subject | book bibliographic info |
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mithra | Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 903, 911, 942, 948 Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 20, 40, 73, 76, 82, 87, 92, 117, 147, 155, 157, 177, 180 Stroumsa, Hidden Widsom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism (1996) 4, 175 |
mithra, goddess of persia | Mikalson, Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars (2003) 190 |
mithra/mithras | Jeong, Pauline Baptism among the Mysteries: Ritual Messages and the Promise of Initiation (2023) 20, 21 |
mithras | Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 194, 199, 202, 354, 362, 363, 365, 367, 371, 376, 381 Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 3, 4, 6, 23, 25, 28, 29, 36, 104, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118, 119 Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 29, 30 Bodel and Kajava, Dediche sacre nel mondo greco-romano: diffusione, funzioni, tipologie = Religious dedications in the Greco-Roman world: distribution, typology, use: Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, American Academy in Rome, 19-20 aprile, 2006 (2009) 248, 253, 351 Bortolani et al., William Furley, Svenja Nagel, and Joachim Friedrich Quack, Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices: Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions (2019) 122, 243 Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 355, 356, 358, 448, 450, 451, 452, 455, 456, 457, 458 Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (2016) 40, 293 Demoen and Praet, Theios Sophistes: Essays on Flavius Philostratus' Vita Apollonii (2009) 313 Dignas, Economy of the Sacred in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor (2002) 138 Dijkstra and Raschle, Religious Violence in the Ancient World: From Classical Athens to Late Antiquity (2020) 240 Gagne, Cosmography and the Idea of Hyperborea in Ancient Greece (2021), 392 Gieseler Greenbaum, The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology: Origins and Influence (2015) 182, 183, 190, 192 Hellholm et al., Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (2010) 91, 950 Herman, Rubenstein, The Aggada of the Bavli and Its Cultural World (2018) 330 Iricinschi et al., Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels (2013) 192 Jim, Saviour Gods and Soteria in Ancient Greece (2022) 164 König, Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture (2012) 199 Leibner and Hezser, Jewish Art in Its Late Antique Context (2016) 225, 232 Lieu, Christian Identity in the Jewish and Graeco-Roman World (2004) 162, 250 Merz and Tieleman, Ambrosiaster's Political Theology (2012) 96, 98 Niccolai, Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire (2023) 161, 173, 202 Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 178, 179, 180, 182, 184, 185, 186, 273 Pachoumi, The Concepts of the Divine in the Greek Magical Papyri (2017) 22, 49, 60, 65, 66, 70, 77, 82, 83, 85, 94, 105, 146, 151, 152, 165, 168, 182 Price, Finkelberg and Shahar, Rome: An Empire of Many Nations: New Perspectives on Ethnic Diversity and Cultural Identity (2021) 182 Rohmann, Christianity, Book-Burning and Censorship in Late Antiquity (2016) 4, 138 Rüpke and Woolf, Religious Dimensions of the Self in the Second Century CE (2013) 163, 164 Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 177, 226, 228 Vinzent, Christ's Resurrection in Early Christianity and the Making of the New Testament (2013) 35 |
mithras, and isis, fabia, in cults of | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 282 |
mithras, and, mithraea, | Eliav, A Jew in the Roman Bathhouse: Cultural Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean (2023) 126, 287 |
mithras, as archer | Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 6, 83 |
mithras, as creator | Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16, 102, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115 |
mithras, as sun-in-leo | Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 215, 221, 222, 226, 228, 233, 236, 237, 238 |
mithras, ascending sols chariot | Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 241, 247 |
mithras, chief father, priest, regarded as | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 278, 325 |
mithras, chief priest, forgiveness, of gods, prayed for, asked of | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 271, 325 |
mithras, chief priest, pardon, asked by lucius of | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 325 |
mithras, chief priest, thanks, to great goddess, to | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 325 |
mithras, cult | Hellholm et al., Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (2010) 908 |
mithras, cult of | McGowan, Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (1999) 112, 152 Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro,, The Gods of the Greeks (2021) 120 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 51, 259 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and baptism | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 288 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and dream-epiphanies | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 139, 144 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and father of the mysteries | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 292 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and favour of authorities | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 267 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and invictus | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 167 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and mercury | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 282 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and night | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 278 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and radiate head | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 314 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, and syncretism | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 282 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, as sol invictus | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 330 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, guide of souls | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 282 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, master of time | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 243 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, militia in | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 174, 254 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, pleonastic formula | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 261 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, sacred meal | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 319 |
mithras, cult of and rebirth, temple structure | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 356 |
mithras, deus invictus, mithras, | Bruun and Edmondson, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy (2015) 408, 422, 428, 777 |
mithras, god | Graverini, Literature and Identity in The Golden Ass of Apuleius (2012) 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 Marek, In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World (2019) 162, 508, 516 |
mithras, high priest in charge of initiation | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 281 |
mithras, high priest in charge of initiation, embraced by lucius and regarded as father | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 325 |
mithras, isiac priest | Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 133, 215, 338 |
mithras, liturgy | Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 233, 234, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463 Iricinschi et al., Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels (2013) 87 Nicklas and Spittler, Credible, Incredible: The Miraculous in the Ancient Mediterranean. (2013) 92, 98, 99, 103, 104 Pachoumi, The Concepts of the Divine in the Greek Magical Papyri (2017) 49, 60, 65, 70, 77, 82, 83, 94, 105, 146, 165, 168 Renberg, Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World (2017) 561 Swartz, The Mechanics of Providence: The Workings of Ancient Jewish Magic and Mysticism (2018) 133 van den Broek, Gnostic Religion in Antiquity (2013) 142, 230 |
mithras, liturgy, the | Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 44 |
mithras, mercury, heralds staff of and | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 282 |
mithras, mithraeum, | Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 16, 75, 106, 108, 245, 247, 248 |
mithras, mithraic, | Lampe, Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries: From Paul to Valentinus (2003) 9, 57 |
mithras, mithraism, | de Ste. Croix et al., Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy (2006) 88 |
mithras, monasticism, ideal of | Niccolai, Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire (2023) 232, 245, 247, 248, 272, 281, 282, 283, 286, 287, 288, 289 |
mithras, mysteries | Tanaseanu-Döbler and von Alvensleben, Athens II: Athens in Late Antiquity (2020) 143 |
mithras, oaths, invoking | Sommerstein and Torrance, Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece (2014) 319, 320 |
mithras, or, mithraism, | Burgersdijk and Ross, Imagining Emperors in the Later Roman Empire (2018) 218, 219, 222 |
mithras, persian deity | Manolaraki, Noscendi Nilum Cupido: Imagining Egypt from Lucan to Philostratus (2012) 166, 233, 307 |
mithras, priest | Graverini, Literature and Identity in The Golden Ass of Apuleius (2012) 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74, 75, 81, 109, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 153 |
mithras, rock-birth, of agdistis, of | Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 81, 83, 89, 94, 130 |
mithras, sarapis, and | Renberg, Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World (2017) 345 |
mithras, sol, and | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 319 |
mithras, to be in charge of initiation, priest, chief, utters prayers over ship of isis, and purifies it, named | Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 281 |
29 validated results for "mithras" |
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1. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 49.8-49.12 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithraism • Mithras, cult of Found in books: McGowan, Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (1999) 152; deJauregui, Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity (2010), 165 49.8 יְהוּדָה אַתָּה יוֹדוּךָ אַחֶיךָ יָדְךָ בְּעֹרֶף אֹיְבֶיךָ יִשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ לְךָ בְּנֵי אָבִיךָ׃, 49.9 גּוּר אַרְיֵה יְהוּדָה מִטֶּרֶף בְּנִי עָלִיתָ כָּרַע רָבַץ כְּאַרְיֵה וּכְלָבִיא מִי יְקִימֶנּוּ׃, 49.8 Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise; Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; Thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee. 49.9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? 49.10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, As long as men come to Shiloh; And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be. 49.11 Binding his foal unto the vine, And his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; He washeth his garments in wine, And his vesture in the blood of grapes; 49.12 His eyes shall be red with wine, And his teeth white with milk. |
2. Hebrew Bible, Isaiah, 45.1 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithras Found in books: Hellholm et al., Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (2010) 91; Vinzent, Christ's Resurrection in Early Christianity and the Making of the New Testament (2013) 35 45.1 הוֹי אֹמֵר לְאָב מַה־תּוֹלִיד וּלְאִשָּׁה מַה־תְּחִילִין׃ 45.1 Thus saith the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and that the gates may not be shut: |
