Abstract

This paper critically re-evaluates a number of Augustine’s anti-Manichaean writings, principally his De moribus Manichæorum, De natura boni y De hæresibus from the perspective of recent developments in the study of gender, and the role of rumour and hearsay in ancient heresiological discourse. As part of a panel considering the role of women in late antique Manichaeism, it discusses the role of women in Augustine’s anti-Manichaean rhetoric, and also salvages historical impressions of Manichaean women from the patristic literature of the late fourth and early fifth centuries.