Mani (; â 2 March AD 274 or 26 February AD 277) was an Iranian 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, 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. He died shortly after being imprisoned by Bahram I in Gundeshapur.
The exact meaning of the name, or rather title, of "Mani" remains unsolved. It may have derived from Babylonian-Aramaic Mânâ [luminescence]. Mandaeans used the term mânâ rabba, which means "Enlightened Lord/King". Ancient Greek interpretations were (, "vessel, instrument") and (, "intercourse, company, communion, instruction").
The same slightly contemptuous "a certain" (Manes quidam) also appears in Hegemonius' Acta Archelai (4th century), however, Hegemonius contributes a detailed description of Mani's looks. ManiâÂÂs names became the object of uplifting transformation (Greek, Coptic Mannichaios, Latin Mannichaeus, i.e., Mannam fundens, "pouring out Manna"). Alternatively, due to Mani's possible origins in an Elchasai community, "Mani" could be a Hypocorism of the Hebrew name Menahem ("the consoler" or "comforter").
In 1969 in Upper Egypt a Greek parchment codex dating to was discovered. It is now designated Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis because it is conserved at the University of Cologne. Combining a hagiographic account of Mani's career and spiritual development with information about Mani's religious teachings, and containing fragments of his writings, it is now considered the most reliable source of information about the historical Mani.
All other medieval and pre-medieval accounts of his life are either legendary or hagiographical, such as the account in Fihrist by Ibn al-Nadim, purportedly by al-Biruni, or were anti-Manichaean polemics, such as the 4th-century Acta Archelai. Among these medieval accounts, Ibn al-Nadim's account of Mani's life and teachings is generally speaking the most reliable and exhaustive. Notably, the (in other accounts prominent) image of the "Third Ambassador" is only represented through a brief mention of the name baà ¡Ã«r, "messenger of good news", and the topos of "Mani the Painter" (which in other Islamic accounts almost completely replaces that of "the founder of a religion") is completely absent.
This work and other evidence discovered in the 20th century establishes Mani as a historical individual. For an updated critique of the standard account and a radically alternative proposal, see Iain Gardner's The Founder of Manichaeism: Rethinking the Life of Mani.
Mani was born near Seleucia-Ctesiphon, perhaps in the town of Mardinu in the Babylonian district of Nahr Kutha; according to other accounts in the town Abrumya. Mani's father PÃÂtik (Middle Persian: ; , Arabic: ), a native of Ecbatana (now Hamadan, Iran), was a member of the Jewish Christian sect of the Elcesaites. His mother was of Parthian descent (from "the Armenian Arsacid family of Kamsarakan"); her name is reported variously, among others Maryam.
Mani was raised in a heterodox environment in Babylon. The Elcesaite community was ostensibly Jewish Christian, though with some Gnostic features due to their Ebionite heritage, such as the belief in recurring incarnations of heavenly apostles, one of whom was a docetic Christ. It is believed that his Christian roots might have been influenced by Marcion and Bardaisan. At ages 12 and 24 Mani had visionary experiences of a "heavenly twin" of his (syzygos), calling him to leave his father's sect and preach the true message of Jesus in a new gospel. It is said that his appearance was a mixture of Iranian and Mesopotamian features. On the one hand he looked like a warrior, on the other like a magician. In some later texts he was described as lame, a characteristic possibly attributed to him by his opponents.
Mani then travelled to India (Sakas in present day Afghanistan), where he studied Hinduism and its various extant philosophies, as well as Buddhism. Al-Biruni says Mani only traveled to India after being banished from Persia, but this might be an error or a second journey.
Returning in 242, Mani presented himself to Shapur I, to whom he dedicated his only work written in Persian, known as the Shabuhragan. Shapur was not converted to Manichaeism and remained Zoroastrian, but he favored Mani's teachings, which mixed Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, and took him into his court. Mani is said to have performed miracles, including levitation, teleporting and healing, which helped him to gain converts in the Iranian elite. He was also famed as a painter.
Shapur's successor Hormizd I, who reigned only for one year, continued to patronize Mani, but his successor Bahram I, a follower of the intolerant Zoroastrian reformer Kartir, began to persecute the Manichaeans. He incarcerated Mani, who died in prison within a month, in 274. According to sources, he passed his last days comforting his visiting disciples, teaching that his death would have no other consequence than the return of his soul to the realm of light.
Mani's followers depicted Mani's death as a crucifixion in a conscious analogy to the crucifixion of Jesus; al-Biruni says that Bahram ordered the execution of Mani. There is a story which claims that he was flayed, and his corpse suspended over the main gate of the great city of Gundeshapur; however, there is no historical basis for this account. It is more plausible that his body was mutilated via post-mortem decapitation, and his head put on display, which may be the original source of the embellishment.
The canon of Mani includes six works originally written in Syriac, and one in Persian, the Shapuragan. While none of his books have survived in complete form, there are numerous fragments and quotations of them, including a long Syriac quotation from one of his works, as well as a large amount of material in Middle Persian, Coptic, and numerous other languages.
Examples of surviving portions of his works include: the Shabuhragan (Middle Persian), the Book of Giants (numerous fragments in many languages), the Fundamental Epistle (quoted in length by Saint Augustine), a number of fragments of his Living Gospel (or Great Gospel), a Syriac excerpt quoted by Theodore Bar Konai, and his Letter to Edessa contained in the Cologne Mani-Codex. Mani also wrote the book Arzhang, a holy book of Manichaeism unique in that it contained many drawings and paintings to express and explain the Manichaeist creation and history of the world.
