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Mithras as the constellation Persius killing Taurus the bull
The Cult of Mithras
An Ancient Rite
From Angel to Warrior
"Dating from around the 15th century BC, Mithraism emerged in ancient Persia. 'Mihr' (the Persian form of Mithras) was the word not only for the Sun but also for a friend; and that seems to be how this pagan god was originally worshipped - as both supreme sun god and god of love."
- Quest for the Past
"Among the most universal cults of the ancient Armenians was that of Mithra, who was identified on the one hand with the sun, or Helios, on the other, with Apollo and Hermes. Mithra was originally conceived of as a kind of angel, a power of light who fights on the side of Ahura-Mazda [the Zoroastrian Lord of Wisdom]. This warlike characteristic he seems always to have retained.... Mithra's festival, the Mithrakana, was celebrated in Iranian lands on the sixteenth day of the seventh month, and survived in modified form right up to Muslim times."
- Burney and Lang, The Peoples of the Hills
"Mithra was believed to be the eye of Ahura Mazda and to rule over the earth. In the imagination of the Mithraic cult he came to replace the supreme deity. He engaged in a great struggle between good and evil in which he was steadily victorious. To assure his victory, he sacrificed a great bull which was the prototype of the living world of nature. Through this sacrifice nature was made fertile."
- Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind
"The basic doctrine of Mithraism, as far as can be told, is that Mithras was a god who was born from a rock and destined to secure the salvation of the world; to do this he was commanded by the god Apollo (through the intermediary agent of a raven) to slay the Bull from the region of the Moon, which was said to represent the fullness of life. Mithras was reluctant to do this but acquiesced in deference to the divine will; in the ensuing struggle between god and bull, other animals joined in - the dog, and scorpion and the snake. After Mithras was successful a quarrel broke out between Mithras and Apollo, but they were reconciled and celebrated a banquet."
- Peter Clark, Zoroastrianism, An Introduction to an Ancient Faith, pp. 157-158
"By the beginning of the third century BC, the militaristic rulers in western outposts of what had been the Persian empire were venerating Mithras as a divine warrior, no longer a loving Sun god but the unconquerable god of soldiers and friend of power."
- Quest for the Past
A Question of Origins
"At the end of the nineteenth century Franz Cumont, the great Belgian historian of ancient religion, published a magisterial two-volume work on the Mithraic mysteries based on the assumption of the Iranian origins of the cult. Cumont's work immediately became accepted as the definitive study of the cult, and remained virtually unchallenged for over seventy years."
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras"
Cumont's conclusions are supported by a number of archaeological findings.
"Reliefs on the many Mithraic altars scattered around Europe invariably show the god Mithras killing the 'Bull of Heaven', a scene clearly echoing that of the slaughter of the uniquely-created Primal bull by Ahriman and recounted in the Bundahishen. (It also resembles a similar Mesopotamian myth from the Gilgamesh epic.) What is more, this scene contains other imagery which is also identifiably Zoroastrian, such as the dog who leaps up in apparent approval of Mithras' deed; the dog,...is an important creature in Zoroastrianism, essential to certain death rites. The snake, an Ahrimanic [demonic] creature, which can be seen under the bull's body, is shown attempting to prevent the fruits of the sacrifice, the blood of the bull, from making contact with the earth and giving it life."
- Peter Clark, Zoroastrianism, An Introduction to an Ancient Faith, p. 158
Some contemporary scholars, however, disagree with Cumont's conclusions.
"It is probable...that the western Mithras had its roots in a daevic cult of the god as practiced in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and not in the cult of the Zoroastrianized Mithra in Iran. The western Mithras is a savior god in an era of savior gods."
- Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia
"One of the most elusive and hotly debated issues in the study of Zoroastrianism is the precise nature of the connection between the Iranian deity Mithra and the military Roman Mithraic mystery cult, a connection which seems on the one hand so conclusive' and yet on the other so disturbingly remote. Even the historical problem of the manner of Mithra's arrival on the Roman scene remains unanswered. Some scholars have suggested that the conscription of Persian soldiers into the Roman army may account for it; others believe that Roman Mithraism was in fact a totally separate religion from its inception and was merely given a Persian 'gloss' to make it attractive to a population obsessed with the cryptic and inscrutable cast. Still others connect the Roman cult with Anatolia, where Mithra was known to be venerated in the company of other deities familiar to Zoroastrianism such as Anahita. There is little we can say about its journey west with any certainty, since it was evidently a cult which seemingly functioned without the need for texts (there are none remaining which, given the geographical area covered by the cult at its most popular, strongly suggests that none were ever written down), and the few inscriptions that do survive often merely illuminate the subjects of the carvings they accompany, revealing nothing substantial about the cult's origins. The cult which venerated Mithra in Roman circles (where he is traditionally known as Mithras), and which enjoyed a life of nearly 400 years, was esoteric, confined to male members of the Roman military and political elite (though traders and even slaves may have been eligible for membership), and demanded a series of seven graded initiation rites."
