Mithras: literary references

This page makes no pretence to be a work of scholarship. However I find that many wild stories about Mithras circulate online. This page is intended to provide some raw data to allow any discussion to at least be based on some facts. Note that passages discussing the Persian god Mithra or Mitra are not included. I have tried to link to complete English translations online where possible. I have started from Clauss' bibliography and attempted to verify it, and also included material found in the ANF. Ancient Passages which refer to Mithras Acts of Archelaus The Acts of Archelaus record the beginnings of Manichaeism. Clauss: Acta Archelai, p.98 Beeson. (Clauss pp. 165 & n.174). See also Jerome, Comm. in. Am. Specifies that 'Meithras' name when spelt in Greek letters adds up to 365 -- the days of the year (I cannot find this in the Acta). [Addressing Mani:] Barbarian priest and crafty coadjutor of Mithras, you will only be a worshipper of the sun-god Mithras, who is the illuminator of places of mystic import, as you opine, and the self-conscious deity; " that is, you will sport as his worshippers do, and you will celebrate, though with less elegance as it were, his mysteries. (c. 36) Ambrosiaster Clauss: 'Ambrosiaster', Quaestiones veteris et novi testamenti 113.11 (PL 34:2214). Clauss pp. 103, 133, 135, 169: in spelaeo velatis oculis illudunter -- they are deceived in the cave when they have their eyes blindfolded. Alii autem ligatis manibus intestinis pullinis proiiciuntur super foveas aqua plenas, accedente quodam cum gladio et inrumpente intestina supra dicta qui se liberatorem appellet. i.e. that the initiands hands were tied with chicken's guts, which were then cut through by a man calling himself his "liberator" Alii autem sicut aves alas percutiunt vocem coracis imitantes, alii vero leonum more fremunt ... ecce quantis modis turpitur inluduntur qui se sapientes appellant -- some of them flap their wings like birds, imitating the croak of the raven, while others actually roar like lions ... how disgustingly deluded these people are, who call themselves "wise". What travesty is it then that they enact in the cave with veiled faces? for they cover their eyes lest their deeds of shame should revolt them. Some like birds flap their wings imitating the raven's cry; others roar like lions; others bind their hands with the entrails of fowls and fling themselves down over pits full of water, and then another whom they call the Liberator approaches with a sword and severs the above-mentioned bonds. Other rites there are which are yet more dishonourable. What shameful mockeries for men who call themselves wise. But because these things are concealed in the darkness they think that they can remain unknown yet all these, the secret devise and contrivance of foul and maligmant demons, have been dragged to the light and unveiled by the holy Christian faith. For when the faith is preached the hearers of the excellent and sacred truth thus proclaimed have been converted, and have abandoned those dishonourable and secret rites, confessing that in their ignorance they have been misled. (DyingGod website) Augustine Saint Augustine Tractatus in Joh. Evang. VII, 6. (Pileatus = a god wearing a phrygian cap; either Attis or Mithras). Some counterfeit therefore the spirit which I speak has set up, as though he would fain redeem by blood his own image, since he knew that by precious blood the human race was redeemed. For evil spirits invent for themselves certain counterfeit representations of high degree, that by this means they may deceive the followers of Christ. To such an extent, my brethren, that these very foes of ours, who delude by their posturing and incantations and devices, mingle with their incantations the name of Christ. And because with poison alone they are unable to lead the Christians astray, they add a little honey, to conceal the bitter taste by the sweet, that the fatal draught may be taken; to such an extent that as I understand at one time the priest of that mitred god [Mithras] was accustomed to say, "the mitred god himself also was a Christian." (DyingGod website) And this is a great thing to see in the whole world, the lion vanquished by the blood of the Lamb: members of Christ delivered from the teeth of the lions, and joined to the body of Christ. Therefore some spirit or other contrived the

counterfeit that His image should be bought for blood, because he knew that the human race was at some time to be redeemed by the precious blood. For evil spirits counterfeit certain shadows of honor to themselves, that they may deceive those who follow Christ. So much so, my brethren, that those who seduce by means of amulets, by incantations, by the devices of the enemy, mingle the name of Christ with their incantations: because they are not now able to seduce Christians, so as to give them poison they add some honey, that by means of the sweet the bitter may be concealed, and be drunk to ruin. So much so, that I know that the priest of that Pilleatus was sometimes in the habit of saying, Pilleatus himself also is a Christian. Why so, brethren, unless that they were not able otherwise to seduce Christians? (ANF) Celsus Clauss: Celsus, ap. Origen, contra Celsum 6.22, p.17 Chapter XXII. After this, Celsus, desiring to exhibit his learning in his treatise against us, quotes also certain Persian mysteries, where he says: "These things are obscurely hinted at in the accounts of the Persians, and especially in the mysteries of Mithras, which are celebrated amongst them. For in the latter there is a representation of the two heavenly revolutions,----of the movement, viz., of the fixed stars, and of that which take place among the planets, and of the passage of the soul through these. The representation is of the following nature: There is a ladder with lofty gates, and on the top of it an eighth gate. The first gate consists of lead, the second of tin, the third of copper, the fourth of iron, the fifth of a mixture of metals, the sixth of silver, and the seventh of gold. The first gate they assign to Saturn, indicating by the 'lead' the slowness of this star; the second to Venus, comparing her to the splendour and softness of tin; the third to Jupiter, being firm and solid; the fourth to Mercury, for both Mercury and iron are fit to endure all things, and are money-making and laborious; the fifth to Mars, because, being composed of a mixture of metals, it is varied and unequal; the sixth, of silver, to the Moon; the seventh, of gold, to the Sun,----thus imitating the different colours of the two latter." He next proceeds to examine the reason of the stars being arranged in this order, which is symbolized by the names of the rest of matter. Musical reasons, moreover, are added or quoted by the Persian theology; and to these, again, he strives to add a second explanation, connected also with musical considerations. But it seems to me, that to quote the language of Celsus upon these matters would be absurd, and similar to what he himself has done, when, in his accusations against Christians and Jews, he quoted, most inappropriately, not only the words of Plato; but, dissatisfied even with these, he adduced in addition the mysteries of the Persian Mithras, and the explanation of them. Now, whatever be the case with regard to these,----whether the Persians and those who conduct the mysteries of Mithras give false or true accounts regarding them,----why did he select these for quotation, rather than some of the other mysteries, with the explanation of them? For the mysteries of Mithras do not appear to be more famous among the Greeks than those of Eleusis, or than those in Aegina, where individuals are initiated in the rites of Hecate. But if he must introduce barbarian mysteries with their explanation, why not rather those of the Egyptians, which are highly regarded by many, or those of the Cappadocians regarding the Comanian Diana, or those of the Thracians, or even those of the Romans themselves, who initiate the noblest members of their senate? But if he deemed it inappropriate to institute a comparison with any of these, because they furnished no aid in the way of accusing Jews or Christians, why did it not also appear to him inappropriate to adduce the instance of the mysteries of Mithras? (Origen, ANF4) Pseudo-Clement Clementine Homily VI.10. [The pagan Apion defends pagan myth:] "And I must ask you to think of all such stories as embodying some such allegory. Look on Apollo as the wandering Sun (Peri-Poln), a son of Zeus, who was also called Mithras, as completing the period of a year. And these said transformations of the all-pervading Zeus must be regarded as the numerous changes of the seasons, while his numberless wives you must understand to be years, or generations. For the power which proceeds from the aether and passes through the air unites with all the years and generations in turn, and continually varies them, and so produces or destroys the crops. And ripe fruits are called his children, the barrenness of some seasons being referred to unlawful unions." (ANF) Commodian Acrostic poems against various pagan cults. Clauss: Commodianus, Instructiones. 1.13, (pp. 62 n.77, 78 n.92) XIII. -The Unconquered One.

The unconquered one was born from a rock, if he is regarded as a god. Now tell us, then, on the other hand, which is the first of these two. The rock has overcome the god: then the creator of the rock has to be sought after. Moreover, you still depict him also as a thief; although, if he were a god, he certainly did not live by theft. Assuredly he was of earth, and of a monstrous nature. And he turned other people's oxen into his caves; just as did Cacus, that son of Vulcan. (ANF4). Invictus de petra natus si deus habentur Nunc ego reticeo; vos de istis date priorem! Vicit petra deum, quaerendus est petrae creator. Insuper et furem adhuc depingitis esse, Cum, si deus esset, utique non furto vivebat. Terrenus utique fuit et monstruosa natura, Vertebatque boves alienos semper in antris Sicut et Cacus Vulcani filius ille If indeed a god, Invictus was rock-born; Now which came first? Here rock has Vanquished god: for who created it? If a god, by theft he could not live; yet Cattle-thief is the name he goes by. Terraneous he was born, a monster; Vulcan's son he's like, old Cacus who Stole another's beasts, hid them in a cave. (Clauss) Cosmas of Jerusalem An eighth century commentary on poems by Gregory Nazianzen. Clauss: Cosmas of Jerusalem (Cosmas Melodus), Scholia in Greg. Naz. Carm. (Migne, PG 38: 506), 102 For example, first the initiands were made to starve for fifty days; then, if they endured steadfastly, they were abraded for two days, and afterwards thrown into snow for twenty. (Clauss) The disciplinary grades of Mithras are reported to be eighty in number, through which the candidate for initiation must pass in succession. In addition to those already described there is immersion in water for many days, passing through fire, solitude and fasting in the wilderness, and numerous others until the end of the eighty disciplines is reached. And they do not allow participation in the rites of Mithras to anyone who has not passed through all the grades and approved himself pure and self-controlled. (Dyinggod website) Dionysius the Areopagite Clauss: 'Dionysius the Areopagite', Epist. 7 (p. 96). Section 2: But you say, the Sophist Apollophanes rails at me, and calls me parricide, as using, not piously, the writings of Greeks against the Greeks. ... How then does he not worship Him, known to us even from this, and verily being God of the whole, admiring Him for His all causative and super-inexpressible power, when sun and moon together with the universe, by a power and stability most supernatural, were fixed by them to entire immobility and, for a measure of a whole day, all the constellations stood in the same places [Josh. 10:12-14; Ecclus. 46:4; Isaiah 28:21], or (which is greater than even this), if when the whole and the greater and embracing were thus carried along, those embraced did not follow in their course; and when a certain other day was almost tripled in duration, even in twenty whole hours, either the universe retraced contrary routes for so long a time, and (was) turned back by the thus very most supernatural backward revolutions; or the sun, in its own course, having contracted its five-fold motion in ten hours, retrogressively again retraced it in the other ten hours, by traversing a sort of new route. This thing indeed naturally astounded even Babylonians, and, without battle, brought them into subjection to Hezekiah, as though he were a somebody equal to God, and superior to ordinary men. And, by no means do I allege the great works in Egypt, or certain other Divine portents, which took place elsewhere, but the well-known and celestial ones, which were renowned in every place and by all persons [Isaiah 39:1; 4 Kings 20:9-12; 2 Chron. 32:31]. But Apollophanes is ever saying that these things are not true. At any rate then, this is reported by the Persian sacerdotal legends, and to this day, Magi celebrate the memorials of the threefold Mithras. But let him disbelieve these things, by reason of his ignorance or his inexperience. Epictetus, Diss. 3.13.1-3, 105

Firmicus Maternus Clauss: Firmicus Maternus, Err. profanis religionis. 5.2 (44, 105) 19.1 (134) 20.1 (62 n.77) (Errors of the Pagan Religions) The Persians and all the Magi who inhabit the borderlands of Persia reverence the fire, and give to it the primary place among all the elements. These then regard the fire as possessed of a double energy, assigning its character, to each sex, and expounding the essential substance of the fire under the figure of a man and woman. The woman they represent with three faces and girded with huge snakes... while in the worship of the hero who drove off the bulls they transfer his rites to the cult of the fire, as his poet has recorded for us when he wrote: Mystic priest of the captured bulls, skilful son of a noble sire. To him they give the name Mithras, and celebrate his rites in secret caves, that shrouded in the dim obscurity of the darkness they may shun the touch of the pure and glorious light. Truly an ill-omened exaltation of a deity! a hateful recognition of a barbarian rite! to deify one whose criminal acts your confess. When you affirm therefore that in the temples the Magian rites are duly performed after the Persian ceremonial, why do you confine your approval to these Persian rites alone? If you think it not derogatory to the Roman name to adopt Persian cults and Persian laws. [...] The pass-word of a second mystery cult of foreign origin is the "god from the rock." Why do you shame your profession by transferring this sacred and revered name to the heathen rites? Different indeed is the Stone which God in confirmation of his pledged word promissed to send to Jerusalem. Under the figure of the sacred stone the Christ is represented to us. Why this deceitful and dishonourable transference of a revered name to unclean superstitions?... As for the stone of their idolatrous worship of which they use the title "God from the rock" what prophetic utterance has told thereof? To whom has that stone brought healing and mercy? (4.2: Dyinggod website) They say (this god) is Mithras, but they perform his initiations in caves that are hidden away, so that, plunged perpetually into the pitchy murk of night, they may shun the grace of the bright and glorious light. (5.2) [Mithraists are] initiates of the theft of the bull, united by the handshake of the illustrious father. (5.2) (Ritual greeting:) "Hail Nymphus, hail New Light" (19.1) qeo_j e0k pe&traj -- a god from the rock (20.1) Gregory Nazianzen Clauss: Gregory of Nazianzen, Oratio. 4.70 (102) First Invective against Julian. Refers to 'tests in the mysteries of Mithras'. 70. All these marvels thou dost not respect, but dost contemn, thou that admirest the funeral pyre of Hercules, the result of his misfortunes and evil doings for women's sake: and that butchery of Pelops for the sake of hospitality, or of piety, in consequence whereof the descendants of Pelops were marked by their shoulders and the piece of ivory; and the castrations of Phrygians, who are fascinated by means of the pipe, and are abused after the piping; and those in the rites of King Mithras, the well-deserved or mystical brandings; and the sacrifice of strangers at Tauri, and the sacrifice of the royal maid before the expedition to Troy; and the blood of Menaeceas shed for Thebes, and that of the daughters of Scedasus for Leuctra; and the Laconian youths lacerated with scourges, and their blood upon the altar so delightful to the pure and virgin goddess; thou that extollest the hemlock of Socrates, and the leg of Epictetus, and the death of Anaxarchus---persons whose philosophy was more the result of compulsion than of choice; and the leap of Cleombrotus the Ambraciote, brought about by the treatise on souls; and Pythagoras' prohibition concerning beans, and Theano's contempt of death, and that of I know not how many of those initiated into her own rites, or following the same philosophy. Oration 39 -- On the Holy Lights (Ad Sancta Lumina), ch.5: V. And where will you place the butchery of Pelops, which feasted hungry gods, that bitter and inhuman hospitality? Where the horrible and dark spectres of Hecate, and the underground puerilities and sorceries of Trophonius, or the babblings of the Dodonaean Oak, or the trickeries of the Delphian tripod, or the prophetic draught of Castalia, which could prophesy anything, except their own being brought to silence? Nor is it the sacrificial art of Magi, and their entrail forebodings, nor the Chaldaean astronomy and horoscopes, comparing our lives with the movements of the heavenly bodies, which cannot know even what they are themselves, or shall be. Nor are these Thracian orgies, from which the

word Worship (qrhskei/a) is said to be derived; nor rites and mysteries of Orpheus, whom the Greeks admired so much for his wisdom that they devised for him a lyre which draws all things by its music. Nor the tortures of Mithras which it is just that those who can endure to be initiated into such things should suffer; nor the manglings of Osiris, another calamity honoured by the Egyptians; nor the ill-fortunes of Isis and the goats more venerable than the Mendesians, and the stall of Apis, the calf that luxuriated in the folly of the Memphites, nor all those honours with which they outrage the Nile, while themselves proclaiming it in song to be the Giver of fruits and corn, and the measurer of happiness by its cubits. (ANF) Jerome Clauss: Jerome, Comm. in Am. 1.3.9-10 (CCL 76: 250), 165 (Commentary on Amos). Notes on the name 'Meithras' adding up to 365, the days of the year. iuxta computationem Graecarum litterarum Meithras anni numerum habet. Basilides gives to the omnipotent god the uncouth name of Abraxas, and asserts that according to the Greek letters and the number of the cycle of the year this is comprehended in the Sun's orbit. The name Mithras, which the Gentiles use, gives the same sum with different letters. (Dyinggod website, given as 5: 9-10) Clauss: Epistle 107.2 (pp. 131, 134, 170) ... did not your own kinsman Gracchus whose name betokens his patrician origin, when a few years back he held the prefecture of the City, overthrow, break in pieces, and shake to pieces the grotto of Mithras and all the dreadful images therein? Those I mean by which the worshippers were initiated as Raven, Bridegroom, Soldier, Lion, Perseus, Sun, Crab, and Father? Did he not, I repeat, destroy these and then, sending them before him as hostages, obtain for himself Christian baptism? (ANF) Against Jovinian, book 1. c. 7: As then he who touches fire is instantly burned, so by the mere touch the peculiar nature of man and woman is perceived, and the difference of sex is understood, Heathen fables relate how Mithras and Ericthonius were begotten of the soil, in stone or earth, by raging lust. Hence it was that our Joseph, because the Egyptian woman wished to touch him, fled from her hands, and, as if he had been bitten by a mad dog and feared the spreading poison, threw away the cloak which she had touched. (ANF) Against Jovinian, book 2. c.14 14. Josephus in the second book of the history of the Jewish captivity, and in the eighteenth book of the Antiquities, and the two treatises against Apion, describes three sects of the Jews, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. On the last of these he bestows wondrous praise because they practised perpetual abstinence from wives, wine, and flesh, and made a second nature of their daily fast. Philo, too, a man of great learning, published a treatise of his own on their mode of life. Neanthes of Cizycus, and Asclepiades of Cyprus, at the time when Pygmalion ruled over the East, relate that the eating of flesh was unknown. Eubulus, also, who wrote the history of Mithras in many volumes, relates that among the Persians there are three kinds of Magi, the first of whom, those of greatest learning and eloquence, take no food except meal and vegetables. At Eleusis it is customary to abstain from fowls and fish and certain fruits. (ANF) Julian the Apostate Clauss: Julian, Caesares. 336c (p.144). Words addressed by Hermes to 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. (Tr. W.C.Wright. Clauss p.144). Justin Martyr Clauss: Justin Martyr, 1 Apology. 66 (108) For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, "This do ye in remembrance of Me, this is My body; "and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, "This is My blood; "and gave it to them alone. Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same thing to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn. (ANF)

