/ and So20220/I/V/ [K20]. Depositum der Berlin-Brandenburgischen

Akademie der Wissenschaften in der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz,
Orientabteilung. Photos: Fotostelle der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.

198 Enrico Morano

Fig. 4: So20220/I/R/ and So20220/II/V/ [K20]. Depositum der Berlin-Brandenburgischen

Akademie der Wissenschaften in der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz,
Orientabteilung. Photos: Fotostelle der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

Author’s e-offprint with publisher’s permission.