Nicolas Siouffi

Nicolas Siouffi (1829 (Damascus) – 1901 (unknown)) was a Syrian Christian,^[1][2][3] and later French citizen and vice-consul at Mosul, remembered for his study of Mandaeism. He is known for works such as Études sur les Soubbas ou les Sabéens.^[4]

Mandaeans were known locally in Arabic as Ṣubba, which Siouffi identified with the Sabians, a People of the Book in the Quran.^[5] Siouffi claimed to have identified 4000 Sabians in the Mandaean population. This was well received by the theosophist G. R. S. Mead,^[6] but received highly critical reviews from scholars, accusing Siouffi of ignorance and his teacher of dishonesty.^[7][8]

References

1. Lupieri, Edmundo (2001). The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 9780802833501. Siouffi was a Syrian Christian who, having received a European education, entered the French diplomatic corps.
2. Häberl, Charles (2009). The Neo-Mandaic Dialect of Khorramshahr. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 18. ISBN 978-3-447-05874-2. In 1873, the French vice-consul in Mosul, a Syrian Christian by the name of Nicholas Siouffi, sought Mandaean informants in Baghdad without success.
3. Guest, John S. (2012). Survival Among The Kurds. Routledge. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-136-15729-5. The French vice-consul, Nicolas Siouffi, was a man of unusual attainments. Born in 1829 of Christian Arab parents in Damascus.
4. Siouffi, Nicolas (2019). Études sur les Soubbas ou les Sabéens. Gorgias Mandaean Studies. Vol. 4. Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-61143-953-3.
5. Siouffi, Nicolas (1880). Études sur la religion/des Soubbas ou Sabéens: leurs dogmes, leurs moeurs. Imprimerie nationale.
6. G. R. S. Mead Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandaean John-Book p137 "... the French Vice-Consul at Mosul, estimated them at some 4000 souls in all ( Etudes sur la Religion des Soubbas ou Sabéens, Paris, 1880). These were then to be found chiefly in the neighbourhood of Baṣra aud Kút. Siouffi's estimate, "
7. The Edinburgh review 1880 Sydney Smith "Admitting M. Siouffi's ignorance and his teacher's possible dishonesty, these are scarcely sufficient to account for the origin of all the traditions and beliefs described in the * Etudes sur la religion 'des Soubbas'."
8. Rhétoré, Jacques (2005). Les chrétiens aux bêtes: souvenirs de la guerre sainte proclamée par les Turcs contre les chrétiens en 1915. Editions du CERF. ISBN 978-2-204-07243-4. Voir la lettre du consul de France, Nicolas Siouffi, datée du 23 février 1880, citée dans DE VAUCELLES, p. 67-69