Download or read book The Mysteries of Mithras written by Payam Nabarz and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 2005-06-09 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mysteries of Mithras presents a revival of this ancient Roman mystery religion, popular from the late second century B.C. Payam Nabarz reveals the history and tenets of Mithraism, its connections to Christianity, Islam, and Freemasonry, and the modern neo-pagan practice of Mithraism today. Included are seven of its initiatory rituals.
Download or read book The Mysteries of Mithra written by Franz Cumont and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mithras written by D. Jason Cooper and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 1996-06-01 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Known as Mitra to the Indians, Mithra and Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek) to the Iranians, and Mithras to the Romans, this is the oldest of all living deities. Mithras was recognized as the greatest rival of Christianity, a greater threat even than the religion of Isis. If Rome had not become Christian, it would have become Mithrasian. Mithraisians had a sacrament that included wine as a symbol of sacrificial blood. Bread in wafers, or small loaves marked with a cross, was used to symbolize flesh. The priestly symbols were a staff, a ring, a hat, and a hooked sword/ members were called brothers, and priests were called "Father." Mithras was born on December 25th. He offered salvation based on faith, compassion, knowledge, and valor. He appealed to the poor, the slave and the freeman, as well as to the Roman aristocracy, the militia, and even to some emperors. The Christians sacked his temples, burned his books, and attacked his followers--they desecrated his temples, and built their own churches on the same foundations as the old Mithraic temples. Cooper examines Mithras and his religion in the most complete study ever done. He explores the various forms of this godworshiped from Lisbon to modrn Bangladesh, from the Scottish border to the Russian Steppesand investigates the worship. This is an exciting journey into living mythology, the history of a living god, and will fascinate modern Western readers who want to know more about the spiritual pathwhether they want to better understand contemporary Christianity, the basis of many contemporary ideaologies, mythology, or the Western Mystery Tradition.
Download or read book The Mysteries of Mithras written by Attilio Mastrocinque and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2017-08-07 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attilio Mastrocinque explains the mysteries of Mithras in a new way, as a transformation of Mazdean elements into an ideological and religious reading of Augustus' story. The author shows that the character of Mithras played the role of Apollo in favoring Augustus' victory and the birth of the Roman Empire.
Download or read book The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries written by David Ulansey and published by Cosmology and Salvation in the. This book was released on 1991 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume sets forth a new explanation of the meaning of the cult of Mithraism, tracing its origins not, as commonly held, to the ancient Persian religion, but to ancient astronomy and cosmology.
Download or read book The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire written by Roger Beck and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2006-01-12 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the religious system of Mithraism, one of the 'mystery cults' popular in the Roman Empire contemporary with early Christianity. Mithraism is described from the point of view of the initiate engaging with its rich repertoire of symbols and practices.
Download or read book The Roman Cult of Mithras written by Manfred Clauss and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-25 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2001. The Mithras cult first became evident in Rome towards the end of the first century AD. During the next two centuries, it spread to the frontiers of the Western empire. Energetically suppressed by the early Christians, who frequently constructed their churches over the caves in which Mithraic rituals took place, the cult was extinct by the end of the fourth century. Since its publication in Germany, Manfred Clauss's introduction to the Roman Mithras cult has become widely accepted as the most reliable and readable account of this fascinating subject. For the English edition, Clauss has updated the book to reflect recent research and new archaeological discoveries.
Download or read book Planetary gods and planetary orders in the mysteries of Mithras written by R. Beck and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-11-16 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preliminary material /Roger Beck -- The planets and the grades: the problem of a unique order /Roger Beck -- The grade order and exoteric planetary orders: mastery of space and time /Roger Beck -- Orders on the monuments: introduction /Roger Beck -- Orders in mithraea: Sette Sfere and Sette Porte /Roger Beck -- The order of the Bologna relief: the planets and the bull-killing /Roger Beck -- Planets and zodiac: the Housesteads birth scene /Roger Beck -- The Ottaviano Zeno monument: planetary orders implicit in the row of altars; the snake-encircled figures; the ascent of souls (i); Jupiter, Sun and Saturn /Roger Beck -- The planetary order of Contra Celsum 6.22: the ascent of souls(ii); the two revolutions /Roger Beck -- Saturn's primacy: the Sun of midnight /Roger Beck -- Planetary orders and the zodiac in the Barberini fresco: the structures of genesis and apogenesis; Saturn and the snakeencircled god /Roger Beck -- the integrity ofthe Bologna relief /Roger Beck -- INDICES /Roger Beck -- LIST OF PLATES /Roger Beck -- Plates I-IV /Roger Beck.
