Manichaen artefact: Mani's seal?
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:46 pm
http://phys.org/news/2014-10-prophet-an ... quity.html
Searching for Mani’s Picture-Book in Textual and Pictorial Sources
Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff
http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/in ... /6173/2966
Map 2: Existence of Mani's Picture-Book as documented in eighteen textual sources (Geographical distribution and dates)
- According to Gulacsi, Mani believed other religious leaders had their teachings distorted because they could not write themselves. "Their disciples did not have the capacity of a prophet, whose clarity of religious insight was believed to surpass that of ordinary human beings," Gulacsi said.
Gulacsi thinks Mani wore his crystal seal as a pendant, a practice of that time. The prophet's only known surviving artifact is about the size of a quarter; the thin quartz seal was likely once encased in gold to facilitate its use.
The rock crystal is flat on one side and rounded on the other, with a sunken carving on one half creating a positive image on the opposite side. Mani is flanked by two people, possibly disciples, and an inscription reading 'Mani, apostle of Jesus Christ' forms the perimeter.'
Searching for Mani’s Picture-Book in Textual and Pictorial Sources
Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulácsi, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff
http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/in ... /6173/2966
Map 2: Existence of Mani's Picture-Book as documented in eighteen textual sources (Geographical distribution and dates)