The Cult of Mithras

[Ars Moriendi]

A round table regarding the origin, development and current knowledge about the ancient Mysteries of Mithras, present during Roman Imperial days since the I Century till the V Century.

[Óttar]

If one of the ancient mystery cults had become State Religion of the Roman Empire the world would be a much better place today.

[Bloodnigger]

If one of the ancient mystery cults had become State Religion of the Roman Empire the world would be a much better place today.

According to some, it is. :tinfoil:

[Ars Moriendi]

If one of the ancient mystery cults had become State Religion of the Roman Empire the world would be a much better place today.

An initiate-style religion is nigh impossible to implement as State Religion.
Not even Julian, who was reportedly a follower of the mysteries of mithras attempted to do it, instead opting to defend traditional classical paganism.

[Bloodnigger]

An initiate-style religion is nigh impossible to implement as State Religion.
Not even Julian, who was reportedly a follower of the mysteries of mithras attempted to do it, instead opting to defend traditional classical paganism.

Far as I know, it was pretty widespread among the syrian and greek soldiers in the roman legions posted in the east. It was started by the Syrians of the 3rd Gallica and, if I remember right, during the Jewish Revolt the jews defaced icons of mithras to get a rise out of them.

Which worked to the point where the 3rd had to be called back to Moesia since they were well on their way to conducting full on ethnic cleansing in Judea.

[Ars Moriendi]

Far as I know, it was pretty widespread among the syrian and greek soldiers in the roman legions posted in the east. It was started by the Syrians of the 3rd Gallica and, if I remember right, during the Jewish Revolt the jews defaced icons of mithras to get a rise out of them.

Which worked to the point where the 3rd had to be called back to Moesia since they were well on their way to conducting full on ethnic cleansing in Judea.

Yes, that's true. Mithraism is assumed to be originated in Greek space rather than Latin space, and more specifically in Asia Minor.
On top of that it also had a specific target: State officials, military and maybe freedmen. Since the mysteries were supposed to be "revealed" as you worked your way through the hierarchy, it was greatly appealing to people in the Imperial bureaucracy who wanted to improve their status in a similar way.

The things is, and that's precisely why it would be quite unlikely to implement it as State Religion, is that it's highly restrictive and hard to swallow for the public. It was mostly developed in caves, which would feel as a downgrade from the grand Classical temples, it required master-initiate dynamics over larger periods of time in order to move forward in the hierarchy, in contrast to the status quo Paganism where everybody could make an offer to the God of their liking for good fortune, and no more questions would be asked; and finally, out of the thousands of names associated with Mithraism, not a single of them is female, which means that just like the Cult was mostly restricted to State Officials (who could only be male), the religious affiliation was also not universal.

[Bloodnigger]

Finished watching the video, overall I would like to know more.

Also, for a mystical cult, the bullhunt in eastern roman provinces was done relatively in the open.

[Ars Moriendi]

Finished watching the video, overall I would like to know more.

Also, for a mystical cult, the bullhunt in eastern roman provinces was done relatively in the open.

Well, I'll need to look around see if I can find something else. The round table was the best one I had seen so I linked that one.
I found a written summary about the Cult of Mithras in another website, so you can for example see in detail the 7 ranks:

www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/

[Óttar]

An initiate-style religion is nigh impossible to implement as State Religion.
Not even Julian, who was reportedly a follower of the mysteries of mithras attempted to do it, instead opting to defend traditional classical paganism.

Julian wanted to create a Platonic, Hellenistic religion that preserved classical and Hellenistic "paganism." I meant if Hellenistic "paganism" had won out, or the cult of Isis for example, the world would be a better place today.

[Ars Moriendi]

Finished watching the video, overall I would like to know more.

I think I've found something. This one is a set of interviews with experts, so unlike the round table, there is no lost time in debate/questions. Some of the professors interviewed have written books on Mithraism, so the sources seem to be quite credible.


It's a tad shorter. I'm not done watching it yet (doing so as I write this), but it seems quite decent so far.
Any feedback you might have would be welcomed.