Editing Mithraism (section)

===Classical literature about Mithras and the Mysteries===
[[File:Fresque Mithraeum Marino.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Mithras and the Bull: This fresco from the [[mithraeum]] at Marino, Italy (third century) shows the ''tauroctony'' and the celestial lining of Mithras' cape.]]
According to [[Mary Boyce|Boyce]], the earliest literary references to the mysteries are by the Latin poet Statius, about 80&nbsp;CE, and Plutarch (c.&nbsp;100&nbsp;CE).<ref name=Boyce-Grenet-1975/>{{efn|
...&nbsp;the Persian affiliation of the Mysteries is acknowledged in the earliest literary reference to them. This is by the Latin poet [[Statius]]: Writing about 80&nbsp;CE, he described Mithras as one who "twists the unruly horns beneath the rocks of a Persian cave". Only a little later ({{circa|100&nbsp;CE}}) Plutarch attributed an Anatolian origin to the mysteries, for according to him the [[Cilician pirates]] whom Pompey defeated in 67&nbsp;BCE. "celebrated certain secret rites, amongst which those of Mithras continue to the present time, having been first instituted by them".<ref name=Boyce-Grenet-1975/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 468–469}}
}}

====Statius====
The [[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]] ({{circa|80&nbsp;CE<ref name=Ulansey-1991-Origins/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 29}} }}) an epic poem by [[Statius]], pictures Mithras in a cave, wrestling with something that has horns.<ref>{{cite book
 |author=[[Statius]] |title=Thebaid |at=1.719–720
}}
:{{cite web   |title=Latin text   |website=The Latin Library   |url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/statius/theb1.shtml   |access-date=12 April 2011   |archive-date=9 September 2017   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909030551/http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/statius/theb1.shtml   |url-status=live   }}
:{{cite web   |title=English translation   |series=Classical e-Text   |translator=Mozey, J.H.   |url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/StatiusThebaid1.html   |via=theoi.com   |access-date=12 April 2011   |archive-date=29 September 2017   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929092016/http://www.theoi.com/Text/StatiusThebaid1.html   |url-status=live   }}</ref>
The context is a prayer to the god [[Phoebus]].<ref>The prayer begins at<br/>
{{cite book
 |author=[[Statius]] |title=Thebaid |at=1.696
}}
:{{cite web  |title=Latin text  |website=The Latin Library  |url=http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/statius/theb1.shtml  |access-date=12 April 2011  |archive-date=9 September 2017  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909030551/http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/statius/theb1.shtml  |url-status=live  }}
:{{cite web  |title=English translation  |series=Classical e-Text  |translator=Mozey, J.H.  |url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/StatiusThebaid1.html  |via=theoi.com  |access-date=12 April 2011  |archive-date=29 September 2017  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929092016/http://www.theoi.com/Text/StatiusThebaid1.html  |url-status=live  }}</ref>
The cave is described as ''persei'', which in this context is usually translated ''Persian''. According to the translator J.H.&nbsp;Mozley it literally means ''Persean'', referring to [[Perses (son of Andromeda and Perseus)|''Perses'']], the son of [[Perseus]] and [[Andromeda (mythology)|Andromeda]],<ref name=Ulansey-1991-Origins/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 29}} this Perses being the ancestor of the Persians according to Greek legend.<ref name=Ulansey-1991-Origins/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 27–29}}

====Justin Martyr====
Writing in approximately 145&nbsp;CE, the early [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologist]] [[Justin Martyr]] charges the cult of Mithras with imitating the [[Eucharist|Christian communion]],
:Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same things to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed, with certain incantations, in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Justin Martyr]] |title=First and Second Apologies of Justin Martyr |at=Chapter&nbsp;66}}</ref>

