Manichaeism in the Early Sasanian Empire
lt is well-known that Mani knew Christian Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism and also a little of Buddhism and used different items from these religions. As we can see from the Säbuhragän, the central themes of Mani's teachings at the Sasanian court were the "two principles" and the "thr...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Brill
1993
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In: |
Numen
Year: 1993, Volume: 40, Issue: 1, Pages: 2-15 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Rights Information: | InC 1.0 |
Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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Summary: | lt is well-known that Mani knew Christian Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism and also a little of Buddhism and used different items from these religions. As we can see from the Säbuhragän, the central themes of Mani's teachings at the Sasanian court were the "two principles" and the "three times", but he reworked them and brought them close to Zurwanism, because King Säbuhr did not favour 'orthodox' Zoroastrianism but 'heretical' Zurwanism. Thus Manichaeism could flourish for thirty years within the Sasanian empire. After Säbuhr's death the Zoroastrian priest Kirdir gained influence at the court, thus Manichaeism -and Zurwanism-met restrictions which finally led to Mani's death. In consequence Manichaeism and Zurwanism, which always favoured universalism, were put aside in order to establish Zoroastrianism as a nationalistic religion in Iran. |
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ISSN: | 1568-5276 |
Contains: | In: Numen
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/156852793X00022 DOI: 10.15496/publikation-73790 HDL: 10900/132435 |