Editing Mithraism (section)

==Rituals and worship==
According to M.J. Vermaseren and C.C. van&nbsp;Essen, the Mithraic New Year and the birthday of Mithras was on 25 December.{{efn|One should bear in mind that the Mithraic New Year began on ''Natalis Invicti'', the birthday of their invincible god, i.e., December&nbsp;25th, when the new light ... appears from the vault of heaven. — Vermaseren & van&nbsp;Essen (1965)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vermaseren |first1=Maarten Jozef |last2=van&nbsp;Essen |first2=Carel Claudius |date=1965 |title=The Excavations in the Mithraeum of the Church of Santa Prisca in Rome |publisher=Brill |page=238 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iskUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA238 |access-date=3 April 2011}}</ref>}}{{efn|
"For a time, coins and other monuments continued to link Christian doctrines with the worship of the Sun, to which Constantine had been addicted previously. But even when this phase came to an end, Roman paganism continued to exert other, permanent influences, great and small. ... The ecclesiastical calendar retains numerous remnants of pre-Christian festivals — notably Christmas, which blends elements including both the feast of the Saturnalia and the birthday of Mithra."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Roman religion |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |edition=online |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/507866/Roman-religion |access-date=4 July 2011 |archive-date=3 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903154737/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/507866/Roman-religion |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}
Beck disagreed strongly.<ref name=Beck-1987>{{cite journal |last=Beck |first= Roger |year=1987 |title=Merkelbach's Mithras |journal=Phoenix |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages= 296–316 |doi=10.2307/1088197 |jstor=1088197}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 299, note 12}}
Clauss states:
: "The Mithraic Mysteries had no public ceremonies of its own. The festival of ''[[Sol Invictus#Festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti|Natalis Invicti]]'', held on 25&nbsp;December, was a general festival of [[Sol Invictus|the Sun]], and by no means specific to the Mysteries of Mithras."<ref>{{cite book |last=Clauss |first=Manfred |year=1990 |title=Mithras: Kult und Mysterien |place=München, DE |publisher=Beck |page=70 |language=de <!-- |quote="...&nbsp;[erwähnenswert wäre dass das Mithras-Kult keine öffentlichen Zeremonien kannte. Das Fest der natalis Invicti, der 25.&nbsp;Dezember, war ein allgemeines Sonnenfest und somit keineswegs auf die Mithras-Mysterien beschränkt. Es gab also im Mithras-Kult nichts vergleichbares zu den großen Feiern und Festlichkeiten anderer Kulte&nbsp;..." -->}}</ref>

Mithraic initiates were required to swear an oath of secrecy and dedication.<ref name=NovaRoma-2009-03-11>
{{cite web
 |title=Mithraism
 |date= 2009-03-11 |df=dmy-all
 |series=Sodalitas Graeciae (Nova Roma) / Religion from the Papyri
 |publisher=Nova Roma
 |url=http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Sodalitas_Graeciae_%28Nova_Roma%29/Religion_from_the_Papyri/Mithraism
 |access-date=2013-09-07 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518044617/http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Sodalitas_Graeciae_%28Nova_Roma%29/Religion_from_the_Papyri/Mithraism
 |archive-date=2013-05-18
}}
</ref>

Mithras was thought to be a "warrior hero" similar to Greek [[hero]]es.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Janson |first1=Horst Woldemar |title=History of Art: The Western Tradition |last2=Janson |first2=Anthony F. |publisher=[[Pearson Education]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-13-182622-0 |editor-last=Touborg |editor-first=Sarah |edition=Revised 6th |volume=1 |location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey |page=220 |author-link=Horst Woldemar Janson |editor-last2=Moore |editor-first2=Julia |editor-last3=Oppenheimer |editor-first3=Margaret |editor-last4=Castro |editor-first4=Anita}}</ref>