====Plutarch====
The Greek biographer [[Plutarch]] (46–127&nbsp;CE) says that "secret mysteries ... of Mithras" were practiced by the pirates of [[Cilicia]], the coastal province in the southeast of [[Anatolia]], who were active in the 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE: "They likewise offered strange sacrifices; those of Olympus I mean; and they celebrated certain secret mysteries, among which those of Mithras continue to this day, being originally instituted by them."<ref name="Life of Pompey 24">{{cite book |author=[[Plutarch]] |section=Life of Pompey |title=Lives |at=24 |section-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pompey*.html#24 |via=penelope.uchicago.edu |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=31 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731043359/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pompey%2A.html#24 |url-status=live }} — refers to events {{circa|68&nbsp;BCE}}</ref>
He mentions that the pirates were especially active during the [[Mithridatic wars]] (between the [[Roman Republic]] and King [[Mithridates VI of Pontus]]) in which they supported the king.<ref name="Life of Pompey 24"/> The association between Mithridates and the pirates is also mentioned by the ancient historian [[Appian]].{{refn|
[[Appian]] ''Mith''&nbsp;14.92 cited in<ref name=Ulansey-1991-Origins/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 89}}
}}
The 4th&nbsp;century commentary on [[Vergil]] by [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] says that [[Pompey]] settled some of these pirates in [[Calabria]] in southern Italy.<ref>{{cite conference
 |first=E.D. |last=Francis
 |year=1971
 |title=Plutarch's Mithraic pirates: An appendix to the article by Franz Cummont "The Dura Mithraeum"
 |editor-first=John R. |editor-last=Hinnells
 |publication-date=1975
 |book-title=Mithraic Studies
 |conference=The First International Congress of Mithraic Studies
 |volume=1 |pages=207–210
 |publisher=Manchester University Press
}}
:The reference to ''Servius'' is in a 
{{cite book | title=lengthy footnote for page&nbsp;208 | isbn=9780719005367 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xRy8AAAAIAAJ&dq=Servius+Plutarch+Cumont&pg=PA208 | via=Google Books | last1=Hinnells | first1=John R. | year=1975 | publisher=Manchester University Press | access-date=23 February 2023 | archive-date=15 May 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515064453/https://books.google.com/books?id=xRy8AAAAIAAJ&dq=Servius+Plutarch+Cumont&pg=PA208 | url-status=live }}.</ref>

====Dio Cassius====
The historian [[Dio Cassius]] (2nd to 3rd&nbsp;century&nbsp;CE) tells how the name of Mithras was spoken during the state visit to Rome of [[Tiridates I of Armenia]], during the reign of [[Nero]]. (Tiridates was the son of [[Vonones II of Parthia]], and his coronation by Nero in 66&nbsp;CE confirmed the end of a war between [[Parthia]] and Rome.) Dio Cassius writes that Tiridates, as he was about to receive his crown, told the Roman emperor that he revered him "as Mithras".<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Dio Cassius]] |title={{grey|[no title cited]}} |at=63.5.2}}</ref> Roger Beck thinks it possible that this episode contributed to the emergence of Mithraism as a popular religion in Rome.{{efn|
In the Cumontian scenario this episode cannot mark the definitive moment of transfer, for Mithraism in that scenario was already established in Rome, albeit on a scale too small to have left any trace in the historical or archaeological record. Nevertheless, it could have been a spur to Mithraism's emergence on to the larger stage of popular appeal.<ref>{{cite encyclopaedia
 |last          = Beck
 |first         = Roger
 |date          = 2002-07-20
 |df            = dmy-all
 |title         = Mithraism
 |encyclopaedia = [[Encyclopaedia Iranica]]
 |edition       = online
 |url           = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mithraism
 |access-date   = 2011-05-15
 |archive-date  = 20 May 2020
 |archive-url   = https://web.archive.org/web/20200520055846/http://iranicaonline.org/articles/mithraism
 |url-status    = live
}}</ref>
}}

====Porphyry====
[[File:Roman - Fragment of a Mosaic with Mithras - Walters 437.jpg|thumb|Mosaic (1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;CE) depicting Mithras emerging from his cave and flanked by Cautes and Cautopates ([[Walters Art Museum]])]]
The philosopher [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] (3rd–4th&nbsp;century&nbsp;CE) gives an account of the origins of the Mysteries in his work ''[[On the Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey|De antro nympharum]]'' (''The Cave of the Nymphs'').<ref name=deantro2/> Citing Eubulus as his source, Porphyry writes that the original temple of Mithras was a natural cave, containing fountains, which [[Zoroaster]] found in the mountains of Persia. To Zoroaster, this cave was an image of the whole world, so he consecrated it to Mithras, the creator of the world. Later in the same work, Porphyry links Mithras and the bull with planets and star-signs: Mithras himself is associated with the sign of [[Aries (astrology)|Aries]] and the planet [[Mars]], while the bull is associated with [[Venus]].{{efn|
"Hence, a place near to the equinoctial circle was assigned to Mithra as an appropriate seat. And on this account he bears the sword of Aries, which is a martial sign. He is likewise carried in the Bull, which is the sign of Venus. For Mithra. as well as the Bull, is the Demiurgus and lord of generation." — Porphyry<ref name=deantro2/>
}}

