Ancient Gnosis and Chess Evolution

1. INTRODUCTION: GNOSTIC BOARD GAMES The game of chess belongs to a general category of board games that is both widespread and prevalent in every civilization. Among the purposes of chess and similar games is the creation of an abstract frame of reference useful in subliminating instinctive impulses such as fighting, hunting, or running, while minimizing the risk of physical danger through the practice of a competitive activity.

As for the extreme antiquity of solid artifacts, most of our archaeological data comes from ancient Egypt, where specific findings of game boards and pieces, pictorial representations with added complementary inscriptions and written references in texts are fairly common. Many graphic representations dating from the Fifth Dynasty (circa 2500-2300 B.C) onwards, occur mainly in temples or tombs. Typically, these depict a profile view of players seated at gaming boards while in the act of either manipuating the actual pieces or contemplating some ensuing strategy.

Fundamentally, all board games create a virtual reality by designating an ideal separation from the "normal" world through the implementation of "sacred elements". Rules, regulations, transitional spaces, lines, circles and squares, as well as other guidelines to imaginitive play, evoke the notion of consacratory rites. "A board, a tennis court or the lines marked on the earth for childrens games are not formally different from the temple or the magic circle" (Johan Huizinga."Homo ludens". Alianza Editorial, Madrid 1972 p.34. First ed. 1936).

In addition to popular recreational functions, the prototypical structure of game boards has also served as an instrument for early mathematical and geometrical calculations as well as for astrological and divinatory purposes. Whereas such exercises assume a very ancient pedigree, surprisingly they are not considered in the standard classification of board-games which, according to H.J.R. Murray and his followers, comprises only four basic groups: race games, hunt games, games of alignment and war games.

Despite how Murray defines the subject, the evolution of board-games appears to have been otherwise more inclusive of divinatory functions. As one case in point, in 1926 the archaeologist, Sir Leonard Wooley, discovered tombs dating to the time of the First Dynasty in Ur (circa 2500 B.C.E.) in which there were found four individual game boards. Also included in this find were a series of black and white pieces, numbering seven for each side. One board composed a rectangle of 3x8 squares purportedly relates to the Egyptian "Game of 20 Squares". An exceedingly old example of divinatory board-games also appears during the Egyptian pre-dynastic period. Dating back some 4000 years B.C.E., excavations in El-Muhasna uncovered the grave of a magician medicine man containing a clay board of 3x6 squares and 11 conical pieces which suggest a probable divinitory function. The location of the find was a graveyard situated in the Upper Nile, some twelve kilometers north of Abydos. This board and its pieces were exhibited in London in 1909 by the discoverers, E.R. Ayrton and V.L.S Loat, who were appointees of the Egyptian Exploration Fund. A catalogue was published in 1911, and the board, along with its pieces can be seen at the Musée du Cinquantenaire in Brussels, Belgium. (Murray "Board games".pp. 12-13 ).

Divinatory boards containing some very remote connections to elements of chess also appear in the Hellenistic period. A. T. Clay ("Babylonian Records in the Library of J. Pierpont Morgan" part IV) published a table extracted from Erech and the Seleucid period. Its contents describe divinatory conclusions obtained by examining the organs of sacrificed animals. The text has been translated into French (R. Labat. "Le caractère religieux de la royaute assyro-babylonienn", p. 325, nº 5) as follows: "oracle du general Akalsulu qui au milieu de ses troupes, en interrogeant le fleuve, se noya". In his research document ("Babylonian chess?" Iraq,vol VIII, 1946, 5, 66-73) C.J. Gadd proves that this translation is completely incorrect. Instead, the text refers to divinatory practices undertaken through the use of a gaming board. Structurally, the two halves of the board in question are shown to be divided by a river, as is similarly the case with Chinese chess of ancient times, or as is found in the model of the chess board described in the second legend of Firdawsi. This points to a possible early existence of board games closely related to chess in Seleucid Mesopotamia, an idea further reinforced by Gadd's statements made in consideration of the fact that the shape in which the "Rukh" was carved, derived from a form of Sumerian war chariot similar to those vehicles shown engraved upon several monuments.

