The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire

The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire PDF Author: Roger Beck
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191518239
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
A study of the religious system of Mithraism, one of the 'mystery cults' popular in the Roman Empire contemporary with early Christianity. Roger Beck describes Mithraism from the point of view of the initiate engaging with the religion and its rich symbolic system in thought, word, ritual action, and cult life. He employs the methods of anthropology of religion and the new cognitive science of religion to explore in detail the semiotics of the Mysteries' astral symbolism, which has been the principal subject of his many previous publications on the cult.

The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire

The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire PDF Author: Roger Beck
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191518239
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book

Book Description
A study of the religious system of Mithraism, one of the 'mystery cults' popular in the Roman Empire contemporary with early Christianity. Roger Beck describes Mithraism from the point of view of the initiate engaging with the religion and its rich symbolic system in thought, word, ritual action, and cult life. He employs the methods of anthropology of religion and the new cognitive science of religion to explore in detail the semiotics of the Mysteries' astral symbolism, which has been the principal subject of his many previous publications on the cult.

Roman Cult of Mithras

Roman Cult of Mithras PDF Author: Manfred Clauss
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 147446579X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Since its publication in Germany, Manfred Clauss's introduction to the Roman Mithras cult has become widely accepted as the most reliable, as well as the most readable, account of its elusive and fascinating subject. For the English edition the author has revised the work to take account of recent research and new archaeological discoveries. The mystery cult of Mithras first became evident in Rome towards the end of the first century AD. During the next two centuries, carried by its soldier and merchant devotees, it spread to the frontier of the western empire from Britain to Bosnia. Perhaps because of odd similarities between the cult and their own religion the early Christians energetically suppressed it, frequently constructing churches over the caves (Mithraea) in which its rituals took place. By the end of the fourth century the cult was extinct.Professor Clauss draws on the archaeological evidence from over 400 temples and their contents including over a thousand representations of ritual in sculpure and painting to seek an understanding of the nature and purpose of the cult, and what its mysteries and secret rites of initiation and sacrifice meant to its devotees. In doing so he introduces the reader to the nature of the polytheistic societies of the Roman Empire, in which relations and distinctions between gods and mortals now seem strangely close and blurred. He also considers the connections of Mithraicism with astrology, and examines how far it can be seen as a direct descendant of the ancient cult of Mitra, the Persian god of contract, cattle and light. The book combines imaginative insight with coherent argument. It is well-structured, accessibly written and extensively illustrated. Richard Gordon, the translator and himself a distinguished scholar of the subject, has provided a bibliography of further reading for anglophone readers.

The Roman Mithras Cult

The Roman Mithras Cult PDF Author: Olympia Panagiotidou
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472567404
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The Roman Mithras Cult: A Cognitive Approach is the first full cognitive history of an ancient religion. In this groundbreaking book on one of the most intriguing and mysterious ancient religions, Roger Beck and Olympia Panagiotidou show how cognitive historiography can supplement our historical knowledge and deepen our understanding of past cultural phenomenon. The cult of the sun god Mithras, which spread widely across the Greco-Roman world at the same time as other 'mystery cults' and Christianity, offered to its devotees certain images and assumptions about reality. Initiation into the mysteries of Mithras and participation in the life of the cult significantly affected and transformed the ways in which the initiated perceived themselves, the world, and their position within it. The cult's major ideas were conveyed mainly through its major symbolic complexes. The ancient written testimonies and other records are not adequate to establish a definitive reconstruction of Mithraic theologies and the meaning of its complex symbolic structures. Filling this gap, The Roman Mithras Cult: A Cognitive Approach identifies the cognitive and psychological processes which took place in the minds and bodies of the Mithraists during their initiation and participation in the mysteries, enabling the perception, apprehension, and integration of the essential images and assumptions of the cult in its worldview system.

The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity

The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity PDF Author: David Walsh
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004383069
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
In The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity David Walsh examines how and why the cult of Mithras vanished from the Roman Empire by the early 5th century C.E.

The Mysteries of Mithras

The Mysteries of Mithras PDF Author: Payam Nabarz
Publisher: Inner Traditions / Bear & Co
ISBN: 9781594770272
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
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.

The Mysteries of Mithra

The Mysteries of Mithra PDF Author: Franz Cumont
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mithraism
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description


Deus Sol Invictus

Deus Sol Invictus PDF Author: Minou Reeves
Publisher: Garnet Publishing
ISBN: 9781902932835
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Lucid and perfectly accessible to non-specialists, this extensively illustrated history of Mithras--the great sun god of both the Persian and Roman Empires--is amongst the most comprehensive of such studies available.available.

Lord of the Cosmos

Lord of the Cosmos PDF Author: Michael Patella, OSB
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0567305074
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
In Lord of the Cosmos, Patella demonstrates the ways in which the Roman Imperial religion imbues Paul's letter and subsequently Mark's Gospel. Mark resonated in the imperial capital and beyond because of its inherent participationist theology, a theology probably augmented by Paul and possibly introduced by him. In his own writings, Paul draws from Mithraic vocabulary and symbolism. Mithraism itself functions within the cosmic framework outlined in Plato's Timaeus. Pauline theology, with its Mithraic overtones, coheres with the Markan theme of Christ's cosmic victory over Satan; Paul and Mark share a similar view of Christ's salvific act. With the Bartimaeus pericope (10:46-52), the Markan Gospel demonstrates that believers, by their call to discipleship, participate in that victory. This whole process is signaled by the baptism with its divine communication and actions of descent and ascent, a strong Pauline concept. Patella shows that the Markan presentation of Jesus' death, the climax of the narrative, brings the act of divine communication full circle. At the baptism, God communicates to creation, and with Jesus' cry from the cross, creation replies in despair. Jesus' death is not the end of the story, however. The women at the tomb realize this fact and are awestruck at its significance, which is the reason that they do not tell anyone what they have witnessed. The notice to meet Jesus in Galilee is an affirmation of the resurrection. By moving from the area of the dead, that is the tomb, to the land of the living, Galilee, Mark echoes the cosmic theology in Paul, which moves from life to death, and back to eternal life.

Images of Mithra

Images of Mithra PDF Author: Philippa Adrych
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198792530
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
This work presents six case-studies of objects from different periods and regions of antiquity that are labelled by variations of the name Mithra, including the Roman Mithras, Persian Mihr, and Bactrian Miiro. Each chapter places each object in its original context, before questioning its role in religious ritual, tradition, and belief

A Companion to Roman Britain

A Companion to Roman Britain PDF Author: Malcolm Todd
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470998857
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
This major survey of the history and culture of Roman Britain spans the period from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. Major survey of the history and culture of Roman Britain Brings together specialists to provide an overview of recent debates about this period Exceptionally broad coverage, embracing political, economic, cultural and religious life Focuses on changes in Roman Britain from the first century BC to the fifth century AD Includes pioneering studies of the human population and animal resources of the island.