Mani

Mani was born around 216 in or near Ctesiphon, south of modern Baghdad, then in the Parthian empire. Raised in a Jewish-Christian baptist sect, he said he received revelations from a heavenly twin and began preaching a new religion around 240. He presented himself to the Sasanian king Shapur I, dedicated a work to him, and won his favor.

Manichaeism taught a strict dualism of light and darkness locked in cosmic struggle, blending elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. It spread west into the Roman empire, where Augustine was a member for years, and east along the Silk Road to China, where it survived for centuries.

Under Bahram I, Zoroastrian priests turned the court against him; he was imprisoned and died around 274 or 277. None of his books survive whole. One of his scriptures was a Book of Giants, adapted from the Jewish Book of Giants about the Watchers' sons. Fragments of the Manichaean version found at Turfan in Central Asia allowed scholars to recognize the Aramaic fragments later found at Qumran.