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A Comparison:

Most of the research into Mithraism, a religion with many parallels to
Christianity, comes from two writers, Cumont and Ulansey with a variety
of other writers input.  Some Similarities Between Mithraism and
Christianity  are:
Virgin birth
Twelve followers
Killing and resurrection
Miracles
Birthdate on December 25
Morality
Mankind's savior
Known as the Light of the world

Have you ever wondered why December 25th was chosen to celebrate the
birth of Christ?   If the accounts in the Bible are correct, the time of
Jesus birth would have been closer to mid-summer, for this is when
shepherds would have been "tending their flocks in the field" and the
new lambs were born. Strange enough there is an ancient pagan religion,
Mithraism, which dates back over 2,800 years that also celebrated the
birth of their "savior" on that date.   Many elements in the story of
Jesus' life and birth are either coincidental or borrowings 
from earlier and contemporary pagan religions. The most obviously
similar of these is Mithraism.    Roman Mithraism was a mystery religion
with sacrifice and initiation. Like other mystery cults, there's little
recorded literary evidence. What we know comes mainly from Christian
detractors and archaeological evidence from Mithraic temples,
inscriptions, and artistic representations of the god and other aspects
of the cult.  In an EAWC (Exploring Ancient World Cultures) essay
entitled Mithraism, Alison Griffith explains Cumont's theory of a
Zoroastrian origin for the Roman Mithraist religion.  While this theory
is disputed, there was 
a Mitra in the Hindu pantheon and a minor deity named Mithra among the
Persians as well.   Cumont came to believe the religion spread westward
from Eastern Roman provinces. However, as Griffith explains, there is
little evidence of a Zoroastrian Mithra cult and most evidence for
Mithraic worship comes from the western portion of the empire from which
Cumont correctly deduced that "Mithraism was most popular among
legionaries (of all ranks), and the members of the more marginal social
groups who were not Roman citizens: freedmen, slaves, and merchants from
various provinces...." No women were allowed.

*The Dawning of the Age of Aries*

Ulansey says the main problem with basing Mithraism on a Zoroastrian
cult is that there is no evidence that the Zoroastrians' Mithra
practiced bull killing, the central aspect of Roman Mithraic
iconography. An image of Mithras killing the bull holds pride of place
in each mithraeum (cave-like temple for the worship of Mithras). 
Ulansey believes the images of Mithras slaying the bull are actually
astronomical star maps. In support of this he points out that all the
figures represented in the iconography have a place in the
constellations (Taurus, Canis Minor, Hydra, Corvus, and Scorpio). He
says that the other iconography and even the initiation ceremonies are
consistently astronomical. Mithras' place as bull-slayer has
cosmological significance because, if Ulansey is right, Mithraists
attribute to their god the ability to shift the equinox from the
constellation of Taurus to Aries: 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.

*

/For more  research see:/

*

Hinnells, John R., Studies in Mithraism: Papers associated with the
Mithraic Panel organized on the occasion of the XVIth Congress of the
International Association for the History of Religions. 
Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider Reviewed by Helen F. North. Twenty papers
from the fourth international Mithraic congress held in Rome in 1990.   

* MITHRAISM  --*
* A Historical Introduction:*

For over three hundred years the rulers of the Roman Empire worshipped
the god Mithras. Known throughout Europe and Asia by the names Mithra,
Mitra, Meitros, Mihr, Mehr, and Meher, the veneration of this god began
around 2800 years ago in Persia, where it was soon moved west and became
imbedded with Babylonian doctrines. There is mention of Mithra or Mitra
(et al) before 2800, but only as a minor diety and without much
information.   It appears to be after 2800 when  Mithra is transformed
and starts to play a major role among the gods.   The faith spread east
through India to China, and reached west throughout the entire length of
the Roman frontier; from Scotland to the Sahara Desert, and from Spain
to the Black Sea. Sites of Mithraic worship have been found in Britain,
Italy, Romania, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Persia, Armenia,
Syria, Israel, and North Africa.    In Rome, more than a hundred
inscriptions dedicated to Mithra have been found, in addition to 75
sculpture fragments, and a series of Mithraic temples situated in all
parts of the city. One of the largest Mithraic temples built in Italy
now lies under the present site of the Church of St. Clemente, near the
Colosseum in Rome.   The widespread popularity and appeal of Mithraism
as the final and most refined form of pre-Christian paganism was
discussed by the Greek historian Herodotus, the Greek biographer
Plutarch, the neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry, the Gnostic heretic
Origen, and St. Jerome the church Father. Mithraism was quite often
noted by many historians for its many astonishing similarities to
Christianity.   The faithful referred to Mithra as "the Light of the
World", symbol of truth, justice, and loyalty.  He was mediator between
heaven and earth and was a member of a Holy Trinity.  According to
Persian mythology, Mithras was born of a virgin given the title 'Mother
of God'.  The god remained celibate throughout his life, and valued
self-control, renunciation and resistance to sensuality among his
worshippers.  Mithras represented a system of ethics in which
brotherhood was encouraged in order to unify against the forces of
evil.   The worshippers of Mithras held strong beliefs in a celestial
heaven and an infernal hell. They believed that the benevolent powers of
the god would sympathize with their suffering and grant them the final
justice of immortality and eternal salvation in the world to come. They
looked forward to a final day of Judgment in which the dead would
resurrect, and to a final conflict that would destroy the existing order
of all things to bring about the triumph of light over darkness.