3. Plato, Theaetetus, 176b (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithraism • Mithras or Mithraism, Found in books: Burgersdijk and Ross, Imagining Emperors in the Later Roman Empire (2018) 218; Tarrant et al, Brill's Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity (2018) 256 ἐκεῖσε φεύγειν ὅτι τάχιστα. φυγὴ δὲ ὁμοίωσις θεῷ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν· ὁμοίωσις δὲ δίκαιον καὶ ὅσιον μετὰ φρονήσεως γενέσθαι. ἀλλὰ γάρ, ὦ ἄριστε, οὐ πάνυ τι ῥᾴδιον πεῖσαι ὡς ἄρα οὐχ ὧν ἕνεκα οἱ πολλοί φασι δεῖν πονηρίαν μὲν φεύγειν, ἀρετὴν δὲ διώκειν, τούτων χάριν τὸ μὲν ἐπιτηδευτέον, τὸ δʼ οὔ, ἵνα δὴ μὴ κακὸς καὶ ἵνα ἀγαθὸς δοκῇ εἶναι· ταῦτα μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ὁ λεγόμενος γραῶν ὕθλος, ὡς ἐμοὶ φαίνεται· τὸ δὲ ἀληθὲς ὧδε λέγωμεν. θεὸς οὐδαμῇ NA> |
4. Tibullus, Elegies, 1.3.27 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: • (Mithraic) • Mithras, cult of, and rebirth, and dream-epiphanies Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 306; Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 139 NA> |
5. New Testament, Colossians, 2.12 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Jesus, Mithraic • Mithras • Mithras, Mithraeum Found in books: Lieu, Christian Identity in the Jewish and Graeco-Roman World (2004) 162; Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 247 2.12 συνταφέντες αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι, ἐν ᾧ καὶ συνηγέρθητε διὰ τῆς πίστεως τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν· 2.12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. |
6. New Testament, Romans, 8.34, 8.38-8.39 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithras Liturgy • Mithras, cult of, and rebirth, master of time Found in books: Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 243; Nicklas and Spittler, Credible, Incredible: The Miraculous in the Ancient Mediterranean. (2013) 98, 99 8.34 τίς ὁ κατακρινῶν; Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἀποθανών, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐγερθεὶς ἐκ νεκρῶν, ὅς ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ ὃς καὶ ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· τοῦ θεοῦ, 8.38 πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος οὔτε ζωὴ οὔτε ἄγγελοι οὔτε ἀρχαὶ οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα οὔτε μέλλοντα οὔτε δυνάμεις, 8.39 οὔτε ὕψωμα οὔτε βάθος οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. 8.34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 8.38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8.39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
7. Plutarch, On Isis And Osiris, 46 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithras, as creator • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, ‘Schlangengefäß’ • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 111; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 209 46 The great majority and the wisest of men hold this opinion: they believe that there are two gods, rivals as it were, the one the Artificer of good and the other of evil. There are also those who call the better one a god and the other a daemon, as, for example, Zoroaster The casual reader will gain a better understanding of chapters 46 and 47 if he will consult some brief book or article on Zoroaster (Zarathustra) and the Persian religion. the sage, That is, one of the Persian Magi or Wise Men. who, they record, lived five thousand years before the time of the Trojan War. He called the one Oromazes and the other Areimanius Cf. Moralia, 1026 b, and Diogenes Laertius, Prologue, 2. ; and he further declared that among all the things perceptible to the senses, Oromazes may best be compared to light, and Areimanius, conversely, to darkness and ignorance, and midway between the two is Mithras; for this reason the Persians give to Mithras the name, of Mediator. Zoroaster has also taught that men should make votive offerings and thank-offerings to Oromazes, and averting and mourning offerings to Areimanius. They pound up in a mortar a certain plant called omomi, at the same time invoking Hades Cf. Diogenes Laertius, Prologue, 8. and Darkness; then they mix it with the blood of a wolf that has been sacrificed, and carry it out and cast it into a place where the sun never shines. In fact, they believe that some of the plants belong to the good god and others to the evil daemon; so also of the animals they think that dogs, fowls, and hedgehogs, for example, belong to the good god, but that water-rats Cf. Moralia, 537 a and 670 d. belong to the evil one; therefore the man who has killed the most of these they hold to be fortunate. |
8. Plutarch, Pompey, 24 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, ‘Schlangengefäß’ • mysteries, Mithras • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 72; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 209 NA> |
9. Statius, Thebais, 1.718-1.720 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithras • Mithras (god) • Mithras (priest) • Mithras, Persian deity • Mithras, as Sun-in-Leo Found in books: Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 222; Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 4; Graverini, Literature and Identity in The Golden Ass of Apuleius (2012) 66; Manolaraki, Noscendi Nilum Cupido: Imagining Egypt from Lucan to Philostratus (2012) 166 NA> |
10. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, 1.1, 11.5, 11.15.1, 11.22 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • (Mithraic) • Father, Mithras, chief priest, regarded as • Forgiveness, of gods, prayed for, asked of Mithras, chief priest • Mithra • Mithraic grades • Mithras • Mithras (Isiac priest) • Mithras (priest) • Mithras, Deus Invictus Mithras • Mithras, high priest in charge of initiation, embraced by Lucius and regarded as father • Pardon, asked by Lucius of Mithras, chief priest • Thanks, to great goddess, to Mithras, chief priest Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 218, 297, 333, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342; Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 102; Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 948; Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 30; Bruun and Edmondson, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy (2015) 422; Graverini, Literature and Identity in The Golden Ass of Apuleius (2012) 59, 60, 115; Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 325 " 1.1 Book 1: Apuleius address to the reader Now! Id like to string together various tales in the Milesian style, and charm your kindly ear with seductive murmurs, so long as youre ready to be amazed at human forms and fortunes changed radically and then restored in turn in mutual exchange, and dont object to reading Egyptian papyri, inscribed by a sly reed from the Nile. Ill begin. Who am I? Ill tell you briefly. Hymettus near Athens; the Isthmus of Corinth; and Spartan Mount Taenarus, happy soil more happily buried forever in other books, thats my lineage. There as a lad I served in my first campaigns with the Greek tongue. Later, in Rome, freshly come to Latin studies I assumed and cultivated the native language, without a teacher, and with a heap of pains. So there! I beg your indulgence in advance if as a crude performer in the exotic speech of the Forum I offend. And in truth the very fact of a change of voice will answer like a circus riders skill when needed. Were about to embark on a Greek tale. Reader, attend: and find delight.", " 11.5 Behold, Lucius, here I am, moved by your prayer, I, mother of all Nature and mistress of the elements, first-born of the ages and greatest of powers divine, queen of the dead, and queen of the immortals, all gods and goddesses in a single form; who with a gesture commands heavens glittering summit, the wholesome ocean breezes, the underworlds mournful silence; whose sole divinity is worshipped in differing forms, with varying rites, under many names, by all the world. There, at Pessinus, the Phrygians, first-born of men, call me Cybele, Mother of the Gods; in Attica, a people sprung from their own soil name me Cecropian Minerva; in sea-girt Cyprus I am Paphian Venus; Dictynna-Diana to the Cretan archers; Stygian Proserpine to the three-tongued Sicilians; at Eleusis, ancient Ceres; Juno to some, to others Bellona, Hecate, Rhamnusia; while the races of both Ethiopias, first to be lit at dawn by the risen Suns divine rays, and the Egyptians too, deep in arcane lore, worship me with my own rites, and call me by my true name, royal Isis. I am here in pity for your misfortunes, I am here as friend and helper. Weep no more, end your lamentations. Banish sorrow. With my aid, your day of salvation is at hand. So listen carefully to my commands. From time immemorial the day born of this night has been dedicated to my rites: on this coming day the winter storms cease, the oceans stormy waves grow calm, and my priests launch an untried vessel on the now navigable waters, and dedicate it to me as the first offering of the trading season. You must await this ceremony with a mind neither anxious nor irreverent.", " 11.22 Thus spoke the high-priest, and, patient in my obedience, I performed my tasks each day at celebrations of the holy rites, zealously, diligently, in calm tranquility and laudable silence. Nor did the Great Goddesss saving goodness fail me, nor did she torment me with long delay. One dark night, in commands as clear as day, she proclaimed that the hoped-for time had arrived, when she would grant me my dearest wish. She told me what resources must be found for the ceremony, and decreed that her high-priest, Mithras, who she explained was linked to me celestially by a certain conjunction of the planets, would himself perform the rite. These and other kind decrees of the Great Goddess raised my spirits, and before the light of day shone I shook off sleep and hastening to the high-priests rooms I met and greeted him at the entrance. I was set on demanding my initiation more vigorously than ever, believing it was now my due, but the instant he saw me he pre-empted my plea, saying: Ah, Lucius, how blessed, how fortunate you are, that the august deity so strongly favours you in her benevolence. Why do you linger here in idleness when the day has come which youve longed and prayed for endlessly, when at the divine command of the many-titled Goddess these very hands of mine will introduce you to the most sacred mysteries of her religion. Then that most generous of men took my arm and led me to the doors of the vast temple, and when he had opened them according to the ritual prescribed, and then performed the morning sacrifice, he brought from the inner sanctuary various books written in characters strange to me. Some shaped like creatures represented compressed expressions of profound concepts, in others the tops and tails of letters were knotted, coiled, interwoven like vine-tendrils to hide their meaning from profane and ignorant eyes. From these books he read aloud for me the details of what was needed for my initiation.", |
11. Justin, First Apology, 1.66 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • (Mithraic) • Mithraic mysteries • Mithraism • Mithras • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, cult of • Mithras, ‘Schlangengefäß’ • Sol, ; as participant in Mithraic myth • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 354; McGowan, Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (1999) 152; Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 179; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 209; deJauregui, Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity (2010), 354 66 And this food is called among us & |
