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Feature Articles 

The road not taken

/The Cult of Mithras, rather than Christianity, almost became the
religion that dominated Western Europe. It failed, but intriguingly, we
now hardly know anything about it. /

Philip Coppens

------------------------------------------------------------------------

/The Mithraeum of San Clemens, Rome/

Along Hadrian?s Wall, outside of Newcastle, is the unimpressive fort of
Carrawburgh. Its parking lot is oversized for the amount of visitors it
attracts. Those who do stop here, are only partially aware that on the
furthest part of the fort?s edge, there is the adjoining ?Roman Temple?
or Mithraeum. When the small sanctuary was discovered, its layout,
statues and inscriptions showed that this temple was dedicated to the
Mithras cult. One guide to the site explains Mithras as being ?the
centre of a mysterious cult, popular with the army, which undertook dark
mystical ceremonies, particularly hated by the Christians. You can step
into the ruins here, but the altars are replicas and for a real feeling
of what the place was like you must visit the full-scale reconstruction
at the Museum of Antiquities in Newcastle.?
Between St John Lateran and the Coliseum in Rome, sits the church of San
Clemens ? though it is easy to walk past it if you do not know what you
are looking for. Underneath is a series of underground tunnels, parts of
Roman baths originally installed underneath a Roman house. The
underground complex has a room that is a Mithraeum. Here, the air is
humid, and the entrance to the Mithraeum itself is fenced off; an alarm
is triggered when anyone puts a finger on the iron door! It is one of a
few surviving Mithraea in Rome, though some believe that at one point,
there may have been more than 500? indeed, five hundred, which must be
even more than the total amount of churches Rome has today.

The cult of Mithras ? Mithraism ? was a popular cult in the early
centuries of the Christian era, throughout the Roman area, from the
Middle East, via Italy, to its northern borders, like Hadrian?s Wall and
along the German border. The religion was ?hated? by Christians, for it
was its greatest rival? and for a very long time thought to be the
odds-on favourite to come out as the winner of the various new religions
that were competing for the souls of the Romans. Amongst its followers,
it were particularly soldiers that seemed most attracted to it and it is
believed ? at least by some ? that they may have been the ones who
stumbled upon the cult during one campaign or another. This all-male
environment must have been beneficial to the cult, for women were
apparently not allowed to join.
Though it had 500 temples (in Rome alone), was very popular, Mithraism
has remained something of a mystery. The absence of a clear answer as to
what the religion actually encompassed is partially due to the fact that
it was a mystery religion, in which the doctrine was passed on from
initiate to initiate; it was not based on a body of scripture, meaning
that very little written documentary evidence existed, let alone survived.
Remarkably, scholarly research about the cult itself was, until
recently, a preoccupation of just one person: Franz Cumont. Mithraism
really was little more than a name until the massive documentation of
Franz Cumont?s ?Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the
Mysteries of Mithra? was published in 1894-1900, with the first English
translation made available in 1903. Cumont?s opinions remained largely
uncontested until the 1960s, but since then, some of his opinions have
been both validated and invalidated, and a fresh, intriguing light is
now beginning to shine over what the cult of Mithras was all about.

/The Mithraeum of Seven Gates, Ostia/

In essence, Mithraism was centred on the worship of the saviour god
Mithras (just like Christianity is centred on Christ), mainly expressed
through the image of a man slaying a bull (as opposed to a man hanging
from a cross). The cult required initiation, was practiced in a small
group, in an underground room (the Mithraeum), in which initiates were
seated along two walls, with the width being reserved for the entrance
door on one side and the main altar, depicting above it an image of
Mithras slaying the bull, on the other side.
The Mithraeum, as quite a few survived and could thus be studied by
archaeologists, is about the best documented aspect of the entire cult.
The room was either an adapted natural cave or cavern or an artificial
building imitating a cavern. It seems that they were most often
constructed within or below an existing building, often baths. Most
temples could hold only thirty to forty individuals. The set-up of
raised benches along the side walls must have been partially to ease the
partaking of a communal ritual meal.
The altar scene, depicting Mithras killing a sacred bull, is a ritual
that is known as a tauroctony. The question is whether it was an actual
slaying of a bull. It seems unlikely, given the location of the
sanctuaries and its small size. Still, such display of physical prowess
could be another factor as to why it was so popular with soldiers.
Rather than a physical killing, David Ulansey has proposed that the
tauroctony is a symbolic representation of the constellations. This is
partially based on the observation that some depictions from Mithras
show him wearing a cape that in some examples can be seen to have the
starry sky as its inside lining. Ulansey thus identifies Mithras with
Perseus, whose constellation is indeed above that of the bull. Perseus
was the Greek hero who slew the monster Medusa, whose gaze was said to
be able to turn men into stone. His argument is strengthened as on
several depictions recovered from Mithraea, a serpent, a scorpion, a
dog, and a raven are also present, each of which has a stellar
equivalent. There is also a famous bronze image of Mithras, showing him
emerging from an egg-shaped zodiac ring, in what has often been
described as a ?star gate?. This find was actually made in the
Carrawburgh Mithraeum on Hadrian?s Wall. There are other references and
depictions to Mithras as being the turner of the zodiac.
Ulansey was not the first to propose a stellar origin for the central
image: in 1869, a German scholar K.B. Stark wrote that Mithraism was
about stars and constellations, but this explanation was rejected by
Cumont. Almost a century later, Ulansey tried to challenge the status
quo ? with some success.