Clauss: Dialogue with Trypho. 70 (62 n.77, 144-5) 70. And when those who record the mysteries of Mithras say that he was begotten of a rock, and call the place where those who believe in him are initiated a cave, do I not perceive here that the utterance of Daniel, that a stone without hands was cut out of a great mountain, has been imitated by them, and that they have attempted likewise to imitate the whole of Isaiah's words? For they contrived that the words of righteousness be quoted also by them. But I must repeat to you the words of Isaiah referred to, in order that from them you may know that these things are so. They are these: `Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; those that are near shall know my might. The sinners in Zion are removed; trembling shall seize the impious. Who shall announce to you the everlasting place? The man who walks in righteousness, speaks in the right way, hates sin and unrighteousness, and keeps his hands pure from bribes, stops the ears from hearing the unjust judgment of blood closes the eyes from seeing unrighteousness: he shall dwell in the lofty cave of the strong rock. Bread shall be given to him, and his water [shall be] sure. Ye shall see the King with glory, and your eyes shall look far off. Your soul shall pursue diligently the fear of the Lord. Where is the scribe? where are the counsellors? where is he that numbers those who are nourished,-the small and great people? with whom they did not take counsel, nor knew the depth of the voices, so that they heard not. The people who are become depreciated, and there is no understanding in him who hears.' Now it is evident, that in this prophecy [allusion is made] to the bread which our Christ gave us to eat, in remembrance of His being made flesh for the sake of His believers, for whom also He suffered; and to the cup which He gave us to drink, in remembrance of His own blood, with giving of thanks. And this prophecy proves that we shall behold this very King with glory; and the very terms of the prophecy declare loudly, that the people foreknown to believe in Him were foreknown to pursue diligently the fear of the Lord. Moreover, these Scriptures are equally explicit in saying, that those who are reputed to know the writings of the Scriptures, and who hear the prophecies, have no understanding. And when I hear, Trypho," said I, "that Perseus was begotten of a virgin, I understand that the deceiving serpent counterfeited also this. (ANF) Lactantius Placidus Clauss: Lactantius Placidus , Comm. in Stat. Theb. 1.719-20, (p.88-9 Sweeney), 84. A fifth century grammarian comments on the passage in Statius (q.v.). Whether it please thee to hear the name of ruddy Titan after the manner of the Achaemenian race, or Osiris lord of the crops, or Mithras as beneath rocks of the Persian cave he presses back the horns that resist his control. a) He [Statius] declares that different nations give to Apollo different names. The Achaemenians call him Titan, the Egyptian Osiris, the Persians Mithra and worship him in a cave. The expression "resist his control" has reference to the figure of Mithra holding back the horns of a recalcitrant bull, whereby is indicated the Sun's illumination of the Moon, when the latter receives its rays. b) The Egyptians regard Osiris as the Sun, by whom they think success may be assured to the crops... These rites were first observed by the Persians, from whom the Phrygians received them, and from the Phrygians the Romans. The Persians give to the Sun the native name of Mithra, as Hostanes [Ostanes] relates. c) The Persians are known as Achaemenians from Achaemenes, son of Perseus and Andromeda, who ruled there. They call the Sun Apollo, and are said to have initiated the rites in his honour. d) The Persians are said to have been the first to worship the Sun in caverns. For he is represented in a cavern in Persian dress with a turban, grasping the horns of a bull with both hands. The figure is interpreted of the Moon; for reluctant to follow his brother he meets him full and his light is obscured. In these verses the mysteries of the rites of the Sun are set forth. For in proof that the Moon is inferior and of less power the Sun is seated on the bull and grasps its horns. By which words Statius intended the two-horned moon to be understood, not the animal on which he rides. e) The meaning is as follows: The Persians worship the Sun in caverns, and this Sun is in their own language known as Mithra, who as suffering eclipse is worshipped within a cave. The Sun himself moreover is represented with the face of a lion with turban and in Persian dress, with both hands grasping the horns of an ox. And this figure is interpreted of the Moon, which reluctant to follow its brother meets him full and obscures his light. He has revealed further a part of the mysteries. The Sun therefore presses down the bull as though to show that the Moon is inferior. He has laid especial stress moreover on the horns, in order that attention may be more clearly called to the Moon, and not to the animal on which she is represented as riding. Since however this is not the place to discuss the mysteries of those gods on the lines of an abstract philosophy, I will add a few words with regard to the symbols employed. The Sun is supreme, and because he treads down and controls the chief constellation, that is to say the Lion, he is himself represented with this face; or the reason may be that he surpasses the rest of the gods in power and energy, as the lion other wild beasts, or because of its impetuosity. The Moon however being nearer to the bull controls and leads it, and is represented as a cow. But these gods