12. Justin, Dialogue With Trypho, 52, 54, 69-70 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithraic grades • Mithraism • Mithras • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, cult of • Mithras, ‘Schlangengefäß’ • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 112; McGowan, Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (1999) 152; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 209; deJauregui, Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity (2010), 123, 165, 354 " 52 Jacob predicted two advents of Christ Justin: And it was prophesied by Jacob the patriarch that there would be two advents of Christ, and that in the first He would suffer, and that after He came there would be neither prophet nor king in your nation (I proceeded), and that the nations who believed in the suffering Christ would look for His future appearance. And for this reason the Holy Spirit had uttered these truths in a parable, and obscurely: for it is said, Judah, your brethren have praised you: your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall worship you. Judah is a lions cub; from the germ, my son, you are sprung up. Reclining, he lay down like a lion, and like a lions cub: who shall raise him up? A ruler shall not depart from Judah, or a leader from his thighs, until that which is laid up in store for him shall come; and he shall be the desire of nations, binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the tendril of the vine. He shall wash his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of the grape. His eyes shall be bright with wine, and his teeth white like milk. Genesis 49:8-12 Moreover, that in your nation there never failed either prophet or ruler, from the time when they began until the time when this Jesus Christ appeared and suffered, you will not venture shamelessly to assert, nor can you prove it. For though you affirm that Herod, after whose reign He suffered, was an Ashkelonite, nevertheless you admit that there was a high priest in your nation; so that you then had one who presented offerings according to the law of Moses, and observed the other legal ceremonies; also you had prophets in succession until John, (even then, too, when your nation was carried captive to Babylon, when your land was ravaged by war, and the sacred vessels carried off); there never failed to be a prophet among you, who was lord, and leader, and ruler of your nation. For the Spirit which was in the prophets anointed your kings, and established them. But after the manifestation and death of our Jesus Christ in your nation, there was and is nowhere any prophet: nay, further, you ceased to exist under your own king, your land was laid waste, and forsaken like a lodge in a vineyard; and the statement of Scripture, in the mouth of Jacob, And He shall be the desire of nations, meant symbolically His two advents, and that the nations would believe in Him; which facts you may now at length discern. For those out of all the nations who are pious and righteous through the faith of Christ, look for His future appearance." 54 What the blood of the grape signifies Justin: And that expression which was committed to writing by Moses, and prophesied by the patriarch Jacob, namely, He shall wash His garments with wine, and His vesture with the blood of the grape, signified that He would wash those that believe in Him with His own blood. For the Holy Spirit called those who receive remission of sins through Him, His garments; among whom He is always present in power, but will be manifestly present at His second coming. That the Scripture mentions the blood of the grape has been evidently designed, because Christ derives blood not from the seed of man, but from the power of God. For as God, and not man, has produced the blood of the vine, so also the Scripture has predicted that the blood of Christ would be not of the seed of man, but of the power of God. But this prophecy, sirs, which I repeated, proves that Christ is not man of men, begotten in the ordinary course of humanity.", " 69 The devil, since he emulates the truth, has invented fables about Bacchus, Hercules, and Æsculapius Justin: Be well assured, then, Trypho, that I am established in the knowledge of and faith in the Scriptures by those counterfeits which he who is called the devil is said to have performed among the Greeks; just as some were wrought by the Magi in Egypt, and others by the false prophets in Elijahs days. For when they tell that Bacchus, son of Jupiter, was begotten by Jupiters intercourse with Semele, and that he was the discoverer of the vine; and when they relate, that being torn in pieces, and having died, he rose again, and ascended to heaven; and when they introduce wine into his mysteries, do I not perceive that the devil has imitated the prophecy announced by the patriarch Jacob, and recorded by Moses? And when they tell that Hercules was strong, and travelled over all the world, and was begotten by Jove of Alcmene, and ascended to heaven when he died, do I not perceive that the Scripture which speaks of Christ, strong as a giant to run his race, has been in like manner imitated? And when he the devil brings forward Æsculapius as the raiser of the dead and healer of all diseases, may I not say that in this matter likewise he has imitated the prophecies about Christ? But since I have not quoted to you such Scripture as tells that Christ will do these things, I must necessarily remind you of one such: from which you can understand, how that to those destitute of a knowledge of God, I mean the Gentiles, who, having eyes, saw not, and having a heart, understood not, worshipping the images of wood, how even to them Scripture prophesied that they would renounce these vanities, and hope in this Christ. It is thus written: Rejoice, thirsty wilderness: let the wilderness be glad, and blossom as the lily: the deserts of the Jordan shall both blossom and be glad: and the glory of Lebanon was given to it, and the honour of Carmel. And my people shall see the exaltation of the Lord, and the glory of God. Be strong, you careless hands and enfeebled knees. Be comforted, you faint in soul: be strong, fear not. Behold, our God gives, and will give, retributive judgment. He shall come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be distinct: for water has broken forth in the wilderness, and a valley in the thirsty land; and the parched ground shall become pools, and a spring of water shall rise up in the thirsty land. Isaiah 35:1-7 The spring of living water which gushed forth from God in the land destitute of the knowledge of God, namely the land of the Gentiles, was this Christ, who also appeared in your nation, and healed those who were maimed, and deaf, and lame in body from their birth, causing them to leap, to hear, and to see, by His word. And having raised the dead, and causing them to live, by His deeds He compelled the men who lived at that time to recognise Him. But though they saw such works, they asserted it was magical art. For they dared to call Him a magician, and a deceiver of the people. Yet He wrought such works, and persuaded those who were destined to believe in Him; for even if any one be labouring under a defect of body, yet be an observer of the doctrines delivered by Him, He shall raise him up at His second advent perfectly sound, after He has made him immortal, and incorruptible, and free from grief.", " 70 So also the mysteries of Mithras are distorted from the prophecies of Daniel and Isaiah Justin: And when those who record the mysteries of Mithras say that he was begotten of a rock, and call the place where those who believe in him are initiated a cave, do I not perceive here that the utterance of Daniel, that a stone without hands was cut out of a great mountain, has been imitated by them, and that they have attempted likewise to imitate the whole of Isaiahs words? For they contrived that the words of righteousness be quoted also by them. But I must repeat to you the words of Isaiah referred to, in order that from them you may know that these things are so. They are these: Hear, you that are far off, what I have done; those that are near shall know my might. The sinners in Zion are removed; trembling shall seize the impious. Who shall announce to you the everlasting place? The man who walks in righteousness, speaks in the right way, hates sin and unrighteousness, and keeps his hands pure from bribes, stops the ears from hearing the unjust judgment of blood closes the eyes from seeing unrighteousness: he shall dwell in the lofty cave of the strong rock. Bread shall be given to him, and his water shall be sure. You shall see the King with glory, and your eyes shall look far off. Your soul shall pursue diligently the fear of the Lord. Where is the scribe? Where are the counsellors? Where is he that numbers those who are nourished — the small and great people? With whom they did not take counsel, nor knew the depth of the voices, so that they heard not. The people who have become depreciated, and there is no understanding in him who hears. Isaiah 33:13-19 Now it is evident, that in this prophecy allusion is made to the bread which our Christ gave us to eat, in remembrance of His being made flesh for the sake of His believers, for whom also He suffered; and to the cup which He gave us to drink, in remembrance of His own blood, with giving of thanks. And this prophecy proves that we shall behold this very King with glory; and the very terms of the prophecy declare loudly, that the people foreknown to believe in Him were foreknown to pursue diligently the fear of the Lord. Moreover, these Scriptures are equally explicit in saying, that those who are reputed to know the writings of the Scriptures, and who hear the prophecies, have no understanding. And when I hear, Trypho, that Perseus was begotten of a virgin, I understand that the deceiving serpent counterfeited also this.", " |
13. Lucian, Alexander The False Prophet, 38-39 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithras Liturgy • mysteries, Mithras Found in books: Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 72; Nicklas and Spittler, Credible, Incredible: The Miraculous in the Ancient Mediterranean. (2013) 98, 104 " 38 It was with his eye on this Italian propaganda, too, that he took a further step. This was the institution of mysteries, with hierophants and torch-bearers complete. The ceremonies occupied three successive days. On the first, proclamation was made on the Athenian model to this effect: If there be any atheist or Christian or Epicurean here spying upon our rites, let him depart in haste; and let all such as have faith in the God be initiated and all blessing attend them. He led the litany with, Christians, avaunt! and the crowd responded, Epicureans, avaunt! Then was presented the child-bed of Leto and birth of Apollo, the bridal of Coronis, Asclepius born. The second day, the epiphany and nativity of the God Glycon." 39 On the third came the wedding of Podalirius and Alexanders mother; this was called Torch-day, and torches were used. The finale was the loves of Selene and Alexander, and the birth of Rutilianuss wife. The torch-bearer and hierophant was Endymion-Alexander. He was discovered lying asleep; to him from heaven, represented by the ceiling, enter as Selene one Rutilia, a great beauty, and wife of one of the Imperial procurators. She and Alexander were lovers off the stage too, and the wretched husband had to look on at their public kissing and embracing; if there had not been a good supply of torches, things might possibly have gone even further. Shortly after, he reappeared amidst a profound hush, attired as hierophant; in a loud voice he called, Hail, Glycon! whereto the Eumolpidae and Ceryces of Paphlagonia, with their clod-hopping shoes and their garlic breath, made sonorous response, Hail, Alexander!", " |
