Orientalische Religionen in der Antike

Ägypten, Israel, Alter Orient

Oriental Religions in Antiquity

Egypt, Israel, Ancient Near East

(ORA)

Herausgegeben von / Edited by

Angelika Berlejung (Leipzig)
Joachim Friedrich Quack (Heidelberg)
Annette Zgoll (Göttingen)

24
 Attilio Mastrocinque

The Mysteries of Mithras

A Different Account

Mohr Siebeck
Attilio Mastrocinque, born 1952; 1975 Master; since 2002 Full Professor of Roman History at the Uni-
versity of Verona; 2008–10 president of Cultural Heritage courses at the University of Verona; 2005–15
Director of the Archaeological Mission at Grumentum (Lucania), and of that at Tarquinia in 2016–17;
2017 coordinator of the doctorate in Arts and Archaeology (Verona – Ghent).

e-ISBN PDF 978-3-16-155118-5

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ISSN 1869-0513 (Orientalische Religionen in der Antike)
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 Preface

After many years of writing and reflecting on the subject, I still feel that I have some-
thing more to say about the mysteries of Mithras. In fact, my research on Mithraism and
the Roman Emperors has produced some interesting results: For one, there is something
remarkable about the character of Mithras. That is, whenever we encounter him, I found
that his nature seemed so similar to that of a king or a ruler that people were often alleg-
edly unable to distinguish the one from the other. This peculiarity accompanies Mithras
throughout his history from his Hellenistic beginnings to his final adventures across the
Roman Empire. This interplay of alter egos could even assume a threefold aspect, for
Mithras was also very similar to the sun-god, and rulers, as well, were thought to be akin
to the sun-god, so that in the end, we find a remarkable triangulation between Helios,
Mithras, and Ruler. My study of this of ability of the ancients to create a dual personality
in Mithras and the Emperor exposed some well-known and important features of the
Roman imperial ideological system; as a consequence, I was forced to abandon the es-
tablished scholarly orthodoxy about Mithraism, and to look for an entirely new approach
to the study. My research resulted in a complete academic “heresy” of sorts, but I pre-
ferred not to mitigate the impact of this totally new approach, but to keep moving for-
ward on this new interpretative path. Many things appeared better explained by adopting
a brand new chronology and by giving a fresh meaning to the study of Mithraism. By
continuing to proceed along this way, many of my suspicions about my ideas of
Mithraism were confirmed, for example the significance of the sistrum as a symbol of
Jupiter. Therefore, I undertook to examine anew almost everything about Mithraism, and
about the relationship between Mithraism and the Imperial ideology. This proved so
important that even some marginal issues, such as the role of women, or the use of gim-
micks, could be seen in an entirely different light. Changes that occurred in the Severan
Age gave a higher role to the Augustae and to women altogether, and I have been com-
pelled to look more closely to see if Mithraism could also have been affected by this new
Imperial ideology. Even if no satisfactory result could be obtained in this case, the ques-
tions raised by my enquiry will force us to examine things differently, going forward. If
gimmicks too were meaningful not only to entertain initiates, they could also be seen to
produce an unexpected surprise by finally exposing the “truth” that lay behind them. In
Persia Mithras was the god of Truth! This, too, at the highest level, could also be seen to
uncover something about the Imperial ideology, as well.
I profitted from an old-fashioned education that emphasized studying ancient history
along with philology and archaeology, even though many scholars nowadays are con-
vinced that a historical and philological approach to ancient religions has nothing more
to say, and that new research fields are more promising such as those of sociology, an-
VI Preface

thropology, and cognitivism. This is probably true, but under one condition: no matter
our approach, we still need, in the end, to know what we truly are dealing with.
The comparative method of religious studies enjoys scant favour, nowadays. But the
mysteries of Mithras can only be explained by means of comparative methodologies and
by supposing that the iconographic and ritual features of this cult were not restricted to,
but also recurred out of, the Mithraea. The most important discoveries about Mithraism
was hitherto made possible thanks to the comparative method, and one needs to remem-
ber, for example, that the greatest contributions of Cumont, Saxl, Gordon, Beck, and
Turcan all depended upon the comparative approach to religious studies.
The so-called “eastern cults” (among whom Mithraism is always included) in the
Roman Empire are still scarcely known, and it is a pity that a great and important Euro-
pean project, led by two illustrious scholars from France and Germany, was not funded.
It would have been the occasion to create a new corpus of Mithraic documents, thanks to
the cooperation of many specialists from all over Europe and the Near East. The interna-
tional workshop of research, which Franz Cumont created at the end of the 19th century,
was about to be reinaugurated. This is the only way of coping with topics so difficult as
the cults of Egypt and the Near East which were spread, accepted, and greatly trans-
formed within the Roman Empire. Their dynamics are mostly hidden to us, and we see
only their results, thanks to the scanty remains in literature, inscriptions, and the archaeo-
logical record.
Now my only concern is to understand the Mithraic iconography by means of the
comparative method. In this study I will present the most important documents and give
a short commentary on them, and then pass on to envisage a long series of hitherto un-
known features of this fascinating Persian god. If this new approach produces its desired
effect, the reader will end up understanding a small part of what the Mithraic devotees
came to know and experience after their initiation in a Mithraeum. But Mithras was both
the god of truth and the god of deception (at least in discovering and condemning it), and
one can never be too sure that he (or she) will not have fallen victim to his deception but
one more just because a single researcher might have been found unworthy of uncover-
ing the truth.
I am able to present this research thanks to the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stiftung,
which supported my activities in Heidelberg at the Seminar für alte Geschichte und
Epigraphik.
I wish to thank my colleagues in Heidelberg, and especially Kai Trampedach, Chris-
tian Witschel, and Joachim-Friedrich Quack, who also accepted this work in the ORA
series, and many thanks also to my friends Raffaella Bortolin, Darius Frackowiak, Roy
Kotansky, Marina Piranomonte, Alfonsina Russo Tagliente, Gabriella Scapaticci, Si-
mona Carosi, and Giovanna Bastianelli, with whom I discussed many problems concern-
ing Mithras and Mithraism. I am also grateful to the Museums which kindly provided me
with photographs, and, in particular, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département
des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques, Paris; Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu; So-
printendenza Archeologica della Campania, Salerno; Römisch-Germanisches Museum,
Cologne; Museum Schloss Fechenbach, Dieburg; Civic Museum, Frankfurt; Badisches
Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe; National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden; Lobdengau-
Museum, Ladenburg; Ormož Regional Museum, Ptuj; National Museum of Roman Art,
 Preface VII

Mérida; Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l’Area

Archeologica di Roma, Rome; Musei Civici and Museo della Centrale Montemartini,
Rome; Museum des Römerkastell, Saalburg; National Museum of Bosnia and Herzego-
vina, Sarajevo; Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier; Museo Civico Maffeiano, Verona.
 Contents

Preface ........................................................................................................................ V

Abbreviations ............................................................................................................. XIII

List of illustrations ...................................................................................................... XVII

Chapter 1: Basic Elements of Mithraism ......................................................... 1

§ 1. Character and Bias of Ancient Sources on Mithraism ......................................... 1

