Question about Mithraism and Christianity?

Question

What documents do we have from the Mithras describing their religion? How old are they? I'm just curious because I want to see how the influenced Christianity.

Answer 1

I don't think there are actually writings original to the mithras sect anymore. I believe the information is mainly from secondary sources.

I could be wrong, though--and would liek to know of a good translation if anyone out there is aware of one!

Answer 2

I got my BA in Classics (Greco-Roman studies), so hopefully I can be of help. I'm sorry to say that I don't know of specific texts that are exclusively Mithraic, but maybe this answer still be useful to you. Mithra worship, as you may already know, actually started in Persia with the Zoroastrians (or perhaps the Persians who proceeded the Zoroastrians). There, he was worshipped as an Ahura (sort of somewhere between a god and angel) who was one of the servants of their supreme being Ahura Mazda.

Mithra worship was picked up by the Romans. There it was a mystery tradition, meaning that you had to be initiated to learn their secrets, so they wouldn't have let any texts that they had out to the public. There is a Mithra temple at Ostia Antiqua (the ruin of Rome's port town just outside of Rome, Italy) and, at least when I was there in 1998, you could actually walk through it. They have a statue of Mithra slaying a bull at the entrance and there are secret underground passages that initiates were lead through. So, there IS archaeological evidence, and you might start there.

Another thing that I seem to remember (though can't dig up the source :( ) is the theory that some of Mithra's iconography corresponds to constellations. There is an art piece, as I seem to recall, that has a series of animals on it that correspond to constellations and these animals are actually placed as the consstellations are in the sky. These constellations are all along the great arch perpenticular to the signs of the zodiac and were believed in antiquity to be the axis of the universe.

The theory has it that Mithraism had to do with the discovery (that occured right around the time that Mithraism became popular in Rome) of the procession of the zodiac. If I have this right, if you look at which zodiacal sign the sun rises through on the autumnal equinox, the sign changes approximately every 100 years. It was Aries from approximately 2000 BCE to approximately 1 BCE. (I'm using the BCE/CE convension instead of the BC/AD convension - BCE = Before the Current Era and CE = Current Era - it's sort of more PC than AD/BC.) From approximately 1 CE onward it was the Pisces. So, the theory is that Mithra is the God who is so powerful that he can turn the zodiac wheel itself.

Incidentally, have you ever of modern new agey people who call themselves Aquarians or that song "Aquarius"? Just in the 20th C., the age changed again from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. In other words, the sun now rises through Aquarius. The Aquarians believe that this means something astrological. I'm not saying it does, but it's kind of interesting.

Answer 3

wikipedia gives an elaborate essay on this "Mithraism"denoting that this is a Persian term.It is beleived that the Pagans used this term in Central Asia and Eastern Europe in 1st 2nd centuries B.C. before Christianity.
In Hinduism the term "Mithra" is used in many places in Vedas.The meaning of Mithra is given as "Sun"."Saano Mithra Ssamvarunaha-"--in another place it is mentioned "Mitrasya Varunasyaagnay"=Mithra+varuna+Agni=the Divinities in Sun-Rain-Fire----it is also beleived that the Pagans used the term Varuna also

Answer 4

Just another pagan copycat.

wikipedia:

Mithraism was a mystery religion prominent in the Roman world. It is uncertain when it began; some say in the 1st century BC[1], some in the 1st century AD[2] to the 5th century AD.

Answer 5

Look it up in an encyclopedia. Or even just the Wikipedia. Paul stole the whole story.