By the Gods!

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Apr 26
Mithras A god of battle (we think) favoured by soldiers in the Roman Empire, Mithras is a deity we know relatively little about. What we do know comes from the monuments and shrines used by the Mithraic Mysteries. Mystery religions were essentially exclusive cults of worship, open only to those selected by members for initiation, and there were several different mysteries throughout Greece and Rome from the Classical period through to the 4th century CE.  What we think we know about Mithras: he was born from a rock, and definitely killed a bull at some point. It’s widely believed that a practice of the Mithraic Mysteries was the regular sacrifice of a bull in his temples, and that he was favoured by the Roman military and soldiers where the Mysteries spread. There are temples to Mithras scattered throughout Rome, Gaul, and Britain, but the god’s original origins are disputed. Some believe the worship of Mithras to originate in Anatolia, (modern Turkey) while many believe that Mithras was adapted from the Mithra of Iranian mythology before the time of Zoroaster. 

Mithras

A god of battle (we think) favoured by soldiers in the Roman Empire, Mithras is a deity we know relatively little about. What we do know comes from the monuments and shrines used by the Mithraic Mysteries. Mystery religions were essentially exclusive cults of worship, open only to those selected by members for initiation, and there were several different mysteries throughout Greece and Rome from the Classical period through to the 4th century CE. 

What we think we know about Mithras: he was born from a rock, and definitely killed a bull at some point. It’s widely believed that a practice of the Mithraic Mysteries was the regular sacrifice of a bull in his temples, and that he was favoured by the Roman military and soldiers where the Mysteries spread. There are temples to Mithras scattered throughout Rome, Gaul, and Britain, but the god’s original origins are disputed. Some believe the worship of Mithras to originate in Anatolia, (modern Turkey) while many believe that Mithras was adapted from the Mithra of Iranian mythology before the time of Zoroaster. 

Posted 2 years ago

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greek, roman, mysteries, cult, god,

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