Mithraism....Lion-headed figure from the Sidon Mithraeum. Dedicated 500 CE by Flavius Gerontios (CIMRM 78 & 79), now at the Louvre... the souls are elicited in flames by the caduceus

One of the most characteristic and poorly-understood features of the Mysteries is the naked lion-headed figure often found in Mithraic temples, named by the modern scholars with descriptive terms such as leontocephaline (lion-headed) or leontocephalus (lion-head). He is entwined by a serpent (or two serpents, like a caduceus), with the snake’s head often resting on the lion’s head. The lion’s mouth is often open, giving a horrifying impression. He is usually represented as having four wings, two keys (sometimes a single key), and a scepter in his hand. Sometimes the figure is standing on a globe inscribed with a diagonal cross. In the figure shown here, the four wings carry the symbols of the four seasons, and a thunderbolt is engraved on the breast. At the base of the statue are the hammer and tongs of Vulcan, the cock, and the wand of Mercury. A variation the same figure, but with a human head instead of the lion-mask, is also found, but is rare..Although animal-headed figures are prevalent in contemporary Egyptian and Gnostic mythological representations, an exact parallel to the Mithraic leontocephaline figure has not been found.[47] The name of the figure has been deciphered from dedicatory inscriptions to be Arimanius, a Latinized form of the name Ahriman – a demonic figure in the Zoroastrian pantheon. Arimanius is known from inscriptions to have been a god in the Mithraic cult as seen, for example, in images from the Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (CIMRM) such as 222 from Ostia, 369 from Rome, and 1773 and 1775 from Pannonia.Some scholars identify the lion-man as Aion, or Zurvan, or Cronus, or Chronos, while others assert that it is a version of the Zoroastrian Ahriman.[There is also speculation that the figure is the Gnostic demiurge, (Ariel) Ialdabaoth.[51] Although the exact identity of the lion-headed figure is debated by scholars, it is largely agreed that the god is associated with time and seasonal change.] An occultist, D. J. Cooper, speculates to the contrary that the lion-headed figure is not a god, but rather represents the spiritual state achieved in Mithraism's "adept" level, the Leo (lion) degree.
Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries, was a mystery religion centred around the god Mithras that was practised in the Roman Empire from about the 1st to the 4th century. The religion was inspired by Persian worship of the god Mithra (proto-Indo-Iranian Mitra), 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.[1] The mysteries were popular in the Roman military.Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those “united by the handshake”.[3] They met in underground temples, called mithraea, which survive in large numbers. The cult appears to have had its centre in Rome.Numerous archaeological finds, including meeting places, monuments and artifacts, have contributed to modern knowledge about Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire. The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol (the Sun). About 420 sites have yielded materials related to the cult. Among the items found are about 1000 inscriptions, 700 examples of the bull-killing scene (tauroctony), and about 400 other monuments.[6] It has been estimated that there would have been at least 680 mithraea in Rome. No written narratives or theology from the religion survive; limited information can be derived from the inscriptions and brief or passing references in Greek and Latin literature. Interpretation of the physical evidence remains problematic and contested.The Romans regarded the mysteries as having Persian or Zoroastrian sources. Since the early 1970s the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between Persian Mithra-worship and the Roman Mithraic mysteries. In this context, Mithraism has sometimes been viewed as a rival of early Christianity with similarities such as liberator-saviour, hierarchy of adepts (bishops, presbyters, deacons), communal meal and a hard struggle of Good and Evil (bull-killing/crucifixion).The name Mithras (Latin, equivalent to Greek "Μίθρας",is a form of Mithra, the name of an Old Persian god – a relationship understood by Mithraic scholars since the days of Franz Cumont. An early example of the Greek form of the name is in a 4th century BCE work by Xenophon, the Cyropaedia, which is a biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great.The exact form of a Latin or classical Greek word varies due to the grammatical process of declension. There is archeological evidence that in Latin worshippers wrote the nominative form of the god’s name as "Mithras". However, in Porphyry’s Greek text De Abstinentia («Περὶ ἀποχῆς ἐμψύχων»), there is a reference to the now-lost histories of the Mithraic mysteries by Euboulus and Pallas, the wording of which suggests that these authors treated the name "Mithra" as an indeclinable foreign word.Related deity-names in other languages include.Sanskrit Mitra (मित्रः), the name of a god praised in the Rig Veda. In Sanskrit, "mitra" means "friend" or "friendship".the form mi-it-ra-, found in an inscribed peace treaty between the Hittites and the kingdom of Mitanni, from about 1400 BCE.Iranian "Mithra" and Sanskrit "Mitra" are believed to come from an Indo-Iranian word mitra meaning contract / agreement / covenant.Modern historians have different conceptions about whether these names refer to the same god or not. John R. Hinnells has written of Mitra / Mithra / Mithras as a single deity worshipped in several different religions.On the other hand, David Ulansey considers the bull-slaying Mithras to be a new god who began to be worshipped in the 1st Century BCE, and to whom an old name was applied.Mary Boyce, a researcher of ancient Iranian religions, writes that even though Roman Empire Mithraism seems to have had less Iranian content than historians used to think, none the less “as the name Mithras alone shows, this content was of some importance.”