Editing Mithraism (section)

====Cumont's hypothesis: from Persian state religion====
[[File:Greek - Intaglio of a Mithraic Sacrifice - Walters 421342.jpg|thumb|[[Augustus|Augustan]]-era [[engraved gem|intaglio]] depicting a tauroctony ([[Walters Art Museum]])]]
[[File:Taq-e Bostan - High-relief of Ardeshir II investiture.jpg|thumb|4th-century relief of the investiture of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] king [[Ardashir II]]. [[Mithra]] stands on a [[lotus flower]] on the left holding a [[barsom]].<ref name=iranica>Franz Grenet, 2016. [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mithra-2-iconography-in-iran-and-central-asia "Mithra ii. Iconography in Iran and Central Asia"], ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'', online edition (accessed 19 May 2016).</ref>]]
Scholarship on Mithras begins with [[Franz Cumont]], who published a two volume collection of source texts and images of monuments in French in 1894–1900, ''Textes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra'' [French: ''Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra''].<ref>Cumont, Franz (1894&ndash;1900). ''Textes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra''. Brussels: H. Lamertin.</ref> An English translation of part of this work was published in 1903, with the title ''The Mysteries of Mithra''.<ref>Cumont, Franz (1903). ''The Mysteries of Mithra''. Translated by Thomas J. McCormack. Chicago: Open Court. Accessible online at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/index.htm Internet Sacred Text Archive: The Mysteries of Mithra Index] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006100448/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/index.htm |date=6 October 2017 }} (accessed 13&nbsp;February 2011)</ref> Cumont's hypothesis, as the author summarizes it in the first 32&nbsp;pages of his book, was that the Roman religion was "the Roman form of [[Mazdaism]]",<ref name=Beck-1987/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 298}} the Persian state religion, disseminated from the East. He identified the ancient [[Aryan]] deity who appears in Persian literature as Mithras with the Hindu god [[Mitra (Vedic)|Mitra]] of the Vedic hymns.<ref name="RichardsonHopfe1994-3">{{cite book
 |last1=Hopfe      |first1=Lewis M.
 |last2=Richardson |first2=Henry Neil
 |date=September 1994
 |editor-first=Lewis M. |editor-last=Hopfe
 |chapter=Archaeological indications on the origins of Roman Mithraism
 |title=Uncovering ancient stones: Essays in memory of H. Neil Richardson
 |publisher=Eisenbrauns
 |isbn=978-0-931464-73-7
 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/uncoveringancien0000unse/page/148 148ff]
 |quote=Franz Cumont, one of the greatest students of Mithraism, theorized that the roots of the Roman mystery religion were in ancient Iran. He identified the ancient Aryan deity who appears in Persian literature as Mithras with the Hindu god Mitra of the Vedic hymns.
 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QRfhSBLmAK8C&pg=PA148 |via=Google Books
 |access-date=19 March 2011
 |url=https://archive.org/details/uncoveringancien0000unse/page/148
}}</ref> According to Cumont, the god [[Mithra]] came to Rome "accompanied by a large representation of the Mazdean Pantheon."<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/mom07.htm Cumont, Franz (1903). ''The Mysteries of Mithra''. p.&nbsp;107.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702092009/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/mom07.htm |date=2 July 2017 }} (accessed 13&nbsp;February 2011)</ref> Cumont considers that while the tradition "underwent some modification in the Occident ... the alterations that it suffered were largely superficial."<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/mom07.htm Cumont, Franz (1903). ''The Mysteries of Mithra''. p.&nbsp;104.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702092009/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/mom07.htm |date=2 July 2017 }} (accessed 13&nbsp;February 2011)</ref>