Purification through a ritualistic baptism was required of the faithful,
who also took part in a ceremony in which they drank wine and ate bread
to symbolize the body and blood of the god. Sundays were held sacred,
and the birth of the god was celebrated annually on December the 25th.
After the earthly mission of this god had been accomplished, he took
part in a Last Supper with his companions before ascending to heaven, to
forever protect the faithful from above.
However, it would be a vast oversimplification to suggest that Mithraism
was the single forerunner of early Christianity.  Aside from Christ and
Mithras, there were plenty of other deities (such as Osiris, Tammuz,
Adonis, Balder, Attis, and Dionysus) said to have died and
resurrected.   Many classical heroic figures, such as Hercules, Perseus,
and Theseus, were said to have been born through the union of a virgin
mother and divine father. Virtually every pagan religious practice and
festivity that couldn't be suppressed or driven underground was
eventually incorporated into the rites of Christianity as it spread
across Europe and throughout the world.

*The Persian Origins of Mithraism*

In order to fully understand the religion of Mithraism it is necessary
to look to its foundation in Persia, where originally a multitude of
gods were worshipped. Amongst them were Ahura-Mazda, god of the skies,
and Ahriman, god of darkness. In the sixth and seventh century B.C.E., a
vast reformation of the Persian pantheon was undertaken by Zarathustra
(known in Greek as Zoroaster), a prophet from the kingdom of Bactria.  
The stature of Ahura-Mazda was elevated to that of supreme god of
goodness, whereas the god Ahriman became the ultimate embodiment of
evil.   In the same way that Ahkenaton, Heliogabalus, and Mohammed later
initiated henotheistic cults from the worship of their respective
deities, Zarathustra created a henotheistic dualism with the gods
Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman.   As a result of the Babylonian captivity of
the Jews (597 B.C.E.) and their later emancipation by King Cyrus the
Great of Persia (538 B.C.E.), Zoroastrian dualism was to influence the
Jewish belief in the existence of HaShatan, the  Adversary of the god
*YHVH*, and later permit the evolution of the Christian Satan-Jehovah
dichotomy. Persian religious dualism became the foundation of an ethical
system that has lasted until this day.   The reformation of Zarathustra
retained the hundreds of Persian deities, assembling them into a complex
hierarchical system of 'Immortals' and  'Adored Ones' under the rule of
either Ahura- Mazda or Ahriman.   Within this vast pantheon, Mithras
gained the title of 'Judger of Souls'. He became the divine
representative of Ahura-Mazda on earth, and was directed to protect the
righteous from the demonic forces of Ahriman.   Mithras was called
omniscient, undeceivable, infallible, eternally

watchful, and never-resting. In the Avesta, the holy book of the
religion of Zarathustra, Ahura-Mazda was said to have created
Mithras in order to guarantee the authority of contracts and the
keeping of promises. The name Mithras was, in fact, the Persian word
for 'contract'. The divine duty of Mithras was to ensure general
prosperity through good contractual relations between men. It was
believed that misfortune would befall the entire land if a contract
was ever broken.

