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Identification of a small fragment of Mani's Living Gospel (Turfan Collection, Berlin, M5439)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2017

Mohammad Shokri-Foumeshi
Mohammad Shokri-Foumeshi*
Affiliation:
University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

Heretofore three fragments of Maniʼs Living Gospel – the most important work of Mani – have been recognized in Middle Persian and in Manichaean script: M17, M172/I/ and M644. This article, with a codicological and textological approach, shows that M17 and the new fragment M5439 are two separate pieces of a single manuscript page. The verso-side of M5439 has a new text. Now, after the identification and reading of this damaged fragment, we are able to correct the previous reconstructions and comment on a few Middle Persian words. The text contains a part of the exordium and of the chapter Aleph of the Living Gospel.

Keywords

Mani's GospelM5439TurfanMiddle PersianManuscript fragmentManichaeism
Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , October 2017 , pp. 473 - 483
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2017 

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Footnotes

1

I would like to thank Professors Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst and Nicholas Sims-Williams for their kind suggestions and constructive advice. Thanks also to the group “Digitales Turfan-Archiv I” from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW), group Turfan Studies, and Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage, Oriental Department, who provided me with the environment necessary for studying and publishing the fragment M5439.

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