China: Fragment of a painting depicting a Manichaean ritual before an altar, from Turfan, Xinjiang, c. 8th-9th century. Sacred meal of the elect at a festival of thanksgiving for Mani. Manichaeism was the most important Gnostic religion. Central in the Manichaean teaching was dualism, that the world itself, and all creatures, were part of a battle between the good, represented by God, and the bad, the darkness, represented by a power driven by envy and lust. Manichaeism spread over most of the known world of the 1st millennium CE, but disappeared by the 14th century and is now extinct.

---

Size: 4446px × 3969px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 8th, 8th-9th, 9th, altar, art, arts, asia, asian, century, china, chinese, east, elect, festival, fragment, gaochang, gnostic, gnosticism, historical, history, illuminated, illumination, image, images, mani, manichaean, manichaeanism, manichaeism, manuscript, meal, painting, pictures, priest, province, religion, religious, ritual, sacred, thanksgiving, turfan, turpan, worshiper, worshipper, xinjiang