Title: The religion of the Mithras cult in the Roman Empire : mysteries of the unconquered sun /
Authors: Beck, Roger, 1937-
Publisher: Oxford University Press,
Year: 2006
Subjects: Mithraism.; Planets Religious aspects; Mithraism Rome.; Rome Religion.
Abstract: "This book provides a new description of Mithraism, one of the mystery cults of the Roman Empire, from the perspective of its initiates. Mithraism, which was centred on the sun god Mithras, is described as a complex of symbolic representations created, apprehended, and transmitted not only in the medium of an extraordinarily rich and detailed iconography, but also in ritual action and language, in cult life and hierarchy, and in the design of its sacred space, the mithraeum."--
Contents: Introduction to interpreting the mysteries : old ways, new ways -- Old ways : the reconstruction of Mithraic doctrine from iconography -- The problem of referents : interpretation with reference to what? -- Doctrine redefined -- Transition : from old ways to new ways. The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, I : introduction and comparisons -- Cognition and representation -- The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, II : the mithraeum -- Star-talk : the symbols of the Mithraic mysteries as language signs -- The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, III : the tauroctony -- Excursus : the esoteric quartering, a lost helicoidal model of lunar motion, and the origin of the 'winds' and 'steps' of the moon : the identity of 'Antiochus the Athenian' -- Conclusions: A new basis forinterpreting the mysteries.