Editing Mithraism (section)

====Modern theories====
[[File:Musei Vaticani - Mithra - Sol invictus 01136.JPG|thumb|upright=1.25|Bas-relief depicting the tauroctony. Mithras is depicted looking to Sol Invictus as he slays the bull. Sol and Luna appear at the top of the relief.]]

Beck theorizes that the cult was created in Rome, by a single founder who had some knowledge of both Greek and Oriental religion, but suggests that some of the ideas used may have passed through the Hellenistic kingdoms. He observes that "Mithras &ndash; moreover, a Mithras who was identified with the Greek Sun god [[Helios]]" was among the gods of the syncretic Greco-Armenian-Iranian royal cult at [[Mount Nemrut|Nemrut]], founded by [[Antiochus I Theos of Commagene|Antiochus&nbsp;I]] of [[Commagene]] in the mid 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="Beck_2002">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Beck|first=Roger|year=2002|title=Mithraism|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mithraism|access-date=2007-10-28|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|location=Costa Mesa|publisher=Mazda Pub|quote=Mithras &ndash; moreover, a Mithras who was identified with the Greek Sun god Helios &ndash; was one of the deities of the syncretic Graeco-Iranian royal cult founded by Antiochus&nbsp;I ([[Antiochus I|q.v.]]), king of the small but prosperous buffer state of Commagene ([[Commagene|q.v.]]) in the mid 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE.|archive-date=20 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520055846/http://iranicaonline.org/articles/mithraism|url-status=live}}</ref> While proposing the theory, Beck says that his scenario may be regarded as Cumontian in two ways. Firstly, because it looks again at Anatolia and Anatolians, and more importantly, because it hews back to the methodology first used by Cumont.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://azargoshnasp.net/Din/mysteriesofmithra.pdf | title = The mysteries of Mithras: A new account of their genesis | access-date = 2011-03-23 | last = Beck | first = Roger  | quote = ...&nbsp;It may properly be called a 'Cumontian scenario' for two reasons: First, because it looks again to Anatolia and Anatolians; Secondly, and more importantly, because it hews to the methodological line first set by Cumont.}}</ref>

Merkelbach suggests that its mysteries were essentially created by a particular person or persons<ref>Beck, R., 2002: "Discontinuity's weaker form of argument postulates re-invention among and for the denizens of the Roman empire (or certain sections thereof), but re-invention by a person or persons of some familiarity with Iranian religion in a form current on its western margins in the first century CE. Merkelbach (1984: pp.&nbsp;75&ndash;77), expanding on a suggestion of M. P. Nilsson, proposes such a founder from eastern [[Anatolia]], working in court circles in Rome. So does Beck (1998), with special focus on the dynasty of Commagene (see above). Jakobs 1999 proposes a similar scenario."</ref> and created in a specific place, the city of Rome, by someone from an eastern province or border state who knew the [[Persian mythology|Iranian myths]] in detail, which he wove into his new grades of initiation; but that he must have been Greek and Greek-speaking because he incorporated elements of Greek [[Platonism]] into it. The myths, he suggests, were probably created in the milieu of the imperial bureaucracy, and for its members.<ref>Reinhold Merkelbach, ''Mithras'', Konigstein, 1984, ch.&nbsp;75–77</ref> Clauss tends to agree. Beck calls this "the most likely scenario" and states "Until now, Mithraism has generally been treated as if it somehow evolved [[Uncle Tom's Cabin#Other characters|Topsy]]-like from its Iranian precursor – a most implausible scenario once it is stated explicitly."<ref name=Beck-1987/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 304, 306}}
[[File:Rituale Mitraico nel mitraeo di Sutri - Pietas Comunità Gentile.jpg|thumb|Mitraic ritual in the Mithraeum of Sutri, officiated by Giuseppe Barbera, [[Pontifex maximus|Pontefix Maximus]] of the [[Reconstructionist Roman religion|Roman religious]] organisation [[Pietas Comunità Gentile]]]]
Archaeologist Lewis M. Hopfe notes that there are only three mithraea in [[Roman Syria]], in contrast to further west. He writes: "Archaeology indicates that Roman Mithraism had its epicenter in Rome ... the fully developed religion known as Mithraism seems to have begun in Rome and been carried to Syria by soldiers and merchants."{{efn|"Beyond these three Mithraea [in Syria and Palestine], there are only a handful of objects from Syria that may be identified with Mithraism. Archaeological evidence of Mithraism in Syria is therefore in marked contrast to the abundance of Mithraea and materials that have been located in the rest of the Roman Empire. Both the frequency and the quality of Mithraic materials is greater in the rest of the empire. Even on the western frontier in [[Great Britain|Britain]], archaeology has produced rich Mithraic materials, such as those found at Walbrook.<small><br/></small>
<big> &nbsp; &nbsp; </big>If one accepts Cumont's theory that Mithraism began in Iran, moved west through [[Babylon]] to [[Asia Minor]], and then to Rome, one would expect that the cult left its traces in those locations. Instead, archaeology indicates that Roman Mithraism had its epicenter in Rome. Wherever its ultimate place of origin may have been, the fully developed religion known as Mithraism seems to have begun in Rome and been carried to Syria by soldiers and merchants. None of the Mithraic materials or temples in Roman Syria except the Commagene sculpture bears any date earlier than the late first or early second century. [''footnote in cited text:''&nbsp;30. Mithras, identified with a Phrygian cap and the nimbus about his head, is depicted in colossal statuary erected by King Antiochus&nbsp;I of Commagene, 69&ndash;34&nbsp;BCE. (see Vermaseren, [[Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae|CIMRM]]<ref name=CIMRM-1960/> 1.53–56). There are no other literary or archaeological evidences to indicate that the religion of Mithras as it was known among the Romans in the second to fourth centuries&nbsp;AD was practiced in Commagene]. While little can be proved from silence, it seems that the relative lack of archaeological evidence from Roman Syria would argue against the traditional theories for the origins of Mithraism."<ref name="hopfe-5">{{cite book |first=Lewis M. |last=Hopfe |year=1994 |chapter=Archaeological indications on the origins of Roman Mithraism |editor-first=Lewis M. |editor-last=Hopfe |title=Uncovering Ancient Stones: Essays in memory of H. Neil Richardson |pages=147–158, 156 |publisher=Eisenbrauns}}</ref>}}

