History of Zoroastrianism/Chapter 32

by Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla

 

CHAPTER XXXII

 

MITHRAISM

 

Mithraism is Zoroastrianism contaminated with Semitic accretions. Of all the Indo-Iranian divinities, Mithra attained to the greatest prominence during this period. The Avestan texts constantly speak of Mithra as the lord of wide pastures, and Mithra gathered the largest number of flocks under his protection in the field of spirit. Iranian in its basic principles, Mithra's cult was soon surcharged with Semitic accretions and spread far and wide under this new syncretic form. The Achaemenian kings lived during winter in Babylonia. Here the Chaldaean astrolatry or the Semitic star worship was assimilated with the cult. Planets and constellations whose course was believed to determine all events of life received homage. Chaldaean theology assimilated Mithra to Shamash, the god of the Sun. Thus Mithra, though distinct from the Sun in Zoroastrian theology, was united with the Sun and called Sol invictus or the Invincible Sun, in the Roman mysteries.^[1] In Asia Minor, Mithra was identified with local gods, and with the Greek gods at a later period. A blend of heterogeneous elements from Babylonia, Asia Minor, and Hellenic ideas ultimately gave him such a new form that his original traits were considerably concealed from sight.

Plutarch says that the Cilician pirates taken captive in 67 b.c. brought the cult of Mithra to Rome.^[2] We have already seen from the activities of Mithra as described in the Avestan works that besides being the divinity of light and truth, he was also the tutelary divinity of the fighting armies. This warlike trait of Mithra appealed strongly to the martial instincts of the Roman legions that poured forth into the Parthian regions. The Romans recruited their auxiliary soldiers from Pontus, Cappadocia, Commagene, and Lesser Armenia, where the cult was popular, and these soldiers widely diffused it in Rome. The slaves in the Roman families were also instrumental in spreading Mithra worship. Mithra rapidly conquered vast dominions for his cult in Europe, and brought a large multitude of votaries from distant lands to his feet. His fame reached the borders of the Aegean Sea. He came to be worshipped between India and Pontus Euxinus. He was the only Iranian divinity who won popularity for himself in Greece. In the Near East his cult spread in the different parts of Asia Minor and reached India in the third century a.d. where it had its root in the North-Western provinces and Gujarat.^[3]

Mithraism patronized by the State. Mithraism prospered everywhere under the patronage of the emperors. Antiochus I, king of Commagene on the Euphrates, in his epithaph (about 35 b.c.) pays homage to Ahura Mazda, Mithra, and Verethraghna and orders that the priests shall put on Persian dress at the festivals, shall clothe the images in Persian costume and shall cover them with golden diadems.^[4] Antiochus is shown in relief clasping the right hand of Mithra, who appears in Persian costume with radiate nimbus. Mithra appears on horseback in Persian costume on coins. Nero^[5] desired the Magi who accompanied Tiridates, King of Armenia, to initiate him in the mysteries of Mithra. Diocletian, Galerius, and Licinius dedicated a temple to Mithra, and Diocletian officially recognized Mithra as the protector of his empire in 307 a.d. During the middle of the third century, Mithraism was at the height of its triumph, and it seemed as if all Europe would turn Mithraic.

Mithraism was thus honoured by the emperors because it encouraged and supported their autocratic pretensions. The emperor was theoretically the first magistrate of Rome and derived his authority from the people. Mithraism brought the idea of hvarena or Kingly Glory with it from Iran. This Kingly Majesty was a shining halo that descended upon the king. It encircled his head and made his person sacred. It was believed to be inherent in the person of the king, who proclaimed himself the descendant of divinity or divinity in the flesh.^[6] It came to be known by the name of Destiny and every country and every city in the Orient worshipped its Destiny. The Semites called it gadā. It was rendered among the Greeks as Tyche. Alexander's successors adopted it to strengthen their royal position that they had usurped, and established the worship of the Glory or Tyche of the king. People swore by the Tyche of King Seleukos. The kings of Cappadocia, Pontus, and Bactriana honoured the Glory. The Seleucids proclaimed themselves the favourites of the Glory or Fortune and thus ordained to rule by the grace of God. The Yasht dedicated to Mithra speaks of him as the giver of Glory.^[7] It was this function of Mithra of dispensing the Kingly Glory that made him the favourite of the Roman emperors who likewise declared themselves possessed of this divine Glory. They ruled with absolute power in the name of God, and ordered this goddess of their own person to be worshipped. A number of theophorous or god-bearing names compounded with the name of Mithra were used enthusiastically.

