I’ve already posted something about the splendidly luxurious litter Pietro della Valle had made for his beloved wife Ma’ani.
But she was actually very comfortable riding horseback and camping out. When the couple travelled across the Darya Namak area north-east of Kashan, on their way up from Isfahan to see Shah Abbas in Mazanderan, she insisted on sleeping out under the stars rather than using a tent.
She was also a “veritable Amazon”: Ma’ani told Pietro that she expected to precede him into any battles, “rather than stay behind”; and reported that she had ordered her arms and horse harness before he did.
She was, however, apparently desperate for a child. My favourite story in his four bulky volumes of tales is when Ma’ani persuades Pietro, a teetotaler, that he should drink some wine as a fertility aid. He tries to excuse himself by pointing out that children exist in countries where no wine is drunk; while she ripostes by saying that Abbas will expect him to drink, so he might as well practice now. He describes this as a “belle invention” that he can’t defend himself against. He therefore “gave into her prayers” and sipped like a little bird at a small cup “with much difficulty & an infinity of grimaces and unpleasant faces”, whilst Maani laughed and took great pleasure in his discomfort.
The couple must have done something right, as she became pregnant – unfortunately dying shortly after delivering a stillborn child.
While I was researching Ma’ani, I found her coat of arms – and initially assumed that the text was some variant of Persian text. I had to consult three experts before I found that it wasn’t reversed (the first suggestion), and that it was actually written in Syriac. Then a Syriac expert, Dr Erica Hunter, very kindly helped me out.
Apparently, the text is “nicely executed in a style reminiscent of the Estrangelo script, the monumental Syriac script that was (and still is) used for carving inscriptions” and it reads: [line 1] The servant; [line 2] of God [line 3] Ma’ani. Some anomalies show that the person who designed it was not completely familiar with Syriac vocalisation or character formation:
God, for example, is not written correctly
And Ma’ani is mispelt (which we should be writing instead of Maani).
Y writes to me:
I like the coat of arms and the complexity about the Syriac writing in the 17th c …
Z tells me he sent the coat of arms to a a professor of Aramaic in Spain with whom he had some contacts in the
past. He sent me the following answer(much later than Dr Hunter) which confirmed Dr Hunter’s response:
” As far as your question upon the text is concerned, it’s spelled as follows: “Emta d’alaha Ma‘ani”which means, if I am not wrong, “the servant of God Ma‘ani”.
The female name “Ma‘ani” could also be used in modern Assyrian Aramaic as a verb that would mean to help. Thus it could be also translated as “servant of God, help me”.
In this case the verb is written according it’s spelt and not in the correct way. I would suggest the first option.
Z went to Dr Hunter’s Seminar last Saturday which he tells me was highly interesting with Professors from Germany (Turfan Texts)and a Bishop of the Eastern Church from California. They heard also prayers in Aramaic and reports about the present situation of Christians in Iraq. Very interesting was a report on the Mandaeans who live in south Iraq and Iran.
And now Dr Hunter herself has got back to me, correcting what I wrote in the blog a little (I’ve cheated and modified it as she suggested). As well as commenting on Irena’s ‘posting’ below, she said:
“thank you for your message. I read your blog on the coat of arms. Thank you very much for including my name. Could I just say that God is not spelt incorrectly but that the initial letter has not been written correctly because the lower diacritical point has been omitted.It might be worthwhile to amend this.
I read the blog comments with interest – I wonder who the person was who went to the Christianity in Iraq VIII Seminar Day. They are correct that it could be ‘help me’ in Neo-Syriac, but it is very doubtful that vernacular would have been used for a monumental inscription, such as it is.”
Dear Caroline,
It’s indeed a beautiful story about Ma’ani persuading Pietro to drink wine. However, in the Dutch translation of the Viaggi…(1664), for some reason this story has been left out! I checked the Dutch text with the excerpts in Bull’s The Pilgrim and only found a few minor differences. But to leave this story out is unforgivable!
I postponed my trip to Iran and will travel now the end of September.
Regards,
Jan Willem Geuzebroek