Deepest Dive into Roman Mithras on the Internet

Description:

The Roman deity Mithras is known only from archaeological evidence, as no ancient literary source preserves his mythology. Temples were underground caves featuring the tauroctony relief, with Mithras depicted in Anatolian costume and a Phrygian cap, killing a bull while surrounded by Sol, Luna, and other symbolic figures. The cult was male, with seven initiation degrees and ritual meals associated with each stage. Modern scholarship began with Franz Cumont in 1900, who linked Mithras to the Indo‑Persian deity Mitra, a theory later abandoned in favor of a Roman origin. Justin Martyr noted a ritual meal as a parody of Christianity, leading to modern myths that persist in non‑scholarly literature. Mithraeum architecture replicated a rock cave, with a central aisle, raised podiums, and often a basin for water rituals. Temples were widespread across the empire, especially in Rome, Ostia, Numidia, Dalmatia, Britain, and the Rhine/Danube frontier, but rarer in Greece, Egypt, and Syria.