The Cult of Mithras Explained

Dr David Walsh tells all about the Roman Cult of Mithras: where did the cult originate from? what does the structure of Mithraic temples and the cult's imagery signify? who worshipped Mithras and how? why did the cult disappear?

[richardsmith]

I initiated the Badger club, when I was twelve. No girls, and the initiation ceremony required initiates to have a hot penknife placed on their palms to show their bravery, in a grass and twig-built hut at the bottom of the garden. No sacrificing bulls or any other messy stuff, but the cult of Badger sadly died when we all got a few months older…. Such is history.

[apriliaric]

Mithra killing the bull is to signify the end of the age of taurus... That dog is an ancient star sign... Its all about the zodiac and ages... Its all about the cozmos...and the zodiac...

[hikeoganessian]

if interested..The youthful God Mithra (right) symbolizing the Glorious Rays of the Sun. From Mount Nemrut Pantheon of Armenian Gods (sometimes called the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World) erected by King Antiochus Theos (86-38 BCE) of Commagene.In the Armenian heathen Pantheon Mihr (Mithra or Mithras in Latin) was considered a supreme deity. Mihr was the personification of the Illuminating Rays of the Sun. The Grand Temple of Mihr/Mithra was located in the town of Bagaharich in the county of Derjan of the Upper Armenia province of Greater Armenia. The earliest mentioning of the worship of Mithra has been recorded in the Armenian Kingdom of Hurri-Mitanni. It was found in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Hittite capital Hattusa during the 1907 archaeological excavations. The Hittite cuneiform inscriptions mentions some of the notable Armenian Gods and Goddesses that made up the Armenian pantheon of Gods in the Mitanni Kingdom. The Hittite king Suppiluliuma (reigned between 1344 to 1322 BCE) ordered the recording of a peace treaty between himself and the Armenian king Šattivaz (reigned ca. 1350-1320 BCE), who represented the Hittite and Armenian kingdoms respectively. Suppiluliuma swears upon the great deities of Armenia and specifically calls upon Mithra to bless and protect the treaty of friendship and peace between the kingdoms of Hatti and Mitanni.As was noted, this treaty was made in the 14th century BCE, and this is the earliest recorded inscription that mentions Mithra as one of the supreme Gods of Armenia. This is roughly one thousand years before the God Mithra is mentioned in the Iranian inscriptions and the Indian Vedas. Some Indo-Iranian scholars have wrongly attributed Mithra as an Iranian or Indian deity, however as we have seen, the oldest inscription that sites Mithra as a God comes from the above noted 14th century BCE inscription that mentions Mithra as an native Armenian deity that occupied a very special place in the Armenian national Pantheon of Gods.owever, what these scholars fail to realize is that in the Gathas, the earliest sacred Zoroastrian texts attributed to Zoroaster himself, Mithra is not mentioned. Furthermore, Mithra also does not appear by name in the Yasna Haptanghaiti, a seven-verse section of the Yasna liturgy that is linguistically as old as the Gathas. Many scholars have noted that the lack of any mention (i.e. Zoroaster’s silence) of Mithra in these texts implies that Zoroaster in fact had rejected Mithra. This is supported by the fact that Zoroaster did not mention Mithra was because in fact in the earliest Avestan writings both Mihr-Mithra and the Armenian Matron Goddess Anahit are condemned as “daevas” or “false gods” or “daemons” that were not to be worshiped....t was only in the fourth century BCE, when we for the first time find the mentioning of Mithras in the Iranian context as a “positive’ deity of the very radiance of the Sun in the inscriptions of the Achaemenid king Xerxes II Mnemon. The Religion of Mithras or Mithraism as it became known in the West would soon spread beyond borders of Armenia, not only towards the East, towards Iran and India, but also that of the West. Mithraic temples known as Mithraea sprang up all over the Roman Empire. They were mostly promoted by Armenian aristocrats who already by this time were prominent generals in the Roman Army. Armenian King Tiridates III is a good example, who prior to his coronation was a prominent general in the Roman Army, it was Emperor Diocletian a close friend and fellow Mithraic devotee of Tiridates who asked the Armenian king to take the challenge of personal combat from a Gothic chief, Trdat successfully stood in for the Emperor and won the tournament....By the second century AD Mithraism was virtually the state religion of the Roman Empire and virtually all of the Roman Emperors during this time and prior to adoption of Christianity in the Fourth century CE were high initiates of the Mithraic mysteries. Most of the Mithraic rites along with the rituals and rites were simply taken over by the newly forming Roman Catholic Church...The traditional crown of the Armenian kings 8-rays/pyramids on top of the crown standing for the Sun’s rays (symbolizing Mithra) along with the 8-pointed star flanked by two eagles facing it (also Mithraic symbolism). The Sun King symbolized the physical incarnation of the Sun God in the world and the Armenian tiara symbolized the union of spiritual and material worlds symbolized by the crown and the leather silk portion of the diadem respectively (united by the sacred thread/headband of glory). Historic reconstruction of the bust of the Armenian King of Kings Tigranes II the Great (reigned 95-55 BCE) by the gifted artist Robert Hazarapetyan...The Mithraic mysteries that began in Armenia in the Second millennium BCE, through the Roman Empire left a lasting legacy on Western society and civilization in general. Many of the customs and norms are in fact taken directly from the Mithraic mysteries (just one notable example would be the handshake, which was specifically used by the devotees of Mithras and today has become common place greeting gesture all over the world). Many of the holidays that we come to celebrate (including Christmas on December 25) also come directly from Mithraism which were celebrated by the Roman emperors and later the Roman Catholic Church. Same is true of the Christian mass that is held very Sunday. The tradition of building churches right into the caves (where the Mithraic mysteries took place) continued by the Armenian Apostolic Church well into the Middle Ages as the surviving world renowned Geghard church attests to this great legacy...The only surviving Armenian National Mithraic Temple of the Sun God Mithra from First Century CE erected by the orders of King Tiridates I Arsacid (reigned 52-75 CE). There were 8 sacred heathen centers of the Armenian Gods and Goddesses throughout Greater Armenia with countless beautiful temples in every one of these 8 centers...– Excerpts from Pre-Christian Gods of Armenia (Glendale, 2007) by Hovik Nersisian (1921-2009). Nersisian is an author of many books and articles. He was a renowned scholar who in 1991, for his merits in Iranian Studies, most notably the study of the oldest surviving copies of the Avesta, became a full-member of New York’s Academy of Sciences.

