Jason Reza Jorjani, PhD, is a philosopher and author of Prometheus and Atlas, World State of Emergency, Lovers of Sophia, Novel Folklore: The Blind Owl of Sadegh Hedayat, and Iranian Leviathan: A Monumental History of Mithra's Abode.
Our modern understanding of Mithraism, though, depends largely on a few short (and very problematic) literary mentions, mostly written by the cult’s Christian rivals.