.Mithra was the god of light, purity, goodness, truth and occupied an important place in the faith of the ancient India-European peoples.There are various opinions on the spread of the Mithra (or Mithras, Mitra) cult, but the most reliable one is the first written protocol about the Mithraic cult from 14th century BC.In the treaty text signed between the powerful kingdom of Mitanni (Mitanni was situated in the North of Armenian Plateau) of king Shativaza (unknown-1350 BC), and the Hittite king of Suppiluliuma (1380-1346 BC) we can see the name of Mithra. So the Mithraic cult was mentioned in Persian cuneiform inscriptions and in the Indian Vedic texts since the fourth century BC.As a result of the religious revolution of Ardashir II, the Sassanid King of Persia in 395 AD, the cults of Mithra and Anahita, the Iranian goddess, were imported to Persia and combined with Zoroastrianism. In the first century BC the cult of Mithra penetrated into Rome, and in the third century AD this religion had become international and spread from India to the Black Sea, from the Balkans to Britain and Spain. Now there are more than four hundred Mithraic temple ruins throughout the Europe.So at first, in fourth century BC this cult spread from the Armenian Plateau to South Persia and India and in first century BC to North-West Europe. The Mysteries of Mithras.....The upper grades, known as the “Participants,” were: 4th . Lion, of the element of FireI died as a mineral and became a vegetable, I passed away as vegetation and became animal. Leaving the animal state I became man. Why should I fear? When was I less through death? I shall once more die: from manhood, to soar with angels: and I must pass beyond angelhood—all perish but God. When I have given up my angel self, I shall be what no mind has conceived.—Jalaluddin Rum.Perhaps it was fitting to begin the following article on the Mithraic Mysteries on the day of the recent Winter Solstice. According to tradition, the god Mithras was born of (“sprang from”) the rock on the shortest day of the year, his birthday celebration occurring on December 25, marking the return of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun.Prior to the vision of Roman Emperor Constantine later establishing Christianity as state religion, a fraternity centered upon the Rites of Mithras once captivated the Western world. Originating in India and later spreading to Persia, Mithraism moved across Europe along with the sprawl of the late Roman Empire.Plutarch, in his Life of Pompey credits the introduction of Mithraism in Rome to pirates arriving from Cilicia, an ancient region south of the Tarsus Mountains in southeast Asia Minor along the Mediterranean Sea.The Indo-Persian myth describing Ahura-Mazda’s battle of Light against Darkness casts Mithras as an associate of the Sun.As the tale begins, Mithras captures the wild bull, the first creation of Ahura-Mazda, and confines it within a cave. The bull escapes, and the Sun sends his messenger the Raven to look for it. Mithras is also sent by Ahura-Mazda and with the help of his dog, he recaptures the beast. He drags it back to the cave and straddles it, cutting the bull’s throat. From the resulting issue of blood springs corn, wheat, and other forms of life. In retaliation, Ahriman, the Chief of Darkness, orders his minions, the ant, snake, and scorpion, to drink up the miraculous fluid, but to no avail: it spreads all over the world giving it life. In a gesture of acknowledgement, the Sun kneels before Mithras offering a crown to seal a covenant with him. The two part ways after a sacramental meal.As we shall see, the reenactment of the myth in the rites of initiation involved passing through seven grades that correspond to seven planets. The worship of Mithras at this time required the construction of a Mithraea, a temple in the form of an underground vault or “cave.” The temple interior consisted of a torch-lit hall with side benches culminating in a central sculpted image of Mithras. Adorned with a Phrygian (“Persian”) cap, he is depicted holding a bull by the nostrils from behind in the act of stabbing it in the neck with a dagger. His image is often accompanied by two torchbearers, possibly representing the Sun and the Moon: Cautes, with upraised torch, and Cautopates, with torch pointed earthward. The ceiling of the sanctuary was painted to resemble the starry “cave” of the night sky. Franz Cumont has mapped the dispersion of various Mithraea across Europe and Asia Minor. The number of them, and of other related Mithraic artifacts is astounding, and indeed, many temples remain intact to this day.
