The religion of the Mithras cult in the Roman Empire
Subtitle: mysteries of the unconquered sun
By: Roger Beck.
Publisher: Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 285
Subjects: Mithraism; Rome -- Religion
Description: "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."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction to interpreting the mysteries : old ways, new ways; title: An agenda; title: A word on ontology; title: Template for a redescription of the mithraic mysteries; title: On comparisons; title: On cognition; title: Synchronic versus diachronic : structure and meaning versus historic cause and effect : interpretation versus explanation; title: Conclusion; title: Old ways : the reconstruction of mithraic doctrine from iconography; title: A gateway to an interpretation of the mysteries : porphyry, de antro nympharum on the form and function of the mithraeum; title: The traditional route : from the iconography of the monuments to the myth of mithras to the beliefs of mithraists; title: The merits and achievements of the traditional heuristic procedure; title: The shortcomings of the traditional heuristic procedure; title: Appendix: Some remaining methodological problems for the explication of the mithras myth as represented on the figured monuments; title: The problem of referents : interpretation with reference to what; title: Iconography and the problem of referents; title: Referents in the surrounding culture; title: Iranian referents; title: Celestial (astronomicalastrological) referents; title: Conclusion; title: Doctrine redefined; title: Back to porphyry, de antro; title: Induction into a mystery : the doctrinal misconstruction of de antro; title: Teaching versus enacting the descent and departure of souls : the commonsensical answer; title: An expectation of appropriate behaviour; title: Reason for the wise, symbols for the vulgar; title: Mithraic doctrine and its stakeholders : various views; title: Doctrine and belief : the Christian faith paradigm; title: Mithraic doctrine : three main issues; title: Generalizing about mithraic doctrine from unusual monuments; title: What do we mean by doctrine in the context of the mithraic mysteries? : an array of answers; title: Doctrine and the ordinary initiate; title: Conclusion; title: Transition : from old ways to new ways; title: The mithraic mysteries as symbol system :  introduction and comparisons; title: Religion as a system of symbols : an anthropological approach; title: Are Geertzian description and interpretation applicable to the symbol system of the mithraic mysteries?; title: Yes, Geertzian description and interpretation are possible, provided we begin not with the tauroctony but with the mithraeum and the grade structure; title: A culture within a culture : mithraism as a subsystem within the cultural system of graecoroman paganism : the hermeneutic implications; title: The symbol complex of the grade hierarchy; title: A modern comparator : the symbol system of the chamulas; title: The construction of space in mithraic and chamula cultures; title: Mithraisms second axiom : harmony of tension in opposition; title: Appendix: On Porphyrys de antro nympharum as a reliable source of data on the mithraic mysteries; title: Cognition and representation; title: The cognitive approach : ontogeneticphylogenetic versus cultural; title: Gods in mind : cognition and the representation of supernatural beings; title: Negotiating representations; title: Reintegrating the wise and the vulgar; title: Appendix: Comprehending the pantomime : Lucian, on the dance; title: The mithraic mysteries as symbol system : the mithraeum; title: The symbol complex of the mithraeum as image of the universe; title: The blueprint for the mithraeum; title: To represent is to be; title: The blueprint continued : the planets; title: An improved reconstruction; title: Symbols, representations, and startalk; title: The view from the benches : analogies of world view and ethos to scipios dream; title: The chamula church; title: Other images of the universe in antiquity : the pantheon, neros domus aurea, varros aviary, the circus; title: Other images of the universe in antiquity : orreries and the antikythera mechanism, the sundial; title: The mithraeum as symbolic instrument for inducting the initiates into a mystery of the descent of souls and their exit back out againwith some modern comparisons; title: To experience, to surmise, and to represent : dios twelfth (olympic) oration; title: Religious experience as modelled by biogenetic structuralism and neurotheology; title: The cognized environment : the mithraeum as material representation of the initiates cognized universe; title: The cognized universe and celestial navigation : the case of the indigo bunting; title: Conclusion; title: Startalk : the symbols of the mithraic mysteries as language signs; title: Introduction : startalk; title: Mithraic iconography as un langage dchiffrer (R. Turcan); title: Can symbols function as language signs? : the question as posed in cultural anthropology; title: Crossing sperbers bar : the case for mithraic astral symbols as language signs; title: Startalk : ancient views concerning its speakers, discourses, semiotics, and semantics; title: Origens view : heavenly writings and their angelic readers; title: Augustines view : startalk as a demonic language contract; title: Origen again : the demonic misconstruction of startalk; title: Stars talking theology : the heretical interpreters of Aratus as reported by Hippolytus (refutatio 4.4650); title: Make believe startalk : Zeno of Veronas baptismal interpretation of the zodiac; title: Rolling up the scroll : Maximus Confessor and the end of history.