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Socius

Peter Mark Adams

Professional author with a special interest in Greco-Roman ritual and sacred landscapes, art and philosophy.

peter.mark.adams
Istanbul, Turkey
Joined July 2021
 
 
May 2025
NewTextus

Adams on Mithras

Restoring the Mysteries: A Conversation with Peter Mark Adams on his new book ‘Ritual & Epiphany in the Mysteries of Mithras’.

 
Behzad Bolout
I love the idea of this book and I’m looking forward to to buy and read it. Only one thing looking at the text above there seems to be no mention of the origin of Mithraism, which is Iran and has nothing to do with Zoroastrianism, In fact, the prophet Zoraostara raised against it. And instead of looking for toots in europe it all goes to mystic Persia & Iran where it developed and during Parthian wars and trades took over Rome. The roman version has local signs and philosophy then after the birth of Mithras goes to its original Persian form. The Parthian belief and religion (Mithras) was wiped out after Sassanians took over. Thank god that their religion lived in in Roman empire (so we can discover its doctrine. Which later wiped out by christianity.
 
Sorry Behzad Bolour (correct spelling)
 
Dear Behzad, You are, of course quite right. That said, the earliest account of the tauroctony that exactly matches the more famous frescoes and sculptures of the Roman era is that described in the Epic of Gilgamesh circa 2,000 BCE - and even that is likely to be a relatively ’late’ account of an already ancient oral tradition). The gods Mitra, Varuna and Indra are all cited in the famous Hittite - Mitanni peace treaty circa 1,380 BCE. These people appear to have entered Anatolia circa 2,000 BCE, the Hittites by way of the Caucasus. The earliest image of what looks like the tauroctony appears on a ring of King Saussatar (Shaushtatar) of Mitanni from the fifteenth century BCE. Of course our understanding of the origins of the Hittite and Mitanni leaves something to be desired, but they appear to have entered the culturally Luwian zone of Anatolia sometime in the second millennium BCE. Certainly in the case of the Hittites they tended to assimilate themselves to the Luwian pantheon and language in their religious rites. All of this is, admittedly, somewhat foggy - the decipherment of Luwian hieroglyphics is still ongoing. For the Hellenistic Age it is clear that the syncretism arising from the Greek, native Anatolian and Persian influence gave rise to a rich cultural mix and that the Hellenistic Kingdoms (who claimed ancestry from Cyrus, Darius & Alexander) acknowledged Mithras as Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes. The native Carian dynasty, the Hekatomnids, were appointed Persian satraps for south west Anatolia, adopted Persian monumental architecture (at Labraunda) where they also conducted sacred banquets in purpose built Andron (which are neither a Greek nor a Roman tradition) and whose layout is identical to the later mithraea of the Roman Empire. As far as the transmission of the cult to Rome goes I agree that this was entirely due to the Parthian king, Tiridates I, soujourn in Rome under Nero in 66 CE. I conjecture that the introduction of the cult to the Roman elite was part of the process of underwriting the political settlement between Rome and Parthia over Armenia - Mitra / Mithras was, after all, the god of treaties and agreements par excellence. That said we still have the early attestation concerning the Cilician pirates celebrating secret mystery rites of Mithras in the first century BCE. Beneath all of these ’royal’ goings on we know that trade routes connected vast swathes of the Near/Middle East with Europe and Asia and as far as Afghanistan - how early? Certainly by the Bronze Age; but if the evidence of the Amber, Lapis Lazuli and Obsidian trades are anything to go by long, long before. So yes, the Cult of Mithras was introduced to the Roman elite by the Parthian King of Armenia - but the roots and question of ultimate origins remain far from clear. I do hope that you enjoy the book - hopefully it will (fingers crossed) be emerging from the printers in the next week or so. Thank you for taking an interest in my work, I do hope that you find the book of interest. Very best, Peter Mark Adams Author
 
Nov 2024
NewLiber

Ritual & Epiphany in the Mysteries of Mithras

Ritual & Epiphany in the Mysteries of Mithras – The Secret Cult of Saturn in Imperial Rome takes readers deep into the heart of the Mithraic mysteries, offering a profound exploration of the cult’s ritual practices and transformative visionary experie…

 
Feb 2024
NewVideo

Peter Mark Adams, Mithras and the Renaissance

For the launch of our YouTube channel, we chat with the author, poet, essayist and friend Peter Mark Adams about the Sola-Busca Tarot, a Renaissance masterpiece, uncovering ties to the Mithras cult.

 
Feb 2024
NewTextus

Peter Mark Adams, Mithras and the Renaissance

The New Mithraeum

For the launch of our YouTube channel, we chat with the author, poet, essayist and friend Peter Mark Adams about the Sola-Busca tarot, a Renaissance masterpiece, uncovering ties to the Mithras cult.

 
Nov 2022
NewLiber

Two esoteric tarots

Two Esoteric Tarots is the record of a fascinating conversation between Peter Mark Adams and Christophe Poncet, convened and with a foreword by César Pedreros. They compare their journeys of discovery into two wildly contrasting tarot decks, the dark rit…

 
Sep 2021
NewTextus

Dancing out the Mysteries of Dionysos

Peter Mark Adams: ‘The initiation was a frightening experience that caused some people to panic as a flood of otherworldly entities swept through the ritual space.’

 
Jul 2021
NewSocius

Professional author with a special interest in Greco-Roman ritual and sacred landscapes, art and philosophy.

 
Nov 2018
NewLiber

Mystai. Dancing out the Mysteries of Dionysos

The Dionysian themed frescos of Pompeii’s Villa of the Mysteries constitute the single most important theurgical narrative to have survived in the Western esoteric tradition. No other practitioner account of the ritual process for conducting a mystery r…

 
Nov 2016
NewLiber

The Game of Saturn. Decoding the Sola-Busca Tarocchi

The Game of Saturn is the first full length, scholarly study of the enigmatic Renaissance masterwork known as the Sola-Busca tarot. It reveals the existence of a pagan liturgical and ritual tradition active amongst members of the Renaissance elite and enc…

 
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