Roman Mithraism appropriated and adapted occult knowledge from the Pythagorean Mysteries, through the astronomical revelations of Hipparchus and the later speculations of the Stoics.Accordingly, Mithraic scholar David Ulansey feels that The Rites of Mithra may be explained by examining the astral religion of the Hellenistic period. The position of the images depicted in the sanctuary suggest that they are directly related to constellations observable at that time: the bull to Taurus, scorpion to Scorpio, snake to Hydra, raven to Corvus, dog to Canus minor, lion to Leo major.Ulansey connects Mithras with the Greek god Perseus of the constellation just above Taurus, who was also known as “the Persian.” Perseus was popularly worshipped in Cilicia, home to the pirates described by Plutarch. In myth, Perseus kills the Gorgon and similarly, as we have seen, Mithras kills the bull. The astral adaptation is a metaphor for the precession of the equinoxes signaling the end of the Age of Taurus, and the beginning of the Age of Aries. Mithras is seen as a diety with the power to move the universe on its cosmic axis, one who controls Fate. Identification with such a God through ritual would seem to confer similar gifts upon the initiate, bestowing the promise of everlasting life.8)One writer has labeled Mithraism “the Alchemy of the Roman World.”
However, initiation into the Mysteries of Mithras in a Roman Mithraea involved austerities and hardships that would make the most rugged Freemason of today blanch.10) The candidate entered the ritual space blindfolded and naked. An oath of secrecy was obtained. Ordeals by fire, by branding upon the forehead, scourging, striking with the leg of a bull, as well as the laying on of hands, pouring on of water, and the bestowing of a solar crown upon the head are reported. Masks and costumes representing key figures found in the myth were worn by participants who had previously achieved the various grades in the hierarchy of the Rite.The “grades” accompanying initiation correspond to the principal participants and their activity found within the myth.The lower grades, known collectively as “Servitors” were in ascending order: 1st. Raven, of the element of Air, is under the sign of Mercury messenger of the gods. Symbols of this degree include the raven, cup, and caduceus of Mercury. 2nd. Bride(groom?), of the element of Water, is under the sign of Venus. Fragments suggest that symbols of this degree included a lamp and a crown. The joining of hands was part of this grade, hence the allusion to a “wedding ceremony.” 3rd. Soldier, of the element of Earth, is under the sign of Mars. Symbols are the soldier’s pouch worn over his shoulder, a helmet, and a lance.The upper grades, known as the “Participants,” were: 4th . Lion, of the element of Fire, under the sign of Jupiter. Symbols of this degree include a fire shovel, a sistrum, and thunderbolts. 5th. Persian, of the element of Water, under the sign of the Moon. Symbols include a hooked knife, a scythe or plow, and the moon and a star. 6th. Courier of the Sun, of the element of Fire, under the sign of the Sun. Symbols are a torch, crown, and a whip (to drive his chariot across the sky). 7th. Father (Pater) under the sign of Saturn. Symbols include a ring or dish, a staff, the Phrygian cap, and a sickle. The holder of this highest rank dressed like Mithras himself. During initiations and other regular ritual activity including sacramental meals, the holders of the various grades were regarded as the earthly representatives of celestial, archetypal participants in the myth.Were the Rites of Mithras “co-alchemic?” Not in the Roman rite, which was most popular among men in the military. At its peak, it was a warrior’s religion. However, evidence suggests that there were fraternal relationships with women from the Cybele-cult, who possibly shared the taurobolium—a “baptism” in bull’s blood, with initiates of Mithraism. This point is controversial, and it is not clear how it may have been performed in a typically small Mithraea.A final sculptural image of Mithras depicts him as the Aeonic Mithras, the Mithraic Cronus, representative of Boundless Time.According to Armenian ancient beliefs, 365 saints are living in the heart of the Sun and each of them is the owner of one day of the year, appointed in order to prevent evil.It is said that within the salty sea (Lake of the Van), there was a rock, and when heaven was darkened the light fell on the rock and shortly after was born Mithra, almost naked but with a Phrygian hat on his head, and torch in his left hand, and it illuminated the world. By killing the bull, Mithra was creating the world from its parts.Strabo chronicled that during the ruling of Achaemenid Empire the Armenian Satrap donated 20,000 horses to the annual Mithra celebration. The observations dedicated to Mithra were celebrated by Armenians in the Month