More important were the Persian m3'steries of Alith- ra, which appeared in Rome about the beginning of the 2d century of the Christian rera. They were propagated by Chaldoean and Syrian priests. The austerity of the doctrine, the real perils of initiation which neophytes were obliged to encounter, the title of soldier of Mithra which was bestowed on them, and the crowns which were oifered them after the combats preceding every grade of advancement, were among the peculiarities which gave to these rites a military and bellicose char- acter; and Roman soldiers eagerly sought initiation into them. The fundamental dogma of the Mithraic doctrine was the transmigration of souls under the in- fluence of the seven planets, over whose operations Mithra presided. The whole fraternity of the initiated was divided into seven classes or grades, which were named successively soldiers, lions, hyaenas, etc., after an imals sacred to Mithra. The sacrifice of the bull was characteristic of his worship. On the monuments which have been found in Italy, the Tyrol, and other parts of Europe, inscribed Deo Mithrce Soli Invicto, Mithra is usually represented as a young man in a flowing robe, surrounded with mystical figures, seated on a bull, which he is pressing down, or into which he is plunging the sacrificial knife. A dog, a serpent, a scorpion, and a lion are arranged near him. Nothing is certain con- cerning the signification of this scene. After the adop- tion of some of the ideas connected with other religious systems, as those of the Alexandrian Serapis, the Syr- ian Baal, and the Greek Apollo, the Mithra worship disappeared in the 5th or 6th century. See Mithra.
See Creuzer, Symholik Mythologie (1810-12), trans- lated into French, with elaborate annotations, by Guig- niant and others (1825-36) ; Sainte-Croix, Recherches historiqiies et critiques sw les Mysteres du Paganisme, edited by Sylvestre de Sacy (1317) ; Seel, Die Mifkra-Ge- heimnisse icdhrend der vor- und christlichen Zeit (1823) ; Limbourg-Brouwer, Hist, de la Civilization morale et reliffieuse des Grecs (1833-41) ; Lajard, Recherches sur le Culteimblic et les Mysteres de Mithra (1847-8) ; Jlau- ry. Hist, des Religions de In Grece antique (1857) ; Prel- ler, Romische Mythologie (2d ed. 1865) ; and Griechische Mythologie (3d ed. 1872); Enfield, Hist, of Philosophy, p. 20, 39, 50, 65; Puffendorf, Religio gentilium arcana (Lips. 1772) ; Osiander, De mysteriis Eleminiis (Stutt- gard, 1808) ; Ousvaroff, Sur les mysteres d'Eleusis (Paris, 1816).
in. The Grecian Mysteries in particular. — These mysteries certainly were always secret ; but all Greeks, without distinction of rank or education — nay, perhaps even slaves — might be initiated (jivtlaSiai) ; such was the case, for instance, in the Eleusinian mysteries. It is the remark of Josephus that "the principal doctrines of each nation's religion were made known, among heathens, only to a chosen few, but among the Jews to the people no less than to the priests." It appears that in many of these mysteries certain emblems or symbols (thence called themselves mysteries) were displayed either to the initiated, in the course of their training, or to the people ; and that the explanation of these to the initiated was the mode in which they were instructed.
The names by which mysteries or mystic festivals were designated in Greece are /.ivart'ipta, rtkirai, or opyta. The name upyia (from topya) originally sig- nified only sacrifices accompanied by certain ceremo- nies, but it was afterwards applied especially to the cere- monies observed in the worship of Bacchus, and at a still later period to mysteries in general. TtXtTi) sig- nifies, in general, a religious festival, but more particu- larly a lustration or ceremony performed in order to avert some calamity, either public or private. Mvffr)';- piov signifies, properly speaking, the secret part of the worship ; but it was also used in the same sense as re- Xerl], and for mystic worship in general.
These mysteries in brief may be defined as sacrifices and ceremonies which took place at night or in secret within some sanctuary, which the uninitiated were not allowed to enter. What was essential to them were objects of worship, sacred utensils, and traditions with their interpretation, which were withheld from all per- sons not initiated.
The most celebrated mj-steries in Greece were of three kinds, chiefly those of Samothrace and Eleusis, which maj' be briefly described as follows :
1. The Cahiria (Kajiiipia) were mysteries, festivals, and orgies solemnized in all places in which the Pelas- gian Cabiri were worshipped, but especially in Samo- thrace, Imbros, Lemnos, Thebes, Anthedon, Pergamus, and Berytus. Little is known respecting the rites ob- served in these mysteries, as no one -was allowed to di- vulge them. The most celebrated were those of the island of Samothrace, which, if we mayjudge from those of Lemnos, were solemnized every year, and lasted for nine days. Persons on their admission seem to have undergone a sort of examination respecting the life thej-^ had led hitherto, and were then purified of all their crimes, even if they had committed murder.
2. The Thesmophoria (S'ttr/to^opta) were a great fes- tival and mysteries, celebrated in honor of Ceres in va- rious parts of Greece, and only by women, though some ceremonies were also performed by maidens. It was intended to commemorate the introduction of the laws and regulations of civilized life, which was universally ascribed to Ceres. The Attic thesmophoria probably lasted only three days, and began on the 11th of Py- anepsion, which day was called clvoSog or Kci^oSoc, be- cause the solemnities were opened by the women with a procession from Athens to Eleusis. In this proces- sion they carried on their heads sacred laws (i/ofiifioi l3i(3\oi or BtcTfioi), the introduction of which was as- cribed to Ceres (QtafiO(l>6poq), and other symbols of civilized life. The women spent the night at Eleusis in celebrating the mysteries of the goddess. The sec- ond day, called vi](JTHa, was a day of mourning, during which the women sat on the ground around the statue of Ceres, and took no other food than cakes made of sesame and honey. On this day no meetings either of the senate or the" people were held. It was probably in the afternoon of this day that the women held a pro- cession at Athens, in which they walked barefooted be- hind a wagon, upon which baskets with mystical sym- bols were conveyed to the thesmophorion. The third day, called KaWiyiveia, from the circumstance that