Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-307) and index.

Front Matter / Iain Gardner , Jason BeDuhn and Paul Dilley -- An Introduction to the Chester Beatty Kephalaia Codex / Iain Gardner -- Mani’s Wisdom at the Court of the Persian Kings: The Genre and Context of the Chester Beatty Kephalaia / Paul Dilley -- Parallels between Coptic and Iranian Kephalaia: Goundesh and the King of Touran / Jason BeDuhn -- The Final Ten Chapters / Iain Gardner -- Also Schrieb Zarathustra? Mani As Interpreter of the ‘Law of Zarades’ / Paul Dilley -- Iranian Epic in the Chester Beatty Kephalaia / Jason BeDuhn -- Mani’s Last Days / Iain Gardner -- ‘Hell Exists, and We Have Seen the Place Where It Is’: Rapture and Religious Competition in Sasanian Iran / Paul Dilley -- Mani and the Crystallization of the Concept of ‘Religion’ in Third Century Iran / Jason BeDuhn -- Works Cited / Iain Gardner , Jason BeDuhn and Paul Dilley -- Index / Iain Gardner , Jason BeDuhn and Paul Dilley.

Available to subscribing member institutions only.

In Mani at the Court of the Persian Kings the authors explore evidence arising from their project to edit the Chester Beatty Kephalaia codex. This new text presents Mani at the heart of Sasanian Iran in dialogue with its sages and nobles, acting as a cultural mediator between East and West and interpreter of Christian, Iranian, and Indian traditions. Nine chapters study Mani’s appropriation of the ‘law of Zarades’ and of Iranian epic; suggest a new understanding of his last days; and analyse his formative role in the history of late antique religions. These interdisciplinary studies advance research in several fields and will be of interest to scholars of Manichaeism, Sasanian Iran, and the development of religions in Late Antiquity.