- Peter Clark, Zoroastrianism, An Introduction to an Ancient Faith, p. 157
(2) The Connection with the Stars
The Taurobolium
"A central feature of the ceremonial associated with Mithras was the taurobolium, the ritual slaughter of a bull which commemorated and repeated Mithras' primeval act. The initiate was baptized in its blood, partaking of its life-giving properties. It may be noted that this part of the ceremonial closely resembled the ritual of the cult of Cybele, the Great Mother of Asia Minor, which had been brought to Rome three centuries before Christ.."
- Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind
"Mithraic temples were conceived in imitation of the 'world cave' in which the god was supposed to have captured and killed the Bull of Heaven and secured for himself the title Mithra Tuaroctonus (Mithra the Bull-Slayer), from which the term tauroctony, or 'slaying of the bull', is derived."
- Peter Clark, Zoroastrianism, An Introduction to an Ancient Faith, pp. 158-159
"...By far the most important icon in the Roman cult was the tauroctony. This scene shows Mithras in the act of killing a bull, accompanied by a dog, a snake, a raven, and a scorpion; the scene is depicted as taking place inside a cave like the Mithraeum itself. This icon was located in the most important place in every mithraeum, and therefore must have been an expression of the central myth of the Roman cult."
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras"
A Star Map?
There is no Iranian myth, however, of their god Mithra killing a bull. This calls into question the traditional explanation that the tauroctony is a pictorial representation of an Iranian myth. Mithraism may have had an entirely different origin and the name of Mithra/Mithras may have been borrowed to help legitimize and popularize the religion. At the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies , held in Manchester England in 1971, several scholars came up with a radical new theory - that the tauroctony was actually a star map.
"This remarkable explanation of the tauroctony is based on two facts. First, every figure found in the standard tauroctony has a parallel among a group of constellations located along a continuous band in the sky: the bull is paralleled by Taurus, the dog by Canis Minor, the snake by Hydra, the raven by Corvus, and the scorpion by Scorpio. Second, Mithraic iconography in general is pervaded by explicit astronomical imagery: the zodiac, planets, sun, moon, and stars are often portrayed in Mithraic art; in addition, numerous ancient authors speak about astronomical subjects in connection with Mithraism. In the writings of the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry, for example, we find recorded a tradition that the cave which is depicted in the tauroctony and which the underground Mithraic temples were designed to imitate was intended to be 'an image of the cosmos.'"
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras"
Hipparchus' Discovery and an Unseen God
In 128 B.C.E, the noted Greek astronomer Hipparchus discovered the precession of the equinoxes - a wobble in the axis of the earth's rotation which causes the celestial equator to intersect a new constellation of the Zodiac every 2,160 years.
"According to Ulansey [The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries (1989)], Tarsus, an intellectual hub in the first century B.C. and a center of Stoic philosophy, incubated a Mithraic doctrine of cosmic transcendence in response to the discovery of precession by Hipparchus in 128 B.C. To the astrally oriented Stoics, the precessional displacement of the entire cosmos implied the existence of a powerful, unseen god who resided beyond the stars and moved the entire universe according to his own timetable. Ulansey argues this supernatural power was identified in Tarsus with Perseus, the city's legendary founder and divine tutelary hero. Even in the fourth century B.C., Tarsus minted coins depicting Perseus in the company of Apollo and presiding over a lion-bull combat. Ulansey sees Aquarius in the bowl symbol and links it and the lion to the solstices. The pair of torch-bearing, cross-legged shepherds who so often flank the bull's death scene, he judges, symbolize the two equinoxes."
- E.C. Krupp, "Throwing the Bull"
"During...the 'Age of Taurus,' lasting from around 4,000 to 2,000 B.C., the celestial equator passed through Taurus the Bull (the spring equinox of that epoch), Canis Minor the Dog, Hydra the Snake, Corvus the Raven, and Scorpio the Scorpion (the autumn equinox): that is, precisely the constellations represented in the Mithraic tauroctony."