§ 2. The Seven Grades of Initiation ............................................................................ 5
§ 3. The Initiatory Rituals ........................................................................................... 10
§ 4. The Fourth Grade: Leo and his God Jupiter ........................................................ 16
§ 5. A Christian Imitation of the Seven Initiation Grades .......................................... 20
§ 6. The Mithraic Cave ............................................................................................... 22
§ 7. The Two Niches in the Mithraic Cave ................................................................. 25
§ 8. Theories on the Cultural Origin of Mithraism ..................................................... 26
§ 9. Mithraism from Zoroaster to Plato ....................................................................... 28
§ 10. How Christian was Roman Mithraism ................................................................ 30
§ 11. History of Scholarly Research in Mithraism ....................................................... 35

Chapter 2: Mithraism, Kings, and Emperors ................................................. 41

§ 12. How were the Roman Emperors involved in Mithraism? ................................... 41
§ 13. Who was Mithras? .............................................................................................. 45
§ 14. Mithras and the Kings ......................................................................................... 50
§ 15. The King as Mithras ............................................................................................ 53
§ 16. Tauroctony on Coins from Tarsus ...................................................................... 59
§ 17. Invictus ................................................................................................................ 61
§ 18. The Cosmocrator and other Imperial Iconographies ........................................... 64
§ 19. Victoria and the Imperial Eagle .......................................................................... 68
§ 20. Sol and the Emperor ............................................................................................ 71
§ 21. The Apotheosis of Roman Emperor .................................................................... 73
§ 22. The Priests of Apollo .......................................................................................... 78
§ 23. Apollo – Mithras ................................................................................................. 80
§ 24. A Persian God with Divus Augustus ................................................................... 83
X Contents

§ 25. Salvation of the Soul ........................................................................................... 91

§ 26. Mithras between Imperial Apotheosis and damnatio memoriae ......................... 98

Chapter 3: The Myths of the Origins (left Predellas) .................................. 103

§ 27. Victoria and Mithras I: Saturn’s Dream .............................................................. 103
§ 28. Victoria and Mithras II: The Birth of Mithras from the Rock ............................ 107
§ 29. Victoria and Mithras III: from Gigantomachy to the Birth of Mithras ............... 112
§ 30. The Miracle of the Water and the Birth of a New Humankind ........................... 114
§ 31. Jupiter at Actium, the Gigantomachy, and the Sistrum ...................................... 117
§ 32. The Mithraic Prophecy ........................................................................................ 120
§ 33. The End of the Civil War and the Prophecy ....................................................... 126
§ 34. The Magi at Bethlehem........................................................................................ 134
§ 35. Mithras as an Archer ........................................................................................... 136
§ 36. Appendix 1. Cautes and Cautopates ................................................................... 138

Chapter 4: The Myth of the Bull

(Central Scene and Upper Predellas) ............................................................... 145
§ 37. The Sacrifice of the Bull ..................................................................................... 145
§ 38. The Meaning of the Mithraic Bull ...................................................................... 151
§ 39. Danaos, the Bull, and Augustus .......................................................................... 152
§ 40. The Bull on a Boat .............................................................................................. 155
§ 41. Mercury and the Transitus .................................................................................. 161
§ 42. Salvation in the Mysteries of Mithras ................................................................. 166
§ 43. Mithras the Hunter .............................................................................................. 169

Chapter 5: Sol’s Coronation and Mithras’ Apotheosis

(Right Predellas) ..................................................................................................... 171
§ 44. The Right Predellas: Mithras and Sol ................................................................. 171
§ 45. Mithras’ Apotheosis ............................................................................................ 178
§ 46. Refusing the Crown ............................................................................................ 183
§ 47. The Spread of Mithraism in the Roman Empire ................................................. 185
§ 48. Imperial Freedmen and Mithraism ...................................................................... 189
§ 49. From Nero to Vespasian ..................................................................................... 192
§ 50. Appendix 2. Tiridates’ Coronation and Mithraism ............................................. 199
 Contents XI

Chapter 6: The Mithraic Aiones ........................................................................ 205

§ 51. Mazdaism vs. Mithraism ..................................................................................... 205
§ 52. The Lion-Headed God ........................................................................................ 207
§ 53. Orphic Pattern in Mithraism ............................................................................... 215
§ 54. The Lion and the Snake ...................................................................................... 218
§ 55. The Supreme Triad of Mithraism ........................................................................ 223
§ 56. Treatment of Mazdaism ...................................................................................... 227
§ 57. Tarsian Culture under the Roman Empire .......................................................... 228
§ 58. Sandas, the Tarsian God of War and of the Dead ............................................... 232
§ 59. The God of the Dead is raised to the Hypercosmic World ................................. 236

Chapter 7: The System of Planetary and Hypercosmic Gods ................... 241

§ 60. The Seven Gods According to History. The First Four Gods ............................. 241
§ 61. The Seven Gods According to Ancient Theogonies ........................................... 242
§ 62. The Three Uppermost Initiatory Grades ............................................................. 243
§ 63. The Geography of a Mithraeum .......................................................................... 246
§ 64. The Whole System of Mithraic Gods ................................................................. 252
§ 65. The Mithraic Triangle ......................................................................................... 257
§ 66. The Central Position of Sol ................................................................................. 259
§ 67. The Mithraic Theogony ...................................................................................... 260

Chapter 8: Mithraism and the Magic Arts ...................................................... 265

§ 68. Magic Deceptions ............................................................................................... 265
§ 69. Knowledge of natural Substances among Hellenistic Magi ............................... 269
§ 70. Magical Performances at Banquets ..................................................................... 270
§ 71. Supposed Magi .................................................................................................... 274
§ 72. Gnostic Imitations of magic Performances ......................................................... 276
§ 73. Speaking Skulls ................................................................................................... 277
§ 74. Tricks during Mithraic Banquets ........................................................................ 282
§ 75. Deception or Truth? ............................................................................................ 286
§ 76. How was a Mithraic Community organized? ..................................................... 289
§ 77. The Psychological Impact of the Mysteries of Mithras ...................................... 292
§ 78. Teaching within the three higher Grades ............................................................ 293
§ 79. Mithraic Secrecy and public Cults ...................................................................... 295

Chapter 9: The Evolution of the Mithraism ................................................... 297

§ 80. Serapis in Some Mithraea ................................................................................... 297
§ 81. Hecate in Some Mithraea .................................................................................... 300
XII Contents

Chapter 10: Para-Mithraism ................................................................................ 303

§ 82. Mithraic Worship out of the Mithraea ................................................................ 303
§ 83. The Mithraic Catechism from Egypt .................................................................. 307
§ 84. The “Mithras Liturgy” ........................................................................................ 308

Chapter 11: The latest devotees of Mithras .................................................... 313

§ 85. The End of Mithraism ......................................................................................... 313
§ 86. The Mysteries of Mithras in the Christian Empire ............................................. 317
§ 87. Julian the Emperor and the Mysteries of Mithras ............................................... 321
§ 88. Julian and the Imperial Ideology ......................................................................... 324
§ 89. Romanization of Eastern Cults ........................................................................... 327

Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 333

Index ........................................................................................................................... 343

I. General Index............................................................................................................. 343

II. Index locorum........................................................................................................... 357

