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Author : David Ulansey
Publisher : Cosmology and Salvation in the
Page : 176 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : History
ISBN : 0195067886
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.
Author : Payam Nabarz
Publisher : Inner Traditions / Bear & Co
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2005-06-09
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 1594770271
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.
Author : Franz Valery Marie Cumont
Publisher : Cosimo, Inc.
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2008-12-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781605206202
Mithraism was a Roman mystery cult that drew upon the mythology of Mithras from the Persian Zoroastrian religion. In this unique book, first published in 1903, Cumont explains how the Roman version differed from the original worship of Mithras and then identifies those rituals that have some historical accuracy. Often, the Roman rituals preserved only the external trappings of Zoroastrian worship, such as using animals skins during rites and designating caves as holy places. Cumont also shows his readers how Mithraism adopted beliefs and rituals from other sources as well, creating the cult in its fully realized form. He then goes on to show how the cult fell from favor and was finally overwhelmed by Christianity. Students of history and religion, as well as anyone interested in cult religions, will find this book an intriguing journey through an obscure era. Belgian archaeologist and historian FRANZ-VALERY-MARIE CUMONT (1869-1947) wrote numerous books, often making use of his interest in philology and the study of instructions. Among his books is Life After Roman Paganism (1922).
Author : Franz Cumont
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 139 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2018-12-14
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780429874802
First published in 1956, this seminal study, by the great Belgian scholar Franz Cumont, remains the definitive coverage of a great ideological struggle between the West and the Orient in the first centuries of the Christian era. Mithraism, a mystery religion originating in Persia, spread rapidly through the Roman Empire, and achieved such strength that Europe almost became Mithraic. Dr. Cumont, the world’s’ greatest authority on aspects of classical religions, here discusses the origins of this colourful oriental religion, and its association with the Roman army. Then utilizing fragmentary monuments and texts, in one of the greatest feats of scholarly detection, he reconstructs the mystery teachings and secret doctrines, the hidden organization and cult of Mithra. This volume includes 70 illustrations.
Author : Franz Cumont
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2017-11-24
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1981439951
With over 50 LARGE TO FULL-PAGE illustrations, The Mysteries Of Mithra examines the history and origin of the Mithraic religion. It covers the dissemination of Mithraism into the Roman Empire, the Doctrine of the Mithraic mysteries, the liturgy, clergy and devotees and the art of the Mithraic religion. The Romans attributed their Mithraic mysteries (the mystery religion known as Mithraism) to "Persian" (i.e. Zoroastrian) sources relating to Mithra.
Author : Franz Valery Marie Cumont
Publisher : Forgotten Books
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2017-10-11
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0266175988
The Mysteries of Mithra by Franz Valery Marie Cumont provides an in-depth analysis of the Mithraic religion and its subsequent decline mainly due to the ascendance of Christianity. Cumont borrows heavily from some of his previous work on the same topic by summarising detailed notes and references into its present form. Mithraic religion evolved through Asiatic and Iranian roots which is highlighted in the first section of this work dealing with the origins of the religion. The author does not provide any biased opinions on the question of faith, instead postulating theories and observations based on historical facts. One of the underlying themes in The Mysteries of Mithra is the parallels Cumont is able to draw between modern day Christianity and the Mithraic religion. The conflict between this mysterious religion and Christianity is ensconced in the lack of acceptance and assimilation of two different theological strands. Cumont is quick to appreciate the fact that reliable sources on Mithraic imagery are few and far between and hence some of its analysis is pivoted on probability. Spread across seven chapters, The Mysteries of Mithra also contains an index for quick reference and various illustrations depicting the Mithraic religious symbolisms through its evolution. The section detailing Doctrines of Mithraic Mysteries is particularly interesting as it opens up a treasure trove of lesser known facts while highlighting the subtle yet assertive similarities between Mithraism and Christianity. This title is as informative and enlightening for the casual enthusiast as it would be for scholars and students of religion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Author : Franz Valery Marie Cumont
Publisher : Forgotten Books
Page : 269 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2015-06-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 144007125X
The Mysteries of Mithra by Franz Valery Marie Cumont provides an in-depth analysis of the Mithraic religion and its subsequent decline mainly due to the ascendance of Christianity. Cumont borrows heavily from some of his previous work on the same topic by summarising detailed notes and references into its present form. Mithraic religion evolved through Asiatic and Iranian roots which is highlighted in the first section of this work dealing with the origins of the religion. The author does not provide any biased opinions on the question of faith, instead postulating theories and observations based on historical facts. One of the underlying themes in The Mysteries of Mithra is the parallels Cumont is able to draw between modern day Christianity and the Mithraic religion. The conflict between this mysterious religion and Christianity is ensconced in the lack of acceptance and assimilation of two different theological strands. Cumont is quick to appreciate the fact that reliable sources on Mithraic imagery are few and far between and hence some of its analysis is pivoted on probability. Spread across seven chapters, The Mysteries of Mithra also contains an index for quick reference and various illustrations depicting the Mithraic religious symbolisms through its evolution. The section detailing Doctrines of Mithraic Mysteries is particularly interesting as it opens up a treasure trove of lesser known facts while highlighting the subtle yet assertive similarities between Mithraism and Christianity. This title is as informative and enlightening for the casual enthusiast as it would be for scholars and students of religion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Author : Manfred Clauss
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2019-06-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781474465793
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.