If we were able to answer the question where Mithraism came from, we
might be able to attain further insights into the cult. It was long
thought that Mithraism was Persian, adapted from the Iranian and other
Zoroastrian deities. But Zoroastrianism (the religion in which Freddie
Mercury from the rock group Queen grew up in and which dripped into some
of the group?s lyrics) has no element of initiation or grades.
Furthermore, Zoroastrianism specifically worships under the open sky,
not underground rooms, and it has no pantheon of planetary gods, or any
correspondence in iconographic representation. So even though we assume
that Mithraism originated in the Eastern part of today?s Iran around the
7th century BC and we know that it was practiced in the Roman Empire
since the first century BC, where it came from remains something of a
mystery.
If we read what the ancient writers had to say on the subject, we note
that Origen wrote that ?Celsus also describes some Persian mysteries,
where he says: These truths are obscurely represented by the teaching of
the Persians and by the mystery of Mithras which is of Persian origin.
For in the latter there is a symbol of the two orbits of heaven, the one
being that of the fixed stars and the other that assigned to the
planets, and of the soul?s passage through these. The symbol is this.
There is a ladder with seven gates and at its top an eighth gate.?
Celsus? statement therefore seems to confirm the stellar nature of the
mythology, and adds that it was a symbol of the soul?s passage to ?an
eighth gate?. We also noted the cross-over between Perseus and Mithras
and it is the Byzantine historian Gregorius Cedrenus who said that
Perseus was said to have founded a new cult among the Persian Magi based
on celestial secrets: ?Perseus, they say, brought to Persia initiation
and magic, which by his secrets made the fire of the sky descend.? Was
this new cult Mithraism?

If Celsus is correct (and there is no reason to doubt him), Mithraism
taught a doctrine that seemed to explain the progression of the soul
through various stages, in order to reach ?the eighth gate?.
Traditionally, the seven steps (often linked with a ladder) represented
the planetary orbits, with the eight orbit representing Mankind leaving
this ?reality? and enter another, divine realm, which was often seen as
the reunification of the soul with God.
As we know that the cult had an initiation, what did it involve? Most
believe that like Christianity, the first step involved a baptism.
Reliefs on a cup found at Mainz (Germany) appear to depict a Mithraic
initiation. On the cup, the initiate is depicted as being led into a
location where the cult?s priest would be seated in the guise of Mithras
with a drawn bow. Accompanying the Initiate is a ?Mystagogue?, who
explains the symbology and theology to the initiate. The Rite is thought
to re-enact what has come to be called the ?Water Miracle?, in which
Mithras fires a bolt into a rock, and from the rock spouts water. This
is very similar to demonstrations of ancient Greek gods, for example
Athena on Athens? acropolis, who frequently demonstrated their ability
to break up rocks and create springs.
Once admitted, it is believed that the members were divided into seven
ranks ? conform to the spheres or gates, and no doubt initiation into
each rank was seen as a passage through a ?gate?. All members were
apparently expected to progress through the first four ranks, while only
a few would go on to the three higher ranks. The seven ranks were: Corax
(raven), Nymphus (bridegroom), Miles (soldier), Leo (lion), Perses
(Persian), Heliodromus (sun-courier) and Pater (father). Some of these
names have clear stellar equivalents. The titles of the first four ranks
suggest the possibility that advancement through the ranks was based on
introspection and spiritual growth. When inducted into the degree of
Leo, the initiate was purified with honey, and baptised, not with water,
but (it is believed) with fire. This may be linked with the Persian fire
magic of Perseus which was alluded to before. Intriguingly, in the
Bible, we read that John the Baptist baptised with water, but that Jesus
supposedly was to, or did, baptise with fire. But back to Mithraism:
after this second baptism, initiates were considered "participants?, and
they received the sacrament of bread and wine commemorating Mithras?
banquet, an event that many have seen as a clear parallel with the Last
Supper, as well as the banquet in which Osiris was slain by Seth.