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras"
The End of the Age of Taurus
As the intersection of the celestial equator during the spring equinox moved to the constellation of Aires, the Age of Taurus came to an end - an event symbolized as the death of a bull.
"In a well-reasoned research paper, "The Earliest History of the Constellations in the Near East and the Motif of the Lion-Bull Combat," historian of science Willy Hartner showed that the ancient symbol of the lion battling the bull actually illustrated the fiery death of Taurus in the glow of the setting Sun. Leo, the Lion, triumphantly commanded the meridian as the Bull went down. Hartner tracked this theme back to Elam, in what is now southern Iran. The lion plays matador on an Elamite seal from about 4000 B.C.
"New Stone Age farmers saw seasonal transition in this celestial event. In the fourth millennium B.C., the Bull succumbed in early February, a time that coincided with the year's first plowing and the start of the agricultural cycle. The Bull's sacrifice was the prelude to the next renewal in the rhythm of growth.
"Even though the slowly wobbling axis of the Earth gradually precesses the stars out of their familiar seasons, in 500 B.C. the Achaemenid dynasty of Persian kings was still putting the lion-bull combat to work as an emblem of seasonal sacrifice. By then, however, Taurus was going down in flames closer to the time of the vernal equinox, in March. The Bull's twilight death roughly coincided with the Persian Empire's New Year equinox festival, and a key myth in the Zoroastrian religion of ancient Persia involves the death of the Bull of Creation at the hands of Ahriman, the Lord of Evil."
- E.C. Krupp, "Throwing the Bull"
"This, I propose, is the origin and nature of Mithras the cosmic bull-slayer. His killing of the bull symbolizes his supreme power: namely, the power to move the entire universe, which he had demonstrated by shifting the cosmic sphere in such a way that the spring equinox had moved out of Taurus the Bull."
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras"
"It was, then, the knowledge that a key seasonal station of the Sun, the vernal equinox, had been shifted out of Taurus to terminate the Age of the Bull that inspired belief in the hidden god who truly governed the universe. It is odd, however, that this catechism, formulated so close to the wind-up of the tenure of the Ram and on the eve of the Age of Pisces, invested so exclusively in the archaic symbolism of the Bull. There are, no doubt, Mithraic mysteries unrevealed."
- E.C. Krupp, "Throwing the Bull"
The Spread of a New Religion
"The mysteries of Dionysos-Sabazius had been replaced by the rites of Mithras, whose 'caves' superseded the crypts of the former god, from Babylon to Britain."
- M. P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled
"...The later Hellenistic period is one of pessimism, a world where the bankruptcy of both the rationalism of the Greeks and the ancient institutionalized authoritarian religions of the Orient is manifest. And the way out of the dilemma for both is a savior who is above reason and who abolishes the law."
- Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia
"The cult of Mithras had been taken up with great enthusiasm by the Roman legions and had traveled with them from Iran to Rome, to Tunis, to the Rhine and even on to London and Hadrian's Wall. Mithras' cult satisfied many of the same urges that would also attract people to Christianity. It was a brotherhood where rank and mutual obligation were based not upon accepted social codes but on the secret bonds of a closed circle, an underground network of close allegiances operating right across the strong social fabric of the Empire."
- John Romer, Testament
In the Gospel of Mark, "we find Jesus, at the moment of his baptism, having a vision of 'the heavens torn open.' Just as Mithras is revealed as a being from beyond the universe capable of altering the cosmic spheres, so here we find Jesus linked with a rupture of the heavens, an opening into the numinous realms beyond the furthest cosmic boundaries. "
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras"
Cult Practices
The mysteries of Mithra were celebrated in underground temples, built in imitation of caves, called methraei.
"The typical mithraeum was a small rectangular subterranean chamber, on the order of 75 feet by 30 feet with a vaulted ceiling. An aisle usually ran lengthwise down the center of the temple, with a stone bench on either side two or three feet high on which the cult's members would recline during their meetings. On average a mithraeum could hold perhaps twenty to thirty people at a time....There were many hundreds-- perhaps thousands-- of Mithraic temples in the Roman empire."