Divinatory board-games and geometrical or mathematical exercises upon a board are as closely connected as, say, astrology and the calendar. In a manner of speaking, such linkages may be referred to as "Gnostic" insofar as the knowledge encoded into their substance relates to practices and philosophies which exert an experiential component upon the user or participant. Since the dawn of Egyptian times, a kind of "secret knowledge" has dissemininated and become infused into many cultural-religious achievements. Among its chief proponents may be numbered the architects of pyramids as well as the Zoroastrian and Mazdeists in Persia and Syria, the Pythagorean schools in the Hellenistic world, the Jewish Kabbalits, Islamic mystics and a long chain of interrelated movements which appear in conspicous connection with several relevant areas of science. Within the bounds of their more specific undertakings, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, architecture and medicine figure prominently.

To distinguish between prevailing and somewhat erroneous notions of a segregated religious movement and a quest for Gnosis, it must be clearly understood that the entire issue of Gnostic transmissions though cultural artifact proceeds beyond the matter of whether one believes in the concept of a secret knowledge or not. The fact is that a significant number of similarly aligned though often physically disconnected groups of individuals applied a particular form of wisdom towards both practical and spiritual outcomes throughout the course of many centuries and that, as an identificable tradition, it is only recently that the veil of suppression depositied over the full scope and meaning of their respective activites is slowly being cast aside. Ostensibly, from Egypt to China, and perhaps well beyond, an erudite priesthood integrated substantial scientific knowledge within a transparent, interpenetrating framework of equally rigorous religious, philosophical and spiritual interpretation. Installing itself as a thouroughly reflective and reflexive point of practice, this Gnostic linkage forms a persistent feature in all ancient cultures and appears increasingly relevant to many questions related to the origins of chess.Therefore, it is not suprising that we should detect a similarly persistent religious ingredient embedded within games of ancient civilizations, insofar as more updated research and interpretation of their overall schematics now appears poised to bear considerable fruit in this regard.

In keeping with the possibiltites suggested on behalf of Gnostic reinterpretations of board game structures, the medium of chess (as we know it) has been associated throughout its development with astronomical symbolism. Whereas this particular feature was more overt in related games now long obsolete, even the battle element of chess seems to have developed from a technique of divination undertaken in order to ascertain the objective balance of ever-contending Yin and Yang forces in the universe. According to Chinese literature this "image-chess" (hsiang chhi) was developed during the reign of the Emperor Wu of the Northern Chou Dynasty (561 B.C.E. - 578 B.C.E.) and accordingly, the date of the first treatise on the subject has been precisely identified as 569 B.C.E. The preface of this document, authored by Wang Pao still exists. In this divinitory game, it appears as though the pieces on the board represented the sun, moon, planets, stars, constellations.

"Image-chess" derived in turn from a number of divination techniques which involved the throwing of small models, symbolic of the celestial bodies, onto boards specifically prepared for this form of activity. Thus, there was a dice element accompanying a move element, as well as many intermediate regulations governing the actual throwing and placement of markers, followed by the determination of combat moves. All these go back to China of the Han and pre-Han times, i.e. to the 4th or 3rd century B.C.E, with similar techniques subsequently appearing at later times in other cultures. Along a parallel line of development, numbered dice, wide-spread in ancient times, followed a similar evolutionary course, which, in 9th Century (C.E.) China, gave rise to dominoes and playing-cards. (Joseph Needham. "Thoughts on the origin of chess" Cambridge 1962)

The mysterious and remote origins of chess remain surrounded by "impenetrable darkness". As a famous sentence spoken by Professor Fiske avows: "Before the seventh century of our era, the existence of chess in any land is not demonstrable by a single shred of contemporary or trustworthy documentary evidence. Down to that date is all impenetrable darkness" (Prof D.W.Fiske.The Nation. New York, 7th June 1900. p. 436.) Various and divergent theories have connected the original discovery of the game to Persia, India, China or, though the testimony of early Arab manuscripts, to Egypt, Greece and even The Bible. No one knows exactly who invented chess, when, where, why and how. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the many books and publications written on the subject, the main questions still lack convincing answers. At present, the most reliable starting point for any retrograde analysis of the whole problem is Muslim culture, since we are assured that the game appeared in the Islamic world already documented and endowed with a body of technical texts.

