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Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity ( yazata ) Mithra , the Roman Mithras was linked to a new and distinctive imagery, and the degree of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman ...
Mithras stock epithet is Sol Invictus, "invincible sun".However, Mithras is distinct from both deities known as Sol Invictus, and they are separate entities on Mithraic statuary and artwork such as the tauroctony, hunting scenes, and banquet scenes, in which Mithras dines with Sol. [10] Other scenes feature Mithras ascending behind Sol in the latter's chariot, the deities shaking hands and the ...
Sol Invictus (Classical Latin: [ˈsoːɫ ɪnˈwɪktʊs], "Invincible Sun" or "Unconquered Sun") was the official sun god of the late Roman Empire and a later version of the god Sol. The emperor Aurelian revived his cult in 274 AD and promoted Sol Invictus as the chief god of the empire.
Sol is the personification of the Sun and a god in ancient Roman religion.It was long thought that Rome actually had two different, consecutive sun gods: The first, Sol Indiges (Latin: the deified sun), was thought to have been unimportant, disappearing altogether at an early period.
Sol, Luna, and the other five planetary gods [d] are also sometimes represented as stars in Mithras' outspread cloak, or scattered in the background. The seven planetary gods are also fairly commonly represented by the depiction of seven altars [ e ] or less commonly in anthropomorphic form, as busts or full-length.
Greek/Latin "Mithras," the focal deity of the Greco-Roman cult of Mithraism is the nominative form of vocative Mithra. In contrast to the original Avestan meaning of "contract" or "covenant" (and still evident in post-Sassanid Middle Persian texts), the Greco-Roman Mithraists probably thought the name meant "mediator".
In Mithraic images, Mithras either represents the sun, or is a close friend of the sun god Helios or Sol Invictus (Latin: the invincible sun) with whom Mithras dines. So attendants Cautes and Cautopates are supposed to represent the stations of sunrise and sunset respectively, or perhaps the spring and autumn equinoxes, or equivalently the ascending (spring) and descending (autumnal) nodes of ...
It is uncertain how and when and why this occurred, but it is commonly attributed to conflation with the Babylonian sun god Shamash and/or the Greek deity Apollo, with whom Mithra shares multiple characteristics such as a judicial function and association with the Sun.