===Mithraic catechism===
Apparently, some grade rituals involved the recital of a [[catechism]], wherein the initiate was asked a series of questions pertaining to the initiation symbolism and had to reply with specific answers. An example of such a catechism, apparently pertaining to the Leo grade, was discovered in a fragmentary Egyptian [[papyrus]] (Papyrus Berolinensis 21196),<ref name=NovaRoma-2009-03-11/><ref>{{cite book
 |first=William M.
 |last=Brashear
 |year=1992
 |title=A Mithraic catechism from Egypt: {{nobr|(P. Berol. 21196)}}
 |others=Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz (contributor)
 |series=Supplementband ''Tyche''
 |volume=1
 |publisher=Verlag Adolf Holzhausens
 |isbn=9783900518073
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GonXAAAAMAAJ&q=catechism
 |via=Google Books
 |access-date=6 August 2022
 |archive-date=26 March 2023
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164814/https://books.google.com/books?id=GonXAAAAMAAJ&q=catechism
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref> and reads:
:{|
|
:'''Verso'''
:[...] He will say: 'Where&nbsp;[...]?'
:'[...] is he at a loss there?' Say:&nbsp;'[...]'
:[...] Say: 'Night'. He will say: 'Where&nbsp;[...]?'
:[...] Say: 'All things [...]'
:'[...] are you called?' Say: 'Because of the summery&nbsp;[...]'
:[...] having become [...] he/it has the fiery ones
:'[...] did you receive?' Say: 'In a pit'. He will say: 'Where is your&nbsp;[...]?'
:'[...] [in the] Leonteion.' He will say: 'Will you gird&nbsp;[...]?'
:'[...] death'. He will say: 'Why, having girded yourself,&nbsp;[...]?'
:[...] this [has?] four tassels.
|
:'''Recto'''
:Very sharp and [...]
:[...] much. He will say:&nbsp;'[...]?'
:'[...] of the hot and cold'. He will say:&nbsp;'[...]?'
:'[...] red [...] linen'. He will say: 'Why?' Say:
:[...] red border; the linen, however,&nbsp;[...]
:'[...] has been wrapped?' Say: 'The savior's&nbsp;[...]'
:He will say: 'Who is the father?' Say: 'The one who [begets] everything&nbsp;[...]' 
:[He will say: 'How] did you become a Leo?' Say: 'By the [...] of the father&nbsp;[...]'
:Say: 'Drink and food'. He will say:&nbsp;'[...]?'
:[...] in the seven-[...]
|}
[[File:Strasbourg-Koenigshoffen, Second-Century Mithraic Relief, Reconstruction ca. 140 CE–ca. 160 CE.jpg|thumb|Mithraic relief with original colors (reconstitution), {{circa|140&nbsp;CE–160&nbsp;CE;}} from [[Argentoratum]]. [[Musée archéologique (Strasbourg)|Strasbourg Archaeological Museum]].]]
Almost no Mithraic scripture or first-hand account of its rituals survives;{{efn|name=Clauss-2000-xxi-quote}} with the exception of the aforementioned oath and catechism, and the document known as the [[Mithras Liturgy]], from 4th century Egypt, whose status as a Mithraist text has been questioned by scholars including [[Franz Cumont]].{{efn|
The original editor of the text, Albrecht Dieterich, claimed that it recorded an authentic Mithraic ritual, but this claim was rejected by Cumont, who felt that the references to Mithras in the text were merely the result of an extravagant syncretism evident in magical traditions. Until recently, most scholars followed Cumont in refusing to see any authentic Mithraic doctrine in the Mithras {{nowrap|Liturgy. — D. Ulansey (1991)<ref name=Ulansey-1991-Origins/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 105}}
}}
}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Marvin W. |last= Meyer|title=The "Mithras liturgy" |year=1976 |place=Missoula, MT |publisher=Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature |isbn=0891301135 |url=https://archive.org/details/mithrasliturgy0000unse |url-access=registration}}</ref> The walls of mithraea were commonly whitewashed, and where this survives, it tends to carry extensive repositories of [[graffiti]]; and these, together with inscriptions on Mithraic monuments, form the main source for Mithraic texts.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last= Francis |first= E.D.
 |year=1971
 |article=Mithraic graffiti from Dura-Europos
 |editor= Hinnells, John R.
 |title=Mithraic Studies
 |volume=2 |pages=424–445
 |publisher=Manchester University Press
}}
</ref>

