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In The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity David Walsh explores how the cult of Mithras developed across the Third 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.

Mithras (Zoroastrian deity) --- Mithraism --- Cult --- Cult. --- Mithraism. --- Mithraskult. --- Zoroastrianism --- Mithra (Zoroastrian deity) --- Zoroastrian gods --- Mithras (Zoroastrian deity) - Cult

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Over the course of the second century CE, worship of the Persianate god Mithras swept across the whole of the Roman Empire. With its distinctive traces preserved in the material record - including cave-like sanctuaries and images of Mithras stabbing a bull - the cult has long been examined to reconstruct the thought-systems of Mithraism, its theology, through such monumental trappings. This volume starts from the premise that, like much ?religion? in the Roman world, the cult of Mithras must be examined through its practices, the ritual craft knowledge which enabled those rites, and the social structures thus created. What did Mithras-worshippers do? How do we explain the unity and diversity of practices observed? Archaeology has the potential to answer these questions and shed new light on Mithras-worship. Presenting new discoveries, higher resolution archaeological data on finds and assemblages, and re-evaluations of older discoveries, this volume charts new paths forward in understanding one of the Roman Empire?s most distinctive cults.

Mithraism. --- Mediterranean Region --- Religion. --- Antiquities. --- Mithras (Zoroastrian deity) --- Mithraism --- Mithraea --- Excavations (Archaeology) --- Rome --- Antiquities --- Social archaeology --- Sacred space --- Religion --- Mithraism in art --- Mithraeums --- Cave temples --- Zoroastrianism --- Mithra (Zoroastrian deity) --- Zoroastrian gods --- Art --- Circum-Mediterranean countries --- Mediterranean Area --- Mediterranean countries --- Mediterranean Sea Region --- Mediterranean Region - Religion --- Mediterranean Region - Antiquities

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"Why did the Romans worship a Persian god? This book presents a new reading of the Mithraic iconography taking into account that the cult had a prophecy. It is likely that the Mithraic reliefs alluded to it and the scenes in the upper panels depict the Golden Age which was the final result of many apocalyptic, prophetic texts including the 4th Eclogue of Virgil. The Avesta, the Vedas, and Herodotus associate Mithras with the morning star and the dawn and this god was the mediator between darkness and light. Additionally, Mithras was a protector of rulers and, similar to Apollo, arbiter and mediator between opposite elements, and saviour of humankind. For these reasons he was ideal to become the god of Augustus and the Roman emperors." Source : cover

Mithracisme --- Mithraism --- Rome --- Religious life and customs. --- Mithras (Zoroastrian deity) --- Relief (Sculpture), Roman --- Prophecy --- Mithraism in art --- Excavations (Archaeology) --- Cult --- Art --- Antiquities. --- Archaeological digs --- Archaeological excavations --- Digs (Archaeology) --- Excavation sites (Archaeology) --- Ruins --- Sites, Excavation (Archaeology) --- Archaeology --- Forecasting --- Mithra (Zoroastrian deity) --- Zoroastrian gods --- Zoroastrianism

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The traditional grand narrative correlating the decline of Graeco-Roman religion with the rise of Christianity has been under pressure for three decades. This book argues that the alternative accounts now emerging significantly underestimate the role of three major cults, of Cybele and Attis, Isis and Serapis, and Mithras. Although their differences are plain, these cults present sufficient common features to justify their being taken typologically as a group. All were selective adaptations of much older cults of the Fertile Crescent. It was their relative sophistication, their combination of the imaginative power of unfamiliar myth with distinctive ritual performance and ethical seriousness, that enabled them both to focus and to articulate a sense of the autonomy of religion from the socio-political order, a sense they shared with Early Christianity. The notion of 'mystery' was central to their ability to navigate the Weberian shift from ritualist to ethical salvation.

Cybele (Goddess) --- Serapis (Egyptian deity) --- Mithras (Zoroastrian deity) --- Mithra (Zoroastrian deity) --- Zoroastrian gods --- Mithraism --- Cult. --- Isis --- Aset --- Eset --- Iset --- İsida --- Isidi --- Izida --- Iziso --- Iside --- Izidė --- Ízisz --- Izyda --- 伊西斯 --- Yi xi si --- イシス --- Ishisu --- איזיס --- 이시스 --- Isiseu --- Исида --- Изида --- Ісіда --- إيزيس --- Īzīs --- Ἴσις --- Rome --- Religion. --- Cybele (Goddess) - Cult --- Attis (God) - Cult --- Isis (Egyptian deity) - Cult --- Serapis (Egyptian deity) - Cult --- Mithras (Zoroastrian deity) - Cult --- Rome - Religion --- Attis (God) --- Isis (Egyptian deity) --- Cybele --- Serapis