 Abbreviations

AE L’Année épigraphique
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
AJPh American Journal of Philology
AMS Asia Minor Studies
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt. Festschrift J.Vogt, eds. H. Tem-
porini and W. Haase, Berlin, and New York 1972–
ANSMN American Numismatic Society. Museum Notes
ARG Archiv für Religionsgeschichte
ARYS Antiguedad, Religiones y Sociedades
BCAR Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma
BGN Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften
BCH Bulletin de correspondence hellénique
BICS Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies
BMRP British Museum Research Publications
Bull.ép. Bulletin épigraphique (in Revue des Études Grecques)
CC Corpus Christianorum (series Latina et series Graeca)
CCAG Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum
CFC Convegni della Fondazione Canussio
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
CIMRM M.J. Vermaseren, Corpus inscriptionum et monumentorum religionis Mithriacae,
I–II, The Hague 1956 and 1960
CQ The Classical Quarterly
CRAI Comptes rendus de des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
DHA Dialogues d’Histoire Ancienne
EFH Entretiens de la Fondation Hadt
EJMS Electronic Journal of Mithraic Studies
EPRO Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l’empire romain, Leiden
1961–
FGH Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, ed. F. Jacoby, Berlin and Leiden
1923–
FARG Forschungen zur Anthropologie und Religionsgeschichte
GCS Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte
HUTh Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie
HThR Harvard Theological Review
IGR Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes, ed. R. Cagnat, I–V, Paris
1901–1927
IGUR Inscriptiones Graecae urbis Romae, ed. L. Moretti, Rome 1968–1979
IK Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien, Bonn 1972–
ILLRP Inscriptiones Latinae liberae rei publicae, ed. A. Degrassi, Florence 1957–63
ILS Inscriptiones Latinae selectae, ed. H. Dessau, Berlin 1892–1916
Inscr.It. Inscriptiones Italiae
XIV Abbreviations

ISK Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning

JA Journal Asiatique
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JbAC Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum
JdI Jahrbuch des archäologischen Instituts
IGLS Inscriptions grecques et latines de Syrie, I–XVII, Paris and Beirut 1929–2014
JMS Journal of Mithraic Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JNG Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte
JRA Journal of Roman Archaeology
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
KUB Keilschrifturkunden aus Boghazköi, Berlin 1921–1990
LIMC Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, Basel 1981–2009
LTUR Lexicon topographicum urbis Romae, ed. E.M. Steinby, I–V, Rome 1993–2007
MAAR Memories of the American Academy in Rome
MAPhS Memories of the American Philosophical Society
MAS Mainzer archäologische Schriften
MCAAS Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences
MDAI(I) Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts (Istanbuler Abteilung)
MDAI(R) Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts (Römische Abteilung)
MedAnt Mediterraneo Antico
MEFRA Mélanges de l’École Française de Rome (Antiquité)
NHC Nag Hammadi codices
NHS Nag Hammadi Studies
NHMS Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies
OGIS Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae, ed. W. Dittenberger, Leipzig, 1903–1905
OA Orbis Antiquus
OLA Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta
ORA Orientalische Religionen in der Antike
PawB Potsdamer altertumswissenschaftliche Beiträge
PEFR Publications de l’École Française de Rome
PGM Papyri Graecae Magicae. Die griechischen Zauberpapyri, eds. K. Preisendanz
and A. Henrichs, Munich and Leipzig 1973
PL Patrologiae cursus completus (series Latina), ed. J.P. Migne, Paris 1866–1911
RdA Rivista di Archeologia
RE Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, eds. C. Pauly,
G. Wissowa, and W. Kroll, Stuttgart 1892–1980
PLRE The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, eds. A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martin-
dale, and J. Morris, I–III, Cambridge 1971–1992
REA Revue des Études Anciennes
REL Revue des Études Latines
RGRW Religions in the Greek and Roman World
RHR Revue de l’histoire des Religions
RIC The Roman Imperial Coinage, eds. C.H.V. Sutherland et alii, I–X, London 1923–
1994
RPC A. Burnett, M. Amandry, and P.P. Ripollès, Roman Provincial Coinage, I, Lon-
don and Paris 1992
RO Res Orientales
RPAA Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia di Archeologia
RPh Revue de Philologie
RRC M.H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge 1971
 Abbreviations XV

RVV Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten

SAA State Archives of Assyria
SAG Scripta Archaeologica Groningana
SC Syllecta Classica
SCO Studi Classici e Orientali
SEG Supplementum epigraphicum Graecum
SGG Sylloge gemmarum gnosticarum, ed. A. Mastrocinque, I–II, Rome 2004 and
2008
3
SIG Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, ed. W. Dittenberger, 3rd ed., Leipzig 1915–
1923
SMSR Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni
SNG Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum
STAC Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum
TAPhS Transactions of the American Philosophical Society
TGF Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta
TMM F. Cumont, Textes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra, I–II,
Brussels 1896–1898
ZNW Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft
ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
  

List of illustrations

fig. 1 Marble relief in Verona, Museo Civico Maffeiano, discovered in Anzio (2nd cent. CE);
CIMRM 204. Photo Mastrocinque, with the permission of the Civici Musei di Verona.
fig. 2 Ostia, the Mithraeum of Felicissimus and the symbols of Mithraic grades (2nd half of
the 2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 299. Photo and rendering Mastrocinque.
fig. 3 Frescoes from the Mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere depicting rituals of initia-
tion (2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 194; 187; 191; from M.J. Vermaseren, Mithra, ce dieu
mystérieux, Paris and Brussels 1960, 110.
fig. 4 Marble statue in Rome, Vatican Library, from Ostia (190 CE); CIMRM 313. Drawing
from Cumont, TMM, 238.
fig. 5 Stone reliefs from Nemrud Dagh and Arsameia on the Nymphaios depicting Antiochus
shaking hands with Mithras and Heracles (mid-1st cent. BCE). Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 6 Stone relief from Nemrud Dagh depicting the constellation of Leo (mid-1st cent. BCE);
CIMRM 31. Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 7 Relief from Taq-i-Bustan depicting the coronation of Ardashir II (379–383 CE). Photo
Omar Coloru.
fig. 8 The funerary monument of Antiochos I on the Nemrud Dagh (mid-1st cent. BCE).
Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 9 Antiochos I and Mithras on the Nemrud Dagh (mid-1st cent. BCE). Photo Mastro-
cinque.
fig. 10 Coins from Tarsus. a–b. Two bronze coins of Gordianus III (238–243 CE), and c–d.
Two silver coins of the satraps Mazaios (361–334 BCE) and Datames (378–361 BCE).
Drawing from Cumont, TMM, and photographs from coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 11 Aureus of Augustus celebrating the submission of Armenia (19 or 18 BCE). From coin
auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 12 Detail of a Mithraic statue from the Mithraeum III of Carnuntum depicting a lion and
the head of a bull (2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 1690. Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 13 a. Coin of Carus (282–283 CE) with Sol and the emperor face to face. b–c. The Emperor
moves the zodiacal belt: b. Aureus of Hadrian (117–138 CE). c. Solidus of Constantine
(305–337 CE). From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 14 Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier. Mithras moving the zodiac (2nd cent. CE);. With the
permission of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier.
fig. 15 a. Antoninianus of Maximianus (286–305 CE): the Emperor and Hercules sacrificing on a
small altar. From coin auction (www.sixbid.com). b. Altar from Poetovio in the Ormož
Regional Museum in Ptuj: Sol and Mithras roasting meat (probably that of the bull) on an
altar (2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 1584. With the permission of the Ormož Regional Museum
in Ptuj.
fig. 16 a. Saalburg Museum: relief from the Mithraeum of Stockstadt depicting Victory (1st
half of the 3rd cent. CE); CIMRM 1181. With the permission of the Römerkastell Saal-
burg. b. Relief from Poetovio in the Regional Museum in Ptuj: Saturn dreaming of
Victory (2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 1593. With the permission of the Ormož Regional
Museum in Ptuj. c. Green jasper in the collection D. Lebeurrier (copyrigt Studio Sebert)
depicting Victory and Mithras; inscription: ‘Ηλίου Μίθρη(ς).
XVIII List of illustrations

