The mithraïsme (in Persan مهرپرستی) or mithriasme or worship of Mithra is a Culte with mysteries which probably appeared during the II E in the oriental party of the the Mediterranean, from where it was diffused during the following centuries in all the Roman Empire. It reached its apogee during 3rd and S, time during which it became an important competitor of the Christianisme. The worship of Mithra had a particular establishment near the Roman soldiers. Like all the pagan religions, he was declared illegal in 391.

Origins of the worship of Mithra

Mithra is a Indo-Iranian divinity which one can make go up the origin with the second front millenium J. - C. Its name is mentioned for the first time in a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni ens, signed towards 1400 av. J. - C. In India, Mithra appeared in the vedic anthems like god of the light, associated with Varuna. In the Avesta Iranian it is a beneficial, collaborator god from Ahura Mazda, he receives also the nickname of “judge of the hearts”. It is possible that its worship arrived in the Roman Empire since the Iran thanks to the diffusion of the Zoroastrisme of which it would be a form of Hérésie. However, the current studies tend to consider that one cannot admit direct family ties between Indo-Iranian Mitra and the mithraïsme, because of use of the Greek form “Mithra” instead of “Mitra” to differentiate it.

Principles of the mithraïsme

Information, rather fragmentary, which exists on the worship of Mithra Low relate to its practice during the Roman Empire. It was a worship with mysteries, of initiatory type, based on the oral transmission and a ritual of initiate with initiate and not on crowned writings. This is why the documentation written concerning the worship of Mithra is practically non-existent. The study of this religion is mainly based on the Iconographie which decorated the mithræa .

The mithræum

The worship of Mithra was exerted in named temples mithræa (in the singular, mithræum ). These places were at the beginning of the natural caves, and later of the artificial constructions imitating them, obscure and deprived of windows. They were exiguous, the majority could not accommodate more than forty people.

In a standard mithræum one can distinguish three parts:

• the anteroom;
• the spelæum or spelunca (the cave), rectangular big room decorated with paintings and two large benches along each wall for the crowned meals;
• the sanctuary, at the bottom of the cave, in which one found the furnace bridge and the image - painting, low-relief or statue - of Mithra giving death to the bull.

One could discover mithræa in much of provinces of the Roman Empire. Some were converted into crypts under Christian churches. The greatest concentration of mithræa is in the capital, Rome, but one discovered of them in places distant from/to each other such as in the north of the England and the Palestine. Their geographical diffusion in the Empire depends on the military installations and the barracks.

Mythology and iconography

There are no texts on the mithraïsme written by the followers themselves, the only information sources are the crowned images found in the mithræa .

Mythical account

According to the account which one could rebuild starting from the images of the mithræa and few testimonys written, the Mithra god was born close to a crowned source, under a tree also crowned to him, of a stone (the will petra generatrix ). At the time of its birth it carried the Phrygian cap, a torch and a knife. He was adored by the pastors as of his birth, he drank crowned spring water. With its knife, it cut the fruit of the crowned tree, and with the sheets of this tree it made clothing.

It met the paramount Taureau when this one fed in the mountains. It seizes it by the horns and assembled it, but, in its wild gallop, the animal made it fall. However, Mithra continued to cling to the horns of the animal, and the bull trailed it for a long time, until the animal cannot any more. The god then attached it by his legs postpones, and charged it on its shoulders. This voyage of Mithra with the bull on its shoulders names transitus .

When Mithra arrived in the cave, a corbel sent by the Sun announced to him that it was to make a sacrifice, and the god, subjecting the bull, inserted the knife in the side to him. Corn left the spinal column of the bull, and the wine of its blood. Its seed, collected by the moon, produced animals useful for the man. Arrived then the dog which ate the grain, the scorpion which tightened the testicles of the bull with its grips, and the snake.

Iconography

Certain paintings show Mithra transporting a rock on its back, like Atlas in Greek mythology, and/or vêtu of a cape whose interior side represents the starry sky. Close to a mithræum near to the Hadrian's Wall, one found a statue of outgoing bronze Mithra of a ring zodiacal in the egg shape, it is preserved today at the University of Newcastle. An inscription found in Rome suggests that Mithra could be identified with the paramount god of the orphism, Phanès, which emerges from cosmic egg at the origin of time, generating the universe. This opinion is reinforced by a low-relief of the Museum of Este, with Modena, where one sees emerging Phanès of an egg, surrounded of the twelve signs of the Zodiaque, in an image very similar to that preserved at Newcastle.

