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Document Details : Title: Mani's Picture Book and Religious Art in Late Antique Syria Author(s): DIRVEN, Lucinda Journal: Eastern Christian Art Volume: 14 Date: 2025 Pages: 53-76 DOI: 10.2143/ECA.14.0.3295406 Abstract : The message of the Prophet Mani (ca 216-276 CE) spread with an unusual rapidity from Mesopotamia to much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia. According to Manichaean tradition, a Picture Book made or commissioned by Mani was used in the missionary activities. Although this book is now lost and Manichaean art is only known from much later times and distant regions, André Grabar postulated in 1969 that the success of Mani’s Picture Book in the Eastern Mediterranean spurred the development of Christian art in third-century Syria. Recently, Zsuzsanna Gulácsi has revived the discussion by a detailed reconstruction of Mani’s Picture from the literary sources. This paper examines the relationship and possible influence of Mani’s Picture on artistic expressions of contemporary religions in Syria, by means of the third-century synagogue and baptistery paintings from Dura-Europos and a newly discovered fourth-century mithraeum at Huarte. |
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