It appears clear that Mani embarked on a public career as a preacher, healer and wise man, debating with leading sages of the time and gaining adherents from varied religious communities. He travelled widely within Iran and Mesopotamia and even beyond to India, and he sought to convert kings and members of the aristocracy at the courts of the Sasanian empire. This chapter examines Mani’s missions and the community he founded within the context of the intellectual, spiritual and doctrinal traditions with which he interacted, including Mazdayasnianism and Buddhism, and the scientific lore of the time. Consideration of devotional imperatives (hagiography) and the tropes of ancient narrative and romance strip away much literary artifice for the processes of historical reconstruction.