Ben Rogaczewski

Ancient Roman Monuments/Cities, Towns and Villas

Prof. Koehler
November 29, 2009

As you walk about the streets of modern day Rome, you will see many

amazing things, things such as the ancient forum or the old temples of the gods,

many of which turned into catholic churches. You may even see a statue or two of

forgotten Roman officials. However, one does not realize the secrets that this

ancient city holds. What may seem to be a tourist haven from above may hold

shocking surprises below its ancient rubble.

When one enters a church, such as the Church of Santa Prisca, one may find

something they did not expect within a catholic church, or should I say “below” a

catholic church. In such places as this, one needs only to ask to gain entrance to the

lower underground to see what was Ancient Rome. As you descend a staircase to

reach your destination, you come to an entrance way adorned by what seems to be

two figures: one holding what appears to be a torch up, the other holding his torch

downwards. As you enter you notice that if not for artificial light, you would not see

anything within this dark “cave” of sorts. You look around and see stone benches on

each side, possibly primitive pews for a service, with what looks to be a stone altar

in the middle of the dark room. The walls have Latin inscriptions written upon them

and with what little knowledge you have from your undergraduate Latin courses,

you are able to make out some of the inscriptions. They seem to speak of someone

“shedding eternal blood”. You put the pieces together and figure that it’s an ancient,

secret area of ritual for the ancient Christians. You look around more, but something

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at the back of the room seems to catch your eye, creating some surprise and possibly

conflict with your original thoughts. Upon the back wall, you see paintings of a man

in different scenes. In one he is causing water to gush from a rock, while in another

he is being born from a rock. Finally, your eyes catch a strange scene in which the

man is sacrificing a bull surrounded by a dog, a snake, and a scorpion. This seems to

puzzle you because in all your Christian studies, there were never stories of Jesus

being born from a rock, or Jesus killing a bull. You look closer at the fresco of the

sacrifice and see the name “Mithras” with other titles along with it. It is most certain

that many people have encountered this scene at least once when they have

traversed through Rome, but not very many are given an explanation or granted a

better understanding of this strange deity who lives in caves underneath Rome,

Ostia, and other areas of the Roman frontier. Through my help and studies, I will

help to explain this misunderstood god’s origins, Roman popularity, religious

rivalry’s, and subsequent downfall. Let me take you through a “Mithraeum” that

spans from about the late 1st century AD, to the late 4th century AD.

Part I: Mithras, Savior Born from a Rock

We find Mithras’ origins far back before the Roman Empire was created.

Archaeological evidence shows us that the Persians had been worshipping this sun

god from around the time of 5th century BC, but he was praised under a slightly

different name. The Persians worshipped a supreme sun god whom they called

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Mitra in their prayers.1 However, the Roman cult that gained its popularity in the 2nd

century AD up until about the 4th century seems to be strictly a western cult. We

only find the Mithraic “caves” in the Roman Empire provinces and not within areas

such as the Parthian Empire or Syria. Although, we do find “Persian” concepts within

Mithraism (one of the grades or ranks is called “Persian”; nama means “hail” in

Persian) and the myths from the east seem to have effected the main portion of the

Mithraic cult, the Tauroctony.2

However, this should not surprise anyone, because of how the eastern

religion reached the Italian peoples. Plutarch gives us some evidence to possibly the

earliest know reference to Mithraic contact with an Italian official. He states in his

account of Pompey, that when Pompey took his fleet against Mithradates VI in 67

BCE, he conquered the Cilician pirates who allied with Mithradates. He took many of

these pirates back as prisoners and it was in their captivity in Rome that they

planted the seeds of Mithraism. Plutarch states that these Cilician pirates

“celebrated secret rites and mysteries devoted to Mithras, which are still celebrated

today”.3 Plutarch lived in the years 46-120 AD, so it is definitely probable that the

Mithraic mysteries that he speaks of relate to the Roman cult. We even find coins

minted in the mid-third century in Tarsus the capitol of Cilicia, that show Mithras

killing the primordial bull (figure 1).4

1
Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries , trans.
Richard Gordon (New York, New York: Routledge, 2001). Pg. 6
2
Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price, Religions of Rome: A History, Vol. 1, 2 vols.
(Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998). Pg. 279.
3
Marvin W. Meyer, The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook (New York, New York:
Harper and Row, 1987). Pg. 205.
4
Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries , trans.
Richard Gordon (New York, New York: Routledge, 2001). Pg. 4-5.