Ahura-Mazda was said to have created Mithras to be as great and worthy
as himself.  He would fight the spirits of evil to protect the creations
of Ahura-Mazda and cause even Ahriman to tremble. Mithras was seen as
the protector of just souls from demons seeking to drag them down to
Hell, and the guide of these souls to Paradise.  As Lord of the Sky, he
took the role of psychopomp, conducting the souls of the righteous dead
to paradise.   According to Persian traditions, the god Mithras was
actually incarnated into the human form of the Saviour expected by
Zarathustra. Mithras was born of Anahita, an immaculate virgin mother
once worshipped as a fertility goddess before the hierarchical
reformation. Anahita was said to have conceived the Saviour from the
seed of Zarathustra preserved in the waters of Lake Hamun in the Persian
province of Sistan. Mithra's ascension to heaven was said to have
occurred in 208 B.C.E., 64 years after his birth. Parthian coins and
documents bear a double date with this 64 year interval.

Mithras was 'The Great King' highly revered by the nobility and
monarchs, who looked upon him as their special protector. A great number
of the nobility took theophorous (god-bearing) names compounded with
Mithras. The title of the god Mithras was used in the dynasties of
Pontus, Parthia, Cappadocia, Armenia and Commagene by emperors with the
name Mithradates. Mithradates VI, king of Pontus (northern Turkey) in
120-63 B.C.E. became famous for being the first monarch to practice
immunization by taking poisons in gradually increased doses.  The terms
mithridatism and mithridate (a pharmacological elixir) were named after
him.  The Parthian princes of Armenia were all priests of Mithras, and
an entire district of this land was dedicated to the Virgin Mother
Anahita.   Many Mithraeums, or Mithraic temples, were built in Armenia,
which remained one of the laststrongholds of Mithraism.   The largest
near-eastern Mithraeum was built in western Persia at Kangavar,
dedicated to 'Anahita, the Immaculate Virgin Mother of the Lord
Mithras'. Other Mithraic temples were built in Khuzestan and in Central
Iran near present-day Mahallat, where at the temple of Khorheh a few
tall columns still stand.   Excavations in Nisa, later renamed
Mithradatkirt, have uncovered Mithraic mausoleums and shrines.  
Mithraic sanctuaries and mausoleums were built in the city of Hatra in
upper Mesopotamia. West of Hatra at Dura Europos, Mithraeums were found
with figures of Mithras on horseback.   Persian Mithraism was more a
collection of traditions and rites than a body of doctrines. However,
once the Babylonians took the Mithraic rituals and mythology from the
Persians, they thoroughly refined its theology. The Babylonian clergy
assimilated Ahura-Mazda to the god Baal, Anahita to the goddess Ishtar,
and Mithras to Shamash, their god of justice, victory and protection
(and the sun god from whom King Hammurabi received his code of laws in
the 18th century B.C.E.) As a result of the solar and astronomical
associations of the Babylonians, Mithras later was referred to by Roman
worshippers as 'Sol invictus', or the invincible sun. The sun itself was
considered to be "the eye of Mithras".    The Persian crown, from which
all present day crowns are derived, was designed to represent the golden
sun-disc sacred to Mithras.   As a deity connected with the sun and its
life-giving powers, Mithras was known as 'The Lord of the Wide Pastures'
who was believed to cause the plants to spring forth from the ground. 
In the time of Cyrus and Darius the Great, the rulers of Persia received
the first fruits of the fall harvest at the festival of Mehragan.  At
this time they wore their most brilliant clothing and drank wine.  In
the Persian calendar, the seventh month and the sixteenth day of each
month were also dedicated to Mithras.    The Babylonians also
incorporated their belief in destiny into the Mithraic worship of
Zurvan, the Persian god of infinite time and father of the gods
Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman. They superimposed astrology, the use of the
zodiac, and the deification of the four seasons onto the Persian rites
of Mithraism.   "Astrology, of which these postulates were the dogmas,
certainly owes some share of its success to the Mithraic propaganda, and
Mithraism is therefore partly responsible for the triumph in the West of
this pseudo-science with its long train of errors and terrors."  (Franz
Cumont, French Mithraic researcher  Les Mystères de Mithra, p.125 )

The Persians called Mithras 'The Mediator' since he was believed to
stand between the light of 
Ahura-Mazda and the darkness of Ahriman.   He was  said to have 1000
eyes, expressing the conviction that no man could conceal his wrongdoing
from the god. Mithras was known as the God of Truth, and Lord of
Heavenly Light, and said to have stated "I am a star which goes with
thee and shines out of the depths".   Mithras was associated with
Verethraghna, the Persian god of victory. He would fight against the
forces of evil, and destroy the wicked. It was believed that offering
sacrifices to Mithras would provide strength and glory in life and in
battle. In the Avesta, Yasht 10, it reads that Mithras "spies out his
enemies; armed in his fullest panoply he swoops down upon them, scatters
and slaughters them. He desolates and lays waste the homes of the
wicked, he annihilates the tribes and the nations that are hostile to
him. He assures victory unto them that fit instruction in the Good, that
honour him and offer him the sacrificial libations."   Mithras was
worshipped as guardian of arms, and patron of soldiers and armies. The
handshake was developed by those who worshipped him as a token of
friendship and as a gesture to show that you were unarmed.   When
Mithras later became the Roman god of contracts, the handshake gesture
was imported throughout the Mediterranean and Europe by Roman soldiers.

