CIMRM

Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (or CIMRM) is a two volume collection of inscriptions and monuments relating primarily to the Mithraic Mysteries. It was compiled by Maarten Jozef Vermaseren and published at the Hague by Martinus Nijhoff, 1956, 1960 in 2 vols. Publication was sponsored by the Royal Flemish Academy and the Netherlands Organization for Pure Research.^[1] It is based on an earlier 1947 work of the same title that began as an entry in a competition organized by the Department of Fine Arts and Literature of the Flemish Academy.^[2]

It is viewed as "an undiscriminating work",^[3] with "unpredictable topographic zig-zagging",^[4] but it remains indispensable^[5] for its access to the great bulk of the archaeological evidence. Although now 51 years old, no updated corpora have been published since Vermaseren's, and CIMRM thus remains the standard reference catalog of inscriptions and monuments of the Mithraic Mysteries.^[6]

References

1. ^ Vermaseren 1956, p. iv.
2. ^ Vermaseren 1956, p. vii.
3. ^ Daniels 1975, p. 249.
4. ^ Gordon 1994, p. 460.
5. ^ Gordon 1994, p. 459, n. 2.
6. ^ Clauss 2000, p. xix.

Bibliography

• Clauss, Manfred (2000), The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and His Mysteries, trans. R. L. Gordon, New York: Routledge .
• Daniels, Charles M. (1975), "The role of the Roman army in the spread and practice of Mithraism", in Hinnels, John R., Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies, Manchester UP, pp. II.459–474 .
• Gordon, Richard L. (1994), "Who worshipped Mithras?", Journal of Roman Archaeology 7: 459–474 .
• Nock, Arthur Darby (1958), "Vermaseren's Corpus Religionis Mithriacae I", Gnomon 30 (H.4): 291–295 .
• Vermaseren, M. J. (1956, 1960), Corpus inscriptionum et monumentorum religionis mithriacae, 2 vols., The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff .