Mithraic Grades

The article reopens the problem of Mithraic grades. Even though they were usually seen as initiatory, hierarchically structured and at least theoretically mandatory for all Mithraists in the previous scholarship, this consensus has been recently questioned (Manfred Clauss, Robert Turcan). After careful analysis of old and new evidence, the author of this article comes to conclusion that this attempt to change our understanding of Mithraic grades is largely unwarranted and that they still can be seen as initiatory, universal and an integral part of Mithraic religious ideology.

Sažetak: Mitraizam je jedan od misterijskih kultova čija je popularnost u kasnoantičkom Rimu bila velika, posebno među legionarima. Mitra je bio ratničko, solarno božanstvo, a sakralna vizuelna predstava kulta bila je tauroktonija na kojoj Mitra ubija bika. U misterijama su učestvovali samo muškarci. Postojalo je sedam stupnjeva inicijacije, obeleženih maskama i atributima, a svaki je stajao pod zaštitom određene planete. Od prvih opsežnih istraživanja kulta koje je sproveo belgijski arheolog Franz Cumont (1868-1947), verovalo se da je Mitra preuzet iz persijskog panteona Mazdaizma, nakon čega je u Rimu poprimio minorne nove karakteristike. Međutim, 80ih godina prošlog veka predstavljene su nove teorije, koje pojavu rimske verzije Mitre povezuju sa Hiparhovim astronomskim otkrićem precesije ekvinocija. Precesijom je tačka prolećne ravnodnevice pomerena iz sazvežđa Bika u sazvežđe Ovna, pa je sa stanovišta geocentrične kosmologije izgledalo kao da je neka sila izvršila naginjanje čitave nebeske sfere za nekoliko stepeni. Simbolično "ubistvo" zodijačkog Bika pripisano je Mitri koji se razvio u novu predstavu izvankosmičkog božanstva, moćnog ratnika, nepobedivog drugog Sunca koje upravlja kosmosom. Pojava dva različita solarna božanstva u Mitraizmu, odabir astroloških simbola, kao i leontokefalus-bog ključar koji, obmotan zmijom, stoji na krajnjoj granici neba, daju dosta argumenata u prilog novom tumačenju, koje je prvi izneo američki istoričar religije David Ulansey.

The sacrifice of the sacred bull/calf deep in the underground cave, underlines the dualistic nature of the Mitraic Cult. The sacred bull was in its true nature a fetishist manifestation - phallus, of a multitude-form creator solar deity, a symbol of the sky and heavens, which through this ritual sacrifice ejaculates its seeds (blood) of life. While the underground cave , where Mitra was born from a stone, symbolized the interior (uterus) of the mother earth, which is about to be fertilized by the blood/seed of the celestial bull deep inside her.  The death was the symbolic rebirth in the same time, as the sexual culmination is often compared with the “small death.”
This symbolic sexual “penetration” of the celestial bull/phallus deep into the underground womb of the mother earth, can be deduced also from the unmistakably Phallus-like shape of the Mitraeums, the cave-like shrines of Mitra, where at the end of each the altar represented the ‘glans’ of these penis-shaped structures, and where the “celestial sperm” was spilled in the form of the bull’s blood. Moreover, in the famous Ostia’ Mitraeum in Italy, where was performed the symbolic “ejaculation” of the sacrificial seed  (i.e. bull’s blood and most probably the real ejaculation of the adepts and Paters, which was mixed with the “celestial seed” of the slain bull), there’s a very intuitive and proper inscription in Latin: “FELICISSIMUS EXVOTO” - ‘a maximum felicity from a vow’, with an urn-vessel (a mosaic image on the floor) for the ejection of the spilled blood/semen.
Mitraism was actually the most Chauvinistic and primitive predecessor of the 10th century dualistic movements, Bogomilism/Catharism and later Protestantism...

Roman cult of Mithra has its origin from Indo-Iranian religions. This article examines in detail how it arrived in the west and finally flowed into Christianity. Every major religion has its own passionate controversies and opinions regarding its origin and associated mythology. The author wants to emphasize the intent of this article is not to offend any religious beliefs of the followers but share the historical knowledge of cultural exchanges among various civilizations. The ultimate creator that created all of us, however, we have named him, are the master of the universe and our cosmos. Any religion that produces peaceful coexistence and message of universal brotherhood should enjoy equality and respect of all mankind. The subject of this article is discussed by many scholars for several decades and it may continue in the future, but from the historical point of view, the civilization exchanges had allowed people to practice from polytheisms phase of worshipping to monotheism phase of worshipping. In the ancient world, everyone practiced polytheism of worship involving the natural forces that governed the birth, lives, and death of the ancients.

Buddhism was one of the earliest monotheist faith that was propagated from India beginning in 19th century BCE, after Buddha’s death, the dating is adjusted to reflect the correction of the chronological error in Vikram Savant (Hindu era) and dating mistake created by the colonial historian related to misidentification of contemporary Indian kings. Please see my article at
https://www.academia.edu/40451947/Mahavira_and_Gautama_Buddha_were_not_contemporaries_as_we_thought_Introduction

This article places Roger  Beck’s book The Religion of  the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire (Oxford 2006) into a larger context of  various trends recognizable in the  Mithraic scholarship especially since 1970’s of  the 20th century. The article also  raises theoretical and methodological questions concerning  Beck’s “gateway text  theory” originating from his choice of  porphyry as the only Graeco-Roman source  giving unambiguous information about the cult’s ideology and religious rationale.  The final part of  the article draws attention to more specific problems concerning  the search for external confirmation of  information provided by  porphyry in our archaeological and epigraphical material.

This article presents a translation of the so-called Virunum Album (found near Klagenfurt, Austria), a bronze plaque commemorating two important moments in the life of local Mithraic community and also registering names of its members. This monument, although
not very spectacular at first sight, provides us with some important insights into Mithraic cultic life and its social structure: (a) it seems to support the former views about the impor-tance of solstices in Mithraic eschatology; (b) it raises the possibility that Mithraic grades were transferable from one community to another; (c) it proves (with some degree of certainty) that a Mithraic community, when its members became too numerous, split and a new cell was founded.

This article places Roger Becks book The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire (Oxford 2006) into a larger contexts of various trends recognizable in the Mithraic scholarship especially since 1970s of the 20th century. The article also raises theoretical and methodological questions concerning Becks gateway text theory originating from his choice of Porphyry as the only Graeco-Roman source giving unambiguous information about the cults ideology and religious rationale. The final part of the article draws attention to more specific problems concerning the search for external confirmation of information provided by Porphyry in our archaeological and epigraphical material.

The article re-opens the problem of Mithraic Grades in the light of some new important discoveries. It comes to conclusion that 1)they can still be seen as initiatory and at least theoretically a religious goal of all Mithraists; 2) they were vertically structured and initiation into them imitated a journey of the soul through planetary spheres; 3) they were universal and existed in all (or at least in the majority of) Mithraic communities; 4)they were an integral part of Mithraic ideology and were used from the very beginnings of the cult.

Further, the cognitive processes that mediate the attractiveness of secret communities and forge social cohesion among members of secret groups are explored. It is argued that secrecy was a crucial aspect which would have promoted the formation of close exclusive communities of Mithraists and the development of social cohesion between the cult members.

From the very earliest epochs of mankind, and throughout different cultures of the world, people considered caves as special formations of a sacred landscape. They often were used as shrines, cult places, and for burials. It can be shown that the human fascination of the caves to some extent is substantiated in ancient ideas about the cave as a model of the world.