Life in Kellis: Society and Religion in an Oasis Town

The Manichaeans visible in the House 1–3 material moved through a specific geographical and social landscape, that of Roman Kellis and its oasis surroundings, the Dakhleh Oasis in western Egypt. Excavations of the last few decades have provided a wealth of information about conditions in Dakhleh in the Roman period: its natural environment, population, government, and economic life. These factors are preconditions for understanding the villagers and their social world, and moreover affected the way Manichaeism came to be established here. They are the subject of the present chapter. First, let us briefly look at the spread of Manichaeism in Egypt before it ventured out to the Oasis. Its history here is comparatively well-documented. Manichaean narratives from Turfan indicate that an early disciple, Adda, reached Alexandria during Mani’s own lifetime, between c.242–270.1 Mani is said to have ordered Adda to stay there and preach, and sent him copies of his writings. Other sources corroborate a Manichaean presence in Egypt by the late third century. A Neoplatonist philosopher, Alexander of Lycopolis, wrote a treatise against the Manichaeans c.300, naming the first missionaries in his locality as Pappos and Thomas.2 Another early witness is a papyrus letter ascribed to Theonas, bishop of Alexandria (c.280–300), denouncing Manichaean missionaries in harsh words – female Elect, in particular. Roman authorities, too, took note of their arrival. An edict of Emperor Diocletian, promulgated in Alexandria in 302 and addressed to the prefect of North Africa,