Mithras in comparison with other belief systems

This is an article on Mithraism in Comparative Mythology and Comparative Theology. See Mithraic Mysteries for the main article.

The Roman cult of Mithras had connections with other pagan deities. Popular writers sometimes suggest links with Christianity also.

General remarks

Syncretism was a feature of Roman paganism, and the cult of Mithras was part of this. Almost all Mithraea contain statues dedicated to gods of other cults, and it is common to find inscriptions dedicated to Mithras in other sanctuaries, especially those of Jupiter Dolichenus.^[1] Mithraism was not an alternative to other pagan religions, but rather a particular way of practising pagan worship; and many Mithraic initiates can also be found worshipping in the civic religion, and as initiates of other mystery cults.^[2]

Comparisons with contemporary Roman gods

Phanes

Orphic speculation influenced the cult of Mithras at times.^[3] In Orphism, Phanes emerged from the world egg at the beginning of time, bringing the universe into existence.

There is some literary evidence of the syncretism of Mithras and Phanes. A list of the eight elements of creation appears in Zenobius and Theon of Smyrna; most of the elements are the same, but in Zenobius the seventh element is 'Mithras', in Theon it is 'Phanes'.^[4]

A Greek inscription on a statue base from a Mithraeum in Rome reads "to Deus Sol Mithras Phanes". A relief from Vercovium (Housesteads) on Hadrian's Wall shows Mithras emerging from the cosmic egg, which is represented both as such and by the shape of the zodiacal ring.^[5] Ulansey adds:

"The identification between Mithras and Phanes indicated by CIMRM 860 is also explicitly attested by an inscription found in Rome dedicated to 'Zeus-Helios-Mithras-Phanes' and another inscription dedicated to 'Helios-Mithras-Phanes'."^[6]

Another syncretistic relief is in Modena. This shows Phanes coming from an egg with flames shooting out around him, surrounded by the twelve signs of the zodiac, in an image very similar to that at Newcastle.^[7] Further references also exist.^[8]

Sol Invictus

Mithras is given the title "deus sol invictus" (unconquered sun god) in several inscriptions. The vagueness of the term invictus means that it was widely used. Mithraism never became a state cult, however, unlike the official late Roman Sol Invictus cult.^[9]

Jupiter Dolichenus

The Mithraea at Carnuntum appear to have been constructed in close association with contemporary temple of Jupiter Dolichenus,^[10] and there seem to have been considerable similarities between the two cults; both being mystery cults with secret liturgies, both being popular in the military, and having similar names for their officials and intitiates. Two large Mithrea have been discovered in Doliche itself (modern Gaziantep in Turkey), which have been proposed as being unusually early.

Helios/Sol

Although Mithras himself is Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, he and Sol appear in several scenes as separate persons, with the banquet scene being the most prominent example.^[11] Other scenes feature Mithras ascending behind Sol in the latter's chariot, the deities shaking hands and the two gods at an altar with pieces of meat on a spit or spits.^[11] One peculiar scene shows Sol kneeling before Mithras, who holds an object, interpreted either as a Persian cap or the haunch of the bull, in his hand.^[11]

Mithraism and Christian Theology

Mithras riding bull

The idea of a relationship between early Christianity and Mithraism is based on a remark in the 2nd century Christian writer Justin Martyr, who accused the Mithraists of diabolically imitating the Christian communion rite.^[12] Based upon this, Ernest Renan in 1882 set forth a vivid depiction of two rival religions: "if the growth of Christianity had been arrested by some mortal malady, the world would have been Mithraic,"^[13] Edwin M. Yamauchi, comments on Renan's work which, "published nearly 150 years ago, has no value as a source. He [Renan] knew very little about Mithraism..."^[14]

Other scholars, among them Ronald Nash^[15] and Edwin Yamauchi,^[16] have suggested a different interpretation of Mithraism's relationship to Christianity. Yamauchi, pointing out that most of the textual evidence for Mithraist doctrine was written after the New Testament was in broad circulation, posits that it is more likely that Mithraism borrowed from Christianity than the other way around.

