At the foot of Sumeru · Four mountains · Elias Thorn
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At the foot of Sumeru · Four mountains

Book of Giants · Sogdian fragment G · M7800/I · R1–19 and V1–19

[…] the helpers who were in the heavens are all seized and bound. And these angels themselves descend from heaven to earth.

Two hundred demons see these angels, [are frightened(?)] and tremble. They take human form and hide. Then the angels separate the humans from the demons, place them to one side and [set] guards over them.

Those […] born […] one another […] themselves […].

And those who were born of them […] are separated from the demons. One half of them, from the east, and the other, from the west, are led along the slopes of four great mountains, to the foot of Mount Sumeru, to thirty-two cities. The Living Spirit prepared them for them from the beginning. And they call [this place] Aryan-vezhan.

And these people remain with their former instruction(?) and other […] do […].

[…] angels […] and enter into battle with the demons. [And those] two hundred demons fight a fierce battle with [the four angels]. […] and the angels—fire, naphtha and [sulphur(?)] […].

Reading notes

The angels first separate the humans from the demons and lead them towards the prepared cities. The battle with the demons begins after this separation.

Sumeru, the four mountains and the thirty-two cities describe the world within the story. This fragment does not preserve the outcome of the battle.

English rendering of the Russian working translation, with the same passage boundaries and uncertainties. The underlying working translation from the ancient text’s transliteration has not received independent philological review. […] marks damage or loss; ⟨…⟩ preserves an undeciphered passage in the edition’s transliteration, including internal editorial marks. Square brackets indicate supplied or conjecturally restored words; (?) marks an uncertain interpretation. Coverage is R1–19 and V1–19 of fragment G, not the whole Book of Giants. The word provisionally rendered “frightened” in R5 is partly restored in the edition. Family relationships in R12–16 are not reconstructed. Cn … kyrʾn is rendered “from”; the direction of movement requires clarification. The damaged phrase with fsʾk in V9–11 is provisionally rendered “instruction.” The final verb is missing; no ending has been invented. A separate damaged line H preceding R1 in TITUS is not included. Sources: TITUS, Kawān G; lexical comparison with P. O. Skjærvø, An Introduction to Manichean Sogdian. In R6, δrβnd is rendered “tremble”: I. Yakubovich, Sogdian Etymological Notes (2011), §9, pp. 177–178, example 13 directly analyses Kaw G R4–6. The neighbouring reading in R5 remains partly restored.

Open source ↗ (https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/iran/miran/sogd/sogdnswc/sogdn136.htm)

Sogdian transliteration · fragment G (https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/iran/miran/sogd/sogdnswc/sogdn136.htm)

I. Yakubovich · Sogdian Etymological Notes, §9 (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275759045_Sogdian_etymological_notes)