Mani's teaching was intended to "combine", succeed, and surpass the teachings of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Marcionism, Hellenistic and Rabbinic Judaism, Gnostic movements, Babylonian and other Mesopotamian religions, and mystery cults. It is based on a rigid dualism of good and evil, locked in eternal struggle, which was a "familiar mytholog[ical]" element of the time in many spiritual traditions that Mani deliberately borrowed.
In his mid-twenties, Mani decided that salvation was possible through education, self-denial, fasting and chastity. According to al-Biruni, a 10th-century Iranian scholar, Mani claimed to be the Paraclete promised in the New Testament, and the Last Prophet. However according to Lodewijk J. R. Ort, the term last prophet may "in all probability derived from the Quran by al-Biruni in order to formulate Mani's pretensions and religious claims". Therefore Lodewijk J. R. Ort concludes that a definitive pronouncement about the final character of Mani's appearance is not mentioned in Manichaeistic scriptures.
While his religion was not strictly a movement of Christian Gnosticism in the earlier mode, Mani did declare himself to be an "apostle of Jesus Christ", and extant Manichaean poetry frequently extols Jesus and his mother, Mary, with the highest reverence. Manichaean tradition also claims that Mani was the reincarnation of different religious figures including Jesus, Zoroaster, and the historical Buddha.
Mani's followers were organized in a church structure, divided into a class of "elects" (electi) and "auditors" (auditores). Only the electi are required to follow the laws strictly, while the auditores care for them, hoping to become electi in their turn after reincarnation.
The Western Christian tradition of Mani largely comes from St. Cyril of Jerusalem. According to his account, Scythianos, a Saracen, who dwelt in Alexandria and "imitated the life of Aristotle, wrote four books, the first, a Gospel, the second, a book of Chapters, the third a book of Mysteries, and the fourth, a book of Treasure. When Scythianos went to Palestine, God killed him with a disease. However, Scythianos had a disciple, Terebinthus, who travelled t Persia, where he changed his name to Buddas. While he was there, he angered the priests of Mithras, so he took refuge with a widow, he went to the rooftops and summoned the "demons of the air", he was then smote by God, and the widow buried his corpse.
The woman at whose house he lodged buried him, inherited his money, and bought a slave boy named Cubricus. This boy grew up surrounded by philosophers, and when his adoptive mother died, he inherited the surviving books of Scythianos, then travelled into Persia, where he took the name of Manes.
According to Jerome, Archelaus wrote his account of his disputation with "Manichaeus" in Syriac, whence it was translated into Greek. The Greek is lost, and the work, apart from extracts, subsists only in a Latin translation from the Greek, of doubtful age and fidelity, probably made after the 5th century. By Photius it is stated that Heraclean, bishop of Chalcedon, in his book against the Manichaeans, said the Disputation of Archelaus was written by one Hegemonius, an author not otherwise traceable, and of unknown date.
In the Latin narrative, "Manes" is said to have come, after his flight from court, from Arabion, a frontier fortress, to Caschar or Carchar, a town said to be in Roman Mesopotamia, in the hope of converting an eminent Christian there, named Marcellus, to whom he had sent a letter beginning: "Manichaeus apostle of Jesus Christ, and all the saints and virgins with me, send peace to Marcellus." In his train he brought twenty-two youths and virgins.https://web.archive.org/web/20081225224824/http://www4.nau.edu/manichaean/actaarchelai1.htm</ref>
At the request of Marcellus, he debated on religion with bishop Archelaus, by whom he was vanquished, whereupon he set out to return to Persia. On his way he proposed to debate with a priest at the town of Diodorides. But Archelaus came to take the priest's place, and again defeated him, whereupon, fearing to be given up to the Persians by the Christians, he returned to Arabion.
At this stage Archelaus introduces in a discourse to the people his history of "this Manes", very much to the effect of the recapitulation in Socrates. Among the further details are these: that Scythianus lived "in the time of the Apostles", that Terebinthus said the name of Buddas had been imposed on him, that in the mountains he had been brought up by an angel, that he had been convicted of imposture by a Persian prophet named Parcus, and by Labdacus, son of Mithra.
Furthermore, that in the disputation he taught concerning the sphere, the two luminaries, the transmigration of souls, and the war of the Principia against God, that "Corbicius" or Corbicus, about the age of sixty, translated the books of Terebinthus. He made three chief disciples, Thomas, Addas, and Hermas, of whom he sent the first to Egypt, and the second to Scythia, keeping the third with him. The two former returned when he was in prison, and that he sent them to procure for him the books of the Christians, which he then studied. According to the Latin narrative, finally, Manes on his return to Arabion was seized and taken to the Persian king, by whose orders he was flayed, his body being left to the birds, and his skin, filled with air, hung at the city gate.
Mani is described as a painter who set up a sectarian movement in opposition to Zoroastrianism. He was persecuted by Shapur I and fled to Central Asia, where he made disciples and embellished with paintings a Tchighil (or picturarum domus Chinensis) and another temple called Ghalbita. Provisioning in advance a cave which had a spring, he told his disciples he was going to heaven, and would not return for a year, after which time they were to seek him in the cave in question. They then came back there after a year and found him, whereupon he showed them an illustrated book, called Ergenk, or Estenk Arzhang, which he said he had brought from heaven.
According to Al-Tha'alibi, Bahram I had the mobedhs debate Mani, after Mani said that destroying the body was productive to the spirit, Bahram responded by saying "âÂÂWe will start with the destruction of your body and deal with you in accordance with what you teach!" Mani was then skinned alive, his skin was filled with straw, and suspended over one of the gates of JundaysÃÂbà «r. Afterwards, 12,000 Manichaeans were put to death.