The philosopher Celsus in the second century provides some evidence that Ophite gnostic ideas were influencing the mysteries of Mithras.^[17]

"Virgin Birth"

It is sometimes said that the birth of Mithras was a virgin birth, like that of Jesus. But no ancient source gives such a birth myth for Mithras. In Mithraic Studies it is stated that Mithras was born as an adult from solid rock, "wearing his Phrygian cap, issues forth from the rocky mass. As yet only his bare torso is visible. In each hand he raises aloft a lighted torch and, as an unusual detail, red flames shoot out all around him from the petra genetrix."^[18]

David Ulansey speculates that this was a belief derived from the Perseus' myths which held he was born from an underground cavern.^[19]

The 25th of December

It is often stated that Mithras was thought to have been born on December 25. But Beck states that this is not the case. In fact he calls this assertion 'that hoariest of "facts"'. He continues: "In truth, the only evidence for it is the celebration of the birthday of Invictus on that date in Calendar of Philocalus. 'Invictus' is of course Sol Invictus, Aurelian's sun god. It does not follow that a different, earlier, and unofficial sun god, Sol Invictus Mithras, was necessarily or even probably, born on that day too."^[20]

Unusually amongst Roman mystery cults, the mysteries of Mithras had no 'public' face; worship of Mithras was confined to initiates, and they could only undertake such worship in the secrecy of the Mithraeum ^[21] Clauss states; "the Mithraic Mysteries had no public ceremonies of its own. The festival of natalis Invicti [Birth of the Unconquerable (Sun)], held on 25 December, was a general festival of the Sun, and by no means specific to the Mysteries of Mithras."^[22]

Steven Hijmans has discussed in detail the question of whether the general "natalis Invicti" festival was related to Christmas but does not give Mithras as a possible source.^[23]

Salvation

A painted text on the wall of the St. Prisca Mithraeum (c A.D. 200)^[24] in Rome contains the words: et nos servasti (?) . . . sanguine fuso (and you have saved us ... in the shed blood). The meaning of this is unclear, although presumably refers to the bull killed by Mithras, as no other source refers to a Mithraic salvation. However the servasti is only a conjecture.^[25] According to Robert Turcan,^[26] Mithraic salvation had little to do with the other-worldly destiny of individual souls, but was on the Zoroastrian pattern of man's participation in the cosmic struggle of the good creation against the forces of evil ^[27]

Symbolism of Water

Monuments in the Danube area depict Mithras firing a bow at a rock in the presence of the torch-bearers, apparently to encourage water to come forth. ^[28] Clauss states that, after the ritual meal, this offers 'the clearest parallel with Christianity'.^[29]

"Sign of the Cross"

Tertullian states that followers of Mithras were marked on their forehead in an unspecified manner.^[30] There is no indication that this is a cross, or a branding, or a tattoo, or a permanent mark of any kind.^[31] The symbol of a circle with a diagonal cross inscribed within it is commonly found in Mithraea, especially in association with the Leontocephaline figure.

Mithraic motifs and medieval Christian art

From the end of the 18th century some authors have suggested that some elements in medieval Christian art reflect images found in Mithraic reliefs.^[32] Franz Cumont was among these, although he studied each motif in isolation rather than the combination of several elements and whether they were combined in Christian art in the same way.^[33] Cumont said that after the triumph of the church over paganism, artists continued to make use of stock images originally devised for Mithras in order to depict the new and unfamiliar stories of the bible. The "stranglehold of the workshop" meant that the first Christian artworks were heavily based on pagan art, and "a few alterations in costume and attitude transformed a pagan scene into a Christian picture".^[34]

A series of scholars have since discussed possible similarities with Mithraic reliefs in medieval Romanesque art.^[35] Vermaseren stated that the only certain example of such influence was an image of Elijah drawn up to heaven in a chariot drawn by fiery horses.^[36] Deman stated that to compare isolated elements was not useful, and that combinations should be studied. He also pointed out that a similarity of image does not tell us whether this implies an ideological influence, or merely a tradition of craftmanship. He then gave a list of medieval reliefs that parallel Mithraic images, but refused to draw conclusions from this, as these would be subjective.^[37]

Mithraea re-used in Christian worship

Several of the best preserved Mithraea, especially those in Rome such as at San Clemente and Santa Prisca, are now to be found underneath Christian churches. It has been suggested that these might indicate a tendency for Christians to adopt Mithraea for Christian worship, in a similar manner to the undoubted conversion into churches of temples and shrines of civic paganism. such as the Pantheon. However, in these Roman instances, the Mithraeum appears to have been filled with rubble prior to the erection of a church over the top; and hence cannot be considered demonstrable examples of deliberate re-use. A study of early Christian churches in Britain concluded that, if anything, the evidence there suggested a tendency to avoid locating churches on the sites of former Mithraea.^[38]

