Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) Mithra, the Roman Mithras is linked to a new and distinctive imagery, with the level of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman practice debated. The mysteries were popular among the Imperial Roman army from about the 1st to the 4th-century CE. Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those “united by the handshake”. They met in underground temples, now called mithraea (singular mithraeum), which survive in large numbers. The cult appears to have had its center in Rome, and was popular throughout the western half of the empire, as far south as Roman Africa and Numidia, as far as Roman Dacia, as far north as Roman Britain, and to a lesser extent in Roman Syria in the east. Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity. In the 4th century, Mithraists faced persecution from Christians, and the religion was subsequently suppressed and eliminated in the Roman empire by the end of the century. Numerous archaeological finds, including meeting places, monuments and artifacts, have contributed to modern knowledge about Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire. The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol (the Sun). About 420 sites have yielded materials related to the cult. Among the items found are about 1000 inscriptions, 700 examples of the bull-killing scene (tauroctony), and about 400 other monuments. It has been estimated that there would have been at least 680 mithraea in the city of Rome. No written narratives or theology from the religion survive; limited information can be derived from the inscriptions and brief or passing references in Greek and Latin literature. Interpretation of the physical evidence remains problematic and contested.
First Appearance Indo-Iranian mythology, Roman mythology
First Publisher ○
Appearance List Rigveda (c. 1500–1200 BCE) – earliest hymns to Mitra, an Indo-Iranian deity of contracts, friendship, and cosmic order, Avesta (compiled c. 1000–600 BCE) – Iranian sacred texts, Life of Pompey (c. 75 CE) by Plutarch – mentions Mithras worship among Cilician pirates, Thebaid (c. 92 CE) by Statius, Apologies (2nd c. CE) by Justin Martyr, On the Cave of the Nymphs (3rd c. CE) by Porphyry, Textes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra (1894–1900) by Franz Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithras (1903) by Franz Cumont, Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity: Being Studies in Religious History from 330 B.C.–330 A.D. (1910, 1950 reprint), “The Miraculous Birth of Mithras” in Studia Archaeologica (1951) by A. Alföldi, “In the Temple of Mithras” in Fate (Sep 1955), Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (1956–1960) by M. J. Vermaseren – definitive catalog of Mithraic monuments, “The ‘Aryan’ Gods of the Mitanni Treaties” in Journal of the American Oriental Society 80 (Oct–Dec 1960) by Benno Landsberger, Mithras: The Secret God (1963) by M. J. Vermaseren, The Excavations in the Mithraeum of the Church of Santa Prisca in Rome (1965) by M. J. Vermaseren & C. C. van Essen
Description Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) Mithra, the Roman Mithras is linked to a new and distinctive imagery, with the level of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman practice debated. The mysteries were popular among the Imperial Roman army from about the 1st to the 4th-century CE. Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those “united by the handshake”. They met in underground temples, now called mithraea (singular mithraeum), which survive in large numbers. The cult appears to have had its center in Rome, and was popular throughout the western half of the empire, as far south as Roman Africa and Numidia, as far as Roman Dacia, as far north as Roman Britain, and to a lesser extent in Roman Syria in the east. Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity. In the 4th century, Mithraists faced persecution from Christians, and the religion was subsequently suppressed and eliminated in the Roman empire by the end of the century. Numerous archaeological finds, including meeting places, monuments and artifacts, have contributed to modern knowledge about Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire. The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol (the Sun). About 420 sites have yielded materials related to the cult. Among the items found are about 1000 inscriptions, 700 examples of the bull-killing scene (tauroctony), and about 400 other monuments. It has been estimated that there would have been at least 680 mithraea in the city of Rome. No written narratives or theology from the religion survive; limited information can be derived from the inscriptions and brief or passing references in Greek and Latin literature. Interpretation of the physical evidence remains problematic and contested.