In Armenian tradition, Mithras was believed to shut himself up in a cave
from which he emerged once a year, born anew.  The Persians introduced
initiates to the mysteries in natural caves, according to Porphyry, the
third century neoplatonic philosopher. These cave temples were created
in the image of the World Cave that Mithras had created, according to
the Persian creation myth.   As 'God of Truth and Integrity', Mithras
was invoked in solemn oaths to pledge the fulfillment of contracts and
punish liars. He was believed to maintain peace, wisdom, honour,
prosperity, and cause harmony to reign among all his worshippers.
According to the Avesta, Mithras could decide when different periods of
world history were completed. He would judge mortal souls at death and
brandish his mace over hell three times each day so that demons would
not inflict greater punishment on sinners than they deserved.
Sacrificial offerings of cattle and birds were made to Mithras, along
with libations of Haoma, a hallucinogenic drink used by Zoroastrian and
Hindu priests, equated with the infamous hallucinogen 'Soma' described
in the Vedic scriptures. Before daring to approach the altar to make an
offering to Mithras, Persian worshippers were obliged to purge
themselves by repeating purification rituals and flagellating
themselves. These customs were continued in the initiation ceremonies of
the Roman neophytes.

*The Expansion of the Faith*

With the rapid expansion of the Persian Empire, the worship of Mithras
spread eastward through northern India into the western provinces of
China. In Chinese mythology, Mithras came to be known as 'The Friend'.  
To this day, Mithras is represented as a military General in Chinese
statues, and is considered to be the friend of man in this life and his
protector against evil in the next. In India, Mithras was recognized as
'God of Heavenly Light' and an ally of Indra, King of Heaven. Mithras
was often prayed to and invoked along with Varuna, the Hindu god of
moral law and true speech. Jointly known as 'Mitra-Varuna', it was
believed that together they would uphold order in the world while
travelling in a shining chariot and living in a golden mansion with a
thousand pillars and a thousands doors. Mithras was also praised in the
Vedic hymns. Just as in the Zoroastrian Avesta, the Hindu scriptures
recognized Mithras as 'God of Light', 'Protector of Truth', and 'Enemy
of Falsehood'. The worship of Mithras also extended westward through
what is now Turkey to the borders of the Aegean Sea.  A bilingual
dedication to Mithras, written in Greek and Aramaic, was found engraved
upon a rock in a wild pass near Farasha in the Turkish province of
Cappadocia. Mithras was also the only Iranian god whose name was known
in ancient Greece.   A grotto located near the Greek town of Tetapezus
was dedicated to Mithras, before it was transformed into a church.
However, Mithraism never made many converts in Greece or in the
Hellenized countries.   That country never extended the hand of
hospitality to the god of its ancient enemies.   According to the Greek
historian Plutarch (46-125 C.E.) Mithras was first introduced into Italy
by pirates from Cilicia (Sout-East Turkey) who initiated the Romans into
the secrets of the religion. These pirates performed strange sacrifices
on Mount Olympus and practiced Mithraic rituals, which according to
Plutarch "exist to the present day and were first taught by them".
However, there were many foreign cults in Italy at that time, and these
early Mithraists did not attract much attention.

It is one of the great of ironies of history that Romans ended up
worshipping the god of their chief political enemy, the Persians. The
Roman historian Quintus Rufus recorded in his book History of Alexander
that before going into battle against the 'anti-Mithraean country' of
Rome, the Persian soldiers would pray to Mithras for victory. However,
after the two enemy civilizations had been in contact for more than a
thousand years, the worship of Mithras finally spread from the Persians
through the Phrygians of Turkey to the Romans.   The Romans viewed
Persia as a land of wisdom and mystery, and Persian religious teachings
appealed to those Romans who found the established state religion
uninspiring - just as during the Cold War era of the 1960's many
American university students rejected western religious values and
sought enlightenment in the established spirituality of Communist
east-Asian "enemy countries".

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*Mithras in the Roman Empire <dogma2b.htm>*

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