Mithras, between the Eastern and Western worlds

Mithra is attested in both the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian world. The earliest known textual reference to his name dates to the second millennium BC and appears on a clay tablet discovered at Boğazköy, the site of ancient Hattusa, capital of the Hittite Empire in present-day Turkey. In this treaty, Mitra is invoked as guarantor of an agreement between the Hittites and the Mitanni.

Chiaro di Luna – Massimo Livadiotti

The Sanskrit Mitra and the Iranian Mithra both derive from the Proto-Indo-Iranian root *mitra, generally associated with covenant, agreement, or contract. In the Vedic tradition, Mitra is linked to friendship, reciprocity, social order, and the maintenance of agreements. In the Rigveda, he frequently appears alongside Varuna.

In the Iranian tradition, particularly within Zoroastrianism, Mithra (Miθra) became one of the yazatas, divinities associated with covenants, truth, vigilance, and oaths. Over time, the name evolved into forms such as Mehr and Mihr in Middle and New Persian.

The Mihr Yasht, the tenth Yasht of the Avesta, is entirely dedicated to Mithra and describes him as the “lord of broad pastures”, endowed with “a thousand ears” and “a thousand eyes”. In the Avesta, Ahura Mazda declares Mithra “worthy of sacrifice and prayer” alongside the other great yazatas. In the Zoroastrian calendar, both the sixteenth day of each month and the seventh month of the year are traditionally associated with Mithra.

The origins of Roman Mithraism

The origins of Roman Mithraism remain debated, and no single theory has achieved universal acceptance among scholars.

According to Franz Cumont, one of the first major modern scholars of Mithraism, the Roman mysteries developed from Iranian religious traditions linked to Zoroastrianism. Drawing on a passage from Plutarch (Pompey 24), Cumont argued that pirates operating in Cilicia may already have practised rites associated with Mithras during the 1st century BC. According to this interpretation, the displacement of eastern populations into the Roman world may have contributed to the diffusion of Mithraic ideas. However, the available evidence remains limited, and many aspects of this theory continue to be debated.

Another theory links the emergence of Roman Mithraism to military contacts established during the Mithridatic Wars of the 1st century BC. Other scholars, including Roger Beck and Reinhold Merkelbach, have suggested that Roman Mithraism may have taken shape largely within the Roman Empire itself. In this view, individuals familiar with Iranian traditions and Greco-Roman religious culture may have developed a new mystery cult adapted to the Roman world.

Manfred Clauss, for example, highlighted the importance of the syncretic religious environment of Commagene under Antiochus I, where Iranian and Greco-Roman elements were closely intertwined. By contrast, J.R. Russell strongly defended the importance of the Iranian religious background in the development of Roman Mithraism.

David Ulansey, meanwhile, interpreted Roman Mithraism primarily through an astral and cosmological framework. According to his theory, the cult reflected the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes by the astronomer Hipparchus.

Today, most scholars approach Mithraism as a complex religious phenomenon shaped by multiple cultural traditions. The relative importance of Iranian, Anatolian, Hellenistic, and Roman influences remains a subject of ongoing discussion.

Mithras in the Roman Empire

Helios – Massimo Livadiotti

Mithras in the Roman Empire

Mystery cults had long been known in the Roman world through the influence of the Hellenistic East, particularly the prestigious Eleusinian Mysteries. Other eastern cults, including those of Cybele, Dionysos, and Isis, also became established within the Roman Empire.

One of the earliest literary references to Mithras in the Roman world appears in the Thebaid of Statius, composed in the late 1st century AD. In this passage, the poet evokes Mithras twisting the horns of the sacred bull

The earliest archaeological evidence associated with Mithras also dates from the late 1st century AD. It consists of a tauroctony relief dedicated by Alcimus, slave of T. Claudius Livianus, a praetorian prefect under Trajan. The degree of development of the cult at this early stage, however, remains unclear.

Roman Mithraism reached its height between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD. The role of the Roman army in its spread is supported by the presence of mithraea and related monuments along frontier regions and in military settlements throughout the Empire. Mithraic evidence has been discovered in regions ranging from Britain and Dacia to North Africa and the Black Sea.

The strong presence of Mithraism in military contexts suggests a close relationship between the mysteries and the Roman army. Rural sanctuaries appear to have been comparatively rare, although some were associated with large private villas, such as the sanctuary linked to the Vil·la dels Munts in Spain.

Urban evidence also indicates that merchants, imperial officials, freedmen, and other social groups participated in Mithraic communities. This interpretation is partly supported by inscriptions pointing to the eastern Mediterranean origins of some dedicants. Some scholars therefore suggest that mobile merchant networks may have contributed to the diffusion of Mithraic practices across the Empire.

This may help explain the presence of mithraea in regions with limited military activity. Freedmen and enslaved individuals also seem to have played an important role in the circulation of the cult within the Roman world.

To know more

Monique Zetlaoui. Ainsi vont les enfants de Zarathoustra. Imago, Paris, 2003.

Zaraθustra, Avesta: Khorda Avesta. Mihr Yasht (Yasht 10).

Israel Campos Méndez, Elementos de continuidad entre el culto del dios Mithra en Oriente y Occidente. Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2001.

Israel Campos Méndez, La aparición de los misterios mitraicos en el marco religioso del imperio romano. Prensa Canaria, Las Palmas.

Julien Ries. Le Culte de Mithra en Iran. ANRW, Berlin, 1990.

Joseph Decreaux. Le Culte de Mithra en Orient. Archéologia, Dijon, 1989.

Émile Benveniste, Mithra aux vastes pâturages. Société Asiatique, Paris, 1960.

Charles Autran, Mithra, Zoroastre et la préhistoire aryenne du christianisme. Payot, Paris, 1935.

Roger Beck, “Mithraism”. Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2002.