[jeffatwood]

The stabbing in the shoulder, as well as pinning down the back legs, is an artistic theme for conquering an enemy with a sword in the shoulder. It’s also copying the lion conquering the bull/stag, representing the emperor (solar lion) conquering the material world (Lunar bull). Greco-Román astrology promoted solar power over lunar power, as the temple order system of earliest temple kings with bull helmets. Killing the Heavenly bull is in Gilgamesh, but is also a cornerstone topic of ancient creation stories. It was so popular in Germania, we can see how Valhalla and the Mithraeum are related. We can even see the theme repeated in Herodotus telling the story of the 2 Scythian king brothers. Ascetic warrior ethics and Sexual “tantric/Bacchanalia” ethics were juxtaposed in the story, which also explains why the Æsir of Norse myth found Ymir “evil.”

[stridedeck]

The main followers were soldiers, male soldiers! A bull represents a powerful animal. The hero, you, the follower, is on top of the bull taking the bulls power away. The source of the bull's power comes from the universe, that is the cave. To magnify the power of the universe inside the temple and to be born (reborn) with this universal power. A transformation of the individual. A deep psychological change.

[amberinthebox]

I feel like the cult was more like an underground secret society. Because their esoteric symbolism can be seen today.

[bardmadsen]

I'm positive it is about the Taurid Stream and its destructions. It is not diurnal, seasonal, or solstice elevations, it is about fire from the sky and darkening of the atmosphere for long periods of time. This is why it is in a dark gloomy place just like the Serapeum of Saqqara in-which the Apis Bulls were interred in. It is even displayed in enclosure D of Gobekli Tepe with one of the central pillars having a bull on its chest and the other standing on the Pleiades birds and both surrounded by the twelve constellations. Follow the avatar.

[thomasvanhorne]

Very nice. I'll post my two observations regarding the Mithras Cult

1. Mithrism was functionally much more like a modern fraternal organization than what we think of as religion... Elks, Shriners, Masons, or College Fraternities (Phi Delta Theta or whatever). This also explains it's ending, it was a function of social organization.

2. IF the bull in the tauroctony is a representation of Taurus, then the wound is the Pleiades, the most striking asterism of the night sky -- 6 bright stars forming a tiny image of the "Big Dipper" that is considered "the shoulder of the bull". I would also note that famously the "Big Dipper" is a seven star asterism whose stars "march around the Pole Star (Polaris)" like a big handle you would use to turn the cosmic sphere. Make of that what you will.

[gruboniell]

The bull is turus. The Pleiades is on the back of the bull. He slayed the bull or the older occult and the knowledge/blood was feed to the new sects of the 12 tribes. Dan is the serpent and the wolf I haven’t worked out yet but maybe a Scythian tribe..? It wasn’t quiet Zoroastrian. Rudulf Steiner did a lot of work on this and Ahriman

[bongs]

Here from the Raised By Wolves podcast. Fascinating stuff

[issith]

Zoroastrinism didn’t have a “pantheon”.

[paulingould]

Jason Reza Jorjani has the most informed take on Mithraism.

[bourzbahraam]

I am Pahlavian I know it but this is not a cult...this is Aayeen as the Shiva way is Aayeen. This word should be used and replace that word then you understand it. I have dictionary my own.this Aayeen is sun God but based on anthology of 12 ieezadaan. It is coming from pahlavian part of Iran not from India.but the way they developed it in west europe is difficult to understand because the language is not currect. Right language oc it is Avesta and pahlavian languages.

[OrbioneKenobie]

There is a temple not too far from me on Hadrians wall, I'd love to do an overnight, see if anything paranormal shows up or any members of the 9th legion.

[colinshaw]

Cant see that the bull is being sacrificed, such a wound wouldn't kill it. It's being bled, so that it's blood might be eaten or used in some way.

[bourzbahraam]

This is not kurdish at all.this is from Balkh area and Peeshdaadian time which is over 15000 years ago

[judithparker]

Sol invictus also means unconquerable sun

[ricktalks]

Parsi zoroastrian here 😊 And listing 👍🏻

[hireality]

Mostly flawed analysis Mr David, learn Mithraism from Jason Reza Jorjani.

[gruboniell]

The bull could also be Egypt’s total rule over the occult and astrology