Mani | |
---|---|
مانی | |
Preceded by | Jesus |
Personal | |
Born | c. April AD 216 |
Died | 2 March AD 274 or 26 February AD 277[5] (aged 57–58 or 60–61) |
Cause of death | During imprisonment, or by execution, on the orders of Bahram I |
Religion | Manichaeism |
Nationality | Iranian |
Parent(s) | Pātik, Mariam |
Citizenship | Sasanian Empire |
Notable work(s) | Manichaean scripture |
Organization | |
Founder of | Manichaeism |
Mani[a] (/ˈmɑːni/;[6] c. April AD 216 – 2 March AD 274 or 26 February AD 277) was an Iranian[7][8][9][10] prophet and the founder of Manichaeism, a religion most prevalent in late antiquity.
Mani was born in or near Ctesiphon (south of modern Baghdad) in Mesopotamia,[4] at the time part of the Parthian Empire. Seven of his major works were written in Syriac, and the eighth, dedicated to the Sasanian emperor Shapur I, was written in Middle Persian.[11] He died shortly after being imprisoned by Bahram I in Gundeshapur.
He was Iranian, of noble Parthian blood...
Manichaeism was a syncretic religion, proclaimed by the Iranian Prophet Mani.
According to the Fehrest, Mani was of Arsacid stock on both his father's and his mother's sides, at least if the readings al-ḥaskāniya (Mani's father) and al-asʿāniya (Mani's mother) are corrected to al-aškāniya and al-ašḡāniya (ed. Flügel, 1862, p. 49, ll. 2 and 3) respectively. The forefathers of Mani's father are said to have been from Hamadan and so perhaps of Iranian origin (ed. Flügel, 1862, p. 49, 5–6). The Chinese Compendium, which makes the father a local king, maintains that his mother was from the house Jinsajian, explained by Henning as the Armenian Arsacid family of Kamsarakan (Henning, 1943, p. 52, n. 4 = 1977, II, p. 115). Is that fact, or fiction, or both? The historicity of this tradition is assumed by most, but the possibility that Mani's noble Arsacid background is legendary cannot be ruled out (cf. Scheftelowitz, 1933, pp. 403–4). In any case, it is characteristic that Mani took pride in his origin from time-honored Babel, but never claimed affiliation to the Iranian upper class.
We are now certain that Mani was of Iranian stock on both his father's and his mother's side.
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