14. Tertullian, Against Marcion, 1.13 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • (Mithraic) • Mithraic mysteries • Mithraism • Mithras Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 301; Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 185 " 1.13 While we are expelling from this rank (of Deity) a god who has no evidence to show for himself which is so proper and God-worthy as the testimony of the Creator, Marcions most shameless followers with haughty impertinence fall upon the Creators works to destroy them. To be sure, say they, the world is a grand work, worthy of a God. Then is the Creator not at all a God? By all means He is God. Therefore the world is not unworthy of God, for God has made nothing unworthy of Himself; although it was for man, and not for Himself, that He made the world, (and) although every work is less than its maker. And yet, if to have been the author of our creation, such as it is, be unworthy of God, how much more unworthy of Him is it to have created absolutely nothing at all!- not even a production which, although unworthy, might yet have encouraged the hope of some better attempt. To say somewhat, then, concerning the alleged unworthiness of this worlds fabric, to which among the Greeks also is assigned a name of ornament and grace, not of sordidness, those very professors of wisdom, from whose genius every heresy derives its spirit, called the said unworthy elements divine; as Thales did water, Heraclitus fire, Anaximenes air, Anaximander all the heavenly bodies, Strato the sky and earth, Zeno the air and ether, and Plato the stars, which he calls a fiery kind of gods; while concerning the world, when they considered indeed its magnitude, and strength, and power, and honour, and glory - the abundance, too, the regularity, and law of those individual elements which contribute to the production, the nourishment, the ripening, and the reproduction of all things - the majority of the philosophers hesitated to assign a beginning and an end to the said world, lest its constituent elements, great as they undoubtedly are, should fail to be regarded as divine, which are objects of worship with the Persian magi, the Egyptian hierophants, and the Indian gymnosophists. The very superstition of the crowd, inspired by the common idolatry, when ashamed of the names and fables of their ancient dead borne by their idols, has recourse to the interpretation of natural objects, and so with much ingenuity cloaks its own disgrace, figuratively reducing Jupiter to a heated substance, and Juno to an aërial one (according to the literal sense of the Greek words); Vesta, in like manner, to fire, and the Muses to waters, and the Great Mother to the earth, mowed as to its crops, ploughed up with lusty arms, and watered with baths. Thus Osiris also, whenever he is buried, and looked for to come to life again, and with joy recovered, is an emblem of the regularity wherewith the fruits of the ground return, and the elements recover life, and the year comes round; as also the lions of Mithras are philosophical sacraments of arid and scorched nature. It is, indeed, enough for me that natural elements, foremost in site and state, should have been more readily regarded as divine than as unworthy of God. I will, however, come down to humbler objects. A single floweret from the hedgerow, I say not from the meadows; a single little shellfish from any sea, I say not from the Red Sea; a single stray wing of a moorfowl, I say nothing of the peacock - will, I presume, prove to you that the Creator was but a sorry artificer!" |
15. Tertullian, On Baptism, 5.1 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithraic cult • Mithraic grades • Mithras • Mithras cult • Mithras, cult of, and rebirth, and baptism • Tertullian, on Mithras cult Found in books: Ayres and Ward, The Rise of the Early Christian Intellectual (2021) 116; Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 111; Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 288; Hellholm et al., Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (2010) 105; Iricinschi et al., Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels (2013) 192 " 5 Well, but the nations, who are strangers to all understanding of spiritual powers, ascribe to their idols the imbuing of waters with the self-same efficacy. (So they do) but they cheat themselves with waters which are widowed. For washing is the channel through which they are initiated into some sacred rites- of some notorious Isis or Mithras. The gods themselves likewise they honour by washings. Moreover, by carrying water around, and sprinkling it, they everywhere expiate country-seats, houses, temples, and whole cities: at all events, at the Apollinarian and Eleusinian games they are baptized; and they presume that the effect of their doing that is their regeneration and the remission of the penalties due to their perjuries. Among the ancients, again, whoever had defiled himself with murder, was wont to go in quest of purifying waters. Therefore, if the mere nature of water, in that it is the appropriate material for washing away, leads men to flatter themselves with a belief in omens of purification, how much more truly will waters render that service through the authority of God, by whom all their nature has been constituted! If men think that water is endued with a medicinal virtue by religion, what religion is more effectual than that of the living God? Which fact being acknowledged, we recognise here also the zeal of the devil rivalling the things of God, while we find him, too, practising baptism in his subjects. What similarity is there? The unclean cleanses! The ruiner sets free! The damned absolves! He will, forsooth, destroy his own work, by washing away the sins which himself inspires! These (remarks) have been set down by way of testimony against such as reject the faith; if they put no trust in the things of God, the spurious imitations of which, in the case of Gods rival, they do trust in. Are there not other cases too, in which, without any sacrament, unclean spirits brood on waters, in spurious imitation of that brooding of the Divine Spirit in the very beginning? Witness all shady founts, and all unfrequented brooks, and the ponds in the baths, and the conduits in private houses, or the cisterns and wells which are said to have the property of spiriting away, through the power, that is, of a hurtful spirit. Men whom waters have drowned or affected with madness or with fear, they call nymph-caught, or lymphatic, or hydro-phobic. Why have we adduced these instances? Lest any think it too hard for belief that a holy angel of God should grant his presence to waters, to temper them to mans salvation; while the evil angel holds frequent profane commerce with the selfsame element to mans ruin. If it seems a novelty for an angel to be present in waters, an example of what was to come to pass has forerun. An angel, by his intervention, was wont to stir the pool at Bethsaida. They who were complaining of ill-health used to watch for him; for whoever had been the first to descend into them, after his washing, ceased to complain. This figure of corporeal healing sang of a spiritual healing, according to the rule by which things carnal are always antecedent as figurative of things spiritual. And thus, when the grace of God advanced to higher degrees among men, John 1:16-17 an accession of efficacy was granted to the waters and to the angel. They who were wont to remedy bodily defects, now heal the spirit; they who used to work temporal salvation now renew eternal; they who did set free but once in the year, now save peoples in a body daily, death being done away through ablution of sins. The guilt being removed, of course the penalty is removed too. Thus man will be restored for God to His likeness, who in days bygone had been conformed to the image of God; (the image is counted (to be) in his form: the likeness in his eternity:) for he receives again that Spirit of God which he had then first received from His afflatus, but had afterward lost through sin.", |
16. Tertullian, On The Crown, 15.3 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • (Mithraic) • Mithraic mysteries • Mithraism • Mithras Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 199; Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 179 NA> |
17. Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, 40.4 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithraic mysteries • Mithraism • Mithras • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, ‘Schlangengefäß’ • Rock-birth, of Agdistis, ; of Mithras • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 130; Hellholm et al., Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (2010) 950; Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 179; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 209 NA> |
18. Firmicus Maternus Julius., De Errore Profanarum Religionum, 5.2 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithras • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, ‘Schlangengefäß’ • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 356; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 209 NA> |
19. Origen, Against Celsus, 3.59, 6.21-6.25, 6.27-6.31 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Jesus, Mithraic • Luna (Mithraic) • Mithra • Mithraic • Mithraic grades • Mithraism • Mithraism, • Mithraism, astrologers and • Mithraism, astrology in • Mithraism, cosmology of • Mithras • Mithras Liturgy • Mithras cult • Mithras, Mithraeum • Mithras, as archer • Mithras, as creator • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, theology • Mithras, ‘Schlangengefäß’ • Moon (astrological), in Mithraism • Sol, ; as cosmic emblem in Mithraism • Sun (astrological), in Mithraism • cosmology, Mithraic • grades, Mithraic • mysteries, Mithras • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 82; Ayres and Ward, The Rise of the Early Christian Intellectual (2021) 61, 110; Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 83, 114; Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 111, 112, 115; Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 30; Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 147, 157; Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 452; Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World (2019) 364; Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74; Gieseler Greenbaum, The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology: Origins and Influence (2015) 183; Lipka, Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus (2021) 243; Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 16, 75, 106, 245, 248; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 209, 210; deJauregui, Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity (2010), 213, 309 " 3.59 Immediately after this, Celsus, perceiving that he has slandered us with too great bitterness, as if by way of defense expresses himself as follows: That I bring no heavier charge than what the truth compels me, any one may see from the following remarks. Those who invite to participation in other mysteries, make proclamation as follows: Every one who has clean hands, and a prudent tongue; others again thus: He who is pure from all pollution, and whose soul is conscious of no evil, and who has lived well and justly. Such is the proclamation made by those who promise purification from sins. But let us hear what kind of persons these Christians invite. Every one, they say, who is a sinner, who is devoid of understanding, who is a child, and, to speak generally, whoever is unfortunate, him will the kingdom of God receive. Do you not call him a sinner, then, who is unjust, and a thief, and a housebreaker, and a poisoner, and a committer of sacrilege, and a robber of the dead? What others would a man invite if he were issuing a proclamation for an assembly of robbers? Now, in answer to such statements, we say that it is not the same thing to invite those who are sick in soul to be cured, and those who are in health to the knowledge and study of divine things. We, however, keeping