Porphyry is writing close to the demise of the cult, and Robert Turcan has challenged the idea that Porphyry's statements about Mithraism are accurate. His case is that far from representing what Mithraists believed, they are merely representations by the Neoplatonists of what it suited them in the late 4th century to read into the mysteries.{{refn|
{{cite book |last=Turcan |first=Robert |year=1975 |title=Mithras Platonicus |place=Leiden, NL}}
: cited by Beck (1987)<ref name=Beck-1987/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 301–302}}
}}
Merkelbach & Beck believed Porphyry's work "is in fact thoroughly coloured with the doctrines of the Mysteries".<ref name=Beck-1987/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 308 note 37}}
Beck holds that classical scholars have neglected Porphyry's evidence and have taken an unnecessarily skeptical view of Porphyry.<ref>
{{cite book
 |author1=Beck, Roger 
 |author2=Martin, Luther H.
 |author3=Whitehouse, Harvey
 |year=2004
 |title=Theorizing Religions Past: Archaeology, history, and cognition
 |publisher=Rowman Altamira
 |isbn=978-0-7591-0621-5
 |page=101 ff
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3Hu5icpP1AC&pg=PA101
 |access-date=28 March 2011
}}
</ref>
According to Beck, Porphyry's ''De antro'' is the only clear text from antiquity which tells us about the intent of the Mithraic mysteries and how that intent was realized.{{efn|
[Porphyry's] ''De antro'' 6 is actually the sole explicit testimony from antiquity as to the intent of Mithraism's mysteries and the means by which that intent was realized. Porphyry, moreover, was an intelligent and well-placed theoretician of contemporary religion, with access to predecessors' studies, now lost.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last = Beck | first = Roger
 | title = The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire
 | url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordworldheroi00libg
 | url-access = limited
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | year = 2006
 | location = Oxford, UK
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordworldheroi00libg/page/n31 17]
 | isbn = 978-0-19-814089-4
}}
</ref>
}}
David Ulansey finds it important that Porphyry "confirms ... that astral conceptions played an important role in Mithraism."<ref name=Ulansey-1991-Origins/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 18}}

====Mithras Liturgy====
In later antiquity, the Greek name of Mithras (Μίθρας) occurs in the text known as the "[[Mithras Liturgy]]", a part of the ''[[Greek Magical Papyri|Paris Greek Magical Papyrus]]''<ref>{{cite book |title=Greek Magical Papyrus |place=Paris, FR |publisher=Bibliothèque Nationale |at=Suppl. gr.&nbsp;574}}</ref>
here Mithras is given the epithet "the great god", and is identified with the sun god [[Helios]].{{refn|
The reference is at line&nbsp;482 of the ''Great Magical Papyrus of Paris''.<ref name=Meyer-2006/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 180}} The entire ''Mithras Liturgy'' comprises lines&nbsp;475–834 of the papyrus.
}}<ref>
{{cite book
 |first=Albrecht |last=Dieterich
 |year=1910
 |title=Eine Mithrasliturgie |language=de |edition=2nd
 |place=Leipzig, DE
 |publisher=B.G. Teubner
 |pages=1–2
 |id=ark:/13960/t03x8jd9d
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/einemithraslitur00dietuoft#page/2/mode/2up
}} — Greek source with German translation
</ref>
There have been different views among scholars as to whether this text is an expression of Mithraism as such. [[Franz Cumont]] argued that it isn't;<ref name=Mthrs-Ltrg-2003>
{{cite book
 |title=The "Mithras Liturgy": Text, translation, and commentary
 |place=Tübingen, DE
 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck
 |year=2003
}}
</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 12}}
[[Marvin Meyer]] thinks it is;<ref name=Meyer-2006>
{{cite book
 | last = Meyer | first = Marvin
 | year = 2006
 | title = The Historical Jesus in Context
 | chapter = The Mithras Liturgy
 | editor1 = Levine, A.J.
 | editor2 = Allison, Dale C. Jr.
 | editor3 = Crossan, John Dominic
 | publisher = Princeton University Press
 | location = New Jersey
 | isbn = 0-691-00991-0
}}
</ref>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 180–182}}
while [[Hans Dieter Betz]] sees it as a synthesis of Greek, Egyptian, and Mithraic traditions.<ref name=Mthrs-Ltrg-2003/><ref>
{{cite journal
 |first=Richard |last=Gordon
 |date=March 2005
 |title=Probably not Mithras
 |journal=[[The Classical Review]]
 |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=99–100
|doi=10.1093/clrevj/bni059
 }}
</ref>