Mani

Mani (born April 14, 216, southern Babylonia—died 274?, Gundeshapur) was an Iranian founder of the Manichaean religion, a church advocating a dualistic doctrine that viewed the world as a fusion of spirit and matter, the original contrary principles of good and evil, respectively. Before Mani’s birth, his father, Patek, a native of Hamadan, had joined a religious community practicing baptism and abstinence. Through his mother Mani was related to the Parthian royal family (overthrown in...