Editing Mitra (section)

==Mithra in Commagene==
[[File:Mithra&Antiochus.jpg|upright|thumb|Mithras-Helios, in Phrygian cap with solar rays, with 1st century BC [[Antiochus I Theos of Commagene]], found at [[Mount Nemrut]], in present-day eastern Turkey]]

There is a deity Mithra mentioned on monuments in [[Commagene]].  According to the archaeologist Maarten Vermaseren, 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC evidence from Commagene demonstrates the "reverence paid to Mithras" but does not refer to "the mysteries".{{efn|
Other early evidence of the first decades B.C. refers only to the reverence paid to Mithras without mentioning the mysteries: Examples which may be quoted are the tomb inscriptions of King Antiochus&nbsp;I of Commagene at Nemrud Dagh, and of his father Mithridates at Arsameia on the Orontes. Both the kings had erected on vast terraces a number of colossal statues seated on thrones to the honour of their ancestral gods. At Nemrud we find in their midst King Antiochus (69–34&nbsp;BC and in the inscription Mithras is mentioned&nbsp;...<ref name=Vermaseren-1963-p29/>
}}<ref name=Vermaseren-1963-p29>
{{cite book
 |last=Vermaseren |first=M.J.
 |year=1963
 |title=Mithras: The secret god
 |location=London, UK
 |publisher=Chatto and Windus
 |page=29
}}
</ref>

In the colossal statuary erected by King [[Antiochus I of Commagene|Antiochus&nbsp;I]] (69–34&nbsp;BC) at [[Mount Nemrut]], Mithras is shown beardless, wearing a [[Phrygian cap]],<ref name="hopfe-5">
{{cite book
 |first=Lewis M. |last=Hopfe
 |year=1994
 |section=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
 |publisher=Eisenbrauns
 |pages=147–158, esp.&nbsp;156
}}
</ref><ref name="CIMRM 29">
{{cite book
 |editor-last=Vermaseren |editor-first=Maarten Jozef
 |year=1956
 |title=Corpus inscriptionum et monumentorum religionis mithriacae
 |location=The Hague
 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff
 |at=CIMRM&nbsp;29
 |quote=Head of a beardless Mithras in Phrygian cap, point of which is missing.
}}
</ref>
and was originally seated on a throne alongside other deities and the king himself.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Vermaseren |first=Maarten Jozef
 |year=1956
 |title=Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
 |location=The Hague
 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff
 |at=CIMRM&nbsp;28
 |quote=The gods are represented in a sitting position on a throne and are: Apollo-Mithras (see below); Tyche-Commagene; Zeus-Ahura-Mazda; Antiochus himself and finally Ares-Artagnes.
}}
</ref>
On the back of the thrones there is an inscription in Greek, which includes the name Apollo-Mithras-Helios in the genitive case ({{math|Ἀπόλλωνος Μίθρου Ἡλίου}}).<ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Vermaseren |first=Maarten Jozef
 |year=1956
 |title=Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
 |location=The Hague
 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff
 |at=CIMRM&nbsp;32, verse&nbsp;55
}}
</ref>

Vermaseren also reports about a Mithras cult in [[Fayum]] in the 3rd&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC.{{efn|
According to Vermaseren, there was a Mithras cult in the [[Fayum]] in the third century BC, and according to Pettazzoni the figure of Aion has its iconographic origin in Egypt.<ref name=Barnett-1975-p467ff/>
}}<ref name=Barnett-1975-p467ff>
{{cite conference
 |last=Barnett |first=R.D.
 |year=1975
 |editor-last=Hinnells |editor-first=John R. 
 |book-title=Mithraic Studies  
 |conference=First International Congress of Mithraic Studies
 |volume=II  |page=467&nbsp;ff
 |place=Manchester, UK
 |publisher=Manchester University Press ND
}}
</ref>
R.D. Barnett has argued that the royal seal of King Saussatar of Mitanni from {{circa|1450&nbsp;BC}} depicts a tauroctonous Mithras.{{efn|
I ... see these figures, or some of them, in the impression of the remarkable royal seal of King Saussatar of Mitanni ({{circa|1450&nbsp;BC}} great-great-grandfather of Kurtiwaza): The only royal Mitannian seal that we possess. ... Mithra ''tauroctonos'' – characteristically kneeling on the bull to despatch it. We can even see also the dog and snake ... below him are twin figures, one marked by a star, each fighting lions ... below a winged disc between lions and ravens, stands a winged, human-headed lion,&nbsp;...<ref name=Barnett-1975-pp467–468/>
}}<ref name=Barnett-1975-pp467–468>
{{cite conference
 |last=Barnett |first=R.D.
 |year=1975
 |editor-last=Hinnells |editor-first=John R. 
 |book-title=Mithraic Studies  
 |conference=First International Congress of Mithraic Studies
 |volume=II  |pages=467–468
 |place=Manchester, UK
 |publisher=Manchester University Press ND
}}
</ref>