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 From this main time onward, the Mithraist cult seemed to not be very

popular and instead stood in the shadow of the imperial cult. However, soon this

warrior of light and virtue would rise in popularity among the Roman population,

especially within the military.

Part II: Mithras, the True Soldier of Rome

Of course, it may seem confusing that a Persian deity could possibly

gain appeal from the Roman population, seeing that the Persians were seen as one

of the main enemies of the ancient world. Yet so many Roman citizens pledged their

life to Mithras. Why though? How did Mithras gain so much appeal amongst the

people, even so much as to rival with Christianity? The answer, as always, is a very

complex one and so we must first tackle the demographics of this cult. Where was

he worshipped in the Empire, and who worshipped him? To find these answers, we

must first take a look at the frontiers of the Empire.

Our earliest evidence of a mithraeum comes from the Danube river area

around the city of Carnuntum. It was here around 100 AD, that we find a mithraeum

created by a Marcus Aurelius Decimus, a legionnaire or centurion from the

Germanian troops.5 It is no surprise then that our first group of Mithraists has to be

found within the military. However, we can judge from the amount of mithraea

found north of Rome, in comparison to the amount found in Syria or Parthia, that

the cult had the majority of its members from the Gallic and Germanian troops near

5
Robert Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wiley-
Blackwell, 1996). Pg. 241.

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the Rhine and Danube rivers.6 At these legionary camps in the north, we find

inscriptions for prefects, troopers, centurions, and even legates, all Mithraists.

Turcan even states that some records show that a certain Marcus Valerius

Maximianus commanded legions that were comprised of mainly Mithraists. 7 But

why would these soldiers give their praise to a “Persian” deity? What about Mithras

would have appealed to them? In order to find these answers we must look at

Mithras himself and the stories about him.

Mithras was said to be the “great warrior of virtue and truth”, and was the

conqueror of evil. When he had slain the cosmic bull (a metaphor for chaos), he

restored order to the world and made it prosperous by its “eternal blood”. Every

Mithraist was to look to Mithras as an icon to follow in their lives. He was “the Light

of the World” and the “Prince of Peace”. For the soldiers, he was a sign of the warrior

you must be in order to be victorious in battle. To have him on your side would

ensure victory. When a Mithraist reached the rank of “Miles” or soldier, he was

literally inducted as a Legionnaire for Mithras. Each of the Mithraists swore to

defend against evil and lead a life of purity, a life of celibacy. 8 These oaths were not

very difficult for a soldier to make since a soldier was supposed to be celibate while

on campaign, and of course, every soldier had to have seen themselves defending

the Empire against evil. Also, it was found that being a Mithraist might even raise

your rank among the troops. The cult only allowed men to know their “mysteries”.

6
Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries , trans.
Richard Gordon (New York, New York: Routledge, 2001). Pg. 26-27.
7
Robert Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wiley-
Blackwell, 1996). Pg. 243.
8
Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price, Religions of Rome: A History, Vol. 1, 2 vols.
(Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998). Pg. 289.

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However there are some inscriptions for sacrifice found in mithraeums in Rome that

show women attended Mithraic rituals.9 Therefore, it was even more appealing

when you could join your brothers in arms and be brothers in Mithras as well.

This soon lead Mithraic popularity to rise and soon it attracted the attention

of the Emperor himself. We have several instances in which the emperor was

involved with some Mithraic happenings. Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius

and emperor of Rome from 180-192 AD, was said to have been an unworthy

follower of Mithras since he committed a “real” murder rather than a “fake”

murder.10 It was also found that certain mithraeums around the empire carried

inscriptions dating to Marcus Aurelius and Commodus that ask Mithras to protect

the health of the emperor. The emperors loved the god Mithras for the main

reasoning that it helped the troops to basically be better troops in battle. It

especially became popular when the Severans and other militaristic emperors came

to power in Rome. When Septimius Severus brought his Gallic troops from Pannonia

down to Rome to take power from Julianus, there was a good chance he had already

been initiated into the “mysteries” of Mithras. Soon after he came to power in 193

AD, he allowed the Roman military to own land where they were stationed. This

would allow many more soldiers to create mithraeums if they owned the land. One

of the final times when we see imperial popularity of Mithras comes in 307 AD when

the emperors Diocletian, Galerius, and Licinius restored a Mithraic cavern, granted

the title “fantor imperii sui” to the god Mithras. This title states, “protector of their