===Feasting===
The archaeology of numerous mithraea indicates that most rituals were associated with feasting &ndash; as eating utensils and food residues are often found. These tend to include both animal bones and also very large quantities of fruit residues.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 115}} The presence of large numbers of cherry-stones in particular would tend to confirm mid-summer (late June, early July) as a season especially associated with Mithraic festivities. The [[Virunum]] ''album'', in the form of an inscribed bronze plaque, records a Mithraic festival of commemoration as taking place on 26&nbsp;June 184. Beck argues that religious celebrations on this date are indicative of special significance being given to the summer [[solstice]]; but this time of the year coincides with ancient recognition of the solar maximum at midsummer, when iconographically identical holidays such as [[Litha]], [[Saint John's Eve]], and [[Jāņi]] are also observed.

For their feasts, Mithraic initiates reclined on stone benches arranged along the longer sides of the mithraeum{{snd}}typically there might be room for 15 to 30&nbsp;diners, but very rarely many more than 40&nbsp;men.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 43}} Counterpart dining rooms, or ''[[triclinium|triclinia]]'', were to be found above ground in the precincts of almost any temple or religious sanctuary in the Roman empire, and such rooms were commonly used for their regular feasts by Roman 'clubs', or ''[[collegia]]''. Mithraic feasts probably performed a very similar function for Mithraists as the ''collegia'' did for those entitled to join them; indeed, since qualification for Roman ''collegia'' tended to be restricted to particular families, localities or traditional trades, Mithraism may have functioned in part as providing clubs for the unclubbed.<ref>{{cite book |last= Burkert |first= Walter |year=1987 |title= Ancient Mystery Cults |publisher= Harvard University Press |isbn=0-674-03387-6 |page=41 }}</ref> The size of the mithraeum is not necessarily an indication of the size of the congregation.<ref name=Bjørnebye-2007/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 12, 36}}

===Altars, iconography, and suspected doctrinal diversity===
Each mithraeum had several [[altar]]s at the further end, underneath the representation of the tauroctony, and also commonly contained considerable numbers of subsidiary altars, both in the main mithraeum chamber and in the ante-chamber or [[narthex]].<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 49}} These altars, which are of the standard Roman pattern, each carry a named dedicatory inscription from a particular initiate, who dedicated the altar to Mithras "in fulfillment of his vow", in gratitude for favours received.

Burned residues of animal entrails are commonly found on the main altars, indicating regular sacrificial use, though mithraea do not commonly appear to have been provided with facilities for ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals (a highly specialised function in Roman religion), and it may be presumed that a mithraeum would have made arrangements for this service to be provided for them in co-operation with the professional ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#victimarius|victimarius]]''<ref name=Price-Kearns-ODCMR>{{cite book |editor1=Price, S. |editor2=Kearns, E. |title=Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 568}} of the civic cult. Prayers were addressed to the Sun three times a day, and Sunday was especially sacred.<ref>{{cite book |author=Tripolitis, Antonía |year=2002 |title=Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-4913-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religionshelleni00trip/page/n65 55] |url=https://archive.org/details/religionshelleni00trip |url-access=limited}}</ref>

It is doubtful whether Mithraism had a monolithic and internally consistent doctrine.{{efn|
"Nevertheless, the fact that Porphyry and / or his sources would have had no scruples about adapting or even inventing Mithraic data to suit their arguments does not necessarily mean that they actually did so. It is far more likely that Mithraic doctrine (in the weak sense of the term!) really was what the philosophers said it was ... there are no insuperable discrepancies between Mithraic practice and theory as attested in Porphyry and Mithraic practice and theory as archaeology has allowed us to recover them. Even if there were major discrepancies, they would matter only in the context of the old model of an internally consistent and monolithic Mithraic doctrine.<ref name=Beck-2006>{{cite book |last=Beck |first=Roger |year=2006 |title=The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire |location=London, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-921613-0 |pages=16, 85–87, 288–289}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 87}}
}}
It may have varied from location to location.<ref name=Beck-2004-InPlcLion/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 16}} The iconography is relatively coherent.<ref name=griffithlecole/> It had no predominant sanctuary or cultic centre; and, although each mithraeum had its own officers and functionaries, there was no central supervisory authority. In some mithraea, such as that at [[Dura Europos]], wall paintings depict prophets carrying scrolls,<ref>{{cite book |editor=Hinnells, John R. |year=1971 |title=Mithraic Studies |volume=2 |publisher=Manchester University Press |at=plate&nbsp;25}}</ref> but no named Mithraic sages are known, nor does any reference give the title of any Mithraic scripture or teaching. It is known that initiates could transfer with their grades from one Mithraeum to another.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 139}}