The creed. The supreme godhead is Kronos, Time, known in the Avestan texts as Zrvan Akarana or Boundless Time. He is devoid of name, sex, and passions. He is the First Cause. The Sun is his physical manifestation. In sculptures he is represented as a lion-headed human monster. A serpent encircles his body. He holds the sceptre and the bolts of sovereignty and holds in each hand a key to the gates of heaven. He is the creator and destroyer. He created Heaven and Earth. The Earth begot the Ocean. The Heaven is Ormazd, or Jupiter, the Earth is Spenta Armaiti or Juno, the Ocean is Apam Napat or Neptune. Atar or Vulcan is the angel of fire. Shahrivar or Mars is the genius of metals. Haoma or Bacchus personifies plants. Drvaspa or Silvanus is the genius of agriculture. Anaitis or Venus and Cybele is the goddess of water. Vanainti or Nike is the angel of victory. Asha or Arete presides over virtue. These Iranian Yazatas that have accompanied Mithra were worshipped under Greek and Latin names. With other divinities they dwell on the sunlit summits of Mt. Olympus. Fire, wind, water, and earth are the four steeds that drive the chariot of the Supreme God. The Sun goes his daily round in his chariot. The moon drives in a cart drawn by white bulls. Verethraghna is likened to a bellicose and destructive boar, one of the forms in which he manifests himself in the Avestan texts. The exploits and achievements of other Yazatas are ascribed to Mithra. As God is unknowable and unapproachable, Mithra acts as the Mediator between God and mankind. Plutarch says that Oromazes dwells in eternal light as far above the sun as the sun is above the earth and Ahriman lives down below in darkness. Mithra, he says, occupies an intermediary place between them.^[8] Ahriman or Pluto, according to Mithraism, is born like Ormazd of Boundless Time, and lives deep down in hell. He assaulted the heavens with his infernal crew, but was repulsed and driven back to hell.

The creation of the material world begins when Mithra combats the primeval Bull. His painful struggle with the Bull symbolizes the sufferings of mankind upon earth. He triumphs over the Bull and puts him in a cave where at the command of the Sun he ultimately kills him reluctantly, that he may thereby create and save mankind. The moon gathers and purifies the seed and the different kinds of animals are born. The soul of the Bull is taken under the protection of the dog, the faithful companion of Mithra, to heaven, where he becomes the guarding genius of cattle. The first human couple is now created and Mithra is set to guard it. Ahriman strives to kill it, as he had previously struggled to kill the Bull. He causes pestilential scourges and protracted drought but is baffled in his aim. He then causes a universal deluge, from which one man, forewarned by God, makes a boat for himself and his cattle and is saved. Then follows a huge conflagration which brings great destruction. The creation of Ormazd thenceforth lives and thrives. Mithra's work of creation being finished, he retires to heaven and guards the world from above.

Mithraic ethics. In Rome, Mithraism is the religion of the emperors and soldiers and Mithra exalts active, rigorous, military virtues. He is himself ever wakeful and demands wakefulness, agility in his votaries. He is the divinity of truth and justice and he guards them, fights against falsehood and injustice and requires that his worshippers will practise these cardinal virtues. Man's chief function in life is to combat evil actively on behalf of God. The fighting armies look to him for help and he never fails them. He helps the good in this life in their struggle for existence and assures them of salvation in the next. There is the esoteric side of Mithraism in which the aspirants to the Mithraic mysteries had to practise strict self-control. The neophytes had to undergo repeated lustrations and ablutions to cleanse their souls of sin. They had to live austere lives and perform elaborate occult ceremonies most scrupulously. There were seven degrees of initiation in which the mystic successively assumed the names of Raven, Occult, Soldier, Lion, Persian, Runner of the Sun, and Father and put on sacred marks appropriate to the names. He was made to undergo these seven degrees of initiation to enable him to acquire wisdom and holiness. Only those that passed through all the seven degrees became participants in the mysteries.

The Mithraic sanctuaries were in caves and grottoes. Fire burnt perpetually on the altar in the deep recesses of the subterranean crypts. The heavens were believed to be a solid vault and became symbolic of Mithra born from the rock. Greek art was enlisted in the service of Mithraism. Mithraic monuments represent in stone Mithra in the act of immolating the Bull, Mithraic legends, cosmogony, and mysteries.

Mithraic eschatology. The soul is immortal. It receives the reward or retribution according to the life it led upon earth. Mithra presides over the tribunal that judges the souls. As the heavenly Mediator, he helps the good to ascend to heaven and welcomes them as children returning from a distant journey. Woe imto the souls of the wicked, for they are dragged to hell by Ahriman and submitted to untold tortures.