Download or read book Mithras written by Andrew Fear and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-06-24 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mithras explores the history and practices of the ancient mystery religion Mithraism, looking at both literary and material evidence for the god Mithras and the reception and allure of his mysteries in the present. The genesis and spread of Mithraism remain highly controversial. This book examines our current state of knowledge on the pre-classical Indo-Iranian god, Mitra, and argues that Mithraism was a product of Mitra’s encounter with the religious thought of the classical world. It then charts the life history of Mithraism in the Roman Empire, exploring the social background of its initiates and the reasons for their attraction to the religion. The rituals and beliefs of the cult are as mysterious as its origins; in studying Mithraic "caves" and paintings found in some Mithraic temples, we can better understand and reconstruct the rituals the Mithraists practiced. While "bull-slaying", or tauroctony, lies at the core of the Mithraic mythos, this volume explores other incidents in the god’s life depicted in ancient art, including his miraculous birth and his banquet with the sun, as well as the disconcerting lion-headed "enveloped god". After a fall from grace in the post-classical world, Mithras has resurrected himself in the present, establishing himself as one of the most recognisable if elusive gods of antiquity. Mithras provides a fascinating study of this complex god that will be of interest to scholars and students of Roman and Late Antique religion, mystery cults, as well as those working on society and religion in antiquity more broadly.
Download or read book The Mithraic Origins of Christianity written by Allan Di Donato and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-24 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most challenging objections to the historicity of the New Testament documents and the uniqueness of first century Christianity is the accusation of wholesale borrowing from earlier pagan sources. Such accusations are common in the fields of comparative religion and mythology. Parallels have been drawn between the story of Jesus and various other religious leaders, heroes, and pagan dying and rising gods. Though these parallels are found in stories from various cultures going back several millennia before the Christian era, the most prevalent challenge has come from what have become known as the mystery religions or mystery cults. From among these numerous cults, one has presented the greatest challenge and most striking parallels. That is the cult of Mithras, or Mithraism. This book addresses the theory that early Christianity borrowed heavily from Mithraism, and it investigates ancient textual and archaeological evidence as it seeks to evaluate that claim.
Download or read book Initiation into the Mysteries of the Ancient World written by Jan N. Bremmer and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2014-07-28 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ancient Mysteries have long attracted the interest of scholars, an interest that goes back at least to the time of the Reformation. After a period of interest around the turn of the twentieth century, recent decades have seen an important study of Walter Burkert (1987). Yet his thematic approach makes it hard to see how the actual initiation into the Mysteries took place. To do precisely that is the aim of this book. It gives a ‘thick description’ of the major Mysteries, not only of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, but also those located at the interface of Greece and Anatolia: the Mysteries of Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos as well as those of the Corybants. It then proceeds to look at the Orphic-Bacchic Mysteries, which have become increasingly better understood due to the many discoveries of new texts in the recent times. Having looked at classical Greece we move on to the Roman Empire, where we study not only the lesser Mysteries, which we know especially from Pausanias, but also the new ones of Isis and Mithras. We conclude our book with a discussion of the possible influence of the Mysteries on emerging Christianity. Its detailed references and up-to-date bibliography will make this book indispensable for any scholar interested in the Mysteries and ancient religion, but also for those scholars who work on initiation or esoteric rituals, which were often inspired by the ancient Mysteries.
Download or read book Mushrooms Myth and Mithras written by Carl Ruck and published by City Lights Books. This book was released on 2021-02-24 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This illustrated book traces the history of an unlikely force in the shaping of Western civilization: the use of psychedelic mushrooms, namely by a secret society called the cult of Mithras. Nero was the first emperor to be initiated by the group’s “magical dinners,” and most of his successors embraced the ritual as a source of spiritual transcendence. The cult was officially banned after the Conversion, but aspects of their rituals were assimilated or co-opted by Christianity, and the brotherhoods persist today as secret societies such as the Freemasons. This is a fascinating exploration of a powerful force kept behind the scenes for thousands of years.