Let us tackle the bull by the horns, which seems appropriate enough as
we are discussing Mithraim. Mithraism bears similarities with various
other religions. Some claim Christianity was based on Mithraism, others
suggest it is the other way around. According to Martin A. Larson in
?The Story of Christian Origins? Mithraism and Christianity derived from
the same sources, originally from the saviour cult of Osiris. But in the
final analysis, Mithraism and Christianity are very distinct, even in
origin. There are certain standard features that all religions share
(initiation, ritual meals, etc.), but these are not the core beliefs of
the religion. And if there is one aspect that sets Mithraism apart from
all of its competitors, it is its central motif, the tauroctony, the
myth of the slaying of a sacred bull.
As mentioned, Ulansey thought that the bull represents the constellation
of Taurus. However, in the period in which the cult was most active, the
sun at the vernal equinox had left Taurus 2000 years before and was in
the process of moving from Aries to Pisces. This seems ? is ? a major
problem for the promoters of this theory. Thus, it has been suggested
that Mithraism is somehow connected to the end of the astrological "age
of Taurus" and the beginning of the "age of Aries", which means it was
created around that time and continued to commemorate that event. The
question is why? Also, this would mean that the cult originated in ca.
2000 BC, even though there is no record of it until the 2nd century BC.
It is more than likely older than the 2nd century BC, but by almost
another two millennia? That seems unlikely. Furthermore, if it did
originate in 2000 BC, it seems that the most logical ? though therefore
not necessary the correct ? location would be Crete, which at the time
had an obsession with caves and bulls. But then our ancient authors
would be wrong?

Still, the constellations common in the sky from about 4000 BC to 2000
BC were indeed Taurus the Bull, Canis Minor the Dog, Hydra the Snake,
Corvus the Raven and Scorpio the Scorpion, all of which may be
identified in the Mithraic fresco from Marino. Further support for this
theory is the presence of a lion and a cup in some depictions of the
tauroctony: Leo (a lion) and Aquarius (the cup-bearer) were the
constellations seen as the northernmost (summer solstice) and
southernmost (winter solstice) positions in the sky during the age of
Taurus.
In the final analysis, Ulansey?s suggestion has both pros and contras.
One often heard challenge from critics is that Ulansey?s approach cannot
work, for it relies on knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes,
which they claim was only discovered by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus
in the 2nd century BC. There is, however, evidence that the precession
of the equinoxes was known before and that Hipparchus should be
considered as the earliest surviving record ? not necessarily the man
who discovered it. But whether the phenomenon was known by Mithraists
before is unknown; we do note that the first record of Mithraism and the
first record of the precession of the equinoxes both date from the 2nd
century BC.

Let us add a final few notes on the central imagery of the cult. The
tauroctony is the ritual slaying of a bull. In ancient Egypt, the sign
of a new era was symbolised by the Apis Bull, who was the subject of an
entire cult. We know that in 137 AD, when one Sirius year (of 1460 solar
years) came to an end, the Emperor Hadrian was confronted with a small
uprising that involved a dispute over an Apis Bull. It is argued that
the Apis Bull had to be slain as part of the rituals that involved the
advent of this new era, which is very similar to a shift from one
zodiacal age to the next, but which in Egypt seems to have been of
secondary or no importance, focused as they were on the stars, rather
than the zodiac, with each star attaining the same position in the sky
every 1460 years.
Equally, there is the story about Cambyses II of Persia, who was King of
Egypt from 525-521 BC. He, at first, was said to have killed the sacred
Apis Bull in fury after his soldiers were lost in the Lybian desert. But
modern archaeological evidence suggests that Cambyses actually buried
one Apis Bull according to the proper rituals. Did he perform a
tauroctomy, as performed in the cult of Mithras?
Is it possible that the cult of Mithras was a reformulation of the
Egyptian cult of the Apis Bull? We know that from the 3rd century BC
onwards, the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt instructed the Egyptians to make
their religion both accessible and understandable to the other (mainly
Greek and Jewish) cultures. The Corpus Hermeticum is thus seen as a
Hellenised rendition of the Egyptian wisdom of Thoth. But the ancient
Egyptians had more than one cult; was the Apis Cult recodified into the
Mithras cult? It is an intriguing suggestion, which no-one seems to have
seriously posed!

