Mithras and the Bull: fresco from the mithraeum at Marino, Italy, (3rd century)
Mithras was the central savior god of Mithraism, a syncretic Hellenistic mystery religion of male initiates that developed in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and was practiced in the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD. Parthian coins and documents bear a double date with a 64 year interval that represents Mithra's ascension to heaven, traditionally given as the equivalent of 208 BC, 64 years after his birth. The Romanized Greek Plutarch says that in 67 BC a large band of pirates in Cilicia—on the southeast coast of Anatolia— were practicing "secret rites" of Mithras.
The name Mithras is the Greek masculine form of Mitra, the Persian god who was the mediator between Ahura Mazda and the earth, the guarantor of human contracts, although in Mithraism much was added to the original elements of Mitra. However, some of the attributes of Roman Mithras may have been taken from other Eastern cults: for example, the Mithraist emphasis on astrology strongly suggests syncretism with star-oriented Mesopotamian or Anatolian religions. At least some of this synthesis of beliefs may have already been underway by the time the cult was adopted in the West. When Mithraism was introduced by Roman legions at Dura-Europos after 168 AD, the saviour god assumed his familiar Hellenistic iconic formula (illustration above right) [1].
The mythology surrounding Mithras is not easily reassembled from the enigmatic and complicated iconography. Indeed the dedicatory inscription on a 2nd-3rd century tauroctony discovered in a Mithraeum at Ostia in the 1790s refers to the the "incomprehensible deity": INDEPREHENSIVILIS DEI [2]. Apparently the cult did not depend on the interpretation of divinely-inspired revealed texts, and the textual references are those of Christians, who mention Mithras to deplore him, and neo-Platonists who interpreted Mithraic symbols within their own world-schemes.
Religion
Main article: Mithraism
It is difficult for scholars to reconstruct the daily workings and beliefs of Mithraism, as the rituals were highly secret and limited to initiated men only. Mithras was little more than a name until the massive documentation of Franz Cumont's Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra was published in 1894-1900, followed by an English translation in 1903.
Members would ascend through seven grades of initiation, each aligned with a symbol, and a planet.
Worship
Main article: Mithraeum
Worship took place in a temple, or "mithraeum", an artificial cave probably constructed to resemble the place of Mithras's birth. Although some of these temples were built specifically for the purpose, most of them were rooms inside larger structures which had a different purpose, such as a private home or a bath house.
In every Mithraeum, the place of honor was occupied by a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull, called a tauroctony, which many scholars believe is an astrological allegory and not an actual animal sacrifice. In fact, it is widely accepted nowdays that the image of Mithras, the bull, and the other representations of the tauroctony, such as the scorpion and dog, actually represent constellations (Ulansey, 1991). Astrologically, Mithras is associated with Perseus, whose constellation is above that of the bull.
From the structure of the mithraea it is possible to surmise that worshippers would have gathered for a common meal along the reclining couches lining the walls. It is worth noting that most temples could hold only thirty or forty individuals.
The cult surrounding Mithras did not have many similarities to the early belief in Christianity; however the relation between the two religions is debated, point by point (see Mithraism.)
See also
Mithraism
Mithraeum
Mitra
Temple of Mithras, London which was discovered during post-war building work on Walbrook Street.
References
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras"
- David Fingrut, "Mithraism: The Legacy of the Roman Empire's Final Pagan State Religion" (a high-school level paper that does, however, summarize well the classic work of Cumont)
- Ronald Nash, "Was the New Testament Influenced by Pagan Religions?" An essay arguing that pagan religions (including Mithraism) did not influence the new Testament. Has a strong Christian perspective.
- Franz Cumont, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism.
- Francis Legge, Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, From 330 B.C. to 330 A.D. (1914), reprinted in two volumes bound as one, University Books New York, 1964. LC Catalog 64-24125.
- David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World. Oxford University Press 1991. ISBN 0195067886.
Mithras British Museum, Photo Mike Young
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