Video

History

The origins of Mithraism as a Roman cult are not fully understood. It clearly derives from ancient Persia in some way, but scholars are divided on whether the Roman cult is a westernized Persian religion or an essentially western religion with Persian trimmings. There exist material testimonies of the practice of this religion in numerous places of the former Roman Empire: in Rome and in Ostia, as well as in Mauritania, Britannia and the frontier provinces along the river Rhine and of the Danube, consisting of remains of temples, inscriptions and works of art that they represent to the god or other aspects of the religion.

Art

We see interpretations of the central iconography of Mithraism. This is the ‘Tauroctony’ or the Bull Slaying; this was a representation of the night sky, and structure of the Mithraeum building lends itself to contain all the symbols of the macrocosm. One of the Mithraic Mysteries is that the bull slaying scene is a representation of the constellations Perseus (Mithras), Taurus (bull), Canis Minor (dog), Hydra (snake), Corvus (raven), and Scorpio (scorpion). 

Famous people

Mithra

Aquesta deïtat és representada generalment com un jove bell, amb gorra frígia que llança a terra un brau i fa l'acció de tallar-li el coll; al mateix temps el brau està sent també atacat per una serp i un escurçó. Molts autors han vist en aquest ritual l'origen de molts ritus mediterranis antics, en què es sacrificaven bous, i també l'antecedent ancestral de les curses de braus.

Mithraism God

Mithraism God

Geographic Location

Most followers of Mithraism were Roman soldiers, minor government employees like customs officials, imperial freedmen or slaves. It was also adopted by the pagan aristocracy of 4th-century Rome, as part of a conservative movement in opposition to the new Christian empire based in Constantinople.