MITELLI
386
MITHRA
Mitelli, GiusEPPi Maria, a noted Italian painter, was bom at Bolofjiia in 1034. lie received instruction from liis iatlicr, who was an eminent fresco j)ainter of Bologna, and afterwards entered the school of Flaminio Torre. He painted a number of works for the cliurch- es of B«h)giia, among which may be mentioned St. Reniero healing the sick, in S. ^Maria della Vita, a Pieta. in the Nuuziato, and Christ taken in the Gdrdtn, at the Cappuccini. 1 le was more distinguished as an engraver, and etched a number of plates of the most celebrated masters, as well as many of his own designs — among the latter the set of twenty-six plates illustrating the Twenti/-four Hours of Hainan Feliciti/. Bartsch has credite(l him with one hundred and sixty-two prints, but Nagler increases the list. He died in 1718. See Lanzi's History of Painters, trans), by Koscoe (Lend. 1817,3 vols. 8vo), iii, 138; Spooner, Bioff. History of the Fine Arts (N. Y. 18G5, 2 vols. 8vo), ii, 569.
Mith'cah (Ileb. Mithkah', ^^T\^, sweetness, prob. of the water found there; Sept. Ma^iKKu), the twenty- ninth station of tlie Israelites in the desert, between Ta- rah and Ilaslimonah (Numb, xxxiii, 28, 29); perhaps at the intersection of Wady el-Ghamr with Wady el-Je- rafch. See Exode.
Mith'nite (Ileb. Mithni', "^sri"!?, patronymic or gentile a|)parently from 'T}^, Me'then,frmness; Sept. Mai^avi v. r. BaiBavi, Vulg. Mathanites, as if from "jri^, J/«<7«7i), an epithet of Josbaphat, one of David's body-guard (1 Chron. xi, 43) ; either from his ancestor or native place, of neither of which, liowever, is there any other mention, or further means of determination.
Mithra or Mithras (Greek Mi'^pac ; Sanscrit Mitra or Miti-as), the highest of the twenty-eight sec- ond-class divinities of the ancient Persian Tautlieon, is generally regarded as the chief of the Izeds (Zend. Ya- zata), the ruler of the universe. He is spoken of as the god of the sun ; but he is more prbjierly the god of day, and, in a higher and more extended sense, the god of liglit, presiding over the movements and influence of the principal heavenly bodies, including the five planets of the sun and moon. Tlie primary signification of the word Mitra is a friend, and ]\Iitlira would therefore con- vey the representation of light as the friend of mankind, and as the mediator (/i4(7tr;jc) between heaven and earth. Protector and supporter of man in this life, he watches over his soul in the next, defending it against the impure spirits, and transferring it to the realms of eternal bliss. He Ls all-seeing and all- hear in g, and, armed with a club — his weap- on against Ahriman and tlie evil l)evs — he unceasingly '• runs his course" between heav- en and earth. In this character of mediator, as well as in some otlur respects, he would seem to approach the charac- ter of .l//»/.
From Persia tlie cuU tus of jMithra and the mysteries were import- ed into Asia ISIinor, Syria, Palestine, etc., and it is not unlikely that in some parts hu- man sacrifices were connected with this worship. In the days of the emperors the wor- ship of Milhra f.nnid its way into Home, and
thence into the different parts of the Roman empire, and the mysteries of Mithra (Hierocoracica, Cura- cica Sacra), which fell in the spring equinox, became famous even among tlie many lloman festivals. The ceremonies observed in the initiation to tliese mys- teries—symbolical of the struggle between Ahriman and Ormuzd (the Good and the Kvil) — were of the most extraordinary and, to a certain degree, even dangerous character. Baptism and the partaking of a mystical liquid, consisting of flour and water, to be drunk with the utterance of sacred formulas, were among the inau- gurative acts. The seven degrees — according to the number of the planets— were, 1, Soldiers; 2, Lions (in the case of men) or Ilyajnas (in that of women) ; 3, Kavens; 4, Degree of Pt-rses ,- 5, of Oromios; G, of He- lios ; 7, of Fathers — the highest— who were also called Eagles and Hawks. At first of a mern,' character— thus the king of Persia was allowed to get drtuik only on the Feast of the Mysteries — the stjlemnities gradually as- sumed a severe and rigorous aspect. Through liome, where this worship, after many vain endeavors, was final- ly suppressed in A.D. 378, it miay be presumed that it found its way into the west and north of Europe ; and many tokens of its former existence in Germany are still to be found, for instance, such as the Mithra monuments at Heidenbeim, near Frankfort -on -the -Main, and at other places.
Among the Persians Mithra is pictured as a young man, clothed with a tunic and a Persian cloak, and having on his head a Persian bonnet or tiara. He kneels upon a prostrate bull, and while holding it with the left hand by the nostrils, with the right he plunges into the shoulder a short sword or dagger. The bull is at the same time vigorously attackeil by a dog, a ser- pent, and a scorpion. The ancient monuments repre- sent him as abeautifid youth, dressed in Phrygian garb, kneeling upon an ox, into whose neck he pliniges a knife; several minor, varying, allegorical emblems of the sun and his course surromiding the group. At times he is also represented as a lion, or the head of a lion. The most important of his many festivals was his birth- day, celebrated on the 25th of December, the day sub- sequently fixed — against all evidence — as the birthday of Christ. In the early <lays of the Church it was not an uncommon occurrence to find an apologist of the inspired teacher laying undue stress on some [loints of resemblance between Mithraism and Christianity, and thus the triumphant march of the latter M-as much re-