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Notitia

Let’s talk about Mithras with Yolanda De Iuliis

Yolanda’s multimedia dissertation focuses on the cognitive mechanisms that motivate Mithras worshippers. Her work includes a podcast entitled Conversations about Mithras.
Yolanda De Iuliis at the Giza Pyramids.

Yolanda De Iuliis at the Giza Pyramids.
Yolanda De Iuliis

 
24 Jan 2023

After completing a Masters in Classical Studies at the Open University, Yolanda De Iuliis launched her project on the Mysteries of Mithras on the Internet. In her dissertation, Yolanda explores the causes and motivations that led several generations of Romans to worship Mithras.

Yolanda seeks to understand whether these men’s beliefs were the result of evolved psychological mechanisms of attachment, kinship, reciprocal altruism and social exchange. To this end, Yolanda uses the tools of the cognitive science of religion, which she integrates with various methods from evolutionary psychology.

Among the components of her project, Yolanda has created a website with detailed information about her study, including a proper abstract, methodology, and an extensive bibliography on the cognitive science of religion.

Conversations about Mithras

In addition, Yolanda has produced a series of podcasts called Conversations about Mithras, which can be found on Spotify. In her programme, the young scholar invites academics, researchers and Mithras enthusiasts to present and discuss their projects.

Guests on the first season of Conversations about Mithras include Fraser Hunter, curator of the Department of Scottish History and Archaeology at the National Museum of Scotland; Luther H. Martin, author of The Mind of Mithraists; Nicolas Amoroso, curator of the exhibition The Mystery of Mithras; or Andreu Abuín, communications expert and producer of The New Mithraeum.

Yolanda has already published 10 episodes for the first season, which began last year. Let’s hope that Yolanda De Iuliis will continue her voyage of discovery in 2023, in her fascinating podcast series or elsewhere.

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