Fascinating and groundbreaking work on Mithraism! It is still not clear how much the Emesa syncretists knew from ancient empires. If Hipparchus could work out the precession of the equinoxes from observation and records, why could not earlier civilisations, especially with centuries of star records? Julia Domna is recorded as introducing an Assyrian-style wig. She visited Babylonia. And Perseus, the exile from Persia who killed an Assyrian, relates to the Age of Taurus. Julia opened the Mithraeum in Rome and her coins bear the titles: Augusta, Diana Lucifera, the lightbringer. The imperial couple also came to Britain with its megalithic circles associated with planetary calendars. The aim of the syncretists was to bring all religions under the central control of the Roman Pontifex Maximus, thus securing unitary powers in the political field as well.
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David Price
Fascinating and groundbreaking work on Mithraism! It is still not clear how much the Emesa syncretists knew from ancient empires. If Hipparchus could work out the precession of the equinoxes from observation and records, why could not earlier civilisations, especially with centuries of star records? Julia Domna is recorded as introducing an Assyrian-style wig. She visited Babylonia. And Perseus, the exile from Persia who killed an Assyrian, relates to the Age of Taurus. Julia opened the Mithraeum in Rome and her coins bear the titles: Augusta, Diana Lucifera, the lightbringer. The imperial couple also came to Britain with its megalithic circles associated with planetary calendars. The aim of the syncretists was to bring all religions under the central control of the Roman Pontifex Maximus, thus securing unitary powers in the political field as well.
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