9
Ibid. , 298.
10
Robert Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wiley-
Blackwell, 1996). Pg. 243.

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imperial power” a clear devotion, or even, a last chance for these emperors to

restore the old pagan ways.11 Several emperors like Aurelian and Licinius held

worship for the god “Sol Invictus”, whose personage was close (if not even the same

deity) and the two sun gods were seen as one in the same. 12

Of course, with the emperors showing increased attention to cults such as

that of Mithras, many of the Roman citizens began to flock to worship these very

cults. Within Italy we find about one third of the Mithraic population and

predominately within Rome and its port city of Ostia.13 It can be understood why the

soldiers and emperors appreciated the worship of Mithras; but why did these

Roman citizens worship Mithras? What about the cult seemed to appeal to them?

Evidence that has been found within the mithraeums has shown several reasons for

an appeal to the normal Roman citizen.

First, one of the Roman mithraeums held several heads of other deities

including Sarapis, Venus, Fortuna, and Dionysus. It appears that Mithraists were

allowed to worship other Roman deities along with Mithras. Several inscriptions

even evoke prayer upon deities such as Pales and Helios as well.14 The fact that

during Pales’ festival, the Parilia, in which cattle were purified by running through a

fire, may have something to do with the cult of Mithras in which praise for the

11
Ibid. , 244.
12
Ramsay MacMullen, Paganism in the Roman Empire (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1983). Pg. 127.
13
Ibid. , 119.

Pales was the Roman god of shepherds and his festival was the Parilia
14
Marvin W. Meyer, The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook (New York, New York:
Harper and Row, 1987). Pg. 207.

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sacrifice of the “cosmic” bull was common within the mithraeums. 15 There are even

images from the Santa Prisca mithraeum that show Mithras shaking hands with the

sun god Helios and another scene in which Mithras and Helios feast on the sacrificial

bull (figures 2-3). Clearly, the Mithraic cult was appealing to the polytheistic Roman

citizens.

The second appeal to the Roman citizens was that of the mithraeum, the

“cavern” of the Mithraists. Every one of the mithraeums were built deep

underground and were not made public, as other cults were. Many saw the secretive

cult as interesting and even more; the mithraeums of Rome were counted as some of

the most decorated mithraeums of Mithraism. Many people would be drawn to the

design of a beautiful secret cult that promised salvation through its warrior of truth

and good. The other area of the mithraeum that impressed many of the Romans was

the Tauroctony. As I have said earlier, the Tauroctony (figure 4) was a main

centerpiece for the mystery cult. It showed the god Mithras sacrificing the cosmic

bull of heaven. Beneath the bull are three animals trying to help take down the bull:

a dog, a snake, and a scorpion. Each one of these images within the Tauroctony has a

different meaning behind them. Scholars believe that they correspond with a certain

astrological constellation: Canis Major for the dog, Hydra for the snake, Scorpio for

the scorpion, Taurus for the bull, and Perseus or Leo may represent Mithras. 16 Many

of the Romans found astrology to be fascinating for centuries and may have been

disappointed when several of the emperors outlawed divination and astrology. With

15
Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price, Religions of Rome: A History, Vol. 1, 2
vols. (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998). Pg. 175.
16
Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price, Religions of Rome: A History, Vol. 1, 2
vols. (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998). Pg. 286.

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this newfound learning of astronomy, Romans would have flocked to the secret

meetings and rituals.

The third and final appeal found in Mithraism for the Roman people would

be Mithras’ correlation to the “god of time” or Aion. Many of the ancients saw

several notions in which Mithras was timeless and could guarantee possible

everlasting life.17 The evidence for these notions comes from written ancient

sources, and archaeological evidence as well. Many of the ancient writers saw the

calculation, numerically, for the Greek name Μείθρας, in which the final product

came out to 365, the amount of days within a Julian year. Mithras’ name in Greek

held the promise of being the god of the passing of years, and could control the

passing of time in this way.18 There also seems to be a correlation with zodiac and

the god of time as well. On a relief found in Rome (but now moved to Modena), there

is an image of what is believed to be the god of time. Upon this image, there stands a

winged man with cloven feet (almost like a cattle) and he bears a lion-head on his

chest (Mithras was often called the “lion-headed” god, and one of the ranks within

Mithraism was the “lion”). Surrounding him is the entire zodiac, a display of the

Julian year with astrological symbols (figure 5).19 There is a mithraeum in which a

relief was discovered that showed the Tauroctony, but with the zodiac surrounding

the sacrifice (figure 6).20 This clearly shows that many people, including Mithraists,

saw Mithras already as a god of time.

