Mithraism

From TinWiki.org

Mithraism is the name given to a religion, which flourished in late antiquity, dedicated to the worship of the god Mithras, sometimes called Mitra.

There are two different organizations that fall under this term. There is an eastern version, which involved the gods Mitra, Ahur Mazda, and others, this may simply be Zoroastrianism or a syncretism with its belief system. Then there is Roman Mithraism, a cult that was most active in the first centuries AD. Roman Mithraism may have been a received Roman version of Persian Mitra worship, or it may have been a new creation that built upon the stories of Mithras, but was not continuous with the Persian Mithraic traditions.

1 Grades
2 Religious basis
3 See also
4 External links
5 Relevant discussion threads

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Grades

Roman Mithraism was restricted to men. A person would be initiated into the cult in the Mithraeum, the temple of the cult. There were seven Grades or degrees within the system, each with its own introductory rite, and usually associated with a specific planet. The grades, in initiatory order are:

Corax (Raven, Mercury)
Nymphus (Bridegroom, Venus)
Miles (Soldier, Mars)
Leo (Lion, Jupiter)
Perses (Persian, Moon)
Heliodromus (Sun-Runner, Sun)
Pater (Father, Saturn)

Father is thus the head of the local cult. Initiation into the first grade involved bringing the hierophant into a room, where, revealed by the opening door, the Pater, dressed as Mithras, is drawing his bow, and pointing it at the hierophant. An interpreter, called a Mystagogue (possibly "Teacher of the Mystery"), would explain or lecture on the rite to the hierophant. This is thought to be a re-enactment of the Water Miracle performed by the god Mithras. Mithras shot his arrow into a rock, and drinkable water issued from it. Numerous symbolic interpretations of this mystic rite are possible; one popular one is that the new initiate has had the secret underground stream of knowledge released from within him. Another Rite involved a procession of the representatives of the various grades around the inside of the Mithraeum. The Sun-Runner in this case is thought to represent the course of the sun through the mystical year, from solstice to solstice, with the walls of the temple as the vaults of the heavens of astrology and astronomy.

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Religious basis

Mithraism was an astronomical religion, heavily involved in esoteric interpretations of the movements of the planets and stars. It is thought that it involved neo-platonic ideas, in which the sun represents the soul, while the movement of the sun through the zodiacal signs symbolizes the journey of the soul from the perfect realm into the physical realm. It is possible that Mithraism might have involved transmetempsychosis, in which the soul moves through different forms over an 'extended' life.

The god of roman Mithraism, Mithras, was thought to be a saviour god, whose initiates received eternal life. A major ceremony within the cult was to have a communal meal, involving wine, which was a re-enactment of a heavenly meal that Mithras had shared with other gods.

At the end of each Mithraeum was an iconic cult statue of Mithras, famously slaying the bull. Though it is unclear as to what the cult's interpretation of this heavenly act is, it is thought by the author David Ulansey that the slaying of the bull by Mithras represented the constellations of Perseus and Taurus, and that the central mystery of this cult was an explanation of the procession of the equinoxes.

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