On the other hand, there is at least one known example of a Mithraic carved relief being re-used on a Christian church; in the early 11th Century tower added to the church of St Peter at Gowts in Lincoln, England. A much-weathered Mithraic lion-headed figure carrying keys, (presumably from a ruined Mithraeum in Roman Lincoln) was incorporated into the church tower, apparently in the mistaken belief that it was an ancient reprentation of the Apostle Peter.^[39] Elsewhere, as in one of the Mithraea in Doliche, there are instances where the tauroctony of a cave Mithraeum has been replaced by a cross, which suggests later use as a church; but again the date of re-use cannot be determined, and hence it is by no means certain how far the Christian occupiers were aware of their cave's Mithraic past.

References

1. ^ Clauss, M., The Roman cult of Mithras, p.158.
2. ^ Burkert, Walter (1987). Ancient Mystery Cults. Harvard University Press. p. 49. ISBN 0674033876. 
3. ^ Clauss, M., The Roman cult of Mithras, p. 70
4. ^ Zenobius Proverbia 5.78 (in Corpus paroemiographorum Graecorum vol. 1, p.151) (Clauss, p.70 n.84). Theon of Smyrna gives the same list but substitutes Phanes. See Albert de Jong, Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin literature, p.309 on this; quoted on Pearse, Roger Zenobius on Mithras and Who is Theon of Smyrna?.
5. ^ Clauss, M. The Roman cult of Mithras, p. 70, photo p.71. The relief (Vermaseren 860) is now at the University of Newcastle.
6. ^ Ulansey, David, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries, pp.120-1. Excerpts here.
7. ^ Vermaseren, M., The miraculous birth of Mithras, p.287 n.10. The relief is in the Estense Museum in Modena, Italy. See also F. Cumont, "Mithra et l'Orphisme", RHR CIX, 1934, 63 ff; M. P. Nilsson, "The Syncretistic Relief at Modena", Symb. Osi. XXIV, 1945, 1 ff.
8. ^ Vermaseren 695: marble relief from Mutina or Rome; V 475: Greek inscription from Rome, dedication by a Father and priest to Zeus-Helios-Mithras-Phanes
9. ^ Clauss, M., The Roman cult of Mithras, p.23-4. "Invictus" became a standard part of imperial titulature under Commodus, adopted from Hercules Invictus, but had been used for Mithras well before then.
10. ^ Clauss, M., The Roman cult of Mithras, p.44.
11. ^ ^{a b c} Beck, Roger, "In the Place of the Lion: Mithras in the Tauroctony" in Beck on Mithraism: collected works with new essays" (2004), p. 286-287].
12. ^ Justin Martyr, First Apology, ch. 66: "For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body; "and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood; "and gave it to them alone. Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn."
13. ^ Renan, E., Marc-Aurele et la fin du monde antique. Paris, 1882, p. 579
14. ^ Edwin M. Yamauchi cited in Lee Strobel, The Case for the Real Jesus, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007, p.175
15. ^ Ronald Nash, "Mystery Religions of the Near East," Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, 1999.
16. ^ Edwin M. Yamauchi, "Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History?" March 29, 1974.
17. ^ Clauss, M. The Roman Cult of Mithras, p.17, referencing Origen, Contra Celsum book 6, cc.22-24 where a ladder of seven steps is described, similar to one used by the Ophites. Clauss states that the borrowing was by the Mithraists, but nothing in Contra Celsum seems to say so.
18. ^ Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies. Manchester U. Press, 1975, p. 173
19. ^ Ulansey, David. The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World. New York: Oxford U. Press, 1989
20. ^ Beck, Roger (1987). "Merkelbach's Mithras". Phoenix 41 (3): 296–316. doi:10.2307/1088197. , p. 299, n. 12.
21. ^ Burkert, Walter (1987). Ancient Mystery Cults. Harvard University Press. p. 10. ISBN 0674033876. 
22. ^ Clauss, Manfred. Mithras: Kult und Mysterien. München: Beck, 1990, p. 70.
23. ^ Hijmans, Steven (2003). "Sol Invictus, the Winter Solstice, and the Origins of Christmas". Mouseion 3 (3): 377–398. 
24. ^ http://www.hums.canterbury.ac.nz/clas/ejms/out_of_print/JMSv2n1/JMSv2n1Roll.pdf