17
Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries , trans.
Richard Gordon (New York, New York: Routledge, 2001). Pg. 165.
18
Ibid. , 165.
19
Ibid. , 166.
20
Ibid. , 89.

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 Through all these different means, many Roman citizens were drawn to the

Mithraic cult and its savior, Mithras.

Part III: Mithras vs. Christus

From all the different cults and religions within the Empire, no other

contended so well with the Mithraic cult as that of the Christians. Both cults rose in

popularity against each other, and some modern scholars, such as Ernest Renan,

claim “if Christianity had been arrested in its growth by some fatal malady, the

world would have become Mithraist”.21 However, it is clear from the Christian

apologist’s writings that Early Christians felt threatened by this mystery cult from

the caves. So many of their rituals, beliefs, and even the deity were similar that there

could definitely be a rivalry between the two cults.

First, Tertullian the Christian apologist, who wrote in the 3 rd century, writes

that the “devil” imitates the same rituals as the Christians. Devil seemed to be a

correlation with Mithras.22 He wrote that the Mithraists performed their ritual meal

as a means of celebrating the resurrection. Apparently, Mithraists spoke about

eternal life, just as the Christians had done. They believed that they would be reborn

by the consumption of the food and wine.23 However, the ritual meal of bread and

wine was used throughout the ancient world. The Mithraists saw it as means of

celebrating Mithras’ victory over the “cosmic” bull. When Mithras had slain the great

bull, it was said that wheat came from its tail and wine came from its blood. Through

21
Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries , trans.
Richard Gordon (New York, New York: Routledge, 2001). Pg. 168.
22
Ibid. , 108.
23
Ibid. , 109.

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the bull’s flesh and blood, the world was saved and given prosperous nourishment. 24

By eating the body and blood of Christ, Christians believed that they were saved

from the judgment day that they believed would be upon them. The Mithraists

would also speak their sacred texts over the ritual food, just as the Christians did. 25

Tertullian also writes that the Mithraists use water as a means of purifying the

initiate, just as the early Christians did with their baptisms.

Finally, there is a strange similarity between the Christian’s sign of the cross

on the forehead and the Mithraic “mark” on some of the Mithraist’s foreheads.

Tertullian states the Christians made a sign of the cross upon their foreheads, but it

was made with a thumb and made no imprint upon the skin. One can only imagine

that this “cross” was a representation of the cross that Christ was crucified upon.

However, Tertullian goes on to say that Mithras marked his soldiers with his “mark”.

He does not explain what this “mark” was, but some archeological evidence may

point to the Mithraic “mark”. Upon the Grand Ludovisi sarcophagi (figures 7), it was

noted by an art historian that one of the soldiers (Most likely the commander of the

troops since he is defended by the other troops and the only one to not be wearing a

helmet) had a strange mark upon his forehead. Sure enough there on the soldier’s

forehead was an “X” (figure 8).26 Turcan does not seem to be definite about this

mark being a Mithraic mark, but there are some pieces of information that this artist

may have wished to put within this work that we are not picking up that make this

24
Ibid. , 110.
25
Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries , trans.
Richard Gordon (New York, New York: Routledge, 2001). Pg. 110.
26
Robert Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wiley-
Blackwell, 1996). Pg. 244.

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THE Mithraic “mark” Tertullian wrote about. First, the sarcophagi shows a battle

fought against what appear to be Gallic warriors or Germanian warriors, two groups

of enemies that militaristic Mithraic soldiers would have fought. Second, the

sarcophagi dates to about 249-251 AD, during which the emperor Decius reigned

and issued his persecution of Christians in 250 AD. This edict declared that all

peoples in the Empire needed to sacrifice to the gods, with written proof that they

had done it. During this persecution, no one would wish to let anyone know that

they would be a Christian, let alone a soldier of the Empire. 27 Also, you may find it

very interesting that the bust of Decius has a “mallet mark” near the top of his

forehead, the same area where the sarcophagi soldier has his “mark” (figure 9).

