The religion of Manichaeism emerged from third-century Persian Mesopotamia from the self styled prophet and apostle of Christ, Mani. Through missionary endeavours, Manichaeism proliferated throughout the Roman Empire, Asia and China between the third and eighth centuries, before succumbing to persecution from rival faiths. Mani’s dramatic cosmological mythology forms the core of Manichaean practice and soteriology. This thesis explores the constructions of gender in Mani’s mythology and its development in subsequent Manichaean literature. The analysis considers constructions of gender embedded in six portraits of Manichaean cosmological figures. Gendered roles, attributes and epithets are explored, revealing hierarchical systems of roles and relations.