===Mithraeum===
{{See also|Mithraeum}}

[[File:Ostia Antica Mithraeum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|A [[mithraeum]] found in the ruins of [[Ostia Antica]], [[Italy]].]]

Temples of Mithras are sunk below ground, windowless, and very distinctive. In cities, the basement of an apartment block might be converted; elsewhere they might be excavated and vaulted over, or converted from a natural cave. Mithraic temples are common in the empire; although unevenly distributed, with considerable numbers found in [[Rome]], [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]], [[Numidia]], [[Dalmatia (Roman province)|Dalmatia]], [[Roman Britain|Britain]] and along the Rhine/Danube frontier, while being somewhat less common in [[Roman Greece|Greece]], [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]], and [[Roman Syria|Syria]].<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 26–27}} According to Walter Burkert, the secret character of Mithraic rituals meant that Mithraism could only be practiced within a Mithraeum.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burkert |first=Walter |year=1987 |title=Ancient Mystery Cults |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0-674-03387-6 |page=10}}</ref> Some new finds at [[Tienen]] show evidence of large-scale feasting and suggest that the mystery religion may not have been as secretive as was generally believed.{{efn|
name="jonas-secretive"|
The discovery of a large quantity of tableware as well as animal remains in a pit outside the newly excavated mithraeum at Tienen, Belgium, has also attracted new attention to the topic of Mithraic processions and large-scale feasts, begging a re-examination of the secrecy of the cult and its visibility in local society ... provides evidence for large-scale, semi-public feasts outside of the mithraeum itself, suggesting that each mithraeum might have had a far larger following than its relative size would imply. — Bjørnebye (2007).<ref name=Bjørnebye-2007/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 12, 36}}
}}

For the most part, mithraea tend to be small, externally undistinguished, and cheaply constructed; the cult generally preferring to create a new centre rather than expand an existing one. The mithraeum represented the cave to which Mithras carried and then killed the bull; and where stone vaulting could not be afforded, the effect would be imitated with lath and plaster. They are commonly located close to springs or streams; fresh water appears to have been required for some Mithraic rituals, and a basin is often incorporated into the structure.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 73}} There is usually a [[narthex]] or ante-chamber at the entrance, and often other ancillary rooms for storage and the preparation of food. The extant mithraea present us with actual physical remains of the architectural structures of the sacred spaces of the Mithraic cult. ''Mithraeum'' is a modern coinage and mithraists referred to their sacred structures as ''speleum'' or ''antrum'' (cave), ''crypta'' (underground hallway or corridor), ''fanum'' (sacred or holy place), or even ''templum'' (a temple or a sacred space).{{efn|The extant mithraea present us with actual physical remains of the architectural structures of the sacred spaces of the Mithraic cult. While the Mithraists themselves never used the word mithraeum as far as we know, but preferred words like speleum or antrum (cave), crypta (underground hallway or corridor), fanum (sacred or holy place), or even templum (a temple or a sacred space), the word mithraeum is the common appellation in Mithraic scholarship and is used throughout this study. — Bjørnebye (2007).<ref name=Bjørnebye-2007/>{{rp|at=chapter: The mithraea as buildings}} }}

In their basic form, mithraea were entirely different from the temples and shrines of other cults. In the standard pattern of Roman religious precincts, the temple building functioned as a house for the god, who was intended to be able to view, through the opened doors and columnar portico, sacrificial worship being offered on an altar set in an open courtyard – potentially accessible not only to initiates of the cult, but also to ''colitores'' or non-initiated worshippers.<ref name=Price-Kearns-ODCMR/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 493}} Mithraea were the antithesis of this.<ref name=Price-Kearns-ODCMR/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 355}}

