The life of Mani

Abstract

On the life of Mani see Introduction (pp. 3–8). The following excerpts are primarily taken from the Greek Cologne Mani-Codex and Coptic sources from Medinet Madi, supplemented by texts in Arabic and Middle Iranian (especially Parthian) which are clearly derived from Manichaean sources ultimately belonging to the same original literary (Syriac?) tradition. CHILDHOOD, YOUTH AND CALLING Mani's parentage, birth, childhood and adolescence This extract, taken from the section devoted to the teaching of the Manichaeans in the Fihrist (Catalogue) of Ibn an-Nadīm (composed towards the end of the tenth century ad in Baghdad), draws material from the writings of Abū 'Isā al-Warraq who lived a century earlier and had access to genuine Manichaean writings. It supplies information not yet found in Manichaean texts from the Roman Empire. Muḥammad bin Isḥaq said: 'Mānī bin Fatiq Bābak bin Abī Barzām was of the Ḥaskāniyya. His mother's name was Mays, but she was also called Awtāẖīm or Marmaryam of the Asġāniyya. It was said that Mānī was the Bishop (usquf) of Qunnī and of the kinsmen of ( 328 ) the Ḥūḥī, the Bādarāyā and the Baksāyā nearby. He had a deformed foot. It was said that his father was originally from Hamadān and had moved to Babylon, settling in al-Madā’in in the place called Ṭīsfūn (Ctesiphon) which had a temple (a house of idols).