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 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 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 The Mysteries of Mithra written by Franz Cumont and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 276 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 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 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 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 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 Mithras Liturgy written by Hans Dieter Betz and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Just hundred years after the first edition of Albrecht Dietrich's Eine Mithrasliturgie (Leipzig 1903; 1923), the present book offers a complete new edition of so complex a text. It provides the Greek text, an English translation, a punctual introduction, an extensive commentary, an index of Greek words and of the various voces magicae, and, finally, also an appendix, with photographic reproductions of the papyrus. ... Not only Hans Dieter Betz is one of the most gifted scholars in the domain of primeval Christianity and Hellenistic religions, but he already devoted to the Mithras Liturgy a monographic essay, which is here enriched and largely supplemented. We particularly appreciated how Betz deals with the critical debate which spread from Dietrich's book (in particular the criticism put forward by one of the most important scholars of Mithraism, the Belgian Franz Cumont) and how he sets Dietich in the historical and cultural milieu of his age.Chiara O. Tommasi Moreschini auf www.plekos.uni-muenchen.de
Download or read book Mithraic Studies written by John R. Hinnells and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 1975 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 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 Mithraic Societies From Brotherhood to Religion s Adversary b w written by Abolala Soudavar and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2014-02-10 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although by its title, this book seems to be about a specialized topic, the spread of Mithraic societies and its avatars, in time and geographical expanse, much enhances its relevancy. From Roman legionaries to chivalry orders, from dervish circles to guild organizations, and from Freemasons to French revolutionaries, the hierarchy of Mithraic societies, their initiation rites, and their oaths of secrecy, provided a model for brotherhood organization that was efficient, but also flexible; they could adapt their philosophy to the prevailing politico-religion conditions of the day, because they did not worship any particular god, but could also be comrades in arms with nascent religious movements, such as with Christianity. Mithra was the initial guarantor of their oath, and if need be it could be replaced by Jesus, Allah or any other divinity. Their "religion" was their brotherhood, and as such they usually provided a counter-balance to the power elite, and had the potential to become politically active.
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 Community and Identity at the Edges of the Classical World written by Aaron W. Irvin and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A timely and academically-significant contribution to scholarship on community, identity, and globalization in the Roman and Hellenistic worlds Community and Identity at the Edges of the Classical World examines the construction of personal and communal identities in the ancient world, exploring how globalism, multi-culturalism, and other macro events influenced micro identities throughout the Hellenistic and Roman empires. This innovative volume discusses where contact and the sharing of ideas was occurring in the time period, and applies modern theories based on networks and communication to historical and archaeological data. A new generation of international scholars challenge traditional views of Classical history and offer original perspectives on the impact globalizing trends had on localized areas—insights that resonate with similar issues today. This singular resource presents a broad, multi-national view rarely found in western collected volumes, including Serbian, Macedonian, and Russian scholarship on the Roman Empire, as well as on Roman and Hellenistic archaeological sites in Eastern Europe. Topics include Egyptian identity in the Hellenistic world, cultural identity in Roman Greece, Romanization in Slovenia, Balkan Latin, the provincial organization of cults in Roman Britain, and Soviet studies of Roman Empire and imperialism. Serving as a synthesis of contemporary scholarship on the wider topic of identity and community, this volume: Provides an expansive materialist approach to the topic of globalization in the Roman world Examines ethnicity in the Roman empire from the viewpoint of minority populations Offers several views of metascholarship, a growing sub-discipline that compares ancient material to modern scholarship Covers a range of themes, time periods, and geographic areas not included in most western publications Community and Identity at the Edges of the Classical World is a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and graduate students examining identity and ethnicity in the ancient world, as well as for those working in multiple fields of study, from Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman historians, to the study of ethnicity, identity, and globalizing trends in time.
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.
