Mithra with Zurvan (Art by rekuroBis)
Mithra commonly known as Mehr, is the Zoroastrian angelic divinity, or god, (yazata) of covenant, light, and oath. In addition to being the god of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest, and of the Waters.
Description[]
As the Divinity of Contract, Mithra is undeceivable, infallible, eternally watchful, and never-resting. Mithra is additionally the protector of cattle, and his stock epithet is "of Wide Pastures." He is Guardian of the waters and ensures that those pastures receive enough of it.
Myth and legends[]
Mithra was born from a stone near a sacred spring, under a tree that is also sacred. At birth, he wears a Phrygian cap, a torch and a knife, with which he cuts the fruit of the sacred tree and makes clothes for himself from its leaves. He meets the primordial bull while it is grazing in the mountains. He grabs it by the horns and rides it up, until the animal can't take it anymore. The god then ties him by the hind legs and loads him on his shoulders. This test is called the transitus.
When Mithras arrives in the cave, later the Mithræum, a raven sent by the Sun asks him for a sacrifice. He then thrusts his knife into the bull's flank, and his spine shoots out of the wheat and his blood turns into wine. Its seed is at the origin of the creation of animals useful to man.
Overview[]
Zoroastrian Religion[]
Like most other Divinities, Mithra is not mentioned by name in the Gathas. As a member of the Iranian ahuric triad, along with Ahura Mazda and Ahura Berezaiti (Apam Napat), Mithra is an exalted figure. Together with Rashnu "Justice" and Sraosha "Obedience", Mithra is one of the three judges at the Chinvat Bridge, the "Bridge of Separation" that all souls must cross. Unlike Sraosha, Mithra is not, however, a psychopomp, a guide of souls to the place of the dead. Should the Good Thoughts, Words, and Deeds outweigh the Bad, Sraosha alone conveys the Soul across the Bridge.
Roman Religion[]
Mithra was also the central figure in the mystery religion Mithraism, the Cult of Mithras, that was adopted by the Romans but he was addressed as Mithras in Roman religion. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) Mithra, the Greek Mithras is linked to a new and distinctive imagery, with the level of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman practice debated. The mysteries were popular among the Imperial Roman army from about the 1st to the 4th century CE. Despite the similarity of names, Roman Mithras should not be confused with Helleno-Zoroastrian Mithras, or with Zoroastrian (i.e. Greater Iranian) Mithra, or with Indian Mitra (of which there are two). Roman Mithras should also not be confused Manichaean Mihr, or with Armenian Myhr, or with Kushan Mirro. All these names are etymologically related, but they are all culturally independent figures.
Roman Mithras and his cult are now recognized to have been essentially products of Roman (and Greek-derived) thought. In the case of the Mithraic Mysteries, this obsession with 'oriental wisdom' was represented by the Romans' belief that their cult and its practices had been founded by "Zoroaster", originally the name of an ancient Iranian prophet, but who in Roman and Greek understanding was primarily the "inventor" of astrology and magic. This utterly fanciful image of the Iranian prophet is the foundation of, and the reason for the cultic persophilia of the worshippers of Roman Mithras. That is, the adherents of the Roman cult, "who were manifestly not Persians in any ethnic sense, thought of themselves as cultic 'Persians.'" Functionally however, the Roman cult has nothing to do with the Iranian world, and it is doubtful whether an Iranian could have ever recognized the Roman cult as his own.