Author : S Grey
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 85 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2024-06-21
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781471641961
Author : Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 80 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2018-02-20
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1985727315
*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts describing Mithras *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "It is as though the living tradition and written records of Christianity had disappeared from the world for fifteen hundred years, and there remained to us only a few hundred monuments and the ruins of some three-score churches. What could we glean from these of the doctrines of the faith? How, from such meagre remains, could we reconstruct the story of the God, the saving doctrines, the rituals, the liturgies?" - G.R.S. Mead, The Mysteries of Mithra In the early Roman Empire, as Christianity struggled to gain a foothold and survive in the polytheistic pool of Roman theology, its greatest rivals weren't the Caesars or the Roman aristocracy but rather the faith and devotion of the common Roman legionary. The faith of these men was centered on the god Mithras, who, they believed, led them to victory upon the field of battle and had done so for nearly four centuries Despite this widespread belief among soldiers, the cult of Mithras was not a creation of the Romans, although they would eventually add their own rituals and mysteries to the ancient religion. In fact, the Mithraic religion was an Indo-Persian creation, a theology which managed to travel from India and back into the Hellenic and Roman world by way of Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire. Eventually, the cult of Mithras would spread across the ancient world, and Mithras would be worshiped from the mountains of India to the coasts of Spain. As a result, the cult of Mithras could ultimately be found in every corner of the Roman Empire. The Mithras cult was one of the many "mystery religions" that the Romans adopted, several of which came from cultures outside of Rome. Isis, an Egyptian goddess, and Cybele, an Anatolian goddess, were both popular with Roman women, while Mithras, which was a variation of the name of the Zoroastrian demigod Mithra, was popular with Roman soldiers and the political elite for over 400 years. Since the Mithras cult, like all of the Roman mystery cults, was esoteric in nature, the exact nature of the influence other cultures had on the cult remains unknown, but some archaeological evidence has led modern scholars to make educated deductions. Some believe that the conscription of Persian soldiers into the Roman army and continued contact between the Parthians and Romans led to some members of the ever-eclectic Roman society adopting the cult directly from the Parthian/Zoroastrian religion (Clark 2001, 157). This seems like the most plausible explanation, but others have argued that the Mithras cult was actually a Roman religion that was given a Parthian faade to make it appear more exotic in order to attract Romans who were enthralled with eastern spirituality (Clark 2001, 157). The best evidence to determine the origins of the Mithras cult can be found in the many temples throughout Europe that the Romans erected to the god. These temples, known as mithraea, were subterranean chambers where the secret rituals of the cult took place. The best evidence from extant mithraea are the reliefs on the altars, which depict a graphic mythological story. The altar reliefs usually depict the god slaughtering a bull and often accompanied by a leaping dog (Clark 2001, 158). The references to Zoroastrian theology are unmistakable; the bull slaughter is similar to an account from a Zoroastrian text (the Bundahishen), while dogs were viewed as asha animals in Zoroastrian theology and an important part of the funerary ritual (Clark 2001, 158). The detailed iconography on the Mithras altars suggests that the inventors of the Mithras cult had more than just a superficial knowledge of Zoroastrianism, which in turn indicates a provenance of the religion somewhere in Persian or Parthia.
Author : Roger Beck
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2006-01-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9780191518232
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.
Author : David Ulansey
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2005-05-01
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0195153464
Author : William John Phythian-Adams
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 206 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 1915
Category : Mithra
ISBN : HARVARD:32044024157448
Author : D. Jason Cooper
Publisher : Weiser Books
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 1996-06-01
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781609257132
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.
Author : Allan Di Donato
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2020-12-24
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1736355805
One of the most challenging objections to the historicity of the New Testament documents and the uniqueness of first century Christianity is the accusation of wholesale borrowing from earlier pagan sources. Such accusations are common in the fields of comparative religion and mythology. Parallels have been drawn between the story of Jesus and various other religious leaders, heroes, and pagan dying and rising gods. Though these parallels are found in stories from various cultures going back several millennia before the Christian era, the most prevalent challenge has come from what have become known as the mystery religions or mystery cults. From among these numerous cults, one has presented the greatest challenge and most striking parallels. That is the cult of Mithras, or Mithraism. This book addresses the theory that early Christianity borrowed heavily from Mithraism, and it investigates ancient textual and archaeological evidence as it seeks to evaluate that claim.