Manichaeism in Eastern Sasanian Empire (210033-SS 2025)

Manichaeism was a world religion that spread from the Sasanian Empire (3rd century), where Mani lived, across the eastern borders of the Sasanian Empire and into China in the 7th century. The Iranian-speaking Sogdians, whose homeland (Sogdiana) is in modern-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, played a fundamental role in the spread of this religious message, as Sogdian became the common language along the Silk Roads, and most Sogdians were Manichaeans. The course aims to describe the spread of Manichaeism in the eastern provinces of the Sasanian Empire (mainly Sogdiana and Bactria) and the role of Manichaean transmission in the spread of knowledge from west to east.