Baghdad and the second part of the 8th century are the place and the date where chess shines clearly for the first time. Written references develop through Arabic literature dating from the 8th through to the 16th century C.E. The original texts, written first on parchment and later on paper, were transcribed in subsequent copies, and many of them have survived unto the present day. Currently, about two dozen Arab chess manuscripts are preserved in libraries throughout the world. Taken together, they give a rather clear picture of Muslim chess and its cultural background. (see Notes ar the end of this chapter).

So far, historical research regarding possible earlier origins of the game has focused upon "facts" such as documents, archaelogical findings or etymological evidence, although no significant progress has occurred since Murray's 1913 update. Recent scholarly attempts to illuminate the "impenetrable darkness" conjure up the Medieval image of a chain of blind men supporting each other, each with a hand in the next person's shoulder. A major obstacle is the degree of credibility ascribed to many of the findings thus far published. A "history of historians" is, in itself, a particularly significant chapter yet to be written. All taken into consideration, there are several valuable works available that treat upon the subject of chess and board games histories, although significant gaps are to be found in all of them, as well as a number of suspect bridges crafted with apparently deliberate and manipulative intent.

Since Thomas Hyde, Sir William Jones, Hiram Cox, Durcan Forbes and H.J.R Murray, the theory of the origins of chess in India has assumed the form of an established dogma. From its inception, this theoretical assumption triggered the apprehensions of British scholars sensitive to the issue of historiographic colonialism. In 1801 Sir James Christie ("An Inquiry into the Ancient Greek Game ") voiced his disagreement with the trend Ò:...we are by this time so well pleased by our new friends, and so pre-possesed in their favour, that, in considering their history, and the state of arts and sciences amongst them, we are apt to set to high a date upon their antiquity, and by far too high upon their ingenuity and inventions". More direct accusations flowed from the pen of Nathanael Bland in his "On the Persian Game of Chess" (JRAS, vol 13, 1852. P. 69): "Before, then, (them?) we bow to this opinion of the Hindu origin of Chess, or allow the four-headed divinity of the Brahmans to appropiate the wisdom of all the quarters of the globe, and their many-handed monsters to clutch every invention of the East as their own, a few queries suggest themselves which claim an answer from those who consider their position too strong to be disputed."

In spite of protest, the prestige of Forbes predisposed the issue in favour of India up until most recent times. Now, as before, capable critics emerge who shed additional light upon questionable practices and predilections: "He used false evidence on which to base its own claim that the game is over 5000 years old. and it is hard to believe that he was unaware of the error" (Ken Whild in "The Oxford Companion to Chess"). Other historians discovered progressively false statements, exagerated antiquity, or even distorted translations of Sanskrit texts. However, for van der Linde, it was too late to contest what he perceived as being "historical lies" and, in fact, he was too advanced in age to inaugurate any new battles.

Fact 1: Indian literature contains no early mention of chess, although Persian literature does. The first unmistakable reference in Sanskrit writings is in the "Harschascharita" by the court poet Bana, written between 625 and 640 C.E. On the other hand, pre-Islamic documents have solidly connected chess to the last period of Sassanid rulers in Persia (VI-VII century). The "Kamamak", an epic treatise that reflects upon the founder of this dynasty, refers to the game of chatrang as being among the accomplishments of the legendary hero. It reveals positive proof that a game headed under this name was popular during the period attending the redaction of this text, which supposedly occurred towards the end of the 6th century or the beginning of the 7th. Closedly related, a shorter Pahlevi poem from the same approximate period entitled "Chatrang-namak", also deals with the introduction of chess in Persia. Additionally, Firdawsi wrote about this subject in the 11th century. His sources are beyond reproach and form a continuous chain of testimony reaching as far back as the middle of 6th. Century Persia.

Fact 2 : India provides us with no evidence of any early chess pieces, although Persia does. The presence of carved chess men found within Persian territorial domains contrasts with the absence of such items in India. No chess men appear in India whose dates can be attributed to earlier times, and only in the 10th century do we find indirect mention being made of them through the text of al-Masudi: "The use of ivory (in India) is mainly directed to the carving of chess and nard pieces". Some experts believe that old Indian chess pieces may one day be discovered although, so far, this hope is based on mere speculation. More positively, the three oldest sets of chess pieces confirmed as such belong to Persian domains, not to India. The most important are the Afrasiab pieces. These were found in1977 in Afrasiab, near Samarkand, and have been dated by their Russian discoverers as products of the 7th or 8th century. Western experts accept a nominal origin of 761 C.E. due to the fact that a coin thus dated was discovered in the same layer of archaeological strata. These seven ivory men, questionable as all "idols" may be, are distinctly Persian, despite that the territory in which they were unearthed happened to be under Islamic rule since the year 712. The next group of chess pieces, (three chessmen) also originated from the Persian area. The so-called Fergana pieces include a "Rukh" in form of a geant bird. Its antiquity should not be too distant from the Afrasiab lot. Additionally, within the Persian city of Nishapur, another ivory set was discovered, although this particular find is approximately dated to either the 9th or 10th century. These cannot be considered idols and are carved following the abstract pattern characteristic of "arabic" pieces.

