Mithraic mysteries

The Mithraic mysteries were a Roman mystery cult of the god Mithras, popular from the late first to the fourth century CE.

Established Worship took place in small cave-like temples (mithraea). The central image shows Mithras killing a bull (the tauroctony). Members, all men, passed through seven grades.^[1] Established Franz Cumont argued in the 1890s that the cult was a direct continuation of Iranian religion; since the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies (1971) most scholars treat it as a largely Roman creation that borrowed a Persian name and imagery.^[2] Speculation Popular claims that Christianity copied a Mithraic virgin birth, twelve disciples or resurrection are not supported by the ancient evidence.^[3]

References

↑ Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra (1903). English trans.; public domain; sacred-texts.com.
↑ Cumont (1903); revision summarised in Roger Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire (2006). Cited only.
↑ Beck (2006). Cited only.

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[1] Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra (1903). English trans.; public domain; sacred-texts.com.

[2] Cumont (1903); revision summarised in Roger Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire (2006). Cited only.

[3] Beck (2006). Cited only.

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