Adams on Mithras
Peter Mark Adams (right) and Andreu Abuín (left) during the conversation
The New Mithraeum
Peter Mark Adams challenges current academic conventions by restoring the term ‘mysteries’ to the cult of Mithras while offering a deep, well-informed, and nuanced point of view. His latest book, Ritual & Epiphany in the Mysteries of Mithras, is a thought-provoking contribution that invites us to reconsider everything we think we know about this ancient brotherhood.
Adams brings together a compelling array of sources—iconographic, philosophical, ritual, and esoteric—to breathe new life into long-overlooked aspects of the Mithraic tradition. His work stands out for its rigorous exploration of Orphic and theurgical undercurrents within the cult, articulating a vision that is at once spiritual, symbolic, and astonishingly coherent. For those seeking to go beyond the archaeological fragments and delve into the raison d’être of the cult, this book is essential reading.
In this conversation, we sat down to explore some of the central themes of the book: the elusive origins of the cult, the nature of Mithraic initiation, the structure of its ritual space, and the deeper cosmological and symbolic grammar that governs its worldview.
Uncovering origins
The origins of the Mithras cult have long resisted consensus. Unlike the cults of Isis or Dionysus, the Roman cult of Mithras seems to erupt into history without clear precedent. While previous theories tried to link it to Persian Zoroastrianism or the mythology of Cilician pirates, Adams offers a compelling alternative.
He proposes a Hellenistic genesis in the elite circles of Armenia and the Anatolian kingdoms during the 4th century BCE. This earlier phase, as he explains, was an esoteric, aristocratic cult, closely tied to mystery traditions and the political theologies of those regions. Its later Roman expansion democratised access to its rites, extending membership to freedmen, non-citizens, and slaves.
The power of initiation
While archaeology has revealed the architecture of the Mithraea, the precise nature of Mithraic ritual remains contested. Yet Adams traces a coherent initiatory path grounded in comparative ritual analysis and the study of ancient theurgy.
He posits a sequence of preparatory purifications, visionary experiences, and symbolic acts that culminate in what he describes as psycho-spiritual transformations. These were not mere ceremonies but carefully calibrated theurgical operations.
Crucially, these rituals took place during specific cosmic windows, especially the dark moon, when interference from the material world was at its lowest, echoing the injunctions of the Chaldaean Oracles and the astral protocols of the Mithras liturgy.
Cosmic grammar and theurgical ascent
In his work, Adams also brings attention to the Ladder of Virtues, a seven-step path derived from Platonic and Iamblichean philosophy. This program of inner refinement, embedded in theurgic practice, reflects the broader metaphysical ambition of the cult: to align the soul with the divine.
Within this context, the cult’s symbols become something more than decorative motifs, they are maps. The lion-headed god, wrapped in serpents, the seven gates of the planets, and even the infamous tauroctony scene are all part of a spiritual cartography aimed at henosis: union with the divine source.
His reading of the Sun behind the Sun, an esoteric solar concept linked to Saturn as the gatekeeper of hypercosmic realities, adds a philosophical dimension. Saturn, as demiurgic figure and lord of the Golden Age, becomes a metaphysical bridge between time and eternity.
Symbols, serpents, and sacrifice
Among the most captivating parts of our exchange was Adams’ interpretation of Mithraic iconography. The tauroctony, the central image of Mithras slaying the bull, is part of an older mythic stratum. He links it to the Orphic tale of the Titans’ murder of the bull-god, an act pregnant with cosmological and initiatory meaning.
Other symbols like the serpent, the bull’s foreleg, and the recurring motif of Phanes, point to a broader syncretic matrix, where Orphism, Neoplatonism, Chaldaean theurgy, and mystery traditions converge. The serpent, in particular, acts as a liminal being: companion, guide, and cosmic mediator.
The foreleg of the bull, another overlooked symbol, evokes ancient sacrificial logic, talismanic power, and cosmic dismemberment. Each of these elements, once viewed in isolation, finds new coherence in Adams’ vision of Mithraism as an embodied, initiatory path to divine reintegration.
A living tradition of mysteries
In reclaiming the word mysteries for the cult of Mithras, Adams not only rehabilitates a neglected religious tradition, he reorients our understanding of ancient spirituality. His book reminds us that beyond the stones and statues lies a living, breathing world of ritual, vision, and transformation.
At a time when scholarship often flattens the esoteric into the sociological or political, Ritual & Epiphany in the Mysteries of Mithras dares to take the ancients at their word. For Adams, and for many of us inspired by his work, the mysteries are not metaphors, they are maps to the soul.
Watch the full video interview to know all about Peter Mark Adams’ latest work and his insights into the Mithraic tradition.
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Comments
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
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)