fig. 17 The imperial eagle. a. Dupondius struck under Titus (79–81 CE) and depicting the divus
Augustus and an eagle on the cosmic sphere. From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
b. Civic Museum of Frankfurt: pillar from the Mithraeum III of Heddernheim (late 1st –
mid-3rd cent. CE) depicting an eagle on thunderbolt and cosmic sphere; CIMRM 1127.
With the permission of the Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt.
fig. 18 Bronze inscription from Halaesa praising the Apollonian priest Nemenios Daphnis
(early imperial age). From Scibona.
fig. 19 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques,
Grand camée de France and detail of the upper part. Photo Mastrocinque (Tiberian age).
With the permission of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
fig. 20 Amor and Psyche from the Mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere (2nd or 3rd cent.
CE); CIMRM 186. Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 21 Relief formerly in Bologna (2nd cent. CE). From CIMRM 693.
fig. 22 Relief from Osterburken in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe (first half of the 3rd
cent. CE). Inv.C 118, photo Thomas Goldschmidt, with the permission of the Badisches
Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe; CIMRM 1292.3. Detail: Sol driving his chariot towards the
heavenly realms, guided by Eros, and Luna entering the cosmos.
fig. 23 Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome. Luna entering the cosmos, led by Amor: detail of the
relief from the Mithraeum of Santo Stefano Rotondo, Rome (3rd cent. CE). Photo
Mastrocinque.
fig. 24 Landesmuseum für Kärnten / Regional Museum of Carinthia, Klagenfurt, Austria. Upper
part of the left predella and the almost entire right predella (2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 1430
C3. With the permission of the Landesmuseum für Kärnten / Regional Museum of Carin-
thia, Klagenfurt.
fig. 25 Dieburg, Museum Schloss Fechenbach. The two carved sides of a relief from Dieburg
depicting Sol and Phaethon, and, respectively, Mithras’ hunting (late 2nd cent. CE);
CIMRM 1247. Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission of the Museum Schloss Fech-
enbach, Dieburg.
fig. 26 Mithraeum Barberini, Rome. The left predellas are arranged downwards, the right ones
upwards (3rd cent. CE); CIMRM 390. Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 27 a. Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, detail of the Mithraic relief from Nersae, depicting
the Gigantomachy, the sleeping Saturn, and the birth of Mithras (2nd cent. CE); CIMRM
650. Photo Mastrocinque. b. Relief from Osterburken in the Badisches Landesmuseum,
Karlsruhe. Detail depicting the Gigantomachy, the sleeping Saturn, and the birth of
Mithras, and the birth of men from a tree (3rd cent. CE); CIMRM 1292.3. With the per-
mission of the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe. c. Cologne, Römisch-Germanisches
Museum: the birth of Mithras (3rd cent. CE); Schwertheim, 17, no.11a. Photo Mastro-
cinque. With the permission of the Römisch-Germanisches Museum Köln.
fig. 28 Detail of the relief from the Mithraeum of Heddernheim I, from a modern painted recon-
struction in the Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt (original in Wiesbaden, Landesmu-
seum für Kunst und Natur). A man sprouting from a tree, Mithras carrying the bull,
Mithras poses the radiate crown upon Sol’s head; Mithras shoots an arrow to pierce the
rock (ca. 200 CE); CIMRM 1083. Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission of the Ar-
chäologisches Museum Frankfurt.
fig. 29 Detail of a Mithraic relief from Neuenheim (Heidelberg), kept in the Badisches Landes-
museum, Karlsruhe, depicting Mithras shooting an arrow and the birth of a man from a
tree (second half of the 2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 1283. With the permission of the
Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe. b. Detail of the relief from Dieburg: Mithras’ har-
vest, and c. the birth of humans from a tree; CIMRM 1247. With the permission of the
Museum Schloss Fechenbach, Dieburg.
 List of illustrations XIX

fig. 30 Cistophorus of Augustus depicting a bunch of ears. From coin auction (www. six-
bid.com).
fig. 31 Two Magi depicted on the fresco from Dura Europos (early 3rd cent. CE); CIMRM 44.
From M.J. Vermaseren, Mithra, ce dieu mystérieux, Paris and Brussels 1960, 32.
fig. 32 Detail of the relief from Dieburg: Mithras conquering the bull (late 2nd cent. CE);
CIMRM 1247. With the permission of the Museum Schloss Fechenbach, Dieburg.
fig. 33 Statue from Poetovio, Ormož Regional Museum in Ptuj: Mithras carrying the bull, and
the inscription Transitus (2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 1247. Photo Mastrocinque. With the
permission of the Ormož Regional Museum in Ptuj.
fig. 34 Relief from Neuenheim (Heidelberg). The predellas on the right depict Mithras conquer-
ing the bull (second half of the 2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 1283. photo Thomas Goldschmidt.
With the permission of the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe.
fig. 35 Relief from the Trajanic arc at Benevento: two Victories killing bulls (114–117 CE).
Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 36 Gem in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Monnaies, Médailles et
Antiques: a Genius similar to Heracles, with a club resting on the head of a bull (2nd or
3rd cent. CE). Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 37 Cologne, Römisch-Germanisches Museum: Roman statue of Salus (second half of the
1st cent. CE). Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission of the Römisch-Germanisches
Museum Köln.
fig. 38 a–b. Aurei of Augustus and Vespasian (69–79 CE) depicting a bronze cow by the Athe-
nian sculptor Myron (5th cent. BCE). From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 39 a. Aureus of Augustus issued in Lyon depicting a butting bull. b. Denarius of Augustus
depicting a bull. From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 40 Rome, Musei Civici, Museo della Centrale Montemartini. Marble trabeation from the
temple of Apollo Sosianus: the triple triumph of Augustus (Augustan age). Photo Mastro-
cinque. With the permission of the Musei Civici di Roma, Museo della Centrale Monte-
martini.
fig. 41 a. Alba Iulia, Museul Regional, Romania. Detail of a Mithraic relief from Apulum depict-
ing the bull in a boat; CIMRM 1958. Photo Csaba Szabó. Cologne, Römisch-Germanisches
Museum. Fragment of a relief from Colonia: the bull in a boat and in a building; CIMRM
1019. Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission of the Römisch-Germanisches Museum
Köln.
fig. 42 Leiden, National Museum of Antiquities, inv. F 1959/5.2: relief depicting the Apis bull in
a funerary chapel built on a weeled boat. Hellenistic or Roman age. Photo and permission
of the National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden.
fig. 43 Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania: relief from Maros Portus, North of
Apulum (3rd cent. CE). Photo and permission of the Brukenthal National Museum,
Sibiu; CIMRM 1935.
fig. 44 Bronze coin from Amphipolis depicting Artemis Tauropolos (early Augustan age).
Photo Richard Veymiers.
fig. 45 Marble relief from the Velia, Rome (early imperial age). From Kater-Sibbes and Verma-
seren, Apis.
fig. 46 a. Mérida, National Museum of Roman Art: Mercury with his lyre, from the Mithraeum of
Merida; II cent. CE; CIMRM 780. Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission of the Na-
tional Museum of Roman Art, Mérida. b. Denarius of Augustus with a probable image of
Mercury as a lyre player. From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 47 National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two-sided relief from Konjic (3rd or 4th
cent. CE). Photo and permission of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Sarajevo.
XX List of illustrations

