The Mysteries of Mithras
A Different Account
by Attilio Mastrocinque
Hardback (Published)
(August 2017)
ISBN: 9783161551123
6.57 x 9.13 inches
Price: $143.00
In stock
In this work, Attilio Mastrocinque cautions against an approach to Mithraism based on the belief that this mystic cult resembles Christianity. While both Christian and pagan authors testified that Mithraic elements were indeed borrowed, according to Attilio Mastrocinque this was only done by some gnostic Christians. He counters that Roman Empire ideology and religion provide better clues on how to approach the matter, contending too that Virgil proves to be more important than the Avesta in understanding Mithraic iconography. The meaning of the central scene – the Tauroctony – thus becomes clear when the Roman triumph’s central act of bull sacrifice is thought of as just that, with Mithras playing the role of victor as author of this success. The episodes depicted on many reliefs relate to a prophecy known to Firmicus Maternus and other Christian polemists, and which foretold the coming of a saviour, i.e. the first emperor, when Saturn returns and Apollo-Mithras will rule.
- By (author) Attilio Mastrocinque
"...The work is an important contribution to the field from one of its most established figures and will no doubt excite scholarly response for some time to come." --Dominic Dalglish, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2018.10.46
—
Other Titles in this Series
Enuma eli – Weg zu einer globalen Weltordnung
Pragmatik, Struktur und Semantik des Lieds auf Marduk
Volume 12
Un YHWH venant du Sud?
De la reception veterotestamentaire des traditions meridionales et du lien entre Madian, le Neguev et l'exode (Ex-Nb ; Jg 5 ; Ps 68 ; Ha 3 ; Dt 33)
Volume 39
Hiobs Kosmos
Eine Kontextualisierung im Rahmen spatzeitlicher Krisen- und Leidensbewaltigung
Volume 60
New Perspectives on Aramaic Epigraphy in Mesopotamia, Qumran, Egypt and Idumea
Proceedings of the Joint RIAB Minerva Center and the Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center of Jewish History Conference. Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times II
Volume 40
Kollektive Schuld und Haftung
Religions- und rechtsgeschichtliche Studien zum Sundenkuhritus des Deuteronomiums und zu verwandten Texten
Volume 4
Cultural Plurality in Ancient Magical Texts and Practices
Graeco-Egyptian Handbooks and Related Traditions
Volume 32
Israel, Judah, and Neighboring Groups in the Books of Samuel
Textual and Historical Approaches. Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times VIII
Die judaische Konigsideologie im Kontext der Nachbarkulturen
Untersuchungen zu den Konigspsalmen 2, 18, 20, 21, 45 und 72
Volume 25
Magie und Raum
Der magische Schutz ausgewahlter Raume im Alten Agypten nebst einem Vergleich zuangrenzenden Kulturbereichen
Volume 13
Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations
Studies on the History of Religion and Anthropology of the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament
Volume 42
Weltkonstruktionen
Religiose Weltdeutung zwischen Chaos und Kosmos vom Alten Orient bis zum Islam
Volume 5
Foreign Women – Women in Foreign Lands
Studies on Foreignness and Gender in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East in the First Millennium BCE
Volume 35
Achikar in Elephantine
Die aramaische Achikarkomposition im Kontext des perserzeitlichen Elephantine
Volume 50
Schrift und Material
Praktische Verwendung religioser Text- und Bildtrager als Artefakte im Alten Agypten
Volume 41
Research on Israel and Aram
Autonomy, Independence and Related Issues. Proceedings of the First Annual RIAB Center Conference, Leipzig, June 2016. Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times I
Volume 34
Figurines in Achaemenid Period Yehud
Jerusalem's History of Religion and Coroplastics in the Monotheism Debate
Volume 26
Feste der Ewigkeit
Untersuchungen zu den abydenischen Kulten wahrend des Alten und Mittleren Reiches
Volume 43
Weiser und Wesir
Studien zu Vorkommen, Rolle und Wesen des Gottes Thot im agyptischen Totenbuch
Volume 1
Gott unterwegs
Die traditions- und religionsgeschichtlichen Hintergrunde des Habakukliedes
Volume 36
Tel ‘En Gev
Report of the Keio Archaeological Mission, 2009-2011. Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times V
Volume 48
The Physicality of the Other
Masks from the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean
Volume 27
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
A Late Antique Harrowing of Hell and Its Medieval Reception
Eusebius of Alexandria's Sermons 15 and 17 (CPG 5524; 5526) and their Latin Rewritings
Volume 99
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Fear, Fear of God, God-Fearers
Philological and Historical Perspectives on the World of Ancient Judaism and Christianity
Late Antique villae in the Balkans (3rd–7th c. AD): Current Research Questions and Perspectives
HAEMUS Companion to the Late Antique Balkans 1
Volume 4
Legal Visuality
Exegesis, Ambiguity, and Dissimulation of the Donation of Constantine in the Early Modern Period
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Nurturing the Elite
Representations of Drinking, Eating, and Religious Vessels in Palmyrene Funerary Iconography
Volume 13
Pre-Christian Religions, Rituals, and Beliefs in Central and Northern Europe
Interdisciplinary Investigations
Volume 5
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
