Imagine you knew nothing
about Christianity aside from the mere fact of its existence, but you
wanted to know more. Now imagine that all practicing Christians had
died two millenia ago and all scriptures sacred to the cult had
disappeared. All that remains to reconstruct the cult are some
archaeological artefacts scattered across three continents, and a few
oblique references in literature from mostly hostile sources. This is
precisely the situation that confronts students of Mithraism.
Mithras though is still a compelling god, the most Roman of these
non-Roman gods to sweep through the empire. Soldier, savior and solar
deity all in one. There was an austerity to the cult that even
Christians could not deny; indeed, they found the cult too eerily like
their own and ascribed the similarities to the machinations of their
devil.
In the past century there has been a concerted effort to understand
this shadowy deity and his cult. The Belgian Franz Cumont wrote The
Mysteries of Mithra in 1903. Using the archaeology available at
the
time, Cumont saw the Roman Mithras as descended from an old Persian
deity, a god of light against darkness in the Zoroastrian
eschatological tradition. For decades this was the prevalent view. But
with new archaeological advances and new critical interpretations,
others eventually disagreed. In the last twenty or thirty years some
have seen Mithraism as a glorified astral cult having little or nothing
to do with Iranian religion. Now, once again, other are dissenting
against this view, not finding much evidence to really make any bold
assertion on the origin or nature of the cult.
Manfred Clauss is a Professor of Ancient History at the Free University
of Berlin. In the translator's preface, it is stated that the author
sought to convey a general interpretation of the cult as revealed by
all existing material and literary evidence. His book sought in part to
correct some of the theorizing of the past century, dispensing with
speculations and instead focusing on what was known and what could be
reasonably deduced from the know data.
Claus also wrote primarily for a German speaking audience, and so much
is made of some of the discoveries found along the Rhine. Fortunately,
outside of Rome and Ostia the greatest concentration of evidence
happens to exist along the old Rhine and Danube frontiers, so this may
not skew the scope of the survey as much as one might expect.
The man responsible for translating this two hundred page text into
English is Richard Gordon. He is a Senior Fellow at the University of
East Anglia, and has published some works on Roman myth and religion.
Gordon's translation is flawless; the prose flows smoothly and is
engaging.
The work itself is a piece of clarity. It is divided neatly into
fourteen chapters which are well-written and neatly organized. There
are 124 illustrations throughout the world (roughly one illustration
for every page and half), which bring to life some of the unusual
visual art of this cult. There is also a bibliography, some suggested
further reading, and various indexes designed to help you find
information clearly.
After some brief words from the author and translator, the chapters are
divided as follows. Chapter one looks at the history of the god
Mitra/Mithras, from Indo-European times through the Hellenistic times
and into the late Roman Empire. No definite origin on the particularly
Roman era mysteries can be deduced from the available evidence. Chapter
two summarizes the wide variety of religious viewpoints in the Roman
world which effected the cult: a belief in immediate access to godhood,
the desire to project one's soul beyond the realm of the fixed stars,
the influence of Fate and the need for saviors from Fate, and the rise
of a solar monotheism under the Empire. Part three summarizes key
points of the mystery religions in general, including their secret
initiations and their beliefs in salvation or transcendence from death.
The next chapter deals with the nature of the evidence. There were
ultimately variations in the cult through time and space, and it seems
to have operated as a religion of symbols which we today cannot fully
understand.
The next five chapters finally delve into the cult itself. Chapter five
surveys the growth of the cult, from somewhere in Italy through the
Latin speaking regions, with particular concentrations in military
sectors. There is not much evidence of the cult surviving beyond the
late fourth century. Chapter six focuses on recruitment. Women were
excluded by fiat; Senators seem to have been excluded by their own
choice. The cult appealed mostly to soldiers, imperial clerks, and
slaves and freedmen of the imperial household. Chapter seven outlines
the mithreaum, the representations of caves where cult adherents met.
These mock caves were meant to resemble the entire cosmos. While many
have been found, their small size means that the cult had a
comparatively minor following. Chapter eight focuses on reconstructing
the Mithraic mythology from cultic images. Mithras was born from a
rock, performed certain miracles, and finally slew a bull in some act
of cosmic significance. Chapter nine surveys what is known of cult
ritual, particularly the sacred meal shared by adherents.
Chapter ten looks at utensils used by the cult; this is honestly a slow
read, and can be safely skipped. Chapter eleven looks at the seven
grades or levels of adherents and their various rights and duties.
Chapter twelve surveys Mithras as a personal religion; while we do no
know much, ultimately we know that it, like Christianity, imposed
certain commandments on its followers. The next chapter deals with
Mithras and other pagan religions; Mithras was quickly identified with
other solar deities throughout the empire, and its cult adherents were
often members of other pagan cults. The final chapter looks at the
relationship between Mithras and Christianity. Claus doubts that either
religion influenced the other, and instead were simply both heir to a
common body of Greco-Oriental religions.
Clauss' work is an enjoyable and erudite read on an interesting topic.
Ultimately we may never know some of the finer points about the cult,
but the author explains such is the nature of the subject under
scrutiny: "It may indeed be that, despite all one's efforts, much still
remains opaque. But, in studying what is after all a mystery cult,
should we really expect anything less?"