of divine and royal estate as they appear in the world are without mortal form either of a man or beast, having neither beginning nor end nor an intermediate part as other and lesser deities, as he himself declares above: "next comes the crowd of the wandering demigods." For that is necessitated by the attribute of eternity. f) He gives to the rocks of a Persian cavern the name of temple of Perseus in virtue of the representation there of Phoebus as drawing to himself the Moon the latter goes in advance of the Sun, and in so doing gradually loses her own light, until she ceases entirely to shine. Approaching the Sun however at length she renews her light, and then follows the Sun. Moreover at the full, being now nearest to the Sun, she is said to be grasped by him. (Dyinggod website) (Mithras) grips the bull's horns with his two hands. The interpretation of this concerns Luna... In these lines (the poet) reveals the secrets of the mysteries of the Sun. For the Sun(-god) sits on the bull and twists his horns, so as to teach Luna by dint of his strength that she is not so great as he, and inferior. (Clauss). John the Lydian Clauss: Lydus, De mensibus (On Months) 3.26, 62 n.77 -- to_n petrogenh~ Mi/qran. (the rock-born Mithras). Pseudo-Nonnus An pseudonymous early 6th century author of a commentary on Gregory of Nazianzen's first four orations. Clauss: 'Nonnus', Comm. in Greg. Nazian. Or. 4. 70 (Migne, PG 36: 989). (C., p.102) The comments are dismissed by Clauss as likely to be imaginary. Mithras therefore the Persians consider to be the Sun, do sacrifice to him, and observe certain rites in his honour. No one can participate in his service without passing first through the grades of discipline. These grades are eighty in number, with descent and ascent, for the tests applied are first of an easier character, then more difficult; and thus after passing through all the grades the disciple arrives at perfection. The successive disciplinary tests are by fire, by cold, by hunger and thirst, by prolonged exertion, and in a word by similar trials of all kinds. ... Mithras is considered by the Persians to be the Sun. And to him they offer many sacrifices, and observe certain rites in his honour. No one can be initiated into the rites of Mithras without passing through all the disciplines and giving proof of self-control and chastity. Eighty grades are enumerated through which the postulant must pass in succession; for example, plunging first into deep water for many days, then throwing himself into fire, then solitary fasting in a desert place, and others also until as stated above has passed through the eighty. Then finally if he survives he receives the highest initiation, or if he has succumbed an (honourable) sepulchre. ... Different views are held with regard to Mithras. Some identify him with the Sun, others with the guardian of the fire, otehrs with a specific force, and certain rites are observed in his honour, especially among the Chaldeans. The aspirants to initiation pass through a series of disciplinary grades, undergoing first the easier forms of penance, then the more difficult. For example fasting is first imposed upon the neophytes for a period of about fifty days. If this is successfully endured, for two days they are exposed to extreme heat, then again plunged into snow for twenty days. And thus the severity of the discipline is gradually increased, and if the postulant shows himself capable of endurance he is finally admitted to the highest grades. Nonnus of Panopolis Clauss: Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 21.248-9 (70 n.84) 36.345-7 (p. 83 - Nonus describes the moon 'as an untamed bull'). Turn if thou will they steps to the near country of the Medes; thither go and adress the chorus bands of Dionysus. I will show thee the land of Bactria, where divine Mithra had his birth, the Assyrian lord of light in Persis. For Deriades [the Indian King] never learnt to know the race of the blessed gods of heaven, nor does honour to the Sun or Zeus or the chorus band of the bright stars... I take no heed of the blessed offspring of Zeus; for the twain Earth and Water alone have become my gods. (21. Dyinggod website). With revelry he approached the home of Astrochiton [Heracles] and the leader of the stars, and in mystic tones uttered his invocation: Herakles star-adorned, king of fire, ruler of the universe, thou Sun, who with thy far-flung rays art the guardian of mortal life, with flashing beam revolving the wide circuit of thy course... Belus thou art named on the Euphrates, Ammon in Libya, Apis of the Nile art thou by birth, Arabian Kronos, Assyrian Zeus... but whether thou art Sarapis, or the cloudless Zeus of Egpyt, or Kronos, or Phaethon, or many titled Mithras, Sun of Babylon, or in Greece

Apollo of Delphi, or Wedlock, whom Love begat in the shadowy land of dreams... whether thou art known as Paieon, the healer of pain, or Aether with its varied garb, or star-bespangled Night - for the starry robes of night illuminate the heaven - lend a propitious ear to my prayer. (40. Dyinggod website) Pan. Lat. 3[11].23.5-6 Mynors, 170 The Paris Magical Codex (the 'Mithras liturgy') Clauss: PGM IV.475-829, 106-8 [Online at http://www.hermetic.com/pgm/mithras-liturgy.html] Plutarch Clauss: Vita Pompei (Life of Pompey) 24.5, 632cd (4) There were of these corsairs above one thousand sail, and they had taken no less than four hundred cities, committing sacrilege upon the temples of the gods, and enriching themselves with the spoils of many never violated before, such as were those of Claros, Didyma, and Samothrace; and the temple of the Earth in Hermione, and that of Aesculapius in Epidaurus, those of Neptune at the Isthmus, at Taenarus, and at Calauria; those of Apollo at Actium and Leucas, and those of Juno in Samos, at Argos, and at Lacinium. They themselves offered strange sacrifices upon Mount Olympus, and performed certain secret rites or religious mysteries, among which those of Mithras have been preserved to our own time having received their previous institution from them. (Dryden) Pseudo-Plutarch Clauss: [Plutarch], De fluviis 2.3.4 (62 ) Clauss says that the story is that Mithras spilled his seed onto a rock, and the stone gave birth to a son, named Diorphos, who, worsted and killed in a duel by Ares, was turned into the mountain of the same name not far from the Armenian river Araxes. Porphyry Clauss: Porphyry, Abst. 4.16.3 (136 ) The Cave of Nymphs Clauss: Porphyry, De Antro Nympharum (The Cave of Nymphs) 15 (135, 136, 144) de Antr. nymph. 