Did the Manichaeans Set a Precedent? Rethinking the Sasanian Persecution of Manichaeans in light of Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity

• In Event: Imperial Jews and An Integrationist Model of Empire

Abstract

This presentation aims to rethink the Sasanian imperial persecution of the early Manichaean church through the framework offered in Simcha Gross's Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity. It will balance the rhetoric of persecution found throughout the fragments of Mani's letters alongside scattered reports of imperial persecution within the Manichaean corpus, especially the Manichaean Homilies. It asks whether the Sasanian persecution of the Manichaeans set a precedent in how the empire engaged with its many communities.

Author

• Jae Han, Brown University