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The Mysteries of Mithras presents a revival of this ancient Roman mystery religion, popular from the late second century B.C. Payam Nabarz reveals the history and tenets of Mithraism, its connections to Christianity, Islam, and Freemasonry, and the modern neo-pagan practice of Mithraism today. Included are seven of its initiatory rituals.
An overview of Mithraism, the ancient Roman mystery religion popular in the Roman Legions • Provides a comprehensive history of Mithraism, including its influence on Christianity and Islam • Includes rituals, meditations, and teaching tales for readers who wish to follow the Mithraic path • Studies the evolution and divergence of the Eastern (Persian) and Western (Roman) forms of Mithraism The Mysteries of Mithras presents a revival of the magical practices and initiatory system of Mithraism, the ancient Roman mystery religion that was immensely popular in the Roman Legions from the late second century B.C. until A.D. 400 and was taken to every corner of the Roman Empire. As the last pagan state religion in Europe, it was the most important competitor to early Christianity and heavily influenced Christian doctrine and symbolism. The parallels between Christianity and ancient Mithraism are striking--for example, the god Mithra was born of a virgin in a cave on December 25. Payam Nabarz reveals the history, origins, and spiritual and philosophical tenets of Mithraism and its connections to Christianity, Islam, and Freemasonry. He also describes the modern neo-pagan practice of Mithraism in evidence today and for readers who wish to adopt the Mithraic path, he includes seven of its initiatory rituals and meditations, as well as orations and teaching tales, that open the door to the seven Mithraic grades of passage.
1910 Translated from the 2nd revised French edition by Thomas J. McCormack. 3-color folded map showing the dissemination of the Mithraic Mysteries - Plus several pages of preface & 50 cuts & illustrations of unusual statues, fragments, etc.
The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire by Roger Beck Pdf
A study of the religious system of Mithraism, one of the 'mystery cults' popular in the Roman Empire contemporary with early Christianity. Roger Beck describes Mithraism from the point of view of the initiate engaging with the religion and its rich symbolic system in thought, word, ritual action, and cult life. He employs the methods of anthropology of religion and the new cognitive science of religion to explore in detail the semiotics of the Mysteries' astral symbolism, which has been the principal subject of his many previous publications on the cult.
Known as Mitra to the Indians, Mithra and Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek) to the Iranians, and Mithras to the Romans, this is the oldest of all living deities. Mithras was recognized as the greatest rival of Christianity, a greater threat even than the religion of Isis. If Rome had not become Christian, it would have become Mithrasian. Mithraisians had a sacrament that included wine as a symbol of sacrificial blood. Bread in wafers, or small loaves marked with a cross, was used to symbolize flesh. The priestly symbols were a staff, a ring, a hat, and a hooked sword/ members were called brothers, and priests were called "Father." Mithras was born on December 25th. He offered salvation based on faith, compassion, knowledge, and valor. He appealed to the poor, the slave and the freeman, as well as to the Roman aristocracy, the militia, and even to some emperors. The Christians sacked his temples, burned his books, and attacked his followers--they desecrated his temples, and built their own churches on the same foundations as the old Mithraic temples. Cooper examines Mithras and his religion in the most complete study ever done. He explores the various forms of this godworshiped from Lisbon to modrn Bangladesh, from the Scottish border to the Russian Steppesand investigates the worship. This is an exciting journey into living mythology, the history of a living god, and will fascinate modern Western readers who want to know more about the spiritual pathwhether they want to better understand contemporary Christianity, the basis of many contemporary ideaologies, mythology, or the Western Mystery Tradition.
The Mysteries of Mithras by Attilio Mastrocinque Pdf
Attilio Mastrocinque explains the mysteries of Mithras in a new way, as a transformation of Mazdean elements into an ideological and religious reading of Augustus' story. The author shows that the character of Mithras played the role of Apollo in favoring Augustus' victory and the birth of the Roman Empire.
Author : David Ulansey Publisher : Cosmology and Salvation in the Page : 176 pages File Size : 44,9 Mb Release : 1991 Category : History ISBN : 0195067886
The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries by David Ulansey Pdf
This volume sets forth a new explanation of the meaning of the cult of Mithraism, tracing its origins not, as commonly held, to the ancient Persian religion, but to ancient astronomy and cosmology.
Since its publication in Germany, Manfred Clauss's introduction to the Roman Mithras cult has become widely accepted as the most reliable, as well as the most readable, account of its elusive and fascinating subject. For the English edition the author has revised the work to take account of recent research and new archaeological discoveries. The mystery cult of Mithras first became evident in Rome towards the end of the first century AD. During the next two centuries, carried by its soldier and merchant devotees, it spread to the frontier of the western empire from Britain to Bosnia. Perhaps because of odd similarities between the cult and their own religion the early Christians energetically suppressed it, frequently constructing churches over the caves (Mithraea) in which its rituals took place. By the end of the fourth century the cult was extinct.Professor Clauss draws on the archaeological evidence from over 400 temples and their contents including over a thousand representations of ritual in sculpure and painting to seek an understanding of the nature and purpose of the cult, and what its mysteries and secret rites of initiation and sacrifice meant to its devotees. In doing so he introduces the reader to the nature of the polytheistic societies of the Roman Empire, in which relations and distinctions between gods and mortals now seem strangely close and blurred. He also considers the connections of Mithraicism with astrology, and examines how far it can be seen as a direct descendant of the ancient cult of Mitra, the Persian god of contract, cattle and light. The book combines imaginative insight with coherent argument. It is well-structured, accessibly written and extensively illustrated. Richard Gordon, the translator and himself a distinguished scholar of the subject, has provided a bibliography of further reading for anglophone readers.