25. ^ Panciera, Il materiale epigrafico dallo scavo del mitreo di S. Stefano Rotondo, in: Mysteria Mithrae (conference 1978 published 1979).
26. ^ Turcan, Robert, "Salut Mithriaque et soteriologie neoplatonicienne," La soteriologiea dei culti orientali nell'impero romano,eds. U. Bianchi and M. J. Vermaseren, Leiden 1982. pp. 103-105
27. ^ Beck, Roger, Merkelbach's Mithras, p.301-2
28. ^ Clauss, M. The Roman Cult of Mithras, p.71-2: "The theme of the water-miracle is elaborated mainly in the Rhine-Danube area. Mithras is usually represented sitting on a stone and aiming a flexed bow at a rockface, in front of which there kneels a figure. Another figure sometimes grasps Mithras' knees in supplication, or stands behind him with his hand on his shoulder. The scene is particularly striking on the large altar from Poetovio I ... Mithras here is aiming his bow at a rockface, from which water will shortly gush forth - a person is standing in front of it ready to catch the water in his cupped hands. ... We may note that the figures who are generally shown taking part in this scene with Mithras are clothed just like the god. They must be the torch-bearers, present here just as they are at the rock-birth and the killing of the bull. This scene can thus be connected with one of the lines in the mithraeum under S. Prisca in Rome, which is addressed to a spring enclosed in the rock: 'You who have fed the twin brothers with nectar'.8 6 The spring is Mithras; the twins to whom he has given heavenly nourishment are the torch-bearers."
29. ^ Clauss, M. The Roman Cult of Mithras, p.72 continues: "Apart from the cult-meal, the water-miracle offers the clearest parallel with Christianity, spreading through the Empire at the same period as the mysteries of Mithras. The thinking that underlies these features of each cult is naturally rooted in the same traditions. The water-miracle is one of the wide-spread myths that originate from regions plagued by drought, and where the prosperity of humans and nature depends upon rain. Each in his own manner, Mithras and Christ embody water, initially as a concrete necessity, and then, very soon, as a symbol. Christ is referred to in the New Testament as the water of life. Many Christian sarcophagi depict the miracle of Moses striking the rock with his staff and causing water to flow (Exodus 17.3-6), as a symbol of immortality."
30. ^ Tertullian, De praescriptione haereticorum 40: "if my memory still serves me, Mithra there, (in the kingdom of Satan, ) sets his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers; celebrates also the oblation of bread, and introduces an image of a resurrection, and before a sword wreathes a crown."
31. ^ Per Beskow, "Branding in the Mysteries of Mithras?", in Mysteria Mithrae, ed. Ugo Bianchi (Leyden 1979), 487-501. He describes the entire idea as a "scholarly myth". See also FAQ by Dr. Richard Gordon.
32. ^ Deman, A. (1971). Hinnells, John R.. ed. “Mithras and Christ: Some Iconographical Similarities,” in Mithraic Studies, vol. 2. Manchester University Press.  pp. 507–17. p.507
33. ^ Deman, A. (1971). Hinnells, John R.. ed. “Mithras and Christ: Some Iconographical Similarities,” in Mithraic Studies, vol. 2. Manchester University Press.  pp. 507–17. p.508
34. ^ Cumont, Franz (1956). McCormack, Thomas K. (trans.). ed. The Mysteries of Mithras. Dover Publications.  pp. 227–8.
35. ^ Deman, A. (1971). Hinnells, John R.. ed. “Mithras and Christ: Some Iconographical Similarities,” in Mithraic Studies, vol. 2. Manchester University Press.  pp. 507–17. p.509
36. ^ Vermaseren, M.J (1963). Mithras: The Secret God. Chatto & Windus.  pp. 104–6.
37. ^ Deman, A. (1971). Hinnells, John R.. ed. “Mithras and Christ: Some Iconographical Similarities,” in Mithraic Studies, vol. 2. Manchester University Press.  pp. 507–17. p.510
38. ^ Hutton, Ronald (1991). The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles;their nature and legacy. Blackwell. p. 260. ISBN 0631189467. 
39. ^ Stocker, David (1998). "A Hitherto Unidentified Image of the Mithraic God Arimanius at Lincoln?". Britannia 29: 359–363.