Download or read book Beck on Mithraism written by Roger Beck and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-25 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Roger Beck, a world authority on Mithraism, brings together his major writings on the Mysteries of Mithras in the context of the culture and religions of imperial Rome. In these studies he opens new vistas on myth making, ritual, symbolism, the role of astrology in the cult, recently discovered Mithraic monuments and artefacts, and the emergence of Mithraism and Christianity concurrently in the first century. Beck offers new introductions to his thematically framed groups of writings and adds six entirely new essays published here for the first time. These essays link his research to contemporary studies in cognitive science of religion and anthropology of religion. This collection will appeal particularly to scholars exploring contemporary aspects in anthropology of religion, astronomy and astrology, cults and myths, images and symbols, as well as traditional scholars of Greco-Roman antiquity and Christian origins.
Download or read book The Ancient Mysteries written by Marvin W. Meyer and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 1999-05-07 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zeus and the other gods of shining Olympus were in reality divine only by popular consent. Over the course of time Olympian luster diminished in favor of religious experiences more immediate to the concerns of people living in an increasingly cosmopolitan ancient world. These experiences were provided by the mysteries, religions that flourished particularly during the Hellenistic period and were secretly practiced by groups of adherents who decided, through personal choice, to be initiated into the profound realities of one deity or another. Unlike the official state religions, in which people were expected to make an outward show of allegiance to the local gods, the mysteries emphasized an inwardness and privacy of worship within a closed band of initiates. In this book, Marvin W. Meyer explores the sacrifices and prayers, the public celebrations and secret ceremonies, the theatrical performances and literary works, the gods and goddesses that were a part of the mystery religions of Greece in the seventh century B.C. to the Judaism and Christianity of the Roman world of the seventh century A.D.
Download or read book The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity written by David Walsh and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-11-29 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity David Walsh explores how the cult of Mithras developed across the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. and why by the early 5th century the cult had completely disappeared. Contrary to the traditional narrative that the cult was violently persecuted out of existence by Christians, Walsh demonstrates that the cult’s decline was a far more gradual process that resulted from a variety of factors. He also challenges the popular image of the cult as a monolithic entity, highlighting how by the 4th century Mithras had come to mean different things to different people in different places.
Download or read book Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae written by M.J. Vermaseren and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The publication of this Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis M ithriacae is due mainly to the activities of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van Wetenschappen, Kunsten en Schone Letteren (The Royal Flemish Academy of Arts and Sciences) at Brussels, for this work was begun as an entry in a compe tition organized by their Department of Fine Arts and Literature. It was then awarded a prize by a committee elected by the Academy and consisting of the theologian Prof. J. Coppens, the orientalist Prof. G. Rijckmans and the archaeolo gist, the late Prof. H. van de Weerd. Among the first who should be mentioned with respect and gratitude is my teacher Dr. F.J. de Waele, Professor in Archaeology and Ancient History at the Nijmegen University and member of the Royal Flemish Academy. This remarkable teacher inspired a deep interest in the study of Archaeology and of the Mithras cult, and his help has always been invaluable. I am also greatly indebted to the renowned Belgian scholar Prof. Franz Cumont. He was among the first to recognize the necessity of a revision of his standard work Textes et Monuments relatifs aux Mysteres de Mithra. During the last few years before his de'ath he showed a lively interest in the present study, supplied much material and often gave advice, devoting a great part of his leisure and his love of Classical Culture to this new publication of the Mithraic Monuments.
Download or read book Mystery Cults of the Ancient World written by Hugh Bowden and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A richly illustrated history of antiquity's secret religious rituals This is the first book to describe and explain all of the ancient world's major mystery cults--one of the most intriguing but least understood aspects of Greek and Roman religion. In the nocturnal Mysteries at Eleusis, participants dramatically re-enacted the story of Demeter's loss and recovery of her daughter Persephone; in the Bacchic cult, bands of women ran wild in the Greek countryside to honor Dionysus; and in the mysteries of Mithras, men came to understand the nature of the universe and their place within it through frightening initiation ceremonies and astrological teachings. These cults were an important part of life in the ancient Mediterranean world, but their actual practices were shrouded in secrecy, and many of their features have remained unclear until now. By richly illustrating the evidence from ancient art and archaeology, and drawing on enlightening new work in the anthropology and cognitive science of religion, Mystery Cults of the Ancient World allows readers to imagine as never before what it was like to take part in these ecstatic and life-changing religious rituals--and what they meant to those who participated in them. Stunning images of Greek painted pottery, Roman frescoes, inscribed gold tablets from Greek and South Italian tombs, and excavated remains of religious sanctuaries help show what participants in these initiatory cults actually did and experienced. A fresh and accessible introduction to a fascinating subject, this is a book that will interest general readers, as well as students and scholars of classics and religion.