===Degrees of initiation===
In the ''[[Suda]]'' under the entry ''Mithras'', it states that "No one was permitted to be initiated into them (the mysteries of Mithras), until he should show himself holy and steadfast by undergoing several graduated tests."{{refn|
The ''[[Suda]]'' reference given is 3:&nbsp;394, M&nbsp;1045 (Adler).<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 102}} }} [[Gregory Nazianzen]] refers to the "tests in the mysteries of Mithras".{{refn|The Gregory reference given is to ''Oratio'' 4.70<sub>&nbsp;</sub>.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 102}}
}}

There were seven grades of initiation into Mithraism, which are listed by St.&nbsp;Jerome.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jerome |author-link=Saint Jerome |title=Letters |volume=107 |chapter=''To Laeta'', ch.&nbsp;2 |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/lette107.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007132224/http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/lette107.htm |archive-date=2008-10-07}}</ref> Manfred Clauss states that the number of grades, seven, must be connected to the planets. A mosaic in the Mithraeum of Felicissimus,<!--article [[Felicissimus]] is the wrong man --> [[Ostia Antica]] depicts these grades, with symbolic emblems that are connected either to the grades or are symbols of the planets. The grades also have an inscription beside them commending each grade into the protection of the different planetary gods.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|pp=132–133}} In ascending order of importance, the initiatory grades were:<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 133–138}}
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|- style="vertical-align:bottom;"
! {{small|Grade}}
! Name
! Symbols
! Planet&nbsp;or<br/> tutelary<br/>deity
! [[Ostia Antica]]<br/>{{small|Felicissimus'&nbsp;mithraeum}}<br/>symbol mosaic
|-
| {{center| 1{{sup|st}} }}
| ''[[Common raven|Corax]], Corux,<br/>or Corvex''<br/>(raven or crow)
| [[Common raven|Raven]], [[beaker (archaeology)|beaker]], ''[[caduceus]]''
| [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]
| [[File:36.11-1 Mosaic 1st degree.tif|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 2{{sup|nd}} }}
| ''Nymphus,<br/>Nymphobus''<br/>([[bridegroom]])
| [[Oil lamp|Lamp]], [[hand bell]],<br/>[[veil]], [[circlet]] or [[diadem (personal wear)|diadem]]
| [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]]
| [[File:36.11-2 Mosaic 2nd degree.tif|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 3{{sup|rd}} }}
| ''[[Roman military personal equipment#Overview of infantry|Miles]]''<br/>(soldier)
| [[Loculus (satchel)|Pouch]], [[coolus helmet|helmet]], [[pilum|lance]],<br/>drum, belt, [[breastplate]]
| [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]]
| [[File:36.11-3 Mosaic 3rd degree.tif|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 4{{sup|th}} }}
| ''[[Lion|Leo]]''<br/>([[lion]])
| ''[[Batillum]]'', ''[[sistrum]]'',<br/>[[laurel wreath]], [[thunderbolt]]
| [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]
| [[File:4th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 5{{sup|th}} }}
| ''[[Perses (son of Perseus)|Perses]]''<br/>([[Persia]]n)
| [[Harpe|Hooked sword]], [[Phrygian cap]], [[sickle]],<br/> [[lunar phase|lunar crescent]], [[star]]s, [[sling (weapon)|sling]], pouch
| [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]]
| [[File:5th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 6{{sup|th}} }}
| ''[[Phaethon|Heliodromus]]''<br/>([[Missing sun motif|sun-runner]])
| [[Torch]], images of [[Helios]],<br/>[[radiate crown]], [[scourge|whip]], [[toga|robes]]
| [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]]
| [[File:6th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|150px|center]]
|-
| {{center| 7{{sup|th}} }}
| ''[[Patriarch|Pater]]''<br/>([[hierophant|father]])
| ''[[Patera]]'', [[mitre]], shepherd's staff,<br/>garnet or ruby ring,<br/>[[chasuble]] or [[cape]],<br/>elaborate jewel-encrusted robes<br/>with metallic threads
| [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]]
| [[File:7th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|thumb|150px|center]]
|}
<!-- moved into table ---
<gallery>
File:4th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|Spade, sistrum, lightning bolt
File:5th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|Sword, crescent moon, star, sickle
File:6th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|Torch, crown, whip
File:7th panel Mitreo di Felicissimus Ostia Antica 2006-09-08.jpg|Patera, rod, Phrygian cap, sickle
</gallery>
-->
Elsewhere, as at [[Dura-Europos]], Mithraic graffiti survive giving membership lists, in which initiates of a mithraeum are named with their Mithraic grades. At Virunum, the membership list or ''album sacratorum'' was maintained as an inscribed plaque, updated year by year as new members were initiated. By cross-referencing these lists it is possible to track some initiates from one mithraeum to another; and also speculatively to identify Mithraic initiates with persons on other contemporary lists such as military service rolls and lists of devotees of non-Mithraic religious sanctuaries. Names of initiates are also found in the dedication inscriptions of altars and other cult objects.