Fact 3 : The Arabs introduced chess to India after assimilating "Shatrang" from Persia. Games intruduced upon the 8x8 "ashtapada" board which included dice and permitted the play of two or more participants may have served as "protochess", but these individual genres differ too radically in nature and philosophy from one another to construe the evolution of "Chaturanga" as being identical with that of "Shatransh". Arab writers stated quite frequently that they took the game of "shatransh" from the Persians, who called it "chatrang". This event occurred during the middle of a political-cultural revolution, which has been brought forward and analyzed through the study of historical texts. As is specifically documented, following a fierce civil war, the ruling Ummayad dynasty was expelled by a certain Abul Abbas, who initiated a new era, founding Bagdad around the year 750 and transporting his Islamic political center to Bagdad from Damascus. The Abbasid dinasty was ethnically and culturally of Persian origin and as a consequence, Persian influences became clearly dominant in the cultural renaissance which took place inside the Arabic trunk. A considerable amount of arcane knowledge derived from classical Greece, Byzantine, early Egyptian and Middle East civilizations, as well as information originating "from the country of Hind", was compiled and re-translated into Arabic, absorbed within a scientific body of materials and subsequently directed along an historical path which eventually deposited it in the West. Chess was only a fragmentary part of a detailed body of knowledge, which also included mathematical, astronomical, philosophical and medical achievements.

Fact 4 : The etymology stemming from India is unclear. The origins of several chess terms may have deeper roots in India, although, in fact, the Sanskrit word "Chaturanga" denotes "army", and it remains unclear whether it refered to our chess, to a possible form of "protochess" with four players, or to some strategical exercise with pieces placed upon a board that dealt more specifically with actual military purposes. In any case, to be on safer ground, we must remember the earliest solid evidence about the board game called chess belongs to Persia. Even to this day, the Pahlevi word "Chatrang" signifies the mandrake plant, which has a characteristic root shaped in the form of a human figure. As such, there is a good case in favour of a different etymological interpretation, since, in a generalized sense, any game played with pieces representing a human figure may be compared with the "shatrang" plant.

Another significant clue resides in the nomenclature of the pieces, which consistently relate to different species of animals rather than to components of an army: In the "Grande Acedrex" of King Alfonso of Castile (1283) lions, crocodiles, giraffes etc. play over a 12x12 square gaming surface and display peculiar jumping moves. The invention of this game is connected to the same remote period in India as normal chess, although the pieces themselves are very atypical in any context which attempts to refer them to India. (See the reference "Hasb"(War) in "The Encyclopaedia of Islam", De Gruyter, Leyden-New York 1967).

Indeed, elephants are not at all exclusive from Indian origin (Sir William Gowers, "African Elephants and Ancient Authors", African Affairs, 47 (1948) p.173 ff. Also Frank W. Walbank, "Die Hellenistische Welt", DTV 1983 p. 205-6), nor can they be counted as unique with regard to their usage in Indian military campaigns: The Persian army had also cavalry, foot-soldiers, charriots and elephants, as well as a fleet of ships. Moreover, in Egypt, the Ptolemaic Kings regularly obtained elephants from Somalia. With regard to this practice, Strabo (16,4,5) mentions the foundation of several cities in Africa whose major occupation revolved around the hunting of elephants. Their hunters have even written dedications to Ptolemaios IV Philopator (221-204 BC). Also significant, Polybios describes a battle fought with elephants between Ptolomaios IV and Antiochos III in 217 BC. Pyrrhus and Hannibal used them in the West. Modern research confirms details of a widespread diffusion of the general species, whereas, on a lighter note, the Rukh of ancient legend is depicted as an enormous eagle-like bird capable of lifting an elephant in it's talons. However, for a clearer delineation of the Rukh, Sir Richard F. Burton's notes provide us with a number of speculative possibilties: The older term, "roc." is a Persian word with many possible meanings: e.g. a cheek (Lalla "Rookh"); a "rook" (hero) at chess; a rhinoceros; etc.

