The Cologne Mani-Codex (Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis) is a tiny parchment

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

, dated on paleographical evidence to the fifth century AD, found near

Asyut AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut''. ( ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , while the ancient city i ...

(the ancient Lycopolis) in Egypt. Measuring 4.5 × 3.8 cm, the codex is the smallest ancient book yet discovered. It contains a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

text describing the life of

Mani Mani may refer to: People * Mani (name), (), a given name and surname (including a list of people with the name) ** Mani (prophet) (c. 216–274), a 3rd century Iranian prophet who founded Manichaeism ** Mani (musician) (born 1962), an English ...

, the founder of the religion

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...

. The codex became known via antique dealers in Cairo. It consisted of four deteriorated lumps of

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...

the size of a palm, and was in very poor condition. It was purchased for the Institut für Altertumskunde at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

in 1969, and two of its scientists, and

Ludwig Koenen Ludwig Koenen (April 5, 1931 – May 9, 2023) was a German-born American papyrologist and classical philologist. He spent most of his career as a professor at the University of Michigan, where he taught from 1975 to 2000. He eventually at ...

, produced a first report (1970) and the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of this ancient manuscript, hence known as the Cologne Mani-Codex, which they published in four articles in the ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' (1975–82). Many emendations and alternate readings were offered in the following decade, and it was found that some of the minute fragments associated with the codex could be successfully incorporated into the body of text. A second edition was published in 1988. Two symposia have been devoted to the codex, and their papers published: in Rende (Calabria) (1984) and in

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

(1988). The text, which bears the ambiguous title ''On the Origin of His Body'', recounts Mani's introduction to the

Jewish-Christian Jewish Christians were the followers of a Jewish religious movements, Jewish religious sect that emerged in Roman Judea during the late Second Temple period, under the Herodian tetrarchy (1st century AD). These Jews believed that Jesus was the ...

Elkesaite baptising sect. Mani's teachings are revealed to him through his spiritual companion and celestial twin (his ''syzygos''). The Greek text bears traces that demonstrate it had been translated from an

Eastern Aramaic Eastern Aramaic refers to a group of dialects that evolved historically from the varieties of Aramaic spoken in the core territories of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq, southeastern Turkey and parts of northeastern Syria) and further expanded into n ...

or Old Syriac original. The '' logoi'' of Mani himself are repeatedly cited. That it is a compilation from earlier texts is suggested by the names, apparently of teachers that head each section of the text. Pages 110–14, noted in ''Encyclopædia Iranica''.

Notes

References

*''The Cologne Mani Codex'' (P. Colon. inv. nr. 4780) "Concerning the Origin of His Body". Edited and translated by Ron Cameron and Arthur J. Dewey. Society of Biblical Literature Texts and Translations Series 15. Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979.University of Cologne, Papyrus Collection
''Der Kölner Mani-Kodex''
University of Cologne, Papyrus Collection () {{Manichaeism footer 5th-century books 5th-century manuscripts Elcesaites Manichaean texts Texts in Koine Greek Texts in Syriac

See also

Notes

References