Clauss noted in 1990 that overall, only about 14% of Mithraic names inscribed before 250&nbsp;CE identify the initiate's grade – and hence questioned the traditional view that all initiates belonged to one of the seven grades.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Clauss |first=Manfred |year=1990 |title=Die sieben Grade des Mithras-Kultes |language=de |trans-title=The seven grades of the Mithras cult |journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik |volume=82 |pages=183–194}}</ref> Clauss argues that the grades represented a distinct class of priests, ''sacerdotes''. Gordon maintains the former theory of Merkelbach and others, especially noting such examples as Dura where all names are associated with a Mithraic grade. Some scholars maintain that practice may have differed over time, or from one Mithraeum to another.

The highest grade, ''pater'', is by far the most common one found on dedications and inscriptions &ndash; and it would appear not to have been unusual for a mithraeum to have several men with this grade. The form ''pater patrum'' (father of fathers) is often found, which appears to indicate the ''pater'' with primary status. There are several examples of persons, commonly those of higher social status, joining a mithraeum with the status ''pater'' – especially in Rome during the [[Julian the Apostate#Restoration of state paganism|'pagan revival']] of the 4th&nbsp;century. It has been suggested that some mithraea may have awarded honorary ''pater'' status to sympathetic dignitaries.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Griffith |first=Alison |title=Mithraism in the private and public lives of 4th-c. senators in Rome |journal=Electronic Journal of Mithraic Studies |url=http://www.uhu.es/ejms/Papers/Volume1Papers/ABGMS.DOC |access-date=2010-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100928222225/http://www.uhu.es/ejms/Papers/Volume1Papers/ABGMS.DOC |archive-date=2010-09-28 }}</ref>

The initiate into each grade appears to have been required to undertake a specific ordeal or test,<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 103}} involving exposure to heat, cold or threatened peril. An 'ordeal pit', dating to the early 3rd&nbsp;century, has been identified in the mithraeum at [[Carrawburgh]]. Accounts of the cruelty of the emperor [[Commodus]] describes his amusing himself by enacting Mithraic initiation ordeals in homicidal form. By the later 3rd&nbsp;century, the enacted trials appear to have been abated in rigor, as 'ordeal pits' were floored over.

Admission into the community was completed with a handshake with the ''pater'', just as Mithras and Sol shook hands. The initiates were thus referred to as ''syndexioi'' (those united by the handshake). The term is used in an inscription by Proficentius{{efn|
name="claussonhandshake"|
"That the hand-shaken might make their vows joyfully forever". — Clauss (2000).<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 42}}
}}
and derided by [[Firmicus Maternus]] in ''De errore profanarum religionum'',{{refn|
... "the followers of Mithras were the 'initiates of the theft of the bull, united by the handshake of the illustrious father'." (''Err. prof. relig.''&nbsp;5.2)<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 105}}
}}
a 4th&nbsp;century Christian work attacking paganism.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Patrick J. |editor-last=Healy |year=1909 |title=Firmicus Maternus |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |place=New York, NY |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06080a.htm |via=newadvent.org |access-date=8 April 2011 |archive-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702064031/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06080a.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In ancient Iran, taking the right hand was the traditional way of concluding a treaty or signifying some solemn understanding between two parties.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Burkert |first=Walter
 |year=1987
 |title=Ancient mystery cults
 |page=16
 |publisher=Harvard University Press
 |isbn=978-0-674-03387-0
 |quote=Taking the right hand is the old Iranian form of a promise of allegiance,&nbsp;...
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCvlvqCXF8UC&pg=PA16
 |access-date=4 November 2011
}}</ref>

