Iranian Manichaean and Zoroastrian Cosmos in Inter-Religious Discourse. Formation, Development, and Exchange
CERES Palais, room "Ruhrpott" (4.13)
PhD Defence by Floriana Marra.
Iranian Manichaean and Zoroastrian Cosmos in Inter-Religious Discourse. Formation, Development, and Exchange
The present thesis undertakes a study of the development of cosmogonical and cosmological narratives in late ancient Manichaean and Zoroastrian texts. These are considered to be the result of a development rooted in the same Iranian background, and occurring during the Mesopotamia of the 3rd century CE. Regional specialities of Iranian Manichaeism are analysed, and the process by which different systems of belief and knowledge that came into contact and coexisted with Manichaeism were acculturated within Manichaeism itself is investigated. Comparing the cosmogonical and cosmological knowledge of the two Iranian religions, the analysis points out their shared reference points in the Avesta and older Iranian traditions in general; both Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism subsequently developed these sets of ancient ideas (religious in the strict sense and non-religious) further, and put them into coherent, contemporary belief systems, at the same time influencing each other. The present thesis deals with the study of Manichaean cosmology and cosmogony as presented in the Manichaean fragments written in Middle Iranian languages (Middle Persian, Parthian, and Sogdian).
Contrasting with previous studies, whose attention was mainly placed on collecting all the preserved material pertaining to the topic, the present thesis aims to address them in the context of a “bigger picture”, analysing the Manichaean Iranian tradition, and comparing it with the Zoroastrian Middle Persian cosmogonical and cosmological literature, mainly Bundahišn (‘Primal Creation’) in its both redactions, Smaller and Greater, and the Anthology of Zādspram (Wizīdagīhā ī zādspram).
