2.1 The Persian Origin
Mithras is an Indo-Iranian god152 of contract, unity, light and fear, mainly adopted by the Romans as one of their main deities with a mystery cult during the 2nd and the 3rd c. AD. According to written sources (literary and epigraphical) the information about Mithras come mostly from the eastern Indo-European region of Iran and India (2nd and 1st c. B.C.), some from the Hellenistic Kingdoms (1st c. B.C.) and lastly from the Roman Empire (2nd and 3rd c. AD). The earliest evidence for him seems to be an Iranian one where Mitra (Μίθρα) together with Varuna (another Iranian god) were responsible for the cosmic order.
In Indian language Mithras means friend, friendship and the sacrifice of the bull, the central theme of Mithraism, exists in many Indian depictions. Thus, Mithras in Iranian means contract and fear (because he was the rainmaker responsible for plants’ growth).153 However, Mithras for the Indians is not a god of “high class”.
Among his duties were the justice matters, contracts, treaties and everything related to the “social order”. He was the master of the social relations, of the animal sacrifice, of the rain that leads to fertility and growth and also the light god with the fire as his symbol.
Plenty of information concerning the god Mithras derives from the Persian Old
Avesta, the hymn to Mitra (or else Yašt 10), created at the 5th c. B.C. in the
Achaemenid Period. The most important feast of Mitra was the Mithrakana, a festival for the celebration of the autumn equinox by the Achaemenid Kings. The cult of Mitra began to shrink from the moment that Alexander the Great conquered many places of the Achaemenid Empire but it remained in Anatolian sites, in Armenia and in the East.
Mithras identification with the sun was common in the Persian Empire, especially from the 1st c. B.C. and due to that relation he was also connected to the
152 His Indo Iranian origin is likely to have relation with the Persian royal god Ahura-Mazda, protector of the Achaemenid Empire in ancient Iran. In fact, some scholars consider that Mithras was the son of Ahura-Mazda, although this relation has not been proved yet. Saprykin 2009: 255; Vermaseren 1951: 285.
god Apollo till the end of the 1st c. AD. A lot of depictions of the Persian Empire represent the god driving a chariot ahead of the sun. Mithras is also associated with the sun as a god that brings light and life to the world.154
2.2 The Roman Mithras
The cult of the Indo-Iranian Mithras flourished in the Roman Empire during the 2nd c. AD and became known due to archaeological data (find-spots, inscriptions, sculptures, paintings). Despite the debate of scholars, concerning Iranian transmission matters, Mithras was adopted by Romans as the highest deity of a mystery cult; he symbolized the Kosmokrator, the creator of the mankind and at the same time he was a mystique cult for many scholars. The Mithraic cult firstly was spread at the Latin parts of the Roman Empire and the most ancient sources come from around 90 AD.155
Mithras the Invincible (Sol Invictus Mithra), the Sun God and the bull-killer were some of his main titles.
Most of the Mithraic finds were revealed in central Italy, mainly in the area of Rome and Ostia (also in northern Dalmatia, the Rhenian and Danube provinces). The
Mithraism156 was consisted of small groups of men, the Mithraists,157 (people from low classes) that met for the worship of the god in the Mithraea,158 small “cave” temples for the veneration, rituals and the initiation of the members.159 Between AD 180 and 220 the Mithraic cult was spread rapidly. In the 3rd c. AD the Roman elite
154 LIMC VI, I: 583; Hornblower - Spawforth 2003: 991; Alvar 2008: 79-80; Cancik -Schneider 2007: 74.
155 LIMC VI, I: 584-5; Beck 1987: 304; Hornblower - Spawforth 2003: 991.
156 According to R. Beck, one of the teachings of Mithraism is “a cosmic and astral religion derived from Platonism and centred on a doctrine of the soul’s celestial ascent”. Beck 1987: 298.
157 The initiation of Mithraists was accepted through a hierarchy of seven grades, under the planets’ protection with a prime priest- Father in the presidency. Thus, the recruitment procedure was held inside the temples. Women were not permitted as mystai. Hornblower - Spawforth 2003: 991; Alvar 2008: 346.
158 A Mithraeum was considered as an image of the world cave, the cosmos of Mithras, in which the tauroctony took place. Most of the Mithraea were discovered in Rome and usually inside them were symbols related to the world creation and the movement of planets. Alvar 2008: 105; LIMC VI, I: 585. 159 Among the Mithraic processes the Mithraic meals held a central position. Many provincial Mithraea included kitchens for their preparation. Alvar 2008: 355-7.
came closer to the Mithraic cult. During the reign of Constantine the Great the cult started to perish and eventually disappeared at 400 AD.160
According to Mithraic iconography, the central idea was the bull slayer by Mithras into a cave, a scene with a number of interpretations and meanings. Other episodes are Mithras birth from a rock and the celebration meal of Mithras and Sun- Sol.
The aim of the whole cult and the sacrifice of the bull is a subject with many versions; however, as shown from the following chapters, it is about a religious identity related to the creation and the salvage of the world with the aid of Mithras, a phenomenon not so usual in the public religions of other cities.