fig. 48 a. Relief from Osterburken, right predellas; CIMRM 1292. photo Thomas Goldschmidt,
with the permission of the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe. b. Ormož Regional
Museum in Ptuj: fragment of a Mithraic relief from Poetovio, Mithraeum II (2nd–3rd
cent. CE); CIMRM 1510.3. With the permission of the Ormož Regional Museum in Ptuj.
fig. 49 The coronation of Sol by the hand of Mithras. Fresco from the Mithraeum of Hawarte (4th
cent. CE). Museum of Hama. Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 50 Lobdengau-Museum Ladenburg. Relief from Lopodunum (Ladenburg): Mithras and
Sol’s banquet (second half of the 2nd cent. CE). Photo Mastrocinque. With the permis-
sion of the Lobdengau-Museum Ladenburg.
fig. 51 The Horologium Augusti. The shadow points towards the Ara Pacis on the autumnal
equinox. Drawing by Mastrocinque based on Buchner, “L’orologio solare di Augusto”.
fig. 52 The (probable) Mithraeum of Carmona, “Tumba del elefante”: lines of the sunbeam on
equinoxes and solstices (imperial age). From Jiménez Hernàn and Carrasco Gòmez
(simplified by Mastrocinque).
fig. 53 Detail of the Barberini fresco (3rd cent. CE): the sunbeam passes through Capricorn and
the flame of Cautes before reaching Mithras, whose head is placed under Libra. Photo
Mastrocinque.
fig. 54 a. Denarius of Augustus with Capricorn, cosmic globe, rudder and cornucopia. b. De-
narius of Vespasian with Capricorn and cosmic globe. From coin auction
(www.sixbid.com).
fig. 55 Mérida, National Museum of Roman Art: the two Aiones from the Mithraeum of Mé-
rida (2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 776. Photo Aurelio Perez and Mastrocinque. With the
permission of the National Museum of Roman Art, Mérida.
fig. 56 The Mithraic relief of Ottaviano Zeno (2nd–3rd cent. CE). From A. Lafreri, Tavola
marmorea di erudittione, in Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, 1564.
fig. 57 Castel Gandolfo, Villa Barberini (which is partly situated on the ruins of a villa of Domi-
tian) (perhaps 2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 326. From M.J. Vermaseren, Mithra, ce dieu mysté-
rieux, Paris and Brussels 1960, 102.
fig. 58 Modena, Galleria Estense. Mithraic relief from Rome depicting the human-headed Aion
(2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 695. Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission of the Galleria
Estense, Modena.
fig. 59 Rome, Mithraeum of vigna Muti (2nd–3rd cent. CE); CIMRM 383. Photo Bortolin.
fig. 60 Lobdengau-Museum Ladenburg. Relief from Neuenheim: Mithras as a cosmocrator
riding on horseback, accompanied by a lion and a snake (second half of the 2nd cent.
CE); CIMRM 1289. Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission of the Lobdengau-
Museum Ladenburg.
fig. 61 Ormož Regional Museum in Ptuj: the birth of Mithras, from Poetovio (2nd cent. CE);
CIMRM 1492–93. Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission of the Ormož Regional
Museum in Ptuj.
fig. 62 Fresco from Dura Europos: Mithras riding and hunting on horseback, accompanied by a
lion and a snake (early 2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 44. From M.J. Vermaseren, Mithra, ce dieu
mystérieux, Paris and Brussels 1960, 77.
fig. 63 a. and b. Aurei of Claudius (41–54 CE) and Vespasian (69–79 CE) depicting Nemesis
preceded by a snake and labelled Pax. c. Denarius of Hadrian (117–138 CE) with Nemesis
labelled Victoria. From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 64 Zeus Oromasdes, Mithras, and Heracles on the Nemrud Dagh (mid-1st cent. BCE).
fig. 65 Campana slab depicting two Tarsian Chimaerae (early Imperial Age). From H.H. von
Rohden and H. Winnefeld, Die Antiken Terrakotten im Auftrag des Archäologischen
Instituts des Deutschen Reichs, Band IV.1: Architektonische römische Tonreliefs der
Kaiserzeit, Berlin and Stuttgart 1911, pl. LXIII.2.
 List of illustrations XXI

fig. 66 a. Musei Civici di Verona: jasper gem. Photo Mastrocinque, with the permission of the
Civici Musei di Verona (2nd–3rd cent. CE). b. Bronze coin of Tarsus, both depicting the
Tarsian Chimaera (211–217 CE). From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 67 Thorvaldsen Museum of Copenhagen: gem depicting a lion-headed Sandas, the Tarsian
god, standing on an eagle (imperial age). Drawing Mastrocinque.
fig. 68 Tetradrachm of Antiochos VIII (126–96 BCE) struck at Tarsus and depicting the funerary
temple of Sandas, accompanied by his Chimaera; an eagle is on the top of the monument.
From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 69 a. Jasper gem depicting Serapis raised aloft by an eagle (2nd–3rd cent. CE). From an
auction (www.sixbid.com). b. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Mon-
naies, Médailles et Antiques. Jasper gem depicting Sabaoth standing on an eagle. Photo
Mastrocinque
fig. 70 Landesmuseum für Kärnten / Regional Museum of Carinthia, Klagenfurt, Austria. Bronze
slab from Virunum, in Noricum (Austria), with the list of 98 members of a Mithraic com-
munity (late 2nd cent. CE). From Piccottini.
fig. 71 a. Cistophorus of Augustus with the sign of Capricorn and cornucopia. b. Denarius of
Pescennius Niger (193–195 CE) with two Capricorns and the inscription hilaritas. From
coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 72 a. Sestertius of Tiberius (14–37 CE) which celebrates the birth of Drusus minor’s two
sons. b. Dupondius of Vespasian (69–79 CE) probably celebrating his two sons. From
coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 73 a. Denarius of Domitian (81–96 CE) with an image of Amalthea. b. Antoninianus of
Valerianus II (Caesar: 255–258 CE) with Amalthea and Jupiter crescens on the reverse.
From coin auction (www.sixbid.com).
fig. 74 Ostia, Mithraeum delle sette Sfere (photo Mastrocinque) and schematic representation of
planets and zodiacal signs (2nd cent. CE). Rendering Mastrocinque, based on R. Gordon.
Cologne, Römisch-Germanisches Museum: altar with an image of the cosmic globe
fig. 75 framed by a triangle (probably 3rd cent. CE). Photo Mastrocinque. With the permission
of the Römisch-Germanisches Museum Köln.
fig. 76 The Mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere with its painted starry ceiling (early 2nd
cent. CE); CIMRM 181. Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 77 The Mithraeum of Caracalla baths (212–216 CE): the modern fence surrounds a rectangu-
lar trench; CIMRM 457. Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 78 The Mithraeum of the Caracalla baths: the small rectangular funnel in the wall (212–216
CE). Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 79 a. Mithraic Aion and Anubis on a magical gem. From J. Matter, Histoire critique du
Gnosticisme, Paris 1828, pl. II C.1 (probably 3rd cent. CE).
b. Mithraic Aion holding a torch and a key on an obsidian gem; on the reverse side: NI-
CHAROPLÊX IÔA (probably 3rd cent. CE). F. Wieseler, Göttingische Antiken, Göttin-
gen 1858, fig. 35.
fig. 80 Mithraic obsidian axe once in the collection of Federico Zeri (probably 3rd cent. CE).
Photo Mastrocinque.
fig. 81 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques:
Chalcedony gem depicting a lion-headed god (probably 3rd cent. CE). Photo Mastro-
cinque.
 Chapter 1