Mithras explores the history and practices of the ancient mystery religion Mithraism, looking at both literary and material evidence for the god Mithras and the reception and allure of his mysteries in the present. The genesis and spread of Mithraism remain highly controversial. This book examines our current state of knowledge on the pre-classical Indo-Iranian god, Mitra, and argues that Mithraism was a product of Mitra’s encounter with the religious thought of the classical world. It then charts the life history of Mithraism in the Roman Empire, exploring the social background of its initiates and the reasons for their attraction to the religion. The rituals and beliefs of the cult are as mysterious as its origins; in studying Mithraic "caves" and paintings found in some Mithraic temples, we can better understand and reconstruct the rituals the Mithraists practiced. While "bull-slaying", or tauroctony, lies at the core of the Mithraic mythos, this volume explores other incidents in the god’s life depicted in ancient art, including his miraculous birth and his banquet with the sun, as well as the disconcerting lion-headed "enveloped god". After a fall from grace in the post-classical world, Mithras has resurrected himself in the present, establishing himself as one of the most recognisable if elusive gods of antiquity. Mithras provides a fascinating study of this complex god that will be of interest to scholars and students of Roman and Late Antique religion, mystery cults, as well as those working on society and religion in antiquity more broadly.
Planetary gods and planetary orders in the mysteries of Mithras by R. Beck Pdf
Preliminary material /Roger Beck -- The planets and the grades: the problem of a unique order /Roger Beck -- The grade order and exoteric planetary orders: mastery of space and time /Roger Beck -- Orders on the monuments: introduction /Roger Beck -- Orders in mithraea: Sette Sfere and Sette Porte /Roger Beck -- The order of the Bologna relief: the planets and the bull-killing /Roger Beck -- Planets and zodiac: the Housesteads birth scene /Roger Beck -- The Ottaviano Zeno monument: planetary orders implicit in the row of altars; the snake-encircled figures; the ascent of souls (i); Jupiter, Sun and Saturn /Roger Beck -- The planetary order of Contra Celsum 6.22: the ascent of souls(ii); the two revolutions /Roger Beck -- Saturn's primacy: the Sun of midnight /Roger Beck -- Planetary orders and the zodiac in the Barberini fresco: the structures of genesis and apogenesis; Saturn and the snakeencircled god /Roger Beck -- the integrity ofthe Bologna relief /Roger Beck -- INDICES /Roger Beck -- LIST OF PLATES /Roger Beck -- Plates I-IV /Roger Beck.
Mystery Cults in the Ancient World by Hugh Bowden Pdf
Mystery cults are one of the most intriguing areas of Greek and Roman religion. In the nocturnal mysteries at Eleusis, participants dramatically re-enacted the story of Demeter's loss and recovery of her daughter Persephone; in Bacchic cult, bands of women ran wild in the Greek countryside to honour Dionysus; in the mysteries of Mithras, men came to understand the nature of the universe and their place within it through frightening initiation ceremonies and astrological teachings. These cults were an important part of life in the ancient Mediterranean world, but their actual practices were shrouded in secrecy, and much of what they were about has remained unclear until now. This is the first book to describe and explain all the major mystery cults of the ancient world, cult by cult, reconstructing the rituals and exploring their origins. It makes plentiful use of artistic and archaeological evidence, as well as ancient literature and epigraphy. Greek painted pottery, Roman frescoes, inscribed gold tablets from Greek and South Italian tombs and the excavated sites of ancient religious sanctuaries all contribute to our understanding of ancient mystery cults. Making use of the most recent work on these cults, the book is also informed by crucial current work on the anthropology and cognitive science of religion. Not only is this clearly written book a significant contribution to the study of these cults, but it is also accessible to a general readership. More than any other book on ancient religion, it allows the reader to understand what it was like to participate in these life-transforming religious events.
The Mithraic Mysteries or Mysteries of Mithras (also Mithraism) was a mystery religion practised in the Roman Empire (1st to 4th centuries AD), best attested in Rome and Ostia, Mauretania, Britain and in the provinces along the Rhine and Danube frontier.
Roger Beck, a world authority on Mithraism, brings together his major writings on the Mysteries of Mithras in the context of the culture and religions of imperial Rome. In these studies he opens new vistas on myth making, ritual, symbolism, the role of astrology in the cult, recently discovered Mithraic monuments and artefacts, and the emergence of Mithraism and Christianity concurrently in the first century. Beck offers new introductions to his thematically framed groups of writings and adds six entirely new essays published here for the first time. These essays link his research to contemporary studies in cognitive science of religion and anthropology of religion. This collection will appeal particularly to scholars exploring contemporary aspects in anthropology of religion, astronomy and astrology, cults and myths, images and symbols, as well as traditional scholars of Greco-Roman antiquity and Christian origins.
The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity by David Walsh Pdf
In The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity David Walsh examines how and why the cult of Mithras vanished from the Roman Empire by the early 5th century C.E.
Just hundred years after the first edition of Albrecht Dietrich's Eine Mithrasliturgie (Leipzig 1903; 1923), the present book offers a complete new edition of so complex a text. It provides the Greek text, an English translation, a punctual introduction, an extensive commentary, an index of Greek words and of the various voces magicae, and, finally, also an appendix, with photographic reproductions of the papyrus. ... Not only Hans Dieter Betz is one of the most gifted scholars in the domain of primeval Christianity and Hellenistic religions, but he already devoted to the Mithras Liturgy a monographic essay, which is here enriched and largely supplemented. We particularly appreciated how Betz deals with the critical debate which spread from Dietrich's book (in particular the criticism put forward by one of the most important scholars of Mithraism, the Belgian Franz Cumont) and how he sets Dietich in the historical and cultural milieu of his age.Chiara O. Tommasi Moreschini auf www.plekos.uni-muenchen.de