Were the constellations linked with mankind?s ascent through the
heavens, to the ?eight gate?? There is the so-called Mithras Liturgy, a
section of a Greek magical papyrus which says of itself that it is a
revelation granted by the great god Helios Mithras. The original editor
of the text, Albrecht Dieterich, claimed that it was authentic and part
of Mithraism, but Cumont rejected this and ever since, it has been
confined to the shades of Mithraic research and remains the topic of
animated debate.
Dieterich was convinced that the ritual spelled out the liturgy for the
ascent and immortalization of the soul. His thinking thus conforms to
the opinions of the ancient writers. The Liturgy is a document sprinkled
with astrology and magic and emphasizing the ecstatic ascent of the
individual soul ? three ingredients that we have identified as forming
the backbone of Mithraism. Intriguingly, the magical codex, of which the
Mithras Liturgy forms lines 475 to 834, was apparently collected for use
in the working library of an Egyptian magician.
The text of the Mithras Liturgy is composed of two main parts: a
liturgical mystery of ascent (lines 475-750), followed by a set of
magical instructions (lines 750-834). After the brief introduction
(lines 475- 485), the mystery of ascent presents the seven liturgical
stages for the soul's ecstatic journey: the soul thus encounters the
four elements (lines 485-537), in their generative and regenerative
aspects; the lower powers of the air (lines 537-585), including the
winds, bolts of thunder and lightning, and meteors; the god Aion and the
Aionic powers (lines 585-628) as planetary guardians ? gatekeepers ? of
the heavenly doors. Then it is on to Helios (lines 628-657), young and
fiery; the seven Fates (lines 657-672) and, next, the seven Pole-Lords
(lines 673-692), both groups from the region of the fixed stars, and
both depicted in Egyptian fashion. Finally, there is the highest God
(lines 692-724), portrayed as Mithras himself.
After the conclusion (lines 724-750) to the mystery of ascent, the
magical instructions include a scarab ceremony of the sun (lines
750-798), which provide instructions for obtaining the kentritis herb
and the fashioning of amulets (lines 798-830). The Liturgy also includes
breathing techniques (lines 537-538: drawing in breath from the rays).
In short, the Mithras Liturgy is more than likely the real thing. Too
many sceptics have seen influences of the Hermetica in its writings, but
this is only to be expected. The Hermetica was the third important
player in the ?domination game? that also involved Mithraism and
Christianity and common themes and osmosis are to be expected.

/Mithraeum at Carrawburgh, Hadrian's Wall/

By 200 AD, Mithraism had spread widely through the army, and also among
traders and slaves. As mentioned, the cult was the main competitor of
Christianity, but the latter?s popularity was boosted by Constantine?s
tolerance of it from around 310 AD. This was a major blow for Mithraism,
particularly as Christianity admitted women while Mithraism did not,
which obviously limited its growth potential. The reign of Julian, who
attempted to restore the faith and once again suppress Christianity, as
well as the usurpation of Eugenius renewed the hopes of its devotees,
but the decree by Theodosius I in 394 AD, which forbade all
non-Christian worship, may be considered the end of Mithraism?s formal
public existence. Still, Mithraism survived in certain cantons of the
Alps into the 5th century, as well as in the South of France ? a region
where depictions of bulls date back to 20,000 years, in the famous cave
paintings that can be found in that region. In Toulouse (France), the
cult of Mithras equally remains visible as the Mithraeum is retained as
a crypt under the earliest church dedicated to the local saint Saturnin,
evocatively named "Notre-Dame du Taur". There is even a suggestion that
the Mithras cult was responsible for the bullfighting that occurs in
this region. It is true that Saint Saturninus had a protégé, Saint
Fermin, in Pamplona, a town that is world famous for its annual bullfight.
As can be seen in Toulouse, but equally San Clemens in Rome and many
other examples, many Mithraea were turned into Christian churches. In
fact, there is even one Mithraeum on Rome?s Vatican Hill, which was
seized by Christians in 376 AD. Some also argue that many of the
Mithraea then became dedicated to the archangel Michael, who was also
the patron saint of soldiers.

Though Christianity won, there was also quite a bit of assimilation.
Both the birth of Mithras and the birth of Christ are celebrated on
December 25, although nowhere does the New Testament claim that Christ
was born on this day. In fact, early Christians celebrated Jesus? birth
on January 6 and only under the influence of Mithraism and another
popular cult, Sol Invictus, was it moved to December 25. Both cults were
also responsible for changing the holy day of early Christianity from
Saturday to Sunday. Many have also noted that the title of Pope (father)
is found in Mithraic doctrine and was seemingly prohibited in the early
Christian doctrine. Though as a religion it did not win, it is
nevertheless quite intriguing how today, the Pope has a name that
derives from Mithraism and reigns from the Vatican, which in origin was
a Mithraeum. It underlines how close Mithraism came? but in the end not
far enough; it seems that as a religion, it never went through its own
eighth gate.

This article appeared in Les Carnets Secrets 7 (2007).