===Ritual re-enactments===
[[File:Bible museum - Mithrasheiligtum.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of a mithraeum with a mosaic depicting the grades of initiation]]
Activities of the most prominent deities in Mithraic scenes, Sol and Mithras, were imitated in rituals by the two most senior officers in the cult's hierarchy, the ''Pater'' and the ''Heliodromus''.<ref name=Beck-2004-InPlcLion/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 288–289}} The initiates held a sacramental banquet, replicating the feast of Mithras and Sol.<ref name=Beck-2004-InPlcLion/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 288–289}}

Reliefs on a cup found in [[Mainz]]<ref name=Beck-2000>{{cite journal |last=Beck |first=Roger |year=2000 |title=Ritual, myth, doctrine, and initiation in the Mysteries of Mithras: New evidence from a cult vessel |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |issue=90 |pages=145–180 |doi=10.2307/300205 |volume=90 |jstor=300205 |s2cid=161475387 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Merkelbach |first=Reinhold |year=1995 |title=Das Mainzer Mithrasgefäß |language=de |trans-title=The Mithras vessel from Mainz |journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik |issue=108 |pages=1–6 |url=http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1995/108pdf/108001.pdf |access-date=17 October 2008 |archive-date=18 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718201632/http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1995/108pdf/108001.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> appear to depict a Mithraic initiation. On the cup, the initiate is depicted as being led into a location where a ''Pater'' would be seated in the guise of Mithras with a drawn bow. Accompanying the initiate is a [[mystagogue]], who explains the symbolism and theology to the initiate. The Rite is thought to re-enact what has come to be called the 'Water Miracle', in which Mithras fires a bolt into a rock, and from the rock now spouts water.

Roger Beck has hypothesized a third processional Mithraic ritual, based on the Mainz cup and Porphyrys. This scene, called 'Procession of the Sun-Runner', shows the ''Heliodromus'' escorted by two figures representing Cautes and Cautopates (see below) and preceded by an initiate of the grade ''Miles'' leading a ritual enactment of the solar journey around the mithraeum, which was intended to represent the cosmos.<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Luther H. |year=2004 |section=Ritual competence and Mithraic ritual |editor-last=Wilson |editor-first=Brian C. |title=Religion as a Human Capacity: A festschrift in honor of E.&nbsp;Thomas Lawson |publisher=BRILL |page=257}}</ref>

Consequently, it has been argued that most Mithraic rituals involved a re-enactment by the initiates of episodes in the Mithras narrative,<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 62–101}} a narrative whose main elements were: birth from the rock, striking water from stone with an arrow shot, the killing of the bull, Sol's submission to Mithras, Mithras and Sol feasting on the bull, the ascent of Mithras to heaven in a chariot. A noticeable feature of this narrative (and of its regular depiction in surviving sets of relief carvings) is the absence of female personages (the sole exception being [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]] watching the 
tauroctony in the upper corner opposite [[Helios]], and the presumable presence of [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]]  as patroness of the ''nymphus'' grade).<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 33}}

===Membership===
[[File:Mithraic Low Relief - Setif, Algeria.png|thumb|Another dedication to Mithras by legionaries of [[Legio II Herculia]] has been excavated at Sitifis (modern [[Setif]] in [[Algeria]]), so the unit or a subunit must have been transferred at least once.]]

