Mithras and Religious Propaganda Narratives
The ancient god, Mithra, who was known to the ancient Greeks as Mithras, was a Zoroastrian deity who oversaw covenants, oaths, light, purity, goodness, and truth. In ancient India he was referred to as the sun god Mitra. In the Greco-Roman world, Mithras was the mediator between heaven and earth. The first account about the Mithraic cult was around the 14th century BC. In the treaty between the Mitanni people and the Hittite king Suppiluliuma (1380-1346 BC), the name Mithra is used. The Mithraic religious cult was mentioned in Persian cuneiform inscriptions and in the Indian Vedic texts as far back as the 4th century BC. As with all previously known organized religions and cults, Mithraism had many propaganda narratives that instilled false beliefs in the minds of anyone who came to believe in the Indian, Persian, and Greco-Roman fictional god named Mithras. The religious propaganda narratives of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Hittite, Egyptian, and Greco-Roman goddesses and gods always changed over the many centuries to accommodate the changing needs of the predatory ruling elites.
The religious cults of Mithra and Anahita, the Iranian goddess, entered Persia and they merged with Zoroastrianism. In the 1st century BC, the cult of Mithras took root in Rome, and in the 3rd century AD this religion had become international and spread from India to the Black Sea and from the Balkans to Britain. There are more than four hundred Mithraic temple ruins throughout Europe.
The Roman version of Mithraism arose in the West around the same time that the followers of Jesus Christ began spreading their religious beliefs, and there was tension and hostility between Christianity and Mithraism; however, there were many similarities between Christianity and Mithraism. Both religions followed Roman religious practices such as meeting regularly in a place of worship (temple or church) and sharing a ritualized meal such as the Christian Eurcharist or the Mithraic communion meal as shown in the image below (CC, 2.0). Here is a quote citing some similarities between Mithras and Jesus Christ:
“Both Mithras and Christ were described variously as ‘the Way,’ ‘the Truth,’ ‘the Light,’ ‘the Life,’ ‘the Word,’ ‘the Son of God,’ and ‘the Good Shepherd.’ The Christian litany to Jesus could easily be an allegorical litany to the sun-god. Mithras is often represented as carrying a lamb on his shoulders, just as Jesus is. Midnight services were found in both religions. The virgin mother…was easily merged with the virgin mother Mary. Petra, the sacred rock of Mithraism, became Peter, the foundation of the Christian Church.” Gerald Berry, Religions of the World
Believers of Mithras celebrate him on December 25th each year. The Christians also used this date to mark the birth of Jesus Christ. Unlike the Christians, the celebration of the birthday of Mithras was done in private with no public ceremonies held to commemorate this mystery. Also, on December 25th, a festival was held to the sun god Sol in the ancient world and Persia.
When soldiers of the Roman Empire came back to Rome from the eastern part of the Roman Empire, they brought Mithraism with them. The worship of Mithras also spread throughout the Roman Empire because of the influence of the merchants who travelled into Persia and then returned to Europe. There are no known ancient documents describing Mithraism, but when Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of the Byzantine Empire in 392, he prohibited the practice of any other religion, including Mithraism.
For those who believed in Mithraism, there was a strict code of different tasks or grades set by the priests of each Mithraeum that every believer had to pass if he wished to advance. The followers of Mithras believed that passing these would place them under the divine protection of the various goddesses and gods among the planets and stars. A believer in Mithras would need to be prepared to attend and undertake the initiations required at each level or grade. Some of the initiations were nothing more than brutal torture. Only men were allowed to join Mithraism, so women never had to endure the physical pain of the initiations. The temples of Mithraism were mainly built underground. These temples were known as the ‘Mithraeum’ (plural form – Mitheraea). Those at the top of the religious hierarchy of Mithraism were also those from the upper levels of the male societal hierarchy in the Roman Empire. Like the ancient, organized religions of Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and others, Mithraism had many fictional gods and goddesses, and each religion including Mithraism encouraged guys to sacrifice themselves on only-guys-die battlefields which supported the predatory Gynocentric Division of Labor described in our book “Beyond Gynocentrism: How to Succeed in a Gynocentric Civilization.”
