The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun
Given Beck's credentials and his reputation as an erudite scholar of the enigmatic mysteries of Mithras, one might rightly expect that this book would break new ground. Beck does not disappoint. The book is engagingly written and is an exemplar of how scholarship can be pursued in a fair, engaging manner. Richard S. Ascough, Studies in Religion This makes for an interesting eclectic journey through one of the most mysterious cults in the Roman Empire... Throughout the book this interpretative scheme is filled out with impressively meticulous analysis of the textual evidence, the symbolic structutre of the mithraeum, and the tauroctony. Anders Lisdorf, Journal of Roman Studies In learned and fascinationg detail, he explains the mithraeum as both symbolically and actually as a representation of the universe. Inga Mantle, The Journal of Classics Teaching not only compulsory reading for any scholar or student working on Mithraism, but ought to be taken full account of also by anyone with an interest in the study of ancient religion in general ... the persistent reader will be rewarded with the rich experience of having his or her thoughts continuously provoked by a great historian of ancient religion in the course of his attempts to make sense of the fascinating phenomena that were the Mithraic mysteries. Ted Kaiser, Ancient West & East