of Areg, which coincided with Iranian month of Mithra. The Armenian seventh month is named Mehekan and each month’s eighth day was called Mithra.Mithra, the god of light, kindness and contracts was indeed born from the very rock—this characteristic is affirmed either by archaeological finds or by the Geghard temple in Armenia, which is carved into the rocky landscape.In 1953-54 during research in Eskikale (Turkey) a tunnel was unearthed which reached depths of 160 meters (525 feet) consisting of a long mountain slope ending with two circular rooms. It is similar to the tunnel at Bagaritch in Upper Armenia with the temple complex dedicated to Mithra.From the mythological point of view, tunnels are the place of birth of Mithra as it said “the beam, separated from the star, penetrates into the depths of the tunnel, giving birth to Mithra, from where he ascended to heaven.” The carved temple of Geghard has also been seen as the birthplace of Mithra during the pre-Christian period.In Vedic texts Mithra is the god who protected the Sun and is always mentioned with Varuna.In Indian sources Mithra is the god of love, light, tenderness and sun shine. The closeness and affection of Mithra and Varuna is inseparable and stable. Varuna is the god of heaven and night. Mithra is the god of light, sunshine and day. These gods of night and day are fellows in cult rituals. Varuna is also the god of waters and seas , and is the husband of Varun, god of wine.Vedic texts are notable for the main ritual of the Mithraic cult, such as sacrificing a bull, which penetrated to Europe. One of the noblest gods is Soma (in Avesta, the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, he is instead named Haoma). Soma is the god of invincible power, the god who cures all the diseases. It is Soma who gave life, wealth, and wish fulfillment.In Sanskrit, the name Soma is used for the Moon. They are the same only by name, however, as all the characteristics of the Moon are attributed to a goddess of plants. So, they believed the moon presided over healing plants and thus sacrificed oblations and offerings in worship rituals.Also Soma is the name of a sacred plant. From the leaf of this plant was made a strong alcoholic beverage loved by the gods, and which was dedicated to the gods. During rituals, priests drank this beverage in order to come close to and join with the gods. Soma was the life deity and life essence, and even though the gods received their eternity from this beverage, mortal men could attain temporary ‘eternity’ by drinking the beverage too, allegorically meaning the joining with the God and Essence.According to legend a riot arose between the gods. The god Shiva got involved in the formidable fighting and in one stoke divided god Soma in two, which demonstrates the tradition of sacred bull killing.In other versions the gods decided to kill Soma. The god Wayuu ordered the execution and asked help from Mithra-Varuna. Mithra refused to help and said, “I wish love, boon and affection to everybody.” At the end Mithra agreed to participate in ritual killing in order to benefit from the sacrifice. After the killing they crushed Soma between two stones. It was Mithra’s responsibility to spill on the ground the part of his Soma juice from which would germinate the plants and the animals.In pictures and sculptures of the bull sacrifice ritual, Mithra is often seen turning his face and eyes away, indicating the rejection or distaste of this action. But the bull is the source of life, and the ritual is necessary.“A Being with lion’s head, and eagles wings, and brute’s feet, and human body, enwrapped with a serpent, standing on a globe and holding the keys of life and death in its two hands….The Autozoon, or Living Creature in itself the summation of all forms of life, including man.”14)“It was this God, that the adepts of the mysteries placed at the head of the celestial hierarchy, and considered the first Principal.”15) Surrounded by the signs of the zodiac, he is the winged, invincible Soul emerging from the Cosmic Egg, coiled in the form of the rising serpent representing the manifestation of matter out of the central mystery of Eternity.The fraternal Mithraic Rites fulfill the function of a Mystery School designed to join the temporal nature of the initiate with the Eternal Reality of Spiritual Truth. Establishing a Golden Chain linking Heaven and Earth through the intermediary of human experience, the follower of Mithras walks a path mirroring that of the stars moving through the Universe, and beyond, into a timeless realm that truly, no mind may conceive.Mithraism.......Lion-headed figure... He will say: 'Where ... ?One of the most characteristic and poorly-understood features of the Mysteries is the naked lion-headed figure often found in Mithraic temples, named by the modern scholars with descriptive terms such as leontocephaline (lion-headed) or