Derek Lambert and Dr. Jason Reza Jorjani
Mithraism is a savior religion. It holds there is an apocalypse at the end of history. Mithras is a savior figure. He is the god of light and of love.
Zoroastrianism: a monotheistic pre-Islamic religion of ancient Persia founded by Zoroaster in the 6th century BC.
Zoroastrianism became famous to Christians through St. Augustine, but it did not face the problem of evil. The god of light and wisdom is contrasted with a god/lord of deceit and darkness.
Mithras was the god between these two gods of Zoroastrianism: Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu or Ahriman.
Angra Mainyu, (Avestan: “Destructive Spirit”) Middle Persian Ahriman, the evil, destructive spirit in the dualistic doctrine of Zoroastrianism. According to the earliest version of the myth, he is the twin brother of Spenta Mainyu, the Holy Spirit, and both were the sons of Ahura Mazdā (Ormizd or Ormazd), the Wise Lord and supreme deity of Zoroastrianism.
Angra Mainyu’s essential nature is expressed in his principal epithet—Druj, “the Lie,” which expresses itself as greed, wrath, and envy. To aid him in attacking the light (Spenta Mainyu, the good creation of Ahura Mazdā), Angra Mainyu created a horde of demons embodying envy and similar qualities. Despite the chaos and suffering effected in the world by his onslaught, believers expect Angra Mainyu to be defeated in the end of time by Ahura Mazdā. Confined to their own realm, his demons will devour each other, and his own existence will be quenched. In a later dualism, Ahura Mazdā, still the creator god, is himself the force of good, Angra Mainyu is his evil, destructive counterpart, and both exist from eternity.
Mithras was the god of oaths and contracts–between Ahura Mazda and Ahriman).
Mithras is the mediator and at the end of time, the apocalypse, he manifests in this world as the Savior in order to preside over the last judgment.
pick up at 8:15 / 1:30:58
Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. The religion was inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian Angelic Divinity (yazata) Mithra, though the Greek Mithras was linked to a new and distinctive imagery, and the level of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman practice is debated. The mysteries were popular among the Roman military from about the 1st to the 4th century CE.
Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity. In the 4th century, Mithraists faced persecution from Christians and the religion was subsequently suppressed and eliminated in the empire by the end of the century.
According to Manfred Clauss mysteries of Mithras were not practiced until the 1st century CE.
Mithra (Avestan: ???????????????????? Miθra, Old Persian: ???????????? Miça) commonly known as Mehr is the Zoroastrian Angelic Divinity (yazata) of Covenant, Light, and Oath. In addition to being the divinity 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.
The Romans attributed their Mithraic mysteries (the mystery religion known as Mithraism) to “Persian” (i.e., Zoroastrian) sources relating to Mithra. Since the early 1970s, the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between the Persian and Roman traditions, making it, at most, the result of Roman perceptions of (Pseudo-)Zoroastrian ideas.
Cautes and Cautopates are torch-bearers depicted attending the god Mithras in the icons of the ancient Roman cult of Mithraism, known as Tauroctony. Cautes holds his torch raised up, and Cautopates holds his torch pointed downward.
In Mithraic images, Mithras either represents the sun, or is a close friend of the sun god Helios or Sol Invictus (Latin: the invincible sun) with whom Mithras dines. So attendants Cautes and Cautopates are supposed to represent the stations of sunrise and sunset respectively, or perhaps the spring and autumn equinoxes, or equivalently the ascending (spring) and descending (autumnal) nodes of the Sun’s apparent path on the celestial sphere. If eclipses of the sun and moon formed part of Mithraic symbolism, they could also represent the ascending and descending nodes where the Moon crosses the ecliptic.
Both are depicted as smaller than Mithras to emphasize his significance, and both wear Persian style garments, notably a Phrygian cap, to emphasize the supposed oriental origins of the cult.
Cautes holds a burning torch pointed up, whereas Cautopates holds a burning torch pointed down. Cautopates is usually depicted on the left, but not always. They are often shown standing with their legs crossed, but not always.
The two torch-bearers are often interpreted as symbols of light, one for the rising, the other for the setting sun. Cautopates could also represent death, while Cautes might represent new life.
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