Perhaps a Christian wished to hide something about this “mark”, or was just very

upset with this persecutor of Christians. The third and final reason is that the mark

is an “X”. The Christian cross strictly looked like a “T” and could be death for a

soldier if it was found on his head. It stands to reason that the Mithraist soldier

would want their “mark” to be different from that of their rivals, the Christians.

Crosses in the shape of an “X” seem to be prevalent amongst the east where the

Persians first created crucifixion. Therefore, by all this reasoning, it stands that this

“mark” could be considered the Mithraic “mark” of Tertullian.

Now with these two cults, there must have been several differences between

the two, otherwise they could be considered one in the same. There are many

differences between the two found in their meeting areas, their demographics, and

their leadership and sacred texts.

27
Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price, Religions of Rome: A History, Vol. 1, 2
vols. (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998). Pg. 239.

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 When it comes to the meeting places of the Christians and that of the

Mithraists, there was a definite difference between the two. The Christians seemed

to worship publically and only went into secret when Diocletian set the great

persecutions in place. Some of the Christian apologists wrote that it was suspicious

for the Mithraists to hold their rituals in secret underground. Many of the Mithraists

were accused of human sacrifice, which is why they held their rituals in secret.

However, this was a fictitious rumor spread by the Christians to try and defame

Mithraism.28

Another difference was within their initiations and rituals. As I have said

before, women were not initiated into Mithraism, but were allowed to make

dedications to the god Mithras. Women were seen as an anti-thesis of civilized

values, which may have also tied in with the pledge of celibacy as well. 29 Women

were allowed to worship Christ and some were also allowed to be church leaders or

deaconesses. However, celibacy was also found within Christianity, but it was for

the reasoning that one should not hold on to earthly ties with the judgment day

coming, rather than a moral conviction, which dealt with Mithraism. Finally, as far as

we know, there are no surviving pieces of evidence that show that Mithraism had

sacred texts. A surviving papyrus from Paris gives possible evidence to a Mithraic

“liturgy” but other than that we do not have any other forms of sacred texts. 30

28
Robert Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wiley-
Blackwell, 1996). Pg. 239.
29
Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price, Religions of Rome: A History, Vol. 1, 2
vols. (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998). Pg. 298.
30
Marvin W. Meyer, The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook (New York, New York:
Harper and Row, 1987). Pg. 211.

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Whereas the Christians survived, and their sacred texts were praised and copied

many times.

This all leads to of course sadly, the fall of one of these rivals, because one

cannot survive while the other survives unfortunately. This being said, we have

reached the final part of this “Mithraic” saga.

Part IV: Mithras, the Forgotten Sun

With the decline of Christianity by many of the emperors’ persecutions,

Mithraism was able to rise. However, it would not be able to survive due to internal

issues and external issues. The internal issues as I have stated earlier, were mainly

that women were not allowed within the cult and thus would have dwindled their

numbers drastically, especially in the long run. The other main internal reason was

its low-scale focus on the future. With small ranges of demographics for their cult,

Mithras was really only popular in areas such as Rome, Gallia, and Germania.

Christianity was able to spread all over from Syria in the east to areas of Spain in the

Iberian lands. When Constantine came to power, Mithraism was already dwindling

from the rise of Christianity and the move of the capital to Constantinople rather

than Rome. However, our decline of Mithraism begins before Constantine and brings

us to what we call the “Third Century Crisis”.

Within this period of the Empire, many emperors such as Decius persecuted

the Christians and soon Mithraism saw a slight rise with traditional cults being

promoted. Even when Valerian exiled many of the Christians for not sacrificing, and

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threatened them with death for practicing their rituals in 257 AD, Mithraism could

see a light of hope in survival.31 That light however was soon dimmed slightly when

a humiliating tragedy befell the Empire. In 260 AD, Valerian engaged the Persian

king of the Sassanid Empire in battle in what used to be Parthian lands. It was in this

battle that Valerian was defeated and his armies decimated. Valerian was captured

by the Sassanids and was executed after humiliation by their king. The early

Christians were quick to blame the Mithraists for the defeat, seeing that their god

came from the “Persian” lands, and soon many of the Mithraists began to see their

future slowly dissipating.32 Thankfully, the Mithraists found another ray of hope in

the future emperors.

