RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mithra
Roman soldiers into ever renewed touch with this cult, and the first Christian century was the period of the energetic propaganda, though as early as 70 B.C. Mithraism was known to the Roman world. It must not be forgotten also, in accounting for the spread of the religion, that orientals formed very largely the personnel of the Roman army; and as these forces were drafted to distant posts in Africa and Europe, even as far west as Scotland, the ardent faith of the initiates in the ranks and among the officers made each post the center of a new propaganda. The Roman roads and waterways were dotted with Mithraic sanctuaries, a fact attested by inscriptions and votive offerings Soli invicto Mithra, " to the sun, invincible Mithra," bearing the names of officers and soldiers. These are, as a rule, where they would be expected — on the outskirts of the empire, along the frontier. But the existence of mithraums in the great cities and centers of trade, Alexandria, Syracuse, Carthage, and Rome, point to a different agency for the propaganda; to these places the Syrian merchants brought their wares and their religion. Also in the rural districts the cult of Mithra flourished, and this points to a third agency. Rome in its wars captured slaves by the thousands, who were distributed to the hamlets and the mines. So thus post and city and village and mountain valley hymned their praises to Mithra. Moreover, the votaries entered the civil service of Rome, and in their transfers carried their faith with them and as devoted missionaries established new centers. In the first Christian century there were at Rome associations of the followers of Mithra, probably organized as burial associations, in accordance with a common device of that period employed to acquire a legal status. The growth and importance of the cult in the second century are marked by the literary notices; Celsus opposed it to Christianity, Lucian made it the object of his wit. Nero desired to be initiated; Commodus (180-192) was received into the brotherhood; in the third century the emperors had a Mithraic chaplain; Aurelian (270-275) made the cult official; Diocletian, with Galerius and Licinius, in 307 dedicated a temple to Mithra; and Julian was a devotee. Indeed, the un-Roman cult of the worship of the emperors is a direct reflection of the oriental cults in which the sun was the attendant and patron of the ruler.
The four elements, fire, water, earth, and air — ■ the first and third typified by the lion and the serpent— were deified and worshiped. So, too, the sun, moon and planets were objects of regard. Babylonian influence wove into Mithraism its theories of the control by each of the planets of one
day in the week, and with each a metal
4- Mythol- was associated, while the signs of the
ogy and zodiac, which take creation under their
Theology, influence, marked the devotions of the
months in their turn. In the background as the primal cause which created and governed all things was Kronos, Unending Time, figured as a lion-headed human figure with four wings, sexless and passionless, his legs and body in the embrace (sometimes sixfold) of a serpent (representing the motion of the sun in the ecliptic), the head of
which rested on his head. The figure carried a key, a scepter, and a torch, while the insignia of other deities (the thunderbolt of Zeus, the hammer and tongs of Hephsestus, the cock and cone of iEsculapius) were arranged about it to indicate that Kronos embodied the qualities of all the gods. He was fate, destiny, supreme cause, the ultimate creator. The dualism inherent in the parent religion continued its theoretic influence, leading to constant need for interposition by the savior, the part assumed by Mithra, who was called mesites, " mediator," first because he inhabited the air, midway between heaven and earth, on account of which the sixteenth of each month was sacred to him; and, second, because he was middleman between the ineffable, unknowable, and unapproachable god and the race of men. In many of the monuments of Mithraism appear two torch-bearers, interpreted as the double incarnation of Mithra, with himself forming a triad or triple Mithra. One of these, with torch erect, symbolized the growing sun and life; Mithra himself, in the center, was the sun at noon and the vigor of life; the other torch-bearer, with torch inverted, was the declining sun and death. Mithra himself is pictured in the mythology as born of the rock, and the sculptured representation of this event, common in the mithrseums, showed him issuing from the living rock with knife and torch in his hands. It was then his task to demonstrate his invincible strength, and his first trial was against the sun, whom he vanquished, then crowned with the rayed crown and made his faithful ally. His next labor was with the bull, and this became the central point in the Mithraic myth, the portrayal of which furnished the set piece in Mithraic art which corresponds to the cross or the crucifix in Christian art. The bull was the first creature made by Ormuzd. It was caught and mastered after a severe struggle, and dragged by Mithra to his cave, whence it escaped. But Mithra was commanded to pursue and sacrifice it, which the pitying god reluctantly did; then from its body sprang all useful herbs, from its spinal marrow wheat, from its blood the grape which furnished the wine used in the mysteries, and from the seminal fluid all useful animals, while its soul became Silvanus, guardian of herds, also a great figure in the mysteries. Thus the death of the bull was the birth of life, and for this reason took its high place in the ceremonial and art of the Mithraic cultus. Meanwhile the first pair had been created and were put under the protection of Mithra. This was necessary because Ahriman was assailing humanity; drought, flood, conflagration, pestilence, and other dangers were met and conquered by Mithra, and then his labors were ended, the conclusion of which was celebrated by a last supper, after which he retired to heaven, whence he still protects his worshipers.
But the battle between Ormuzd and Ahriman continues, so far as humanity is concerned. Life is a warfare, and to win, the faithful must ever obey the commands of Ormuzd. What the explicit commands were is not known, but that the Persian ethics persisted is clear. Purity was the end set before man, sensuality was to be avoided; lustrations
Mithra Moab