Fictional Religious Propaganda Narratives – Many images and carvings that have been discovered depict Mithras emerging from a scared rock as shown on the image above (CC, 2.0). If you believe that some god was born or emerged from a rock and became a god to rule over Mithraism, then you might also believe that the fictional Sumerian gods and goddesses such as Enki, Innana, and Enlil really existed. There is no hard evidence that any of the past gods and goddesses ever existed. The predatory ruling elites used the idea of make-believe goddesses and gods help the female and male ruling elites exploit large groups of people.
We do not know who is the original storyteller that first concocted the science fiction propaganda narrative of a god who emerged from a rock, but the Roman ruling elites used the propaganda narrative to help them invent a religion in Rome that encouraged guys to fight hard and sacrifice their lives on only-guys-die battlefields, so Mithraism served Predatory Gynocentrism. Adult women were not encouraged to fight hard and sacrifice their lives on Roman battlefields. It has been estimated that there were around 700 Mitheraea dedicated to Mithras within the city of Rome at the height of the Mithraic religion.
During Roman times the religion of Mithras was referred to as having “Mithraic Mysteries” from the lands of Persia, but Mithraism as practiced by ancient Romans is considered a different religion from the Persian worship of Mithras. Roman Mithraism (Western), and the Persian Mithraism (Eastern) are considred to be two distinct religions even though they have a common origin. One thing that divides the Persian and Roman traditions of the worship of Mithras is the killing of a bull. Research of the Iranian god Mithra shows that the act of killing the bull may not have occurred in the Eastern portrayal of the god. In Roman Mitheraea, there are carvings or sculptures of the god Mithras slaying a bull. Such carvingss or sculptures of Mithras show him dressed in an Anatolian or Persian fashion with a distinctive Phrygian Cap.
Today, Spanish bullfighters continue to practice tauctony (bull slaying). Mithras is also shown on images/carvings practicing tauctony or killing a bull as shown on the image at the beginning of this article. Sumerians killed bulls as part of ceremonial feasts, and the Minoans had a bull cult, so different forms of tauctony have been and continue to be part of mankind’s way of life. In the Greco-Roman version of Mithras, the dead bull became an offering to the sun god, “Sol.” The modern-day Spanish language continues to use the word, “sol,” to refer to the sun. Mithras’ dead bull never was an offering to a fictional god named Sol because no one can share beef with a god that does not exist. In some carvings, Mithras is shown holding hands with Sol and offering to share with him his meal of the slain bull, but in the long history of Mithraism, Mithras is also the sun god himself.
The image (CC, 2.0) of the killing of a bull By Mithras placed at the beginning of this article shows it lying down, which indicates it was exhausted in its struggle for life against Mithras who continues to stab the bull in the propaganda narrative. In such sculptures, a dog and a snake plus a scorpion which is biting the bull’s testicles are also shown in many depictions on the many Mithras’ tauctony carvings and sculptures. Normally, a raven is also depicted, which is on or close by the bull. It is assumed from the sculptures that the bull is white. The figure of Mithras rests one knee on the back of the bull. This whole scene, we are told, takes place in a cave into which the white bull has entered in its efforts to escape from Mithras who is determined to hunt it down. On occasions, the cave is shown with the signs of the Zodiac while another marking shows the god Sol sitting upon the top entrance to the cave with the Sun’s rays shining down. The first people to depict the signs of the Zodiac were the Sumerians, so some of the symbolism associated with Mithras go back thousands of years. The form of the moon goddess Luna, known by the sign of the crescent Moon is also shown. The word “luna” continues to be used in the Spanish language today to refer to the moon.
The Greco-Roman version of the organized religion of Mithras had propaganda narratives that reinforced Predatory Gynocentrism. It encouraged guys to sacrifice themselves during wars for the female and male ruling elites, supported a predatory Gynocentric Division of Labor, and helped turn men away from the inherent Male Sovereign Theology that naturally develops in every man and replace it with the fictional Mithraic theology that brought more power and wealth to predatory female and male ruling elites. As described in our book, “Beyond Gynocentrism: How to Succeed in a Gynocentric Civilization,” connecting to your own natural Male Sovereign Theology is a Male Sovereign Self-Defense Principle that should become part of your Male Social Technology.
Video: Cult of Mithras Explained
Video: Carl Jung, Mithras, Bull, Sacrifice, Freud