Taking a different view from other modern scholars, Ulansey argues that the Mithraic mysteries began in the Greco-Roman world as a religious response to the discovery by the Greek astronomer [[Hipparchus]] of the astronomical phenomenon of the [[precession of the equinoxes]] &ndash; a discovery that amounted to discovering that the entire cosmos was moving in a hitherto unknown way. This new cosmic motion, he suggests, was seen by the founders of Mithraism as indicating the existence of a powerful new god capable of shifting the cosmic spheres and thereby controlling the universe.<ref name=Ulansey-1991-Origins/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 77 ff}}

[[Adrian David Hugh Bivar|A. D. H. Bivar]], L. A. Campbell, and G. Widengren have variously argued that Roman Mithraism represents a continuation of some form of Iranian Mithra worship.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mithraism | title = Mithraism | access-date = 2011-05-16 | last = Beck | first = Roger | date = 2002-07-20 | publisher = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition | quote = The time has come to review the principal scholarship which has argued for transmission and continuity based on the postulated similarities ... three argue for continuity in the strongest terms. A.D.H.&nbsp;Bivar (1998, and earlier studies mentioned there) argues that western Mithraism was but one of several manifestations of Mithra-worship current in antiquity across a wide swathe of Asia and Europe. L.A.&nbsp;Campbell (1968) argues in the Cumontian tradition ... extraordinarily detailed and learned form of Zoroastrian Mazdaism. A continuity as thoroughgoing, though not quite so systematic ideologically, was proposed in several studies by G. Widengren (1965: pp.&nbsp;222&ndash;232; 1966; 1980). | archive-date = 20 May 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200520055846/http://iranicaonline.org/articles/mithraism | url-status = live }}</ref> More recently, [[Parvaneh Pourshariati]] has made similar claims.<ref>{{cite conference |last=Pourshariati |first=Parvaneh |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lI67iiAds4 |title=The Literary Holy Grail of Mithraic Studies, East and West: The Parthian Epic of Samak-e ʿAyyar |type=video |conference=9th European Conference of Iranian Studies |location=Berlin |date=September 2019 |access-date=5 February 2021 |archive-date=31 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131181050/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lI67iiAds4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to Antonia Tripolitis, Roman Mithraism originated in [[Vedic India]] and picked up many features of the cultures which it encountered in its westward journey.{{efn|
It originated in Vedic, India, migrated to Persia by way of Babylon, and then westward through the Hellenized East, and finally across the length and breadth of the Hellenistic-Roman world. On its westward journey, it incorporated many of the features of the cultures in which it found itself.<ref>{{cite book |first=Antonía |last=Tripolitis |year=2002 |title=Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age |publisher=Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4913-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/religionshelleni00trip |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/religionshelleni00trip/page/n13 3] }}</ref>
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[[File:Sol Invictus staue in Milan Archeology Museum IMG 4874 1.JPG|thumb|upright|Sol Invictus from the [[Archaeological Museum of Milan]] (Museo archeologico)]]