Emperors such as Aurelian brought a new deity from the east and the people

saw that this new deity was involved with all of Aurelian’s victories in the east and

the north. This new deity was called “Sol Invictus” or “Unconquered Sun”. Many

people soon began to correspond the sun god Mithras with this new deity, and it

was not long before the two of them were fused together. This lasted till about the

time of the Tetrarchy in which four men ran the Empire: Diocletian as head

emperor, Maxentius, Licinius, and Constantine.

After Constantine had defeated Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD,

Constantine began to institute that a new divinity had aided him in the battle. He

claimed that the god of the Christians had helped him win the battle, and he slowly

became the Christians new patron. In 313 AD, Constantine and Licinius legalized

31
Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price, Religions of Rome: A History, Vol. 1, 2
vols. (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998). Pg. 241.
32
Robert Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wiley-
Blackwell, 1996). Pg. 245.

15
Christianity, but also legalized all other religions as well. There was now religious

tolerance in the Empire. However, this would soon change when Constantine

wished to rise above the other rulers. Diocletian had died, and he saw his

opportunity against Licinius. They engaged in battle, Licinius running his banners

with Mithras and Constantine running his banners with the symbol for the Christian

god.33 Constantine won the battle, and the Mithraic cult now saw its decline coming

to a sharp ending. Under Constantine’s sons, pagan cults soon all felt a tightening

noose upon their life.

There was however, one last peak of hope for all the pagan cults. When Julian

came to power in 361 AD, he sought to revive the traditional pagan ways of Rome.

He limited the church’s power within Rome and tried to strengthen the power of the

pagan cults. However, in 363 AD he was killed in battle and all hope for the pagan

traditions was gone.

After Julian’s reign, the Christians attacked mithraeums all over and took out

statues of Mithras. An iconoclasm took place against the Mithraists and they would

not survive this persecution. Within a decade, the cult seemed to have disappeared

by means of the Christians, and their use of Roman power. By the edict of

Theodosius around 380 AD outlawing all religions except Christianity and Judaism.

Mithraism was a forgotten religion spoken of by the Christian apologists such as

Tertullian and Justin Martyr, and by the pagan apologists who defended the already

“dead” religions. Many of these pagan apologists asked Christian leaders how their

religion differed from the pagan religions when they had a similar “savior religion”.

33
Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries , trans.
Richard Gordon (New York, New York: Routledge, 2001). Pg. 170.

16
The Christian apologists stated that the Devil created these other “messiahs” in

order to stray the world until the true Messiah came. It seems that the early

Christians made up this excuse to merely refute the possibility of error. Christians

used tales of Jesus to show their domination over pagan religions. For instance, one

will definitely look at the “three kings” very differently after reading these words.

Early depictions of the “three kings” or “magi” coming to give praise to Jesus show

the “three kings” with the stereotypical “Phrygian” cap found on mostly all

depictions of Mithras (figure 10).34 The “magi” were considered the priests of

Mithraism from the east in Persia. The Christians used this as a means of

propaganda showing the “true” sun god, Christus.

Well we have reached the final area of our tour. Mithras was officially ended

along with the other ancient religions in 380 AD, and the early Christians desecrated

his sacred places. However, many apologists seemed to still go against the

Christians, whether it is a sculptor from the 3rd century, or even the Christians with

their depictions of the Magi. One cannot help but wonder though and play “what if?”

history: what would this world be like if Constantine had lost against Licinius? What

if Julian had not been killed in battle? What if Valerian had defeated the Sassanids?

What if the Roman Empire chose the wrong “Messiah”? With all the evidence in

place, it’s very hard to keep one’s beliefs straight. However, a great man once told

me that “history is about fact, not truth…if you want truth, philosophy is right down

the hall”, and with archaeology, fact is all you can find.

34
Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries , trans.
Richard Gordon (New York, New York: Routledge, 2001). Pg. 169.

17
Illustrations Found Within

18
 Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 5
Figure 4

19
Figure 6

Figure 7

20
 Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10

Bibliography
Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price. Religions of Rome: A History. Vol. 1. 2 vols.
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Clauss, Manfred. The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries . Translated
by Richard Gordon. New York, New York: Routledge, 2001.
MacMullen, Ramsay. Paganism in the Roman Empire. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1983.
Meyer, Marvin W. The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook. New York, New York: Harper
and Row, 1987.
Turcan, Robert. The Cults of the Roman Empire. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Wiley-
Blackwell, 1996.

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