- David Ulansey, "The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras"
"After killing the bull, Mithra and Sol seal their friendship by a banquet in which they share the flesh of the bull. The two gods are served by persons wearing animal masks. Having finished their meal, the two gods ascend to heaven riding in Sol's chariot. This banquet constitutes the paradigm for the communal meal shared by the followers of the god, who likewise war masks that indicate their degrees of initiation. In the myth, the life of the cosmos is renewed by the blood of the bull. In a similar fashion, the followers of Mithra believed that by eating the meat of a bull and drinking its blood they would be reborn to ascend with Mithra to the celestial home of the Sun, and immortality."
- An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism
(2) The Seven Degrees
"Unlike the other mystery religions, Mithraism was open only to men, so that in no sense could it be regarded as a universal faith. Mithras, the unconquered and unconquerable sun (sol invictus), symbolized the courage, success, and confidence of the soldier. The ethics of the cult demanded self-control and other virtues necessary to a legionary, and this was one main reason for its spread through the army. Imperial patronage helped too. From the second century A.D. Roman Emperors assumed the title Invictus."
- Ninian Smart, The Religious Experience of Mankind
"Mithraism recognized seven degrees of divine knowledge. Members could advance from one degree to the next by undergoing a special initiation, tests of courage and stamina, at each stage. The seven ranks corresponded to the seven known celestial planets, and scaling them was a metaphor for the passage of the soul through the planetary spheres toward heaven."
- Ancient Wisdom and Secret Sects
"The lowest degree of initiation was known as the Sacrament...and it symbolized, according to present-day Mithraists, the death of the new member, from which he would arise reborn as a new man."
- Arkon Daraul, Secret Societies
"...In the text which is known under the title of the Liturgy of Mithra, but which is pervaded with Hermetic Gnosticism, we read: 'Today, having been born again by thee, out of so many myriads rendered immortal..' or 'Born again for rebirth of that life-giving birth...'
- Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation
"Ascension was symbolized by seven grades of initiation, each stage governed by a 'plant': Raven (Mercury); Bride (Venus); Soldier (Mars); Lion (Jupiter); Persian (the moon); Courier of the Sun (the sun); and Father (Saturn). The ultimate goal was to transcend all levels of the cosmos and to attain the level of the fixed stars, or aeternitas."
- An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism
| Grade | Zodiacal Sign | Emblem (worn or carried) |
| Corax (Raven) | Mercury | Wand, beaker |
| Nymophus ("Bride") | Venus | Crown, lamp, veil |
| Miles (Soldier) | Mars | Helmet, spear |
| Leo (Lion) | Jupiter | Thunderbolt, "fire-spade" |
| Perses (Persian) | Moon | Persian sword, scythe |
| Heliodromos (Sun-runner) | Sun | Crown, torch, whip |
| Pater (Father) | Saturn | Ring, staff, cap |
"...Each grade had a distinctive mask or dress to be worn at rites celebrated secretly in caves."
"According to some students of the subject... converts could be accepted into the 'church' only by undergoing 12 trials, including ordeals by fire, water, hunger, cold, flagellation, bloodletting, and branding. The whole exhausting program lasted from two to seven weeks. Successful candidates swore to keep the rites secret. Then they were baptized."
- Quest for the Past
(3) Magic and Visions
"This very ancient cult, from which more than one present-day secret society may well be derived, is thus seen to contain many of the elements which underlie organizations of this sort. It is a training system; it attempts to produce in its members a real or imagined experience of contact with some supreme power. The magical element is there, too, shown in the belief in the power of certain names to achieve things which cannot be done by men."
"...The secret of religion was partly that the worshipper must restrain himself physically in order to attain power over himself and over others. This graphic teaching of the diversion of sexual power into psychic channels shows that the Mithraists followed in essence the pattern of all mystical schools which believed in the production of power through discipline. In this they are clearly distinguished from the more primitive and less important orgiastic schools, which merely practiced indiscriminate indulgence, mass immorality, and so on."
- Arkon Daraul, Secret Societies
The Mithra Liturgy "gives instructions on how to achieve visions, descriptions of visions, and culminates with the visionary becoming a spirit possessed oracle."
- Stevan Davies (Mediators)
"After you have said these things, he will immediately respond with a revelation. Now you will grow weak in soul and will not be in yourself, when he answers you....And even if you are alone, and you undertake the things communicated by the god, you speak as if prophesying in ecstasy."
- Mithra Liturgy, (H. D. Betz The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (transl. Marvin Meyer)
| Other Mithraic Sites |
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The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras An excellent illustrated article dealing with the importance of the Zodiac in Mithraism Mithras Introduction, hymns to the Zoroastrian Mithra, songs to Mithras, birth story and links |
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