Basic Elements of Mithraism

§ 1. Character and Bias of Ancient Sources on Mithraism

The mysteries of Mithras were an allegedly Persian cult. This is supported by the ob-
servation that the fifth initiatory grade was that of the Perses, i.e. “the Persian”. Bet-
ween 81 and 92 CE the poet Statius knew of a Persian cult, in which the solar god
Apollo was called Mithras and was represented as a god who tames a bull:
... seu te roseum Titana vocari
gentis Achaemeniae ritu, seu praestat Osirim
frugiferum, seu Persei sub rupibus antri
indignata sequi torquentem cornua Mithram.
It is right to call you either rosy Titan, according to the Achaemenid ritual, or Osiris Bringer-of-the-
1
Harvest, or Mithras, who beneath the rocky cave of Perseus strains at the reluctant-following horns.

Here the mention of Perseus evoked the origin of the Persians from Perseus’ son, Per-
2
ses, who was the alleged ancestor of the ancient Persian kings, who were also called,
3
after him, the Perseidae. Porphyry, in the 3rd century CE, credits Zoroaster (Iranian,
Zarathustra), the great prophet of Iranian Mazdaism, with the foundation of the first
4
Mithraic cave. Celsus, in the 2nd century CE, speaks of the mysteries of the Persians
5
by alluding to the Roman Mithraism. Firmicus Maternus in the 4th century CE argued
against the practice of Mithraism because it urged the Romans to abide by Persian
6
laws. He adds, in his de errore profanarum religionum, that the Persians and their
Magi worshipped fire and that their prophet handed over this cult to the Romans along

1
Stat., Thebais I.717–720. The scholium confirms the words of the poet by saying that the Persi-
ans were the first worshippers of Mithras-Sol who created his cultic caves, where the god is re-
presented in Persian attire holding the horns of a bull: Persae in spelaeis coli Solem primi invenisse
dicuntur. Est enim in spelaeo Persico habitu cum tiara et utrisque manibus bovis cornua compri-
mens: “the Persians are said to have been the first to worship the Sun in caves. Mithras is in fact in a
cave, dressed as a Persian, wearing a tiara, grasping the horns of a bull with his hands”. According to
Lucian., Deorum concilium 9, Mithras was a Mede.
2
Her. VII.61; 150.
3
Her. I.125.
4
Porph., de antro 6; for the text, see below, p.25.
5
Celsus, apud Orig., contra Celsum VI.23.
6
Firm. Mat., de err. 4: Cur haec Persarum sola laudatis? Si hoc Romano nomine dignum putatis
ut Persarum sacris, ut Persarum legibus serviat: “Why do you praise only those things among the
Persians? If you deem worthy of the Roman name to be slave of Persian rites and laws”.
2 Chapter 1: Basic Elements of Mithraism

with a god who stole a bull; this god, it turns out, was Mithras, a deity who was long
7
worshipped in the darkness of some obscure caves.
The great Belgian scholar Franz Cumont, who founded the scientific study of
Mithraism, was therefore certain that the cultic and doctrinal bases of Mithraism had
to be sought within the Iranian religion, i.e. within Mazdaism. In fact, Iranian mono-
theism, a sometimes standardly accepted tenet of Mazdaism – with Ahura Mazda as
supreme god and Arihman as his evil counterpart – actually admits the worship of two
lesser deities, Mithras and Anahita.

fig. 1: Marble relief in Verona, Museo Civico Maffeiano, discovered in Anzio (2nd cent. CE);
CIMRM 204. Photo Mastrocinque, with the permission of the Civici Musei di Verona.

Mithras, on the other hand, was also worshipped independently in India. The modern
study of Mithraism, therefore, is thus based on three categories of documents: the Ira-
nian and Indian texts (archaeological documents are scarce); the Greek and Roman
texts dealing with the mysteries of Mithras; and the monuments and inscriptions from
the Mithraic caves.

7
Firm. Mat., de err. 4: Persae et magi omnes qui Persicae regionis incolunt fines ignem praefer-
unt ... virum vero abactorem bovum colentes sacra eius ad ignis transferunt potestatem, sicut prophe-
ta eius nobis tradidit dicens: Μύστα βοοκλοπίης … Hunc Mithram dicunt, sacra vero eius in spelun-
cis abditis tradunt, ut semper obscuro tenebrarum squalore demersi gratiam splendidi ac sereni lu-
minis vitent: “Persians and all the Magi who inhabit the Persian territory prefer the fire among all the
elements… They worship a male god as a cattle thief and connect his cult with the power of fire, as
his prophet unveiled to us by saying: ‘O initiate of the theft of the bull, united by the handshake of
the illustrious father’… They call him Mithras. They transmit the secret rites always in hidden caves,
and they want to be surrounded by sombre and sad darkness and avoid the blessing of splendid and
peaceful light”.
 § 1. Character and Bias of Ancient Sources on Mithraism 3

