Mithras

Bulls & ears of corn

2340 BCE

• 2340-2200 BC
• Sceau cylindre
• Dating back to ancient times: an model/type of the bull connected to corn within Mesopotamia.
• Connection between the fertility of the bull & the fertility of the earth represented by corn

Storm god on a bull holding lightning fork, accompanied by nude female

1750 BCE

• Ca. 1750-1600 BC
• Late Old Babylonian style -> importance astrology!
• The nude female fig. combined with a war- or stormgod, could represent qualities like luck, worthiness & protection, but the exact meaning of the female fig varies per composition

Connection Mithra - Varuna

Period: 1500 BCE to 500 BCE

Varuna is a Hindu entity ruling the heavens and controlling the moral codes and laws of men. Varuna & Mithras were often called upon together, establishing a connection/association between the entities. Within that connection Mithras represents the legal code (alliance between men) and Varuna the magical aspects (relation between gods and men). The were sometimes called the "Mighty bulls".

First mention of 'Mithras'

1400 BCE

Within the Aryan civilization Mithras was known as a god of the heavens and sky.

A treaty between Hittite king & Mitanni king

1380 BCE

• Discovered around 1907
• Mitanni king used a formula calling upon different deities to be a witness of the sacrality of the treaty. One of those deities was Mithra(s)

Connection Mithra - Ahura Mazda

Period: 700 BCE to 100 BCE

WIthin the Old Persian empire Ahura Mazda was a Zoroastrian entity that created the universe and kept the cosmic order balanced. Mithras was often seen as the bringer of wealth, fertility and protector of the cattle.

Cyrus II de Grote bezet Babylon

539 BCE

• Cultural interchange/influence

Darius Enthroned & above the Sky symbol

480 BCE

• ca. 480-470 BC
• Persepolis, Tripylon, Eastern Gate in Iran
• The godly nature of the Mesopotamian skygod was represented by a Arian symbol for the sky (influence from Egypt). The Persians took that symbol and used it to represent their greatest deity. It was used within works like this one and on seals.

First mention of Mithras (& Anahita) in royal inscriptions

Period: 404 BCE to 359 BCE

• During the reign of Artaxerxes II king of Persia
• In connection to Anahita (rivergod; goddess of generation & love). She became the Persian personification of Ishtar, consequently that can mean that Mithras could be a personification of Tammuz, or at least assimilated a few characteristics of Tammuz.
• This contamination (transforming Mithras from an Arian hero of the heavens and sky into a deity trapped in a cave with the coming and going of seasons) could have happened here, with Anahita.

Pergamon strongest political player of Asia

Period: 200 BCE to 133 BCE

• From the early 3rd C BC
• Last king of Pergamon passed his empire to the Romans, who made it 'Provincia Asia'

Wars in Asia against Mithradates IV of Pontus & Victory of Pompeius

Period: 106 BCE to 48 BCE

• Wars end after the Romans assimilated Asia with the victory of Pompeius

Mithra slaying the bull

100 BCE

• Ca. 2nd C BC
• Bas-reliëf
• Extra fig: torchbearers - symb: the descent & transcend
• Tail ends in 3 corncobs: dying bull brings fertility - connection between fertility bull and fertility of the earth represented via corn

Roman underground cult with Mithras as a bull-killing god

Period: 100 BCE to 1 BCE

Soldiers within the Roman Empire created catacombs and caves to practice their Mithraic religion, against the will of their emperor. God Mithras was depicted as a bull-killing god instead of the god riding the heavens.

Ostia Antica Mithraeum

99 BCE

• Ca. 1st C BC
• Italy, Ostia Antica - Early ex. of a mithraeum in Italy
• The cave represented the womb of the earth (from Magna Mater cult in Asia) (< > Greek/Roman gods/cult), often decorated with stars, planets, the seasons & zodiac

Constant communication Italy - Asia

63 BCE

• After the Roman Empire conquered Asia, there grew a constant communication between Italy and Asia

Eastern Terrace with sculptures of deities

62 BCE

• 5 sculpt: King Antiochus, goddess Tyche, Zeus-Oromasdes, Apollo-Mithras & Heracles-Artagnes
• Mount Nemrut, Turkije

Antiochus I Theos & Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes

62 BCE

• Mithras with sun rays around his head, stars on his cap & sword in hand - Mithras as warrior-king of the sky
• Mount Nemrut, West Terrace, Turkije

Mithras (Roman sun god) killing the bull

100

ca. 2nd C, Statue

Mithras killing the bull, Zenobius

100

First half of the 2nd C, Reliëf

Mithras Killing the bull, Ethpeni

100

First half of the 2nd C, Reliëf

Oldest dated inscription Mithras cult in Rome

100

• Dated shortly after the year 100
• In a marmer

Dura-Europos colonized by Romans

150

Ca. Half of the 2nd C, (influence of Hellenistic religions gets transferred to the Roman soldiers)

Transitus - Mithras carrying the bull

150

• Ca. 150-230
• In Mithraeum I in Ptuj, Slovenia
• Mithras carries the bull while crossing the ocean, that separates heaven and earth
• Inscription transl: “For the Transitus, Caius Caecina Calpurnius bought back the temple and restored it.”

Oldest dated inscription Mithras cult in Donau region

160

• Dated ca. sixty years after the marmer in Rome

Armenia, Mesopotamia & Assyria incorporated in Roman Empire

166

• Area's around the Donau-delta were incorporated within the Roman fortification system

Petrogenia del Mitreo III de Ptuj, Slovenia

200

• Ca. 3th C
• The birth of Mithras
• fig. lying down: fatherly fig or godly personification of the birthplace of Mithras
• upper left: Victoria fig
• Cautes & Cautopates pull Mithras by the arms from the rock, in his righthand a knife, in the left a torch
• inscription transl: “To the invincible god Sol Mithras, for the salvation of the members of the administrative office (officiales) of [Flavius] Aper, commander of the Macedonian legions V and XIII Gemina Galliens.”

Wallpaintings, Mithraeum of Dura-Europos

210

Between 210 and 240