Editing Mithraism (section)

===Lion-headed figure===
{{anchor|Lion_headed_figure}}
{{main|Arimanius}}
[[File:Leontocephaline at Ostia Antica by Franz Cumont.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Drawing of the leontocephaline found at a mithraeum in [[Ostia Antica]], Italy (190&nbsp;CE; [[Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae|CIMRM]]<ref name=CIMRM-1960/>&nbsp;312)]]
[[File:Siria, sculture del mitreo di sidon, 389 dc, krono mitriaco con testa leonina e spire del tempo (serpente).JPG|thumb|upright|Lion-headed figure from the [[Sidon Mithraeum]] (500&nbsp;CE; [[Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae|CIMRM]]<ref name=CIMRM-1960/>&nbsp;78 & 79; [[Louvre]])]]

One of the most characteristic and poorly-understood features of the Mysteries is the naked lion-headed figure often found in Mithraic temples, named by the modern scholars with descriptive terms such as ''leontocephaline'' (lion-headed) or ''leontocephalus'' (lion-head).

His body is a naked man's, entwined by a serpent (or two serpents, like a [[caduceus]]), with the snake's head often resting on the lion's head. The lion's mouth is often open. He is usually represented as having four wings, two keys (sometimes a single key), and a sceptre in his hand. Sometimes the figure is standing on a globe inscribed with a diagonal cross. On the figure from the Ostia Antica Mithraeum (left, [[Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae|CIMRM]]<ref name=CIMRM-1960/>&nbsp;312), the four wings carry the symbols of the four seasons, and a thunderbolt is engraved on his chest. At the base of the statue are the hammer and tongs of [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]] and [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury's]] [[rooster|cock]] and wand ([[caduceus]]). A rare variation of the same figure is also found with a human head and a lion's head emerging from its chest.<ref name="von_Gall">{{cite book |author=von Gall, Hubertus |year=1978 |contribution=The lion-headed and the human-headed god in the Mithraic mysteries |editor-link=Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin |editor=Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques |title=Études mithriaques |page=511}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Cumont, Franz |title=The Mysteries of Mithras |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/mom07.htm |page=105 |access-date=13 February 2011 |archive-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702092009/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/mom/mom07.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although animal-headed figures are prevalent in contemporary Egyptian and Gnostic mythological representations, no exact parallel to the Mithraic leontocephaline figure has been found.<ref name=von_Gall/>

Based on dedicatory inscriptions for altars, the name of the figure is conjectured to be ''[[Arimanius]]'', a Latinized form of the name ''[[Ahriman]]''{{efn|
Note, however, that no inscription naming Arimanius has been found engraved on a lion-headed figure. All of the dedications to the name Arimanius are inscribed on altars without figures.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
}}
– perplexingly, a demonic figure in the Zoroastrian pantheon. Arimanius is known from inscriptions to have been a god in the Mithraic cult as seen, for example, in images from the ''[[Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae]]'' (CIMRM<ref name=CIMRM-1960/>) such as CIMRM<ref name=CIMRM-1960/>&nbsp;222 from [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]], CIMRM&nbsp;369 from Rome, and CIMRM<ref name=CIMRM-1960/>&nbsp;1773 and 1775 from [[Pannonia]].<ref name=Jackson>{{cite journal |author=Jackson, Howard M. |date=July 1985 |title=The meaning and function of the leontocephaline in Roman Mithraism |journal=[[Numen (journal)|Numen]] |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=17–45 |doi=10.1163/156852785X00148 |s2cid=144419653 }}</ref>

Some scholars identify the lion-man as [[Aion (deity)|Aion]], or [[Zurvan]], or [[Cronus]], or [[Chronos]], while others assert that it is a version of the Zoroastrian [[Ahriman]] or the more benign Vedic [[Aryaman]].{{efn|name=Barnett-1975-lion-man-note|
According to some, the lion man is [[Aion (deity)|Aion]] ([[Zurvan]], or [[Cronus|Kronos]]); according to others, [[Ahriman]].<ref name=Barnett-1975/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 467 ff}}
}}
Although the exact identity of the lion-headed figure is debated by scholars, it is largely agreed that the god is associated with time and seasonal change.<ref name=Beck-2004-Zoroastrianism/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 94}}
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