There are seven heavens one above the other. These spheres are conjoined to the seven planets. A ladder takes the pious souls from one story to another. When the souls have traversed the seven zones, they enter the last paradisaic abode of eternal light and beatitude. At the end of time, Ahriman will destroy the world. Mithra will then come down upon the earth and will bring about the resurrection of the dead. The dead that have come to life again will recognize one another. Mithra will separate the righteous from the wicked. A bull, akin to the primeval Bull, will appear on earth. Mithra will immolate it and give its fat with wine to the righteous that will make them immortal. Ormazd will let his fire fall upon the wicked and end their lives. Ahriman and the demons will perish in the conflagration. The world will be renovated and the good will enjoy happiness time without bound.

Christianity triumphs over Mithraism. The Jews had settled in large numbers in the Roman cities. Paul, a disciple of Jesus, travelled far and wide to preach his master's faith. The religions of the East had for long time exercised great influence in Rome. Besides the Mithraic mysteries, the worship of Isis and Osiris from Egypt and the mysteries of various other systems were popular among the masses. Cultured men had ceased to believe in the ancient gods of Rome. They drew their inspiration from Greek philosophy, reproduced in the works of Cicero and Seneca. This Hellenistic-Roman philosophy was gradually losing its hold on those who thought man could not, unaided, gain divine knowledge and happiness. Man's salvation, they thought, could not be found in the world of sense. The religions from the East had long inspired all to turn their gaze from the earthly to the heavenly world, a supersensuous world, presided over by a divinity who prescribed principles of moral conduct with divine authority and promised to give to the multitude peace and happiness in heaven, which they strove in vain to find upon earth. Pagan philosophers were vague over the belief in the future life. Christianity made it its fundamental doctrine, and entered Rome with words of comfort to all who laboured and were heavy laden in their lives of suffering upon earth. It gave them assurance of future recompense. The teachings of the new religion were eagerly listened to by the common people. New converts refused to pay divine homage to the emperor as was the prevailing custom in Rome. They were persecuted, yet the number of followers steadily grew. Periodical persecutions of the new sect drove many to martyrdom and after bitter struggle it gained a firm footing. The Roman empire was now on the decline. Christianity rose in influence after the death of Marcus Aurelius. It won a legal recognition during the early part of the fourth century. A century after Constantine, the Church became all-powerful. The disciples of Jesus won the Roman world with the gospel of love. By taking over the Hellenistic-Roman philosophy, they worked out a rational dogmatic theology that could satisfy both the spirit and the intellect.

The conversion of Constantine to Christianity was a turning point in the destinies of Mithraism. The cult ceased to be recognized and was tolerated to exist. Hostility against it began under his successors and persecution followed. A reaction followed under Julian the Apostate (a.d. 361–363), who was initiated in the mysteries of Mithra in his youth and who considered himself under the protection of Mithra. He openly passed elaborate purificatory ablutions to wipe out the stains he had contracted when he had received the baptism and the communion of Christianity. As soon as he ascended the throne, he introduced Mithraic worship at Constantinople and celebrated the first taurobolia at Athens. He was the last pagan to occupy the throne of the Caesars, the last who was an ardent worshipper of Mithra. His premature death put an end to the reactionary movement. The victory of Theodosius in 394 a.d. extinguished all hopes of its revival by the aristocracy that was still faithful to the cult. Mithraism, which had originated among the enemies of Rome, remained her religion for two hundred years. It fell when it lost the protection of the State. Christianity now triumphed over its great rival. Mithraism lingered in the Alps and Vosges and in the out of the way places for considerable time. It perished, but not without leaving its mark behind, and many of its beliefs and ritualistic practices and its art influenced Christianity. The votaries of Mithra used to celebrate the birth of the Sun on December 25, because at the winter solstice light triumphed over darkness and the lengthening of the day began. The Christians chose this day as the feast of the Nativity of Christ, which is celebrated to this day.

 

1. Cumont, Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain, p. 217.
2. Pomp. 24.
3. Bhandarkar, Vaisnavism, Śaivism, and Minor Religious systems in Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie, 3. 6, p. 153-157, Strassburg, 1913.
4. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae, vol. 1. p. 598, Leipzig, 1903-1905.
5. 54-68 A. D.
6. Hj. Inscr. 1-4.
7. Yt. 10. 16, 128, 141.
8. Is. et Os. 46, 47.