8
In his famous book Les mystères de Mithra Cumont wrote:
Notre situation est à peu près celle où nous serions s’il nous fallait écrire l’histoire de l’Église au
Moyen Âge en ne disposant pour toute ressource que de la Bible hébraïque et des débris sculptés de
portails romans et gothiques.
9
We have already quoted the passage from Firmicus Maternus in which an unnamed
prophet of Mithraism is mentioned. We do not know who this prophet was, but in the
frescoes from the Mithraeum of Dura Europos we have our most likely candidates in
the two Magi who are therein depicted, most probably Zoroaster and Osthanes – the
one, the Father of Mazdaism himself, and the other, the celebrated Magus of king Xer-
10
xes – i.e. the two most famous Magi of all time.
But we do not know of the existence of any prophetic book written by Zoroaster
(Zarathustra), apart from the Avestan Gathas (religious songs), or of any written by
another authoritative Magus of Persian Zoroastrianism, a book that could be consi-
dered the Bible of Mithraism; but Firmicus had such a text at his disposal and appa-
rently consulted it. On the other hand, late apocryphal works by Zoroaster and Ostha-
nes are known, but these deal with secret properties of minerals, plants, animals, stars,
and similar topics. We will see that such works were written by certain learned scho-
lars, who stood in a direct relationship with Mithraism and that Roman Mithraists pro-
bably read such books. They were certainly not secret, in the sense of being kept from
public view, as many copies of them were widely circulated in the ancient world. We
will deal with such ‘secret’ books in some forthcoming chapters.
Early approaches to the study of Mithraism were based mostly on examining the
ancient Avestan traditions. Many scholars perused the Avesta and later Iranian works,
and the Indian Sanskrit Veda as well, but they discovered very few comparisons with
the Roman Mithraism. The Iranian origin of Roman Mithraic iconography and rituals
11
proved a misleading hypothesis. However, we will see that some important Iranian
features were kept, even if transformed, within Mithraism, but this is far from being a
simple transfer of religious beliefs from Iran to Rome.
Greek and Roman sources cannot be approached in an uncritical fashion. The only
aim of the Christian writers was the disapproval and rebuttal of Mithraic paganism.

8
F. Cumont, Les mystères de Mithra (3rd ed., Brussels 1913), new ed. by N. Belayche, A. Ma-
strocinque, and D. Bonanno, Bibliotheca Cumontiana. Scripta maiora III, Turin 2013, 6. Transl.
McCormack: “Our predicament is somewhat similar to that in which we should find ourselves if we
were called upon to write the history of the Church of the Middle Ages with no other sources at our
command than the Hebrew Bible and the sculptured débris of Roman and Gothic portals”.
9
On the possible sources of Firmicus (either original pagan texts or anthologies by Christian au-
thors) see F. Massa, “Confrontare per distruggere. Firmico Materno e l’origine diabolica dei culti ori-
entali”, SMSR 79, 2013, 493–509, part. 502–503.
10
J. Bidez and F. Cumont, Les mages hellénisés. Zoroastre, Ostanès et Hystaspe d’après la tradi-
tion grecque, I, Paris 1938, 39 and pl. I; CIMRM 44; F. Cumont, “The Dura-Mithraeum”, in Mithraic
Studies, ed. J.R. Hinnells, I, Manchester 1975, 182–184.
11
See G. Widengren, Synkretistische Religionen, in Religion, II: Religionsgeschichte des Orients
in der Zeit der Weltreligionen, eds. J. Leipoldt, G. Widengren, A. Adam, B. Spuler, E.L. Dietrich,
J.W. Fück, and A. von Gabain, Handbuch der Orientalistik, I.8, Leiden and Cologne 1961, 44–55;
R.L. Gordon, “Franz Cumont and the Doctrines of Mithraism”, in Mithraic Studies, I, 215–248.
4 Chapter 1: Basic Elements of Mithraism

They thought that the Devil inspired this cult and introduced into it some alleged
imitations of the Christian sacraments. Those authors were scarcely interested in kno-
wing and understanding the mysteries of Mithras, on its own terms, and one could
hardly believe that they had ever been true initiates. They took pleasure in describing
the cruelty of the initiatory rites, this is true, in the same manner in which they exces-
sively described the suffering of their own martyrs, because the Devil was, of course,
behind all such pagan rites. But many bits of information about Mithraism from Chri-
stian authors were not false, especially those of Tertullian. They knew something of
the Mithraic rituals, but they did not explain either what their true meaning was, nor
what the social and moral purposes were that the Mithraic practitioners aimed at.
Very few pagan authors even discussed Mithraism, probably because it was such a
secret cult. However, some philosophers were highly interested in looking for philo-
sophical verities within certain religious practices and their inherited prophecies. The
middle Platonists, and above all the Neopythagorean Numenius, were engaged in
comparing (or contrasting) the more highly credited religious belief-systems of their
days, even those of Judaism or those in respect of Egyptian cults, if only to discover
some primeval principles contained therein. Following this philophical stream,
Porphyry wrote, in the second half of the 3rd century CE, the most important philo-
sophical passages we have at our disposal concerning Mithraism. He could use the
previous works of Pallas (Hadrianic age ?), who produced, according to Porphyry, the
best work on the mysteries of Mithras, and of Eubulus (a near-contemporary of Pal-
12
las), who was interested in both Mithraism and Persian religion and wrote a treatise
in many books. From those philosophers we get a particular image of a kind of philo-
13
sophical and Platonizing Mithraism. However Robert Turcan emphasized that these
philosophers were probably not initiates of Mithraism but added their own interpreta-
tions to what amounted to a lesser philosophical cultic system. As Jaime Alvar un-
14
derscored, “there is no evidence that they narrated a complete or coherent myth of
Mithras. Moreover it is striking that his cult is completely absent from Clement of
Alexandria, Arnobius and pseudo-Hippolytus, which might well imply that there was
no documented narrative for them to get their teeth into”.
Our most important information comes from Porphyry’s de abstinentia and de antro
Nympharum. This latter proves far more reliable than the former when addressing the
15
various tenets of Mithraism. Richard Gordon, in fact, analyzed the de antro and no-

12
R. Turcan, Mithras Platonicus: recherches sur l’hellénisation philosophique de Mithra, EPRO
47, Leiden 1975, 23–43. However J. Alvar, Romanising Oriental Gods. Myth, Salvation and Ethics in
the Cults of Cybele, Isis and Mithras, RGRW 165, Leiden and Boston 2008, 75, n. 155 noticed that
“this date is simply an inference from Porphyry, who says that according to Pallas Hadrian abolished
human sacrifice (De abstin. 2, 56)”.
13
Turcan, Mithras Platonicus; R. Turcan, “Le sacrifice mithriaque”, in Le sacrifice dans l’an-
tiquité, eds. J. Rudhardt and O. Reverdin, EFH 27, Vandoeuvres and Geneva 1981, 341–380 = Re-
cherches mithriaques, 50.
14
Alvar, Romanising Oriental Gods, 75–76.
15
R. Gordon, “The Sacred Geography of a Mithraeum: the Example of Sette Sfere”, JMS 1.2,
1976, 119–165 = Image and Value in the Graeco-Roman World, Aldershot 1996, 119–165.
 § 2. The Seven Grades of Initiation 5