both these things in view, at first invite all men to be healed, and exhort those who are sinners to come to the consideration of the doctrines which teach men not to sin, and those who are devoid of understanding to those which beget wisdom, and those who are children to rise in their thoughts to manhood, and those who are simply unfortunate to good fortune, or - which is the more appropriate term to use - to blessedness. And when those who have been turned towards virtue have made progress, and have shown that they have been purified by the word, and have led as far as they can a better life, then and not before do we invite them to participation in our mysteries. For we speak wisdom among them that are perfect.", 6.21 The Scriptures which are current in the Churches of God do not speak of seven heavens, or of any definite number at all, but they do appear to teach the existence of heavens, whether that means the spheres of those bodies which the Greeks call planets, or something more mysterious. Celsus, too, agreeably to the opinion of Plato, asserts that souls can make their way to and from the earth through the planets; while Moses, our most ancient prophet, says that a divine vision was presented to the view of our prophet Jacob, - a ladder stretching to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, and the Lord supported upon its top - obscurely pointing, by this matter of the ladder, either to the same truths which Plato had in view, or to something greater than these. On this subject Philo has composed a treatise which deserves the thoughtful and intelligent investigation of all lovers of truth. " 6.22 After this, Celsus, desiring to exhibit his learning in his treatise against us, quotes also certain Persian mysteries, where he says: These things are obscurely hinted at in the accounts of the Persians, and especially in the mysteries of Mithras, which are celebrated among them. For in the latter there is a representation of the two heavenly revolutions - of the movement, viz. of the fixed stars, and of that which take place among the planets, and of the passage of the soul through these. The representation is of the following nature: There is a ladder with lofty gates, and on the top of it an eighth gate. The first gate consists of lead, the second of tin, the third of copper, the fourth of iron, the fifth of a mixture of metals, the sixth of silver, and the seventh of gold. The first gate they assign to Saturn, indicating by the lead the slowness of this star; the second to Venus, comparing her to the splendour and softness of tin; the third to Jupiter, being firm and solid; the fourth to Mercury, for both Mercury and iron are fit to endure all things, and are money-making and laborious; the fifth to Mars, because, being composed of a mixture of metals, it is varied and unequal; the sixth, of silver, to the Moon; the seventh, of gold, to the Sun - thus imitating the different colors of the two latter. He next proceeds to examine the reason of the stars being arranged in this order, which is symbolized by the names of the rest of matter. Musical reasons, moreover, are added or quoted by the Persian theology; and to these, again, he strives to add a second explanation, connected also with musical considerations. But it seems to me, that to quote the language of Celsus upon these matters would be absurd, and similar to what he himself has done, when, in his accusations against Christians and Jews, he quoted, most inappropriately, not only the words of Plato; but, dissatisfied even with these, he adduced in addition the mysteries of the Persian Mithras, and the explanation of them. Now, whatever be the case with regard to these - whether the Persians and those who conduct the mysteries of Mithras give false or true accounts regarding them - why did he select these for quotation, rather than some of the other mysteries, with the explanation of them? For the mysteries of Mithras do not appear to be more famous among the Greeks than those of Eleusis, or than those in Ægina, where individuals are initiated in the rites of Hecate. But if he must introduce barbarian mysteries with their explanation, why not rather those of the Egyptians, which are highly regarded by many, or those of the Cappadocians regarding the Comanian Diana, or those of the Thracians, or even those of the Romans themselves, who initiate the noblest members of their senate? But if he deemed it inappropriate to institute a comparison with any of these, because they furnished no aid in the way of accusing Jews or Christians, why did it not also appear to him inappropriate to adduce the instance of the mysteries of Mithras?", " 6.23 If one wished to obtain means for a profounder contemplation of the entrance of souls into divine things, not from the statements of that very insignificant sect from which he quoted, but from books - partly those of the Jews, which are read in their synagogues, and adopted by Christians, and partly from those of Christians alone - let him peruse, at the end of Ezekiels prophecies, the visions beheld by the prophet, in which gates of different kinds are enumerated, which obscurely refer to the different modes in which divine souls enter into a better world; and let him peruse also, from the Apocalypse of John, what is related of the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and of its foundations and gates. And if he is capable of finding out also the road, which is indicated by symbols, of those who will march on to divine things, let him read the book of Moses entitled Numbers, and let him seek the help of one who is capable of initiating him into the meaning of the narratives concerning the encampments of the children of Israel; viz. of what sort those were which were arranged towards the east, as was the case with the first; and what those towards the south-west and south; and what towards the sea; and what the last were, which were stationed towards the north. For he will see that there is in the respective places a meaning not to be lightly treated, nor, as Celsus imagines, such as calls only for silly and servile listeners: but he will distinguish in the encampments certain things relating to the numbers that are enumerated, and which are specially adapted to each tribe, of which the present does not appear to us to be the proper time to speak. Let Celsus know, moreover, as well as those who read his book, that in no part of the genuine and divinely accredited Scriptures are seven heavens mentioned; neither do our prophets, nor the apostles of Jesus, nor the Son of God Himself, repeat anything which they borrowed from the Persians or the Cabiri.", 6.24 After the instance borrowed from the Mithraic mysteries, Celsus declares that he who would investigate the Christian mysteries, along with the aforesaid Persian, will, on comparing the two together, and on unveiling the rites of the Christians, see in this way the difference between them. Now, wherever he was able to give the names of the various sects, he was nothing loth to quote those with which he thought himself acquainted; but when he ought most of all to have done this, if they were really known to him, and to have informed us which was the sect that makes use of the diagram he has drawn, he has not done so. It seems to me, however, that it is from some statements of a very insignificant sect called Ophites, which he has misunderstood, that, in my opinion, he has partly borrowed what he says about the diagram. Now, as we have always been animated by a love of learning, we have fallen in with this diagram, and we have found in it the representations of men who, as Paul says, creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with various lusts; ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. The diagram was, however, so destitute of all credibility, that neither these easily deceived women, nor the most rustic class of men, nor those who were ready to be led away by any plausible pretender whatever, ever gave their assent to the diagram. Nor, indeed, have we ever met any individual, although we have visited many parts of the earth, and have sought out all those who anywhere made profession of knowledge, that placed any faith in this diagram. " 6.25 In this diagram were described ten circles, distinct from each other, but united by one circle, which was said to be the soul of all things, and was called Leviathan. This Leviathan, the Jewish Scriptures say, whatever they mean by the expression, was created by God for a plaything; for we find in the Psalms: In wisdom have You made all things: the earth is full of Your creatures; so is this great and wide sea. There go the ships; small animals with great; there is this dragon, which You have formed to play therein. Instead of the word dragon, the term leviathan is in the Hebrew. This impious diagram, then, said of this leviathan, which is so clearly depreciated by the Psalmist, that it was the soul which had travelled through all things! We observed, also, in the diagram, the being named Behemoth, placed as it were under the lowest circle. The inventor of this accursed diagram had inscribed this leviathan at its circumference and centre, thus placing its name in two separate places. Moreover, Celsus says that the diagram was divided by a thick black line, and this line he asserted was called Gehenna, which is Tartarus. Now as we found that Gehenna was mentioned in the Gospel as a place of punishment, we searched to see whether it is mentioned anywhere in the ancient Scriptures, and especially because the Jews too use the word. And we ascertained that where the valley of the son of Ennom was named in Scripture in the Hebrew, instead of valley, with fundamentally the same meaning, it was termed both the valley of Ennom and also Geenna. And continuing our researches, we find that what was termed Geenna, or the valley of Ennom, was included in the lot of the tribe of Benjamin, in which Jerusalem also was situated. And seeking to ascertain what might be the inference from the heavenly Jerusalem belonging to the lot of Benjamin and the valley of Ennom, we find a certain confirmation of what is said regarding the place of punishment, intended for the purification of such souls as are to be purified by torments, agreeably to the saying: The Lord comes like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and of gold.", " 6.27 After the matter of the diagram, he brings forward certain monstrous statements, in the form of question and answer, regarding what is called by ecclesiastical writers the seal, statements which did not arise from imperfect information; such as that he who impresses the seal is called father, and he who is sealed is called young man and son; and who answers, I have been anointed with white ointment from the tree of life,- things which we never heard to have occurred even among the heretics. In the next place, he determines even the number mentioned by those who deliver over the seal, as that of seven angels, who attach themselves to both sides of the soul of the dying body; the one party being named angels of light, the others archontics; and he asserts that the ruler of those named archontics is termed the accursed god. Then, laying hold of the expression, he assails, not without reason, those who venture to use such language; and on that account we entertain a similar feeling of indignation with those who censure such individuals, if indeed there exist any who call the God of the Jews- who sends rain and thunder, and who is the Creator of this world, and the God of Moses, and of the cosmogony which he records - an accursed divinity. Celsus, however, appears to have had in view in employing these expressions, not a rational object, but one of a most irrational kind, arising out of his hatred towards us, which is so unlike a philosopher. For his aim was, that those who are unacquainted with our customs should, on perusing