Mithras, the story went, had been born of a virgin as the son of the Sun God to live the life of a mortal, and to relief the sins of mankind.
His worshippers drank wine that symbolized his blood and ate bread that symbolized his flesh.
Romans celebrated the birth feast of Mithras on December 25, ordered to do so by Emperor Aurelian in 274. Christian texts from 325 note that the birthday of Jesus had come to be observed on that same day, and the Roman Catholic Church has in modern times acknowledged that the December 25 Christmas quite likely derived from Mithraic practice.
The image shown here is that of a sculpted relief from Rome, depicting the central image of Mithraism – Mithras slaying a bull. This is accompanied by a number of figures that probably relate to Mithraic ritual and theology, including the torch-bearers on each side. A figure in the top left corner with a radiate crown represents the sun, and alludes to the relationship of Mithras with the cult of the Unconquered Sun [Sol Invictus]
more Mithras images here :
images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Mithras&btnG=Search+Images
6 responses so far ↓
slawek // December 24, 2006 at 8:19 pm |
Merry Christmas, maurits!
Maurits // December 24, 2006 at 8:39 pm |
Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia Slawek, and also for Marta
Roel // December 28, 2006 at 9:15 am |
Very interesting story Maurits
the church has taken over many rituals and traditions
Maurits // December 28, 2006 at 4:51 pm |
The christians surely did Roel…
It’s nice to look up Mithras in Wikipedia or Google
Maurits // December 24, 2007 at 7:59 pm |
Interesting to see this is my #4 most popular post recently. Must be te season.
Great info too!
krissmith777 // November 26, 2008 at 4:05 am |
http://explanationblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/the-myth-of-jesus-a-refutation-of-the-zeitgeist-part-5/