ticed several important features that were confirmed from what we can garner from the
Mithraic monuments (i.e. the Mithraea).
The works of the emperor Julian (“the Apostate”, 361–363 CE), another Platonistic
thinker, were written after the triumph of Christianity, during the short period of the
revival of paganism. At this stage the mysteries of Mithras had almost everywhere dis-
appeared, for at least several decades, but some cultivated groups of the upper classes
had tried to revive it again by returning to practicing the cult in the caves. We will see
that the position of several modern scholars in trying to dissociate Julian from
Mithraism, as much as possible, is not a safe assumption. Julian was actually inte-
rested in Mithraism insofar as he was fond of every pagan mystery cult in general,
especially solar cults. He knew all about, or almost all about every pagan cult and
especially about his own favorite, that of the sun god, Helios-Sol. However he was
open to either accepting or modifying – and even refusing some aspects of – the most
important pagan doctrines. We have scarce information from Julian, who mentions
Mithras in several occasions, but what he does describe about the sun god would not
contradict what we know of Mithraic doctrine.
This threefold conceptual foundation, based on Iranian and Indian texts, on archaeo-
logy, and on Greek and Latin authors, misses a fourth “leg”, and this book aims at
providing its readers with this fourth element, namely, the element of what we might
call the ‘Imperial ideology’. The study of Mithraism must stand on a table of four legs.
Authors of the Augustan Age, and the inscriptions and sources concerning the Ro-
man Imperial cult, including public monuments and coins, are all very useful in hel-
ping to understand what stood at the very heart of Mithraism. Without Virgil, we
would be as baffled by Mithraism as we would be if we were to stand face-to-face
with the Rosetta stone without its Greek parallel translation.
16
Cumont was aware of the importance of the study of this ‘Imperial ideology’, be-
cause the god Mithras was a supporter and sponsor of kings and emperors. But he was
convinced that the core of Mithraism rested in its ancient Mazdean roots. Recent rese-
arch on Mithraism has contributed to the conclusion that we should let emperors and
their Imperial ideology stand alone, for scholars scrupulously separate Sol/Sol invictus
from Mithras, and they suppose that the emperors were disinterested in Mithraism,
altogether. On the other hand, recent research has also noticed that Mithraism was per-
fectly well integrated everywhere within the social context of the Roman Empire, and
that it was even more at home in the Western provinces than in the Eastern ones.

§ 2. The Seven Grades of Initiation

First of all we must describe the most important features of the mysteries of Mithras;
thereafter we will sketch the main problem of the similarities between Christianity and
Mithraism, in order to be as free as possible from preconceived notions of what these
supposed ‘similarities’ looked like. In point of fact, several ancient authors, both Chri-
16
On the Mithraism as a support to the Imperial ideology cf. also J. Gagé, “Basiléia”. Les Césars,
les rois d’Orient et les “mages”, Paris 1968, chap. VII.
6 Chapter 1: Basic Elements of Mithraism

stians and Pagans, induced modern scholars to conceive of Mithraism as a counterpart

to Christianity. Many scholars thought that they were simply two different forms of a
shared religion whose common aim was to reach paradise after death.
But we start with the basic notions of Mithraism. First of all, it is necessary to cla-
rify that the true name of this cult was “the mysteries of Mithras”, and not Mithraism,
17
which is a neologism.

fig. 2: Ostia, the Mithraeum of Felicissimus and the symbols of Mithraic grades (second half of the
2nd cent. CE); CIMRM 299. Photo and rendering Mastrocinque.

17
R. Gordon, “Institutionalized Religious Options: Mithraism”, in A Companion to Roman Religi-
on, ed. J. Rüpke, Oxford 2007, 392–405, esp. 394, opportunely writes: “In my view, it is best, where
possible, to avoid the term ‘Mithraism,’ since it falsely suggests that the cult was somehow a separate
religion. This is one aspect of the older view of the ‘oriental religions’ that supposedly exposed the
failure of traditional civic cult ... At least in later antiquity the cult was known as the mysteries of
Mithras”.
 § 2. The Seven Grades of Initiation 7

The most famous feature of the mysteries of Mithras was its well-known series of se-
ven initiations, each of which corresponded to one of the seven planetary gods. Jerome
mentions those grades in his description of a Mithraeum in Rome destroyed in 366–
367 CE:
Ante paucos annos propinquus vester Graccus (sic) nobilitatem patriciam nomine sonans, cum
praefecturam gereret urbanam, nonne specum Mithrae et omnia portentosa simulacra quibus Corax,
18 19
Nymyphus, Miles, Leo, Perses, Heliodromus, Pater initiantur subvertit, fregit, excussit.
A few years ago did not your kinsman Gracchus, whose name is famous for its nobility, in charge as
praefectus urbi, destroy, break, and demolish the cave of Mithras and all the sensational idols, to the
cult of whom Corvus, Nymphus, Miles, Leo, Perses, Heliodromus, and Pater were initiated?

As far as these initiatory grades go, Corvus is the raven; Nymphus is the male form of
nymphe, “bride”; Miles is the soldier; Leo the lion; Perses the Persian, or Perses, the
son of Perseus; Heliodromus is he who runs with the sun, probably the driver of the
chariot of the Sun; and Pater is the Father of the community.
20
The mosaic of the Mithraeum of Felicissimus (fig. 2) at Ostia (2nd century CE) con-
firms this initiatory series. The term gradus (grade) itself could also indicate a rung in
21
a ladder or a level in a series of passages.
The symbols of each of the seven grades are depicted on this mosaic in the follo-
wing manner:
CORAX: beaker, and herald staff.
NYMPHUS: lamp, diadem with precious stones, and … (mosaic damaged).
22
MILES: a pouch (also interpreted as the hind-quarter of a bull), helmet, and spear.

18
The manuscripts of Jerome have Gryphus, Chryphius, or Nymphus. Chryphius is documented
two times elsewhere, and the form Nymphus recurs on many inscriptions and literary sources: see
B.M. Metzger, “St. Jerome’s Testimony concerning the second Grade of Mithraic Initiation”, AJPh
66, 1945, 225–233; R. Merkelbach, Mithras, Hain 1984, 77, n. 2. A. Blomart, “Les Cryphii, les
Nymphi et l’initiation mithriaque”, Latomus 51, 1992, 624–632, does not identify Cryphii with Nym-
phi.
19
Hieron., Ep. 107.2 ad Laetam (CSEL 55, 292 Hilberg).
20
CIMRM 299.
21
See CIMRM 887: L(ucius) Apronius Chrysomallus ob gradum Persicum dedicavit. On the Mi-
thraic hierachy: M. Clauss, “Die sieben Grade des Mithras-Kultes”, ZPE 82, 1990, 183–194, part.
184; cf. M. Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras, Engl. transl., New York 2000, 131–140. In this artic-
le Clauss puts forward a hypothesis according to which the grades were restricted to the higher
priestly hierarchy, whereas the majority of the members was initiated only once. On the other hand,
R. Turcan, “Hiérarchie sacerdotale et astrologie dans les mystères de Mithra”, in La science des
cieux: sages, mages, astrologues, ed. R. Gyselen, RO 12, Bures-sur-Yvette 1999, 249–259 = Recher-
ches mithriaques, 279–302, maintained that the system of the seven grades was a later expedient to
correlate the Mithraism with the seven planets, and was adopted only in some geographical areas.
Arguments against these two theories can be found in R.L. Gordon, “Ritual and Hierarchy in the
Mysteries of Mithras”, ARYS 4, 2001, 245–273, part. 248–253.
22
On the hind-quarter of a bull cf. A. Chalupa and T. Glomb, “The Third Symbol of the Miles
Grade on the Floor Mosaic of the Felicissimus Mithraeum in Ostia: A New Interpretation”, Religio:
Revue pro religionistiku 21.1, 2013, 9–32; see also R.L. Gordon, “The Miles-frame in the Mitreo di