his treatise, at once assail us as if we called the noble Creator of this world an accursed divinity. He appears to me, indeed, to have acted like those Jews who, when Christianity began to be first preached, scattered abroad false reports of the Gospel, such as that Christians offered up an infant in sacrifice, and partook of its flesh; and again, that the professors of Christianity, wishing to do the works of darkness, used to extinguish the lights (in their meetings), and each one to have sexual intercourse with any woman whom he chanced to meet. These calumnies have long exercised, although unreasonably, an influence over the minds of very many, leading those who are aliens to the Gospel to believe that Christians are men of such a character; and even at the present day they mislead some, and prevent them from entering even into the simple intercourse of conversation with those who are Christians.", 6.28 With some such object as this in view does Celsus seem to have been actuated, when he alleged that Christians term the Creator an accursed divinity; in order that he who believes these charges of his against us, should, if possible, arise and exterminate the Christians as the most impious of mankind. Confusing, moreover, things that are distinct, he states also the reason why the God of the Mosaic cosmogony is termed accursed, asserting that such is his character, and worthy of execration in the opinion of those who so regard him, inasmuch as he pronounced a curse upon the serpent, who introduced the first human beings to the knowledge of good and evil. Now he ought to have known that those who have espoused the cause of the serpent, because he gave good advice to the first human beings, and who go far beyond the Titans and Giants of fable, and are on this account called Ophites, are so far from being Christians, that they bring accusations against Jesus to as great a degree as Celsus himself; and they do not admit any one into their assembly until he has uttered maledictions against Jesus. See, then, how irrational is the procedure of Celsus, who, in his discourse against the Christians, represents as such those who will not even listen to the name of Jesus, or omit even that He was a wise man, or a person of virtuous character! What, then, could evince greater folly or madness, not only on the part of those who wish to derive their name from the serpent as the author of good, but also on the part of Celsus, who thinks that the accusations with which the Ophites are charged, are chargeable also against the Christians! Long ago, indeed, that Greek philosopher who preferred a state of poverty, and who exhibited the pattern of a happy life, showing that he was not excluded from happiness although he was possessed of nothing, termed himself a Cynic; while these impious wretches, as not being human beings, whose enemy the serpent is, but as being serpents, pride themselves upon being called Ophites from the serpent, which is an animal most hostile to and greatly dreaded by man, and boast of one Euphrates as the introducer of these unhallowed opinions. 6.29 In the next place, as if it were the Christians whom he was calumniating, he continues his accusations against those who termed the God of Moses and of his law an accursed divinity; and imagining that it is the Christians who so speak, he expresses himself thus: What could be more foolish or insane than such senseless wisdom? For what blunder has the Jewish lawgiver committed? And why do you accept, by means, as you say, of a certain allegorical and typical method of interpretation, the cosmogony which he gives, and the law of the Jews, while it is with unwillingness, O most impious man, that you give praise to the Creator of the world, who promised to give them all things; who promised to multiply their race to the ends of the earth, and to raise them up from the dead with the same flesh and blood, and who gave inspiration to their prophets; and, again, you slander Him! When you feel the force of such considerations, indeed, you acknowledge that you worship the same God; but when your teacher Jesus and the Jewish Moses give contradictory decisions, you seek another God, instead of Him, and the Father! Now, by such statements, this illustrious philosopher Celsus distinctly slanders the Christians, asserting that, when the Jews press them hard, they acknowledge the same God as they do; but that when Jesus legislates differently from Moses, they seek another god instead of Him. Now, whether we are conversing with the Jews, or are alone with ourselves, we know of only one and the same God, whom the Jews also worshipped of old time, and still profess to worship as God, and we are guilty of no impiety towards Him. We do not assert, however, that God will raise men from the dead with the same flesh and blood, as has been shown in the preceding pages; for we do not maintain that the natural body, which is sown in corruption, and in dishonour, and in weakness, will rise again such as it was sown. On such subjects, however, we have spoken at adequate length in the foregoing pages. 6.30 He next returns to the subject of the Seven ruling Demons, whose names are not found among Christians, but who, I think, are accepted by the Ophites. We found, indeed, that in the diagram, which on their account we procured a sight of, the same order was laid down as that which Celsus has given. Celsus says that the goat was shaped like a lion, not mentioning the name given him by those who are truly the most impious of individuals; whereas we discovered that He who is honoured in holy Scripture as the angel of the Creator is called by this accursed diagram Michael the Lion-like. Again, Celsus says that the second in order is a bull; whereas the diagram which we possessed made him to be Suriel, the bull-like. Further, Celsus termed the third an amphibious sort of animal, and one that hissed frightfully; while the diagram described the third as Raphael, the serpent-like. Moreover, Celsus asserted that the fourth had the form of an eagle; the diagram representing him as Gabriel, the eagle-like. Again, the fifth, according to Celsus, had the countece of a bear; and this, according to the diagram, was Thauthabaoth, the bear-like. Celsus continues his account, that the sixth was described as having the face of a dog; and him the diagram called Erataoth. The seventh, he adds, had the countece of an ass, and was named Thaphabaoth or Onoel; whereas we discovered that in the diagram he is called Onoel, or Thartharaoth, being somewhat asinine in appearance. We have thought it proper to be exact in stating these matters, that we might not appear to be ignorant of those things which Celsus professed to know, but that we Christians, knowing them better than he, may demonstrate that these are not the words of Christians, but of those who are altogether alienated from salvation, and who neither acknowledge Jesus as Saviour, nor God, nor Teacher, nor Son of God. 6.31 Moreover, if any one would wish to become acquainted with the artifices of those sorcerers, through which they desire to lead men away by their teaching (as if they possessed the knowledge of certain secret rites), but are not at all successful in so doing, let him listen to the instruction which they receive after passing through what is termed the fence of wickedness, - gates which are subjected to the world of ruling spirits. (The following, then, is the manner in which they proceed): I salute the one-formed king, the bond of blindness, complete oblivion, the first power, preserved by the spirit of providence and by wisdom, from whom I am sent forth pure, being already part of the light of the son and of the father: grace be with me; yea, O father, let it be with me. They say also that the beginnings of the Ogdoad are derived from this. In the next place, they are taught to say as follows, while passing through what they call Ialdabaoth: You, O first and seventh, who art born to command with confidence, you, O Ialdabaoth, who art the rational ruler of a pure mind, and a perfect work to son and father, bearing the symbol of life in the character of a type, and opening to the world the gate which you closed against your kingdom, I pass again in freedom through your realm. Let grace be with me; yea, O father, let it be with me. They say, moreover, that the star Ph non is in sympathy with the lion-like ruler. They next imagine that he who has passed through Ialdabaoth and arrived at Iao ought thus to speak: You, O second Iao, who shines by night, who art the ruler of the secret mysteries of son and father, first prince of death, and portion of the innocent, bearing now my own beard as symbol, I am ready to pass through your realm, having strengthened him who is born of you by the living word. Grace be with me; father, let it be with me. They next come to Sabaoth, to whom they think the following should be addressed: O governor of the fifth realm, powerful Sabaoth, defender of the law of your creatures, who are liberated by your grace through the help of a more powerful Pentad, admit me, seeing the faultless symbol of their art, preserved by the stamp of an image, a body liberated by a Pentad. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me. And after Sabaoth they come to Astaph us, to whom they believe the following prayer should be offered: O Astaph us, ruler of the third gate, overseer of the first principle of water, look upon me as one of your initiated, admit me who am purified with the spirit of a virgin, you who sees the essence of the world. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me. After him comes Alo us, who is to be thus addressed: O Alo us, governor of the second gate, let me pass, seeing I bring to you the symbol of your mother, a grace which is hidden by the powers of the realms. Let grace be with me, O father, let it be with me. And last of all they name Hor us, and think that the following prayer ought to be offered to him: You who fearlessly leaped over the rampart of fire, O Hor us, who obtained the government of the first gate, let me pass, seeing you behold the symbol of your own power, sculptured on the figure of the tree of life, and formed after this image, in the likeness of innocence. Let grace be with me, O father, let grace be with me. |
20. Papyri, Papyri Graecae Magicae, 1.43-1.222, 4.154-4.162, 4.475-4.834, 4.1167-4.1226, 4.2891-4.2941 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithraism • Mithraism, • Mithraism, astrology in • Mithras • Mithras Liturgy • Mithras liturgy Found in books: Bortolani et al., William Furley, Svenja Nagel, and Joachim Friedrich Quack, Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices: Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions (2019) 122, 243; Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 233, 234, 449, 450, 451, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 461, 462; Dieleman, Priests, Tongues, and Rites: The London-Leiden Magical Manuscripts and Translation in Egyptian Ritual (100–300 CE) (2005) 15, 259; Edmonds, Drawing Down the Moon: Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World (2019) 266, 322, 364, 365, 368; Gieseler Greenbaum, The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology: Origins and Influence (2015) 193; Lipka, Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus (2021) 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244; Nicklas and Spittler, Credible, Incredible: The Miraculous in the Ancient Mediterranean. (2013) 103, 104; Pachoumi, The Concepts of the Divine in the Greek Magical Papyri (2017) 49, 60, 65, 70, 77, 82, 83, 94, 105, 146, 151, 165, 168; Renberg, Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World (2017) 561; Rüpke, The individual in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean (2014) 177; Swartz, The Mechanics of Providence: The Workings of Ancient Jewish Magic and Mysticism (2018) 133 NA> |
