MANICHAEAN LITERATURE 571
of the former Manichaean Augustine of Hippo, and the works of the Arab au-
thors al-Biruni and Ibn al-Nadim.
Mani's first mission was eastward, like that of Thomas before him, and
he met an early success in what is now southeast Iran with the conversion
of Turan-shah, the Buddhist king of Turan, and his entourage. He continued
to meet success during his return journey through Persia, Susiana, and
Mesene. Mani returned to the Persian Sassanid empire when the emperor
Ardashir I died and his son Shapur I assumed the throne. He met with Sha-
pur and was granted the freedom and protection to propagate the religion
throughout the empire. Manichaeism was adopted by the emperor's family
and influential political figures. During this period of imperial favor, Mani
wrote the Shaburagan, a summary of his teachings in the Middle Persian lan-
guage, and dedicated it to Shapur. Manichaeism then spread throughout Per-
sia, beyond its borders, and even westward into the Roman Empire. Mani
accompanied Shapur in the victorious Persian campaign against the Roman
forces in which the Roman emperor Valerian was captured at Edessa in 260.
Although Mani enjoyed imperial favor under Shapur, the Magian clergy of
the official state religion, Zoroastrianism, grew intent on persecuting the prophet.
When Shapur I died, his successors Hormizd and Bahram I both favored the
traditional state religion. The Zoroastrian high priest Kerder (or Karder), now
strengthened by widespread nationalistic aspirations, was successful in con-
vincing Bahram to begin official persecution of the minority movement. By
order of the emperor, Mani was arrested, brought to Gundeshahbur (Susiana),
interrogated for one month under Kerder, and died in prison.
MANICHAEAN SACRED TEXTS
The success of the intense heresiological polemic against Manichaeism re-
sulted in the effective censorship and eventual elimination of Manichaean
texts from the western and eastern manuscript traditions. Heretics of all types
throughout the medieval period were uncritically slandered as Manichaeans.
Even Luther's Catholic detractors spoke of a revived Manichaeism. The Protes-
tant response demanded a more objective understanding of Manichaeism, in-
vestigated known Manichaean evidences, and so initiated the modern study of
the religion.
From the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, the works of Christian
and pagan heresiologists were studied in depth, resulting in the interpretation