The world renowned fable of the wundervogel is, as usual, founded upon fact. Man remembers and combines but does not create. Thus, the Egyptian bennu (Ti-bennu = phoenix) may have been a reminiscence of gigantic perodactyls and other winged monsters. [N.B. Burton was writing in the 1880's and it is no longer believed that humans were alive when pterodactyls roamed the skies.] From the Nile, the legend spun by these Oriental "putters out of five fore one" traversed the planet and gave birth to the Eorosh of the Zend, whence came the Persian "Simurgh" (= the thirty-fowl-like"), the "Bar Yuchre" of the Rabbis, the "Garuda" of the Hindus; the "Anka" ("longneck") of the Arabs; the Hathilinga bird of Buddhagosha's Parables, which posessed the strength of five elephants; the Kerkes of the Turks; the Gryps of the Greeks; the Russian "Norka"; the sacred dragon of the Chinese; the Japanesse "Pheng" and "Kirni"; the "wise and ancient Bird" which sits upon the ash-tree yggdrasil, and the dragons, griffins, basiliks, etc. of the Middle Ages.

A second basis, and one not necessarily confined to the literary imagination (M. Polo's Ruch had wing-feathers twelve paces long) might exist among species of massive birds which suffered more recent extinction. Sinbad may allude to the Aepyornus of Madagascar, a gigantic ostrich whose egg contained a hefty 2.35 gallons fo embryonic material. In keeping with a more scientific studies, on the African coast facing Madagascar, the late Herr Hildebrand discovered traces of another huge bird. Bochart (Hierozoicon ii. 854) also makes note of the Avium Avis Ruch (***??? and taking the pulli was followed by lapidation on the part of the parent bird). The Rukh hawking at an elephant is a favorite Persian subject and a Persian illustration in Lane (ii. 90) shows the Rukh carrying off three elephants in its beak which detail physical proportions of a scale that would suggest the size of a hawk in relation to three field mice. Similarly, though legend it is conceivable that the "Twelve Knights of the Round Table" represented the twelve Rukhs of Persian lore, although, we need not gowith Faber to the Cherubim, who were said to guard the Paradise-gate.

For additional mythological references, rhe curious reader may find it of interest to consult Dr. H. H. Wilson's Essays, edited by my learned correspondent, Dr. Rost, Librarian of the Indian House, vol. i. pp. 192-3. In vol. vi. pp. 16-17: "...the quill of a wing feather of a young Rukh, whilst yet in its egg and unhatched; and this quill was big enough to hold a goat-skin's of water, for it is said that the length of the Rukh-chick's wing, when he cometh forth of the egg, is a thousand fathoms." Again, the older term, "Roc", may also be written as "Rukh" or "Rukhkh." Colonel Yule, the learned translator of Marco Polo, has shown that "Roc's" feathers were not uncommon curiosities in mediaeval ages and holds that they were most likely fronds of the palm Raphia vinifera, which has the largest leaf in the vegetable kingdom and which the Moslems of Zanzibar call "Satan's date-tree." I need hardly quote "Frate Cipolla and the Angel Gabriel's Feather" (Decameron vi. 10.) (vol. v., p. 122). "...I may remind the reader that the Egyptian "Rokh," or "Rukh," by some written "Rekhit," whose ideograph is a mostroud bird with one claw raised, also denotes pure wise Spirits, the Magi, etc. I know a man who derives from it our "rook" = beak and parson.(vol. xii. p. 186).These facts can easily be amplified, as was done in 1997 in Wiesbaden (see my paper "Wo das Schachspiel nicht herkommt"). (*N.B. Some introductory material seems to bbe missing here....)