21. Porphyry, On Abstinence, 2.56, 4.9, 4.16 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • (Mithraic) • Catechism, Mithraic (PBerol • Mithra • Mithraic grades • Mithras • Mithras Liturgy • Mithras, Mithraeum • Mithras, as Sun-in-Leo • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, ‘Schlangengefäß’ • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 75, 307; Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 215; Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 110, 114; Bickerman and Tropper, Studies in Jewish and Christian History (2007) 948; Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 452; Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 248; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 209 2.56 Moreover the Phoenicians, in great calamities, either of war, or excessive dryness, or pestilence, sacrificed some one of their dearest friends, who was selected by votes for this purpose. The Phoenician history also is replete with instances of men being sacrificed, which history was written by Sanchouniathon in the Phoenician tongue, and was interpreted into Greek in eight books, by Philo the Byblian. But Istros, in his collection of the Cretan sacrifices, says that the Curetes formerly sacrificed children to Kronos. And Pallas, who is the best of those who have collected what pertains to the mysteries of Mithras, says, that under the Emperor Hadrian the sacrificing of men was nearly totally abolished. For, prior to his time, in Laodicea in Syria, they anciently sacrificed a virgin to Athena every year, but now they sacrifice a stag. The Carthaginians too, who dwell in Libya, formerly sacrificed men; but this custom was abolished by Iphicrates. And the Dumateni, a people of Arabia, annually sacrificed a boy, whom they buried under the altar, which was used by them as a xoanon. But Phylarchus narrates, that it was the general custom of all the Greeks, before they went to war, to immolate men. I omit to mention the Thracians and Scythians, and also how the Athenians slew the daughter of Erechtheus and Praxithea. And even at present, who is ignorant that in the great city of Rome, in the festival of Zeus Latialis, they cut the throat of a man? Human flesh, however, is not on this account to be eaten; though, through a certain necessity, a man should be sacrificed. For, when a famine takes place during a siege some of the besieged feed on each other, yet at the same time those who do so are deemed execrable and the deed is thought to be impious. 4.9 But the Egyptian priests, through the proficiency which they made by this exercise, and similitude to divinity, knew that divinity does not pervade through man alone, and that soul is not enshrined in man alone on the earth, but that it nearly passes through all animals. On this account, in fashioning the images of the Gods, they assumed every animal, and for this purpose mixed together the human form and the forms of wild beasts, and again the bodies of birds with the body of a man. For a certain deity was represented by them in a human shape as far as to the neck, but the face was that of a bird, or a lion, or of some other animal. And again, another divine resemblance had a human head, but the other parts were those of certain other animals, some of which had an inferior, but others a superior position; through which they manifested, that these i.e. brutes and men, through the decision of the Gods, communicated with each other, and that tame and savage animals are nurtured together with us, not without the concurrence of a certain divine will. Hence also, a lion is worshipped as a God, and a certain part of Egypt, which is called Nomos, has the surname of Leontopolis or the city of the lion, and another is denominated Busiris from an ox, and another Lycopolis or the city of the wolf. For they venerated the power of God which extends to all things through animals which are nurtured together, and which each of the Gods imparts. They also reverenced water and fire the most of all the elements, as being the principal causes of our safety. And these things are exhibited by them in sanctuaries; for even now, on opening the holy place of Serapis, the worship is performed through fire and water; he who sings the hymns making a libation with water, and exhibiting fire, when, standing on the 120 threshold, he invokes the God in the language of the Egyptians. Venerating, therefore, these elements, they especially reverence those things which largely participate of them, as partaking more abundantly of what is sacred. But after these, they venerate all animals, and in the village Anubis they worship a man, in which place also they sacrifice to him, and victims are there burnt in honour of him on an altar; but he shortly after only eats that which was procured for him as a man. Hence, as it is requisite to abstain from man, so likewise, from other animals. And farther still, the Egyptian priests, from their transcendent wisdom and association with divinity, discovered what animals are more acceptable to the Gods when dedicated to them than man. Thus they found that a hawk is dear to the sun, since the whole of its nature consists of blood and spirit. It also commiserates man, and laments over his dead body, and scatters earth on his eyes, in which these priests believe a solar light is resident. They likewise discovered that a hawk lives many years, and that, after it leaves the present life, it possesses a divining power, is most rational and prescient when liberated from the body, and gives perfection to statues, and moves temples. A beetle will be detested by one who is ignorant of and unskilled in divine concerns, but the Egyptians venerate it, as an animated image of the sun. For every beetle is a male, and emitting its genital seed in a muddy place, and having made it spherical, it turns round the seminal sphere in a way similar to that of the sun in the heavens. It likewise receives a period of twenty-eight days, which is a lunar period. In a similar manner, the Egyptians philosophise about the ram, the crocodile, the vulture, and the ibis, and, in short, about every animal; so that, from their wisdom and transcendent knowledge of divine concerns, they came at length to venerate all animals. An unlearned man, however, does not even suspect that they, not being borne along with the stream of the vulgar who know nothing, and not walking in the path of ignorance, but passing beyond the illiterate multitude, and that want of knowledge which befalls every one at first, were led to reverence things which are thought by the vulgar to be of no worth. 4.16 Among the Persians, indeed, those who are wise in divine concerns, and worship divinity, are called Magi; for this is the signification of Magus, in the Persian tongue. But so great and so venerable are these men thought to be by the Persians, that Darius, the son of Hystaspes, had among other things this engraved on his tomb, that he had been the master of the Magi. They are likewise divided into three genera, as we are informed by Eubulus, who wrote the history of Mithra, in a treatise consisting of many books. In this work he says, that the first and most learned class of the Magi neither eat nor slay any thing animated, but adhere to the ancient abstinence from animals. The second class use some animals indeed for food, but do not slay any that are tame. Nor do those of the third class, similarly with other men, lay their hands on all animals. For the dogma with all of them which ranks as the first is this, that there is a transmigration of souls; and this they also appear to indicate in the mysteries of Mithra. For in these mysteries, obscurely signifying our having something in common with brutes, they are accustomed to call us by the names of different animals. Thus they denominate the males who participate in the same mysteries lions, but the females lionesses, and those who are ministrant to these rites crows. With respect to their fathers also, they adopt the same mode. For these are denominated by them eagles and hawks. And he who is initiated in the Leontic mysteries, is invested with all-various forms of animals; of which particulars, Pallas, in his treatise concerning Mithra, assigning the cause, says, that it is the common opinion that these things are to be referred to the circle of the zodiac, but that truly and accurately speaking, they obscurely signify some thing pertaining to human souls, which, according to the Persians, are invested with bodies of all-various forms. For the Latins also, says Eubulus, call some men, in their tongue, boars and scorpions, lizards, and blackbirds. After the same manner likewise the Persians denominate the Gods the demiurgic causes of these: for they call Diana a she-wolf; but the sun, a bull, a lion, a 128 dragon, and a hawk; and Hecate, a horse, a bull, a lioness, and a dog. But most theologists say that the name of Proserpine (της φερεφαττης) is derived from nourishing a ringdove, (παρα το φερβειν την φατταν) for the ringdove is sacred to this Goddess. Hence, also the priests of Maia dedicate to her a ringdove. And Maia is the same with Proserpine, as being obstetric, and a nurse. For this Goddess is terrestrial, and so likewise is Ceres. To this Goddess, also a cock is consecrated; and on this account those that are initiated in her mysteries abstain from domestic birds. In the Eleusinian mysteries, likewise, the initiated are ordered to abstain from domestic birds, from fishes and beans, pomegranates and apples; which fruits are as equally defiling to the touch, as a woman recently delivered, and a dead body. But whoever is acquainted with the nature of divinely-luminous appearances knows also on what account it is requisite to abstain from all birds, and especially for him who hastens to be liberated from terrestrial concerns, and to be established with the celestial Gods. Vice, however, as we have frequently said, is sufficiently able to patronize itself, and especially when it pleads its cause among the ignorant. Hence, among those that are moderately vicious, some think that a dehortation of this kind is vain babbling, and, according to the proverb, the nugacity of old women; and others are of opinion that it is superstition. But those who have made greater advances in improbity, are prepared, not only to blaspheme those who exhort to, and demonstrate the propriety of this abstinence, but calumniate purity itself as enchantment and pride. They, however, suffering the punishment of their sins, both from Gods and men, are, in the first place, sufficiently punished by a disposition i.e. by a depravity of this kind. We shall, therefore, still farther make mention of another foreign nation, renowned and just, and believed to be pious in divine concerns, and then pass on to other particulars. 129 |
