PAGANS AND GNOSTICSBecause of this gnostic overlay, the seven planets and the twelve
signs of the zodiac were considered to be demonic, and Mandaean
versions of the defeat of the planets appear on the bowls from Khuabir.
One text describes four beings (Uthras?) who stand guard at the four
corners of the universe, grasp the demons (planets) by the legs, and
cast them into the black infernal depths. This image resembles the
Qur'iinic description (Sura 55:41) of how, on the day of judgment,
sinners will be taken by their forelocks and feet and cast into Hell.117
This resemblance is due most probably to a common fund of expres-
sion, but the similarity is heightened by the recurring theme in the
Mandaic texts that tells how six angels seized the raging, cursing
women by their hair, broke their high horns, and bound them by their
tresses to make them dissolve their curses. This might be compared
to Qur'an 96:15-18: "Nay, but if he cease not, We will seize him by
the forelock-the lying, sinful forelock-then let him call upon his
henchmen! We will call the guards of Hell."118 There is another version
of the defeat of the planets in these texts which describes how Nbat,
the great primeval offspring, was sent by Life from the seven firma-
ments of brilliance and light to turn back the mysteries and to over-
throw the buildings of the seven masters of the House (the planets).
They are forced to accept the name of Nbat "because of the brilliance
of the three Uthras who dwell on the Great Jordan."119
Although many of the names on the incantation bowls are Persi:m
and have a Magian significance, there is not much Persian religious
content in the magic texts themselves. There are demons of Iranian
origin such as Abugdana, and a vague dualism is suggested in the
formula "turn back the light on the darkness," which was used to
reverse a curse on a bowl from Khuabir and might merely be gnostic.
Personified Knowledge (gnosis) is invoked under its Persian name of
"Danish," which recalls one of the Mazdaean yazdan but is more
likely to be gnostic.^120
There does not appear to be any evidence of gnostic hostility toward
Judaism in these magic texts. Instead, the names of Jewish angels are
as important for the removal of curses as are the Uthras. Some of the
Uthras have Biblical names, and the angel Adonai, the head of all the
temple spirits and leader of all the great chariots of darkness, is used
in a positive way to remove curses. Amen and selah and the legal
117 Yamauchi, Incantation Texts, pp. 40, 189, 193.
118 Ibid., pp. 173, 177, 183,223,267.
119 Ibid., pp. 187, 189, 191.
120 Ibid., pp. 38, 64, 205, 253.