One of the central images of the worship of Mithra is the “Tauroctonie”, which represents the ritual sacrifice of the bull crowned by Mithra. This representation presents constant iconographic elements: Mithra appears capped Phrygian cap and looks at its victim with compassion; inclined on the bull, it cuts the throat of it with a knife of sacrifice; wound of the bull it leaves the grain; close to the bull some animals appear: a scorpion, which threatens of its grips the testicles of the bull; a Snake; a Dog which nourishes grain which leaves the wound. Sometimes also a Lion and a cut appear. The image is framed of two carriers of torches, named Cautès and Cautopatès . The scene appears located in a species of cave, which can be the representation of the mithræum itself or the representation of cosmos according to other interpretations.

Interpretations

Franz Cumont, author of a study on the religion of Mithra, interprets this image in the light of the Iranian Mythologie. It connects the image with texts which refer to the sacrifice (tauroctonie) of a bull by Ahriman, the god of the evil; bloody remainders of the bull will be born later all the beings. According to the assumption of Cumont, Mithra would have been then substituted for Ahriman in the mythical report/ratio, and it is in this form that it would have arrived to the Eastern Mediterranean.

David Ulansey proposes an explanation radically different from the image of the tauroctonie, based on astrological symbolism . According to its theory, Mithra is a god so powerful that it is able to transform the order even Universe. The bull would be the symbol of the Constellation of the Bull. At the beginning of astrology, in Mésopotamie, between the 4000 and the 2000 av. J. - C., the Sun was on the level of the Bull during the vernal equinox. Because of the Precession of the equinoxes, the Sun is placed during the vernal equinox in a different constellation every about 2160 years, thus it passed in the Bélier about the year 2000 av. J. - C., marking the end of the astrological era of the Bull. The sacrifice of the bull by Mithra would symbolize this change, caused, according to the believers, by the omnipresence of their god. That would explain also the animals which are reproduced on the images of the tauroctonie: the dog, the snake, the corbel, the scorpion, the lion, the cut and the bull which are interpreted as a Constellation S of the Puppy, of the Hydre, the Corbeau, the Scorpion, the Lion, Verseau and Taureau, all placed in the celestial equator during the era of the Bull. The assumption would explain also the profusion of images zodiacales in the mithraïque iconography. The precession of the equinoxes was discovered and studied by the astronomer Hipparque at second century BC

Another interpretation considers that the sacrifice of the bull represents the release of the energy of Nature. The snake, as in the symbol of the Ouroboros, would be an allusion to the cycle of the life; the dog would represent Humanity, feeding the sacrifice symbolically, and the scorpion could be the symbol of the victory of death. The two companions of Mithra, who carry the torches and which are called Cautès and Cautopatès would respectively represent to raise it and to lay down it sun.

For the faithful ones, the sacrifice of the bull was undoubtedly salutary, and the participation in the mysteries guaranteed immortality.

Fine the symbolic system of Mithra ends in a large banquet where Apollon on his tank will take along Mithra. It brings to the men the hope of a life beyond death, since it is accommodated with the sky by Apollon.

Levels of initiation

In the worship of Mithra there existed seven levels of initiation which can be put in relation to seven planets of the astronomy of the time (the the Moon, Mercure, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn), according to this order, according to the interpretation of Joseph Campbell. The majority of the members arrived only at the fourth rank ( Lion ), and only some elected officials reached the higher rows. The levels, known thanks to the texts of holy Jerome which confirm certain writings, were the following:

• Corax (“corbel”);
• Cryphius (κρύφιος/ Krýphios , “occult”): other authors interpret this row like Nymphus (“husband”);
• Miles (“soldier”): its attributes were the crown and the sword;
• Leo (“lion”): in the ritual ones one presented to Mithra the offerings sacrifices;
• Persian (“Persan”);
• Heliodromus (“emissary of the sun”): its attributes were the torch, the whip and the crown;
• Lord's Prayer (“father”): its attributes (the Phrygian cap, the stick and the ring) point out those of the Christian bishop.