18 ( 82) de Antr. nymph. 24 ( 76) de Antr. nymph. 6 ( 42, 51, 68) Hence through the dark union of matter, the world is obscure and dark, but from the presence and supervening ornaments of form (from which it derives its name) it is beautiful and pleasant. The world therefore may with great propriety be called a cave; agreeable indeed, at its first entrance, on account of its participation of form, but involved in the deepest obscurity to the intellectual eye which endeavours to discern its dark foundation. So that its exterior and superficial parts are pleasant, but its interior and profound parts obscure: and its very bottom is darkness itself. After the same manner the Persians, mystically signifying the descent of the soul into an inferior nature and its ascent into the intelligible world, initiate the priest or mystic in a place which they denominate a cave. For according to Eubulus, Zoroaster first of all among the neighbouring mountains of Persia, consecrated a natural cave, florid and watered with fountains, in honour of Mithras the father of all things: a cave in the opinion of Zoroaster bearing a resemblance of the world fabricated by Mithras. But the things contained in the cavern, being disposed by certain intervals, according to symmetry and order, were symbols of the elements and climates of the world. ... (De Antro. 6) For water promotes generation. The poet, therefore, very properly represents the bees as depositing their honey in bowls and urns: since bowls signify fountains; and on this account a bowl or cup is placed next to Mithras instead of a fountain. ... But let us now return to the cave and consider its double entrance. The most ancient of mankind then, before temples were raised to divinity, consecrated caves and dens to the gods. Hence the Curetes in Crete dedicated a cave to Jupiter; in Arcadia a cave was sacred to the Moon, in Lyceum to Pan, and in the island Naxus to Bacchus. The worship of Mithras too, wherever this god was known was performed in caves.... On this account the doors of the Homeric cavern are not dedicated to the east and west, nor to the equinoctial signs, Aries

and Libra, but to the north and south, and particularly to those ports or celestial signs which are the nearest of all to these quarters of the world: and this because the present cave is sacred to souls, and to nymphs the divinities of waters. But these places are particularly adapted either to souls descending into generation, or to such as are separating from it. On this account they assigned a place congruous to Mithras, near the equinoctial; and hence he bears the sword of Aries, because this animal is martial, and is the sign of Mars: he is likewise carried in the Bull, the sign of Venus; because the Bull as well as Venus is the ruler of generation. But Mithras is placed near the equinoctial circle, comprehending the northern parts on his right, and the southern on his left hand.... (Taylor) (De Antro. 24). So in the Lion mysteries, when honey is poured instead of water for purification on the hands of the initiates, they are exhorted to keep them pure from everything distressing, harmful and loathsome; and since he is an initiate of fire, which has a cathartic effect, the use on him a liquid related to fire, rejecting water as inimical to it. They use honey as well to purify the tongue from all guilt. (De. Antro. 15. Tr. Arethusa). The moon is also known as a bull, and Taurus is its "exaltation". (De Antro. 18. Tr. Arethusa). P.Oxy. 15 Clauss: P.Oxy. 15: 1802, l.82 (p. 129). Mithras is described as 'the Persian Prometheus'. Socrates Ecclesiastical History III, 2. 2. It is now proper to mention what took place in the churches under the same [emperor]. A great disturbance occurred at Alexandria in consequence of the following circumstance. There was a place in that city which had long been abandoned to neglect and filth, wherein the pagans had formerly celebrated their mysteries, and sacrificed human beings to Mithra. This being empty and otherwise useless, Constantius had granted to the church of the Alexandrians; and George wishing to erect a church on the site of it, gave directions that the place should be cleansed. In the process of clearing it, an adytum of vast depth was discovered which unveiled the nature of their heathenish rites: for there were found there the skulls of many persons of all ages, who were said to have been immolated for the purpose of divination by the inspection of entrails, when the pagans performed these and such like magic arts whereby they enchanted the souls of men. The Christians on discovering these abominations in the adytum of the Mithreum, went forth eagerly to expose them to the view and execration of all; and therefore carried the skulls throughout the city, in a kind of triumphal procession, for the inspection of the people. When the pagans of Alexandria beheld this, unable to bear the insulting character of the act, they became so exasperated, that they assailed the Christians with whatever weapon chanced to come to hand, in their fury destroying numbers of them in a variety of ways: some they killed with the sword, others with clubs and stones; some they strangled with ropes, others they crucified, purposely inflicting this last kind of death in contempt of the cross of Christ: most of them they wounded; and as it generally happens in such a case, neither friends nor relatives were spared, but friends, brothers, parents, and children imbrued their hands in each other's blood. Wherefore the Christians ceased from