Surely, new approaches and new ideas are needed, as requested in a world- wide call from the "Koenigstein Group" . Since the candle of science is still too weak, we can use the sudden flashes of lightning extrated though other ideas to illuminate this darkness. These illuminations exist, and even if they don't allow a consistent appraisal of all details, they may lead us toward a new approach. This paper intends only to comment on several palpable directions for possible innovative outcomes. Specifically, the relationship of esoteric knowledge suggestive of the origins of chess remains in reletive darkness, although Gnostic sparks of ancient schools of thought, confusing as they are, appear here and there in Islamic chess writings, kabbalistic interpretations as well as internal evidence correspondingly inhibiting and inhabiting certain aspects of chess evolution. The latter can be seen as a process beginning with a pool of "protochess board games", pre-existant in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Chess, like Pyramids or Cathedrals, seems to be a self-referential product with a semantic architecture of its own. Secret knowledge linked with exercises played out in board game media was maintained and preserved during Hellenistic times within Gnostic circles, and at the very least, the game crystalized in Persia during the approximate time of the middle of the 6th century with the following basic particularities, upon which we shall comment in the ensuing chapters:

1. Selection of the 8x8 board
2. Rejection of dice and chance elements
3. Polarization of the game between two players
4. Design of the game as a model of war
5. Linkage of victory with the "Shah-mat" idea
6. Inclusion of related exercises into the main game
7. Fragmentary links with other areas of ancient knowledge

INTRODUCTORY BIBLIOGRAPHY
With regard to board-games, a basic reference is
H.J.R Murray "A History of Board Games other than Chess". Oxford, Clarendon Press 1952.

See, among others:
R.C. Bell. "Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations" Dover. N.Y. (1979), Edward

Falkener."Games Ancient and Oriental and how to Play Them". New York 1892. Re-edition Dover Publications Inc. 1961.

An exhaustive re-appraisal of the Arabic chess literature can be found in:
Reinhard Wieber. "Das Schachspiel in der arabischen Literatur von den Anfängen bis zur zweiten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts".Verlag für Orientkunde. Walldorf-Hessen 1972.

Wieber makes one point patently clear: chess appears during a process of orientalization launched by the Caliphs of the Abbasid dynasty, who transported the centre of culture from Damascus to Bagdad around 750 A.D. The Spanish jesuit and orientalist P. Felix Pareja translated an Arab MS from the British Museum "Libro del Ajedrez, de sus problemas y sutilezas, de autor árabe desconocido". Madrid 1935. II Tomos. (Referred as Pareja LDA). Its glossary of Arabic "termini tecnici" is very complete, as well as its study on the Koran and chess. Also from Pareja are "La fase araba del giuoco degli scacchi". Oriente Moderno 23:10. Roma 1953. Pags. 407-29, an overview on Muslim chess. and "La Religiosidad Musulmana". BAC.Madrid 1975,( Pareja LRM). In this book, Pareja gives an explanation of Islamic religious aspects.

General aspects of Islamic culture can be consulted in another Spanish arabist: Juan Vernet. "La cultura hispano-arabe en Oriente y Occidente". Barcelona, 1978.(Vernet.).

N. Bland."On the Persian Game of Chess". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, v. 13, 1852, pp. 1-70.

N. Bland. "Persian Chess". JRAS (London) 13, 1850.

Further bibliographical references are as follows:
J. Gildemeister. "Scriptorum arabum de rebus Indicis loci et opuscula inedita. Fasciculus primus.

Bonnae, 1838. pp. 140-43.; 27.

Mac Donnell A. "The origin and early history of Chess". JRAS. 30, 1898; 117-141.

Pagliaro A. "Sulla piu antica storia del giuoco degli scacchi". Rivista degli studi orientali. (Roma) 18, 1939/40, 328-340.

Safa G. "Les Échecs: leur origine et leur tactique". Al Machriq 19, 1921; 835 ff. .

Somogyi J. The arabic chess manuscripts in the John Rylands Library. Bull. J.R.L 41 , 1959; 430-445.

Sachau E. Algebraisches über das Schach bei Biruni. ZDMG 29, 1875; 148-156.

C.J. Gadd. "Babylonian Chess?" Iraq 8. Oxford 1946.

J. Somogyi. "Chess and Backgammon in Ad-Damiri's Hayat al-hawayan" P. Hirschle "In Memoriam" Budapest 1949.

As for the Kabbalistic connections, I have been using Gershom Scholem: "Die jüdische Mystik in ihren Hauptströmungen". Suhrkamp, 1980. Referred to as Scholem JM.