leontocephalus (lion-head). He is entwined by a serpent (or two serpents, like a caduceus), with the snake’s head often resting on the lion’s head. The lion’s mouth is often open, giving a horrifying impression. He is usually represented as having four wings, two keys (sometimes a single key), and a scepter in his hand. Sometimes the figure is standing on a globe inscribed with a diagonal cross. In the figure shown here, the four wings carry the symbols of the four seasons, and a thunderbolt is engraved on the breast. At the base of the statue are the hammer and tongs of Vulcan, the cock, and the wand of Mercury. A variation the same figure, but with a human head instead of the lion-mask, is also found, but is rare.Although animal-headed figures are prevalent in contemporary Egyptian and Gnostic mythological representations, an exact parallel to the Mithraic leontocephaline figure has not been found.The name of the figure has been deciphered from dedicatory inscriptions to be Arimanius, a Latinized form of the name Ahriman – a demonic figure in the Zoroastrian pantheon. Arimanius is known from inscriptions to have been a god in the Mithraic cult as seen, for example, in images from the Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (CIMRM) such as 222 from Ostia, 369 from Rome, and 1773 and 1775 from Pannonia.Some scholars identify the lion-man as Aion, or Zurvan, or Cronus, or Chronos, while others assert that it is a version of the Zoroastrian Ahriman.There is also speculation that the figure is the Gnostic demiurge, (Ariel) Ialdabaoth.[51] Although the exact identity of the lion-headed figure is debated by scholars, it is largely agreed that the god is associated with time and seasonal change.[52] An occultist, D. J. Cooper, speculates to the contrary that the lion-headed figure is not a god, but rather represents the spiritual state achieved in Mithraism's "adept" level, the Leo (lion) degree. According to M. J. Vermaseren, the Mithraic New Year and the birthday of Mithras was on December 25.[54][55] However, Beck disagrees strongly.[56] Clauss states: "the Mithraic Mysteries had no public ceremonies of its own. The festival of Natalis Invicti, held on 25 December, was a general festival of the Sun, and by no means specific to the Mysteries of Mithras."Mithraic initiates were required to swear an oath of secrecy and dedication,[58] and some grade rituals involved the recital of a catechism, wherein the initiate was asked a series of questions pertaining to the initiation symbolism and had to reply with specific answers. An example of such a catechism, apparently pertaining to the Leo grade, was discovered in a fragmentary Egyptian papyrus (P.Berolinensis 21196), He will say: 'Where ... ?... he is/(you are?) there (then/thereupon?) at a loss?' Say: ... Say: 'Night'. He will say: 'Where ... ?' ... Say: 'All things ...' (He will say): '... you are called ... ?' Say: 'Because of the summery ...' ... having become ... he/it has the fiery ... (He will say): '... did you receive/inherit?' Say: 'In a pit'. He will say: 'Where is your ...?... (Say): '...(in the...) Leonteion.' He will say: 'Will you gird?' The (heavenly?) ...(Say): '... death'. He will say: 'Why, having girded yourself, ...?' '... this (has?) four tassels. Very sharp and ... '... much'. He will say: ...? (Say: '... because of/through?) hot and cold'. He will say: ...? (Say): '... red ... linen'. He will say: 'Why?' Say: '... red border; the linen, however, ...' (He will say): '... has been wrapped?' Say: 'The savior's ...' He will say: 'Who is the father?' Say: 'The one who (begets?) everything ...' (He will say): '('How ?)... did you become a Leo?' Say: 'By the ... of the father'. ... Say: 'Drink and food'. He will say '...Almost no Mithraic scripture or first-hand account of its highly secret rituals survives;[29] with the exception of the aforementioned oath and catechism, and the document known as the Mithras Liturgy, from 4th century Egypt, whose status as a Mithraist text has been questioned by scholars including Franz Cumont.[60][61] The walls of Mithraea were commonly whitewashed, and where this survives it tends to carry extensive repositories of graffiti; and these, together with inscriptions on Mithraic monuments, form the main source for Mithraic texts.Nevertheless, it is clear from the archeology of numerous Mithraea that most rituals were associated with feasting – as eating utensils and food residues are almost invariably found. These tend to include both animal bones and also very large quantities of fruit residues.