Only male names appear in surviving inscribed membership lists. Historians including Cumont and Richard Gordon have concluded that the cult was for men only.{{efn|
Whilst the majority of the Oriental cults accorded to women a considerable role in their churches, and sometimes even a preponderating one, finding in them ardent supporters of the faith, Mithra forbade their participation in his Mysteries and so deprived himself of the incalculable assistance of these propagandists. The rude discipline of the order did not permit them to take the degrees in the sacred cohorts, and, as among the Mazdeans of the Orient, they occupied only a secondary place in the society of the faithful. Among the hundreds of inscriptions that have come down to us, not one mentions either a priestess, a woman initiate, or even a donatress.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cumont |first=Franz |author-link=Franz Cumont |year=1903 |title=The Mysteries of Mithras |page=173 |url=https://archive.org/stream/mysteriesofmythr00cumouoft#page/n193/mode/2up |access-date=6 July 2011}}</ref>
}}{{efn|
... Moreover, not a single woman is listed: The repeated attempts to show that women might belong to the cult are wishful thinking (Piccottini, 1994).<ref>cited in {{cite encyclopedia |author = Gordon, Richard |year = 2005 |title = Mithraism |editor = Jones, Lindsay |encyclopedia = Encyclopedia Of Religion |edition = 2nd |publisher = Thomas Gale, Macmillan Reference USA |volume = 9 |page = 6090}}</ref>
}}

The ancient scholar [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] refers to female initiates in Mithraic rites.{{efn|
Porphyry moreover seems to be the only writer who makes reference to women initiates into the service and rites of Mithra, and his allusion is perhaps due to a misunderstanding.... The participation of women in the ritual was not unknown in the Eastern cults, but the predominant military influence in Mithraism seems to render it unlikely in this instance.<ref name=Geden-1925-2004>
{{cite book
 |author=Geden, A.S.
 |date=15 October 2004  |orig-year=1925
 |title=Select Passages Illustrating Mithraism
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4sQkWdh-7oC&pg=PA51
 |access-date=28 March 2011
 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing
 |isbn=978-1-4179-8229-5
 |page=51ff
}}
</ref>}}
The early 20th-century historian A.S. Geden wrote that this may be due to a misunderstanding.<ref name=Geden-1925-2004/> According to Geden, while the participation of women in the ritual was not unknown in the Eastern cults, the predominant military influence in Mithraism makes it unlikely in this instance.<ref name=Geden-1925-2004/> It has recently been suggested by David Jonathan that "Women were involved with Mithraic groups in at least some locations of the empire."<ref name=David_2000>{{cite journal |last=David |first=Jonathan |year=2000 |title=The Exclusion of women in the Mithraic Mysteries: Ancient or modern? |journal=Numen |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=121–141 |doi=10.1163/156852700511469}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 121}}

Soldiers were strongly represented amongst Mithraists, and also merchants, customs officials and minor bureaucrats. Few, if any, initiates came from leading aristocratic or senatorial families until the 'pagan revival' of the mid-4th century; but there were always considerable numbers of freedmen and slaves.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 39}}

===Ethics===
Clauss suggests that a statement by Porphyry, that people initiated into the Lion grade must keep their hands pure from everything that brings pain and harm and is impure, means that moral demands were made upon members of congregations.{{efn|
"Justin's charge does at least make clear that Mithraic commandments did exist."<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 144–145}}}}

A passage in the ''Caesares'' of [[Julian (emperor)|Julian the Apostate]] refers to "commandments of Mithras".{{efn|
Hermes addresses Julian:
: "As for you ... I have granted you to know Mithras the Father. Keep his commandments, thus securing for yourself an anchor-cable and safe mooring all through your life, and, when you must leave the world, having every confidence that the god who guides you will be kindly disposed." — Clauss (2000).<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 144}} citing ''Caesares'' (336c in the translation of W.C. Wright).
}}
[[Tertullian]], in his treatise "On the Military Crown" records that Mithraists in the army were officially excused from wearing celebratory coronets on the basis of the Mithraic initiation ritual that included refusing a proffered crown, because "their only crown was Mithras".<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Tertullian]] |title=De Corona Militis |at=15.3}}</ref>