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The Manichaeans of the Roman East

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The Manichaeans of the Roman East is the first monograph that synthesizes an enormous body of primary material to reconstruct the history of East-Roman Manichaeans, from the time their first missio...
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  • 07 August 2023
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The Manichaeans of the Roman East is the first monograph that synthesizes an enormous body of primary material to reconstruct the history of East-Roman Manichaeans, from the time their first missionaries arrived in the territory of the Roman East until the disappearance of Manichaeism from the Eastern Roman Empire. Through her systematically comparative and intertextual investigation of the sources, Matsangou provides a number of original approaches to issues such as the classification of Manichaeism, the socio-religious profile and lifestyle of East Roman Manichaeans, the triggers of the severe anti-Manichaean persecutions. She thoroughly analyses the relationship between Manichaean and Christian ascetics for the first time, suggesting a possible Manichaean impact on the rise of ascetic manifestations among Christian ascetics, monks, and individuals in society. By considering the dimensions of the phenomenon of crypto-Manichaeism and using the concept of “entryism”—borrowed from politics—as a theoretical model, Matsangou makes intriguing hypotheses suggesting an alternative explanation for the disappearance of Manichaeism from the Roman East.
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Price: $197.00
Pages: 582
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Publication Date: 07 August 2023
ISBN: 9789004542846
Format: Hardcover
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“In The Manichaeans of the Roman East, Rea Matsangou takes a revisionist approach to a set of (mostly) Christian texts that have contributed little to the modern study of Manichaeanism. […] Matsangou makes a fairly compelling case that some Greek Christians writing against Manichaeanism did so with access to genuine Manichaean documents (mostly lost to us). She effectively punctures the myth that later writers in this tradition build their images of Manichaeanism mostly out of borrowings from the fourth-century Acta Archelai. […] Her careful and critical study of these texts is a real contribution to scholarship on Manichaeanism and makes the introduction and first chapter of The Manichaeans of the Roman East essential reading for anyone thinking about the rise and fall of Manichaeanism in the Roman empire.” – Martin Devecka, University of California at Santa Cruz (BMCR 2024.12.04)
Rea Matsangou, Ph.D. (2021), Leiden University, is a member of the academic staff at the Department of History, Archaeology and Social Anthropology, University of Thessaly. Her recent publications include 'The ‘Children’ of the Manichaeans: Wandering extreme Ascetics in the Roman East compared' in Manichaeism and Early Christianity (J. van Oort, ed.) (Brill, 2021).