During the rites, the initiates carried masks of animals relative to their level of initiation.

The sacrifice of a bull can take part in the celebration of a new level of initiation of a follower.

Rites

For the reconstitution of ritual mithraïques, one can count only on the texts of the Pères of the Church which criticize the worship of Mithra, and on the iconography found in the mithraea .

The women were excluded from the mysteries of Mithra. As for the men, it seems that there was no minimum age required, and that children were allowed there. The language used in the ritual ones was the Greek , mixed few formulas in Persan (certainly incomprehensible for the majority of faithful), however the Latin was introduced gradually.

It seems that the principal rite of the mithraïque religion was a ritual banquet , that one can bring closer to a certain manner of the Eucharistie of Christianity. According to the testimony of the Justin Christian, the food offered during the banquet was bread and water; however the archaeological discoveries show that it was bread and wine, as in the Christian rite. This ceremony was celebrated in the central part of the mithraeum , in which two banquets in parallel offered a sufficient space so that the faithful ones could extend, according to the Roman habit. The “corbels” ( Corax ) fulfilled the function of waiters of crowned foods. The ritual included also the sacrifice of a bull, although other animals were also sacrificed.

The statue of tauroctonie undoubtedly fulfilled a role in its rites, although it is not very clear. In some mithraea , one discovered pedestal turnings, which can show and hide alternatively the divine image with the faithful ones.

At a certain time of the evolution of the mithraïsme, one used also the rite of the “Taurobole”, or the baptism of faithful with the blood of a bull, which is also practiced in other Eastern religions.

Other rites were to be in relation to the ceremony of initiation. Thanks to Tertullien, one knows the rite of the initiation of the “Soldier” ( Miles ): the candidate “was baptized” (probably by immersion), it was marked with hot iron and finally one put it at the test with the “rite of the crown” (the neophyte was to drop the crown which one had capped it, by proclaiming that it was the crown of Mithra). With each level of initiation a ritual corresponded.

Festivities

During the December 25th (which coincides about with the Winter solstice), the birth of Mithra was commemorated. The 16 of each month were also crowned. The followers of Mithra also rented Sunday, day of the Sun.

History of the worship of Mithra

Origins

In the Perse achéménide the official religion was the Zoroastrisme, which postulated the existence of a single god, Ahura Mazda. It is the single divinity mentioned in the preserved inscriptions of the time of Darius I {{er}} (521-485 av.JC). However, there exists a preserved inscription, in Suse, time of Artaxerxès II (404-358 av. JC.), on which Mithra at the sides of Ahura Mazda and a goddess called is represented Anahita. Does there exist a bond between this Persan Mithra, its Indo-Iranian predecessors, and that of the worship with mysteries of the Roman Empire? Thus that thought it which began the studies on the mithraïque religion, Franz Cumont; but today the question is far from being clear.

In the kingdoms of Parthie and Pont, a great number of kings bore the name of Mithridate (for example Mithridate VI), which can be in etymological relation with Mithra. On another side, with Pergame, in minor Asia, Greek sculptors produced the first low-reliefs representing the image of Taurobole. Whereas the worship of Mithra only started to be diffused in Hellade, perhaps all that marks the way of Mithra towards Rome.

The first reference in the histography gréco-Roman to the worship of Mithra is in the work of the historian Plutarque, who mentions that the pirates of Cilicie celebrated secret rites in relation to Mithra in 67 av. JC.

The mithraïsme in the Roman Early empire

It is probable that those which introduced the mithraïsme into the Roman Empire were legionaries who had exerted at the Eastern borders of the Empire. The first material proofs of the worship of Mithra date from the years 71 and 72 of the Christian era: they are inscriptions made by Roman soldiers who came from the garrison of Carnuntum , in the province of Pannonia Supérieure, and which probably had gone before in the East, in war against the Parthes and in the riots of Jerusalem.

About the year 80, the Roman author Stace mentions the scene of the tauroctonie in its Thébaïde (I, 719-720). Plutarque, in its Life of Pumped , clearly said that the worship of Mithra was already known at its time.

