"Dissertation On the Religion of the Galileans": An Account of an Alleged Sect in Lebanon

I have previously documented some of the dissertations written in Latin by the Swedish orientalist Matthias Norberg pertaining to the Druze and the character of the Prophet Muhammad, in addition to a dissertation he oversaw consisting of an Arabic account of the Yezidis, rendered into Latin. The subject of this dissertation (published in 1808 CE) and translated in this post is a Latin rendering of an Arabic account of a supposed religious sect that originated in the Galilee and migrated into Lebanon. The supposed sect, which seems reminiscent of the Mandaean sect of Iraq, claims John the Baptist as its founder, performs rituals with honey and locusts, and has feast days to coincide with key moments in John the Baptist’s life and career.

The Arabic account in this case comes from Germanus Conti, a “Maronite” informant whom Norberg partly relied on in his dissertation on the Druze. As I noted in the introduction to that dissertation, it is clear that Germanus Conti knew Arabic, had grown up in the Levant and was familiar with Lebanon, but it has been said that he was of European descent by origin rather than an original Maronite.

In this case, I have translated the Latin rendering of the original Arabic account. As is the case with the account of the Yezidis, the Latin version seems to take considerable liberties with the original Arabic testimony.

Below is my translation of the dissertation.