| rdfs:comment | - Mithraism is a cult dedicated to the worship of the god Mithras, sometimes called Mitra. There are two different organizations that fall under this term. There is an eastern version, which involved the gods Mitra, Ahur Mazda, and others, this may simply be Zoroastrianism or a variation of it. Then there is Roman Mithraism, which is a cult that was most active in the first centuries AD. Roman Mithraism may have been a romanized version of Persian Mitra worship, or it may have been a new creation that built upon the stories of Mitra, but was no continuous with the Persian mithraists.
- The cult of Mithraism is a topic about which you can't believe everything you read. Deleted comment: Especially here. Perhaps you've heard that it is a very old Persian religion, was popular in the Roman Empire, had similarities to more recent major faiths, and may even have had some sort of influence on Christmas? Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you that almost none of this is true. Mithraism could not have influenced Christianity or Christmas, because
- Mithraism was a philosophical and religious movement believed to have originated in the ancient Middle East of Old Earth late in the Hellenistic period, about the time the Roman Empire conquered the area. It gained prestige by claiming connection with a contemporaneous change in the Zodiacal arrangement in the sky visible from Earth. Its followers were known as Mithrans. It was in some respects, one of the mystery cults, its tenets and practices becoming obscure after it died out. It was believed that some of these practices were adopted by Christianity.
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| abstract | - Mithraism is a cult dedicated to the worship of the god Mithras, sometimes called Mitra. There are two different organizations that fall under this term. There is an eastern version, which involved the gods Mitra, Ahur Mazda, and others, this may simply be Zoroastrianism or a variation of it. Then there is Roman Mithraism, which is a cult that was most active in the first centuries AD. Roman Mithraism may have been a romanized version of Persian Mitra worship, or it may have been a new creation that built upon the stories of Mitra, but was no continuous with the Persian mithraists.
- Mithraism was a philosophical and religious movement believed to have originated in the ancient Middle East of Old Earth late in the Hellenistic period, about the time the Roman Empire conquered the area. It gained prestige by claiming connection with a contemporaneous change in the Zodiacal arrangement in the sky visible from Earth. Its followers were known as Mithrans. It was in some respects, one of the mystery cults, its tenets and practices becoming obscure after it died out. It was believed that some of these practices were adopted by Christianity. The religion fell into decline, more or less with the Roman Empire, and had completely disappeared by the 16th Century Ante Diaspora. It was revived, as much as possible given its obscurity, in the following millennia and the revived version came to be widely practiced throughout the worlds of the Diaspora, including the Star Kingdom of Manticore. The tactical officer of the superdreadnought HMS Manticore at the time of Honor Harrington's service aboard that ship was a Mithran. (HH5)
- The cult of Mithraism is a topic about which you can't believe everything you read. Deleted comment: Especially here. Perhaps you've heard that it is a very old Persian religion, was popular in the Roman Empire, had similarities to more recent major faiths, and may even have had some sort of influence on Christmas? Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you that almost none of this is true. Mithraism could not have influenced Christianity or Christmas, because
* Mithraism was a Roman invention not a Persian one, and therefore could not have been brought to Bethlehem by wise men from the East.
* Mithraic nativity scenes depict goatherds and Magi, not shepherds and Magi.
* The festival of Mithrasmas only became popular in Rome in the 2nd or 3rd century AD, well after the Christian Apostles began writing letters to the Romans. Is it at all conceivable that a new age fad of 3rd century AD Rome influenced a serious religion born in 1st century Judea? I would have thought even a head-banging ignoramus could see that the answer is clearly NO. If there was any influence at all, it went in the other direction.
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