At the end of the 2nd century the mithraïsme was widely diffused in the Roman army, as at the bureaucrats, the merchants and until among slaves. The major part of the archaeological evidence comes from the Germanic borders of the Empire. Small objects of worship in relation to Mithra were found in excavations since the Romania until the Hadrian's Wall.

The mithraïsme during the Low Empire

The emperors of the 3rd century were in general guards of the mithraïsme, because they used his structure very hierarchical to reinforce their own capacity. Thus, Mithra was reconverted in symbol of the authority and the triumph of the emperors. Since the Convenient time of , which was initiated with the worship, the followers of the mithraïsme came from all the social classes.

A great number of mithraea were discovered in the garrisons of the borders of the Empire. In England one identified at least three of them, along the Hadrian's Wall, in Housesteads, Carrawburgh and Rudchester. Remainders of others mithraea were found in London. Other sanctuaries of Mithra set up at that time are in the province of Dacie (where one found in 2003 a mithraeum in Alba-Tulia), like in Numidie, in the north of Africa.

However the greatest concentration of mithraea is in Rome even and close to Ostie, with a total of twelve identified temples, whereas it may be that there are several hundreds. One can judge importance of the mithraïsme in Rome with the archaeological discoveries: more than 74 sculptures, a hundred inscriptions and ruins of temples and sanctuaries in all the city and its periphery. One of the most representative mithraea , whose stone furnace bridge and benches always exist, was built under a Roman house (what apparently was a usual practice); it is still visible in the crypt on which the Basilique Saint-Clement in Rome was built.

End of the mithraïsme

At the end of the 3rd century a Syncrétisme occurred between the mithraïque religion and certain solar worships of Eastern source, which crystallized in the new religion of the Sol Invictus “unconquered sun”. This religion became official in the Empire in 274 thanks to the emperor Aurélien who set up in Rome a splendid temple dedicated to the new divinity, and created a body of clergy of State to ensure the worship, whose leader was called pontifex solis invicti . Aurélien allotted to the Sol Invictus its victories in the East. This syncretism however did not sound the end of the mithraïsme which continued to exist like nonofficial worship. A great number of the senators of the time practiced at the same time the mithraïsme and the religion of the Sol Invictus . However, this period marks the beginning of the decline of the mithraïsme, because of the losses of territories which the Empire underwent following the cruel invasions of people which affected frontier territories where the worship was very enraciné. The competition of the Christianity, supported by Constantin, gained followers of the mithraïsme. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that the mithraïsme excluded the women, whereas they had the right to take part in the Christian worship. Christianity supplanted the mithraïsme during and became the official religion of the Empire with Théodose (379-394). There were some tests to give again life with the worship of Mithra by Julien “the apostate” (361-363) and by the usurper Eugene (392-394), but they did not meet much success. The mithraïsme was formally interdict as of 391, whereas its clandestine practice was maintained a few decades.

The mithraïsme however survived until the beginning of the 5th century in some areas of the the Alps and returned to the life, tough but in a transitory way in the Eastern areas of the Empire, where it found its origins. It had a big role in the development of the Manichéisme, religion which was also in strong competition with Christianity.

Places to visit

• the museum of Dieburg, in Germany, exposes discoveries in a mithraeum , like the ceramics parts used in the liturgy;

• the museum of Hanau, in Germany, shows the rebuilding of a mithraeum ;

• the museum of the University of Newcastle exposes the objects found in the three archeological sites along the Hadrian's Wall, and reconstitutes a mithraeum ;

• the church Saint-Clement, with Rome, has a well preserved mithraeum ;

• the town of Martigny (old Octodurus ), in the Swiss Alps, shows a mithraeum rebuilt (Internet site);

• Ostie, the wearing of Rome, where one found the remainders of 17 mithraea : one of them presents rather important discoveries;

• the Museum of Art of Cincinnati exposes a sculpture of a mithraeum of Rome representing Mithra killing the bull.

• There exist two mithraea in France:

• with Borough-Saint-Andéol
• with Aubeterre-on-Drone under the Church monolith of Midsummer's Day.

See too

• Mithra ;

• Tauroctonie ;
• Taurobole ;
• Worship with mysteries.