22. Porphyry, On The Cave of The Nymphs, 5-6, 15-18, 20-21, 24 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • (Mithraic) • Jesus, Mithraic • Luna (Mithraic) • Mithra • Mithraic • Mithraic catechism • Mithraic grades • Mithraic mysteries • Mithraism • Mithras • Mithras Liturgy • Mithras Liturgy, the • Mithras, Mithraeum • Mithras, as creator • Mithras, bull killing • Mithras, cult of • Mithras, grades • Mithras, theology • Porphyry on Mithraism • Rock-birth, of Agdistis, ; of Mithras • Scorpion (natural), ; Mithraic • Sol, ; as cosmic emblem in Mithraism • Torchbearers (Mithraic) • Tutela (of women, minors etc.), ; Mithraic • Wine, makes Agdistis drunk, ; Mithraic • banquet scene Mithraic • cult meal Mithraic • grades, Mithraic • mysteries, Mithras • myth Mithraic • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 79, 83, 86, 87, 89, 94, 104, 125, 126, 127, 362; Beck, The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun (2006) 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, 41, 42, 43, 44, 86, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115; Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 36, 110, 114, 115; Blidstein, Purity Community and Ritual in Early Christian Literature (2017) 30; Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 157; Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 448, 453, 454; Esler, The Early Christian World (2000) 74; McGowan, Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (1999) 112; Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 180, 184, 185; Rasimus, Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence (2009) 245; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 212, 213, 214 5 It is necessary, therefore, that souls, whether they are corporeal or incorporeal, while they attract to themselves body, and especially such as are about to be bound to blood and moist bodies, should verge to humidity, and be corporalised, in consequence of being drenched in moisture. Hence the souls of the dead are evocated by the effusion of bile and blood; and souls that are lovers of body, by attracting a moist spirit, condense this humid vehicle like a cloud. For moisture condensed in the air constitutes a cloud. But the pneumatic vehicle being condensed in these souls, becomes visible through an excess of moisture. And among the number of these we must reckon those apparitions of images, which, from a spirit coloured by the influence of imagination, present themselves to mankind. But pure souls are averse from generation; so that, as Heraclitus says, "a dry soul is the wisest." Hence, here also the spirit becomes moist and more aqueous through the desire of generation, the soul thus attracting a humid vapour from verging to generation. Souls, therefore, proceeding |18 into generation are the nymphs called naiades. Hence it is usual to call those that are married nymphs, as being conjoined to generation, and to pour water into baths from fountains, or rivers, or perpetual rills. 6 This world, then, is sacred and pleasant to souls wno nave now proceeded into nature, and to natal daemons, though it is essentially dark and obscure; from which some have suspected that souls also are of an obscure nature and essentially consist of air. Hence a cavern, which is both pleasant and dark, will be appropriately consecrated to souls on the earth, conformably to its similitude to the world, in which, as in the greatest of all temples, souls reside. To the nymphs likewise, who preside over waters, a cavern, in which there are perpetually flowing streams, is adapted. Let, therefore, this present cavern be consecrated to souls, and among the more partial powers, to nymphs that preside over streams and fountains, and who, on this account, are called fontal and naiades. Waat, therefore, are the different symbols, some of which are adapted to souls, but others to the aquatic powers, in order that we may apprehend that this cavern is consecrated in common to |19 both? Let the stony bowls, then, and the amphorae be symbols of the aquatic nymphs. For these are, indeed, the symbols of Bacchus, but their composition is fictile, i.e. consists of baked earth, and these are friendly to the vine, the gift of God; since the fruit of the vine is brought to a proper maturity by the celestial fire of the sun. But the stony bowls and amphorae are in the most eminent degree adapted to the nymphs who preside over the water that flows from rocks. And to souls that descend into generation and are occupied in corporeal energies, what symbol can be more appropriate than those instruments pertaining to weaving? Hence, also, the poet ventures to say, "that on these, the nymphs weave purple webs, admirable to the view." For the formation of the flesh is on and about the bones, which in the bodies of animals resemble stones. Hence these instruments of weaving consist of stone, and not of any other matter. But the purple webs will evidently be the flesh which is woven from the blood. For purple woollen garments are tinged from blood. and wool is dyed from animal juice. The generation of flesh, also, is through and from blood. Add, too, that | 20 the body is a garment with which the soul is invested, a thing wonderful to the sight, whether this refers to the composition of the soul, or contributes to the colligation of the soul (to the whole of a visible essence). Thus, also, Proserpine, who is the inspective guardian of everything produced from seed, is represented by Orpheus as weaving a web (note 7), and the heavens are called by the ancients a veil, in consequence of being,as it were, the vestment of the celestial Gods. 15 One particular, however, remains to be explained, and that is the symbol of the olive planted at the top of the cavern, since Homer appears to indicate something very admirable by giving it such a position. For he does not merely say that an olive grows in this place, but that it flourishes on the summit of the cavern. "High at the head a branching olive grows, Beneath, a gloomy grotto s cool recess.." But the growth of the olive in such a situation is not fortuitous, as some one may suspect, but contains the enigma of the cavern. For |37 since the world was not produced rashly and casually, but is the work of divine wisdom and an intellectual nature; hence an olive, the symbol of this wisdom flourishes near the present cavern, which is an image of the world. For the olive is the plant of Minerva, and Minerva is wisdom. But this Goddess being produced from the head of Jupiter, the theologist has discovered an appropriate place for the olive by consecrating it at the summit of the port; signifying by this that the universe is not the effect of a casual event and the work of irrational fortune, but that it is the offspring of an intellectual nature and divine wisdom, which is separated indeed from it (by a difference of essence), but yet is near to it, through being established on the summit of the whole port (i.e. from the dignity and excellence of its nature governing the whole with consummate wisdom). Since, however, an olive is ever-flourishing, it possesses a certain peculiarity in the highest degree adapted to the revolutions of souls in the world, for to such souls this cave (as we have said) is sacred. For in summer the white leaves of the olive tend upwards, but in winter the whiter leaves are bent downward. On |38 this account also in prayers and supplications, men extend the branches of an olive, ominating from this that they shall exchange the sorrowful darkness of danger for the fair light of security and peace. The olive, therefore being naturally ever-flourishing, bears fruit which is the auxiliary of labour (by being its reward, it is sacred to Minerva; supplies the victors in athletic labours with crowns and affords a friendly branch to the suppliant petitioner. Thus, too, the world is governed by an intellectual nature, and is conducted by a wisdom eternal and ever-flourishing; by which the rewards of victory are conferred on the conquerors in the athletic race of life, as the reward of severe toil and patient perseverance. And the Demiurgus who connects and contains the world (in ineffable comprehensions) invigorates miserable and suppliant souls. 24). T he daughter likewise of this God is mentioned in the beginning of the Odyssey. But from Thoosa the Cyclops was born, whom Ulysses deprived of sight. And this deed of Ulysses became the occasion of reminding him of his errors, till he was safely landed in his native country. On this account, too, a seat under the olive is proper to Ulysses, as to one who implores divinity and would |40 appease his natal daemon with a suppliant branch. For it will not be simply, and in a concise way, possible for anyone to be liberated from this sensible life, who blinds this daemon, and renders his energies inefficacious; but he who dares to do this, will be pursued by the anger (note 25) of the marine and material Gods, whom it is first requisite to appease by sacrifices, labours, and patient endurance; at one time, indeed, contending with the passions, and at another employing enchantments and deceptions, and by these, transforming himself in an all-various manner; in order that, being at length divested of the torn garments (by which his true person was concealed) he may recover the ruined empire of his soul. Nor will he even then be liberated from labours; but this will be effected when he has entirely passed over the raging sea, and, though still living, becomes so ignorant of marine and material works (through deep attention to intelligible concern) as to mistake an oar for a corn-van. 18 It must not, however, be thought that interpretations of this kind are forced, and nothing more than the conjectures of ingenious men; but when we consider the |41 great wisdom of antiquity and how much Homer excelled in intellectual prudence, and in an accurate knowledge of every virtue, it must not be denied that he has obscurely indicated the images of things of a more divine nature in the fiction of a fable. For it would not have been possible to devise the whole of this hypothesis unless the figment had been transferred (to an appropriate meaning) from certain established truths. But reserving the discussion of this for another treatise, we shall here finish our explanation of the present Cave of the, |
23. Eunapius, Lives of The Philosophers, 7.3.4 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithraism • Mithras (god) • Mithras (priest) Found in books: Graverini, Literature and Identity in The Golden Ass of Apuleius (2012) 65; deJauregui, Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity (2010), 347 NA> |
24. Julian (Emperor), , 168d (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • (Mithraic) • Mithras Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra, Romanising Oriental Gods: Myth, Salvation, and Ethics in the Cults of Cybele, Isis, and Mithras (2008) 290; Niccolai, Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire (2023) 161 NA> |
25. Julian (Emperor), Caesars, 336c (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Helios (Helios-Mithras) • Mithra • Mithras Found in books: Bricault and Bonnet, Panthée: Religious Transformations in the Graeco-Roman Empire (2013) 155; Niccolai, Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire (2023) 202; Ruiz and Puertas, Emperors and Emperorship in Late Antiquity: Images and Narratives (2021) 109 NA> |
26. Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Caracalla, 9.11 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithras, Persian deity • Mithras, cult of, and rebirth Found in books: Griffiths, The Isis-Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (1975) 259; Manolaraki, Noscendi Nilum Cupido: Imagining Egypt from Lucan to Philostratus (2012) 233 NA> |
27. Jerome, Letters, 107.2 (5th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: • Mithraeum, Mithraic sanctuary • Mithraic grades • Mithras • Mithras, grades • Mithras, initiation Found in books: Belayche and Massa, Mystery Cults in Visual Representation in Graeco-Roman Antiquity (2021) 111, 113; Bull, Lied and Turner, Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices: Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty (2011) 356; Kahlos, Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity, 350-450 (2019) 75; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 218 NA> |
28. Epigraphy, Cimrm, 485 Tagged with subjects: • Mithraic mysteries • Mithraism • Mithras • Mithras, Deus Invictus Mithras Found in books: Bruun and Edmondson, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy (2015) 777; Nuno et al., SENSORIVM: The Senses in Roman Polytheism (2021) 185 NA> |
29. Epigraphy, Ae, 1994.1334 Tagged with subjects: • Mithras • feast with the gods, Mithras groups • post-mortality belief, belief, Mithras context Found in books: Eckhardt, Benedict, Private Associations and Jewish Communities in the Hellenistic and Roman Cities (2019) 116; Waldner et al., Burial Rituals, Ideas of Afterlife, and the Individual in the Hellenistic World and the Roman Empire (2016) 228 NA> |