cleansing the Mithreum: the pagans meanwhile having dragged George out of the church, fastened him to a camel, and when they had torn him to pieces, they burnt him together with the camel. Sozomen Ecclesiastical History V.7. A calamity had also taken place at a spot called Mithrium; it was originally a desert, and Constantius had bestowed it on the church of Alexandria. While George was clearing the ground, in order to erect a house of prayer, an adytum was discovered. In it were found idols and certain instruments for initiation or perfection which seemed ludicrous and strange to the beholders. The Christians caused them to be publicly exhibited, and made a procession in order to nettle the pagans; but the pagans gathered a multitude together, and rushed upon and attacked the Christians, after arming themselves with swords, stones, and whatever weapon came first to hand. They slew many of the Christians, and, in derision of their religion, crucified others, and they left many wounded. This led to the abandonment of the work that had been commenced by the Christians, while the pagans murdered George as soon as they had heard of the accession of Julian to the empire. This fact is admitted by that emperor himself, which he would not have confessed unless he had been forced by the truth; for he would rather, I think, have had the Christians, whoever they were, than the pagans to be the murderers of George; but it could not be concealed. Statius

Clauss: Statius, Thebaid 1.719-20 (22, 42, 84, 156 ) (Mithras) 'twists the unruly horns beneath the rocks of a Persian cave' (Clauss) Persei sub rupibus antri Indignata sequi torquentem cornua Mithram. (Cumont, p.37) Suidas Clauss: Suda, s.v. Mithres, M 1045 (3: 394 Adler), 102 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. (from the entry 'Mithras' -- from Clauss). Tertullian Clauss: Adversus Marcionem 1.13.4 (135) The very superstition of the crowd, inspired by the common idolatry, when ashamed of the names and fables of their ancient dead borne by their idols, has recourse to the interpretation of natural objects, and so with much ingenuity cloaks its own disgrace, figuratively reducing Jupiter to a heated substance, and Juno to an arial one (according to the literal sense of the Greek words); Vesta, in like manner, to fire, and the Muses to waters, and the Great Mother to the earth, mowed as to its crops, ploughed up with lusty arms, and watered with baths. Thus Osiris also, whenever he is buried, and looked for to come to life again, and with joy recovered, is an emblem of the regularity wherewith the fruits of the ground return, and the elements recover life, and the year comes round; as also the lions of Mithras are philosophical sacraments of arid and scorched nature. (ANF) De Baptismo 5. "Well, but the nations, who are strangers to all understanding of spiritual powers, ascribe to their idols the imbuing of waters with the self-same efficacy." (So they do) but they cheat themselves with waters which are widowed. For washing is the channel through which they are initiated into some sacred rites-of some notorious Isis or Mithras. The gods themselves likewise they honour by washings. (ANF) Clauss: De corona. 15. (44, 103, 134-5) What have you in common with the flower which is to die? You have a flower in the Branch of Jesse, upon which the grace of the Divine Spirit in all its fulness rested-a flower undefiled, unfading, everlasting, by choosing which the good soldier, too, has got promotion in the heavenly ranks. Blush, ye fellow-soldiers of his, henceforth not to be condemned even by him, but by some soldier of Mithras, who, at his initiation in the gloomy cavern, in the camp, it may well be said, of darkness, when at the sword's point a crown is presented to him, as though in mimicry of martyrdom, and thereupon put upon his head, is admonished to resist and east it off, and, if you like, transfer it to his shoulder, saying that Mithras is his crown. And thenceforth he is never crowned; and he has that for a mark to show who he is, if anywhere he be subjected to trial in respect of his religion; and he is at once believed to be a soldier of Mithras if he throws the crown away----if he say that in his god he has his crown. Let us take note of the devices of the devil, who is wont to ape some of God's things with no other design than, by the faithfulness of his servants, to put us to shame, and to condemn us. (ANF) Clauss: De praescriptione haereticorum 40.3-4 (108) The question will arise, By whom is to be interpreted the sense of the passages which make for heresies? By the devil, of course, to whom pertain those wiles which pervert the truth, and who, by the mystic rites of his idols, vies even with the essential portions of the sacraments of God. He, too, baptizes some-that is, his own believers and faithful followers; he promises the putting away of sins by a layer (of his own); and if my memory still serves me, Mithras there, (in the kingdom of Satan, ) sets his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers; celebrates also the oblation of bread, and introduces an image of a resurrection, and before a sword wreathes a crown. (ANF) Zenobius the Sophist A Greek sophist of the reign of Hadrian. His collection of proverbs is partly extant. Clauss: Zenobius 5.78 (ap. Paroemiogr. 1: 151) (p.70 n.84) Evidence of syncretism of Mithras with Phanes (no citation).

Bibliography Manfred CLAUSS, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries. Edinburgh University Press (2000). Tr. Richard GORDON. Franz CUMONT, The Mysteries of Mithra. London: Kegan Paul (1910). Tr. Thomas J. McCORMACK from the second French edition.