Origins of Mithraismbirot.web.elte.hu/network2016/The_Origins_of_Mithras.pdf · 2016. 9. 7. ·...
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„Network Theory and Computer Modeling in the Study of Religion“, International Workshop August 29–September 4, 2016, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest Origins of Mithraism: Historical Backgroud Aleš Chalupa (in collaboration with Jan Fousek, Eva Výtvarová, Adam Mertel and Tomáš Hampejs) Department for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, [email protected]
Transcript of Origins of Mithraismbirot.web.elte.hu/network2016/The_Origins_of_Mithras.pdf · 2016. 9. 7. ·...
„Network Theory and Computer Modeling in the Study of Religion“,International Workshop August 29–September 4, 2016, EötvösLoránd University, Budapest
Origins of Mithraism:Historical Backgroud
Aleš Chalupa (in collaboration with Jan Fousek, Eva Výtvarová, Adam Mertel and Tomáš Hampejs)
Department for the Study of Religions, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, [email protected]
Research Problem
• The origins of Mithraism (also known as the Roman cult of Mithras or the Mysteries of Mithras).
Mithraism (the Roman Cult of Mithras)
• Mithras: an old Indo-European deity
• Known from:• India • Persia • Asia Minor• Rome
• Period of existence: cca 75-400 CE
• Attested in all provinces of the Roman Empire
• Three typical „structures“: 1) mithraeum, 2) tauroctony, 3) seven grades of initiation
When?
How?
Where?
When?
• The earliest Mithraic evidence comes from 75-125 CE.
• No securely dated evidence of the Roman cult of Mithras before this period.
How?
• Various scenarios (closely connected with the identification of the region from where the Roman cult of Mithras started to spread)
• Transformation (slow gradual process of „cultural hybridization“)
• Invention
Where?
• Different candidate regions…
• Persia (Cumont 1899, 1913)
• Asia Minor (Will 1978, Turcan 1993, Gordon 1978, Beck 1998 etc.)
• Bosporan Kingdon (Beskow 1978)
• Balkan Peninsula (Wikander 1951)
• Rome and Ostia (Clauss 1990)
Current state of the problem
• The question of the origins of Mithraism cannot be decided at present time.
• Competing hypotheses that do not allow verification (missing evidence)
• Early evidence is widely dispersed and points to no obvious „place of origin“.
The geographical distribution of Mithraic evidence, which possibly derivesfrom the early period of the cult's existence (□ = mithraeum; ∆ =inscription;☆ = literary text).© Adam Mertel.
Current state of the problem
• How was this wide and rapid transmission of Mithraism possible?
• The essential role of Roman army in the early spread of Mithraism
- Classical hypothesis of Franz Cumont (1899, 1913)
- Recently questioned by Richard L. Gordon (2009)
Thank you for your attention!