[63] The presence of large amounts of cherry-stones in particular would tend to confirm mid-summer (late June, early July) as a season especially associated with Mithraic festivities. The Virunum album, in the form of an inscribed bronze plaque, records a Mithraic festival of commemoration as taking place on 26 June 184. Beck argues that religious celebrations on this date are indicative of special significance being given to the Summer solstice; but this time of the year coincides with ancient recognition of the solar maximum at midsummer, whilst iconographically identical holidays such as Litha, St John's Eve, and Jāņi are observed also.For their feasts, Mithraic initiates reclined on stone benches arranged along the longer sides of the Mithraeum – typically there might be room for 15 to 30 diners, but very rarely many more than 40 men.[64] Counterpart dining rooms, or triclinia, were to be found above ground in the precincts of almost any temple or religious sanctuary in the Roman empire, and such rooms were commonly used for their regular feasts by Roman 'clubs', or collegia. Mithraic feasts probably performed a very similar function for Mithraists as the collegia did for those entitled to join them; indeed, since qualification for Roman collegia tended to be restricted to particular families, localities or traditional trades, Mithraism may have functioned in part as providing clubs for the unclubbed.[65] However, the size of the Mithraeum is not necessarily an indication of the size of the congregation.Each Mithraeum had several altars at the further end, underneath the representation of the tauroctony, and also commonly contained considerable numbers of subsidiary altars, both in the main Mithraeum chamber and in the ante-chamber or narthex. These altars, which are of the standard Roman pattern, each carry a named dedicatory inscription from a particular initiate, who dedicated the altar to Mithras "in fulfillment of his vow", in gratitude for favours received. Burned residues of animal entrails are commonly found on the main altars indicating regular sacrificial use. However, Mithraea do not commonly appear to have been provided with facilities for ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals (a highly specialised function in Roman religion), and it may be presumed that a Mithraeum would have made arrangements for this service to be provided for them in co-operation with the professional victimarius[68] of the civic cult. Prayers were addressed to the Sun three times a day, and Sunday was especially sacred.It is doubtful whether Mithraism had a monolithic and internally consistent doctrine.It may have varied from location to location.However, the iconography is relatively coherent.[38] It had no predominant sanctuary or cultic centre; and, although each Mithraeum had its own officers and functionaries, there was no central supervisory authority. In some Mithraea, such as that at Dura Europos, wall paintings depict prophets carrying scrolls,[72] but no named Mithraic sages are known, nor does any reference give the title of any Mithraic scripture or teaching. It is known that intitates could transfer with their grades from one Mithraeum to another.HomeThe Red Cap of Liberty is also known as the Phrygian Cap, Mithraic Cap, sacrificial Cap, mitre and in French as the bonnet de laLiberté or bonnet rouge. It symbolizes the sacred acts of Initiation, Sacrifice, Liberty, Revolution, Enlightenment, and Brotherhood...It has been worn by various Abrahamic priesthoods over the last few thousand years and also newly emancipated slaves since the time of Ancient Rome. The red cap not only an ancient symbol, it is one of the oldest magical talismans that is still in use to this very day by various religions, secret societies, and governments all around the world.British Alchemist and Rosicrucian, Hargrave Jennings had written, "The Phrygian Cap, the classic Mithraic Cap, sacrificial Cap, and mitre all derive from one common ancestor." He continues, The whole is a sign of “initiation,” and of baptism of a peculiar kind. The Phrygian cap, ever after this first inauguration, has stood as the sign of the “Enlightened.” The heroic figures in most Gnostic Gems, which we give in our illustrations, have caps of this kind.""Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main. Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again! Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn, Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!”~From Song to Mithras, Rudyard Kipling."The significance of Mithraism as the first historical, pan-Eurasian religion has never been fully appreciated by European scholarship, which persistently has tried to draw an Iron Curtain between the East and West. In various forms, however, Mithraism has left an indelible and defining mark on the religious history of that vast continent. Christianity was at the same time the greatest benefactor as well as the most destructive scourge of Mithraic tradition. While destroying or vandalizing the material cultural remains of that once great religion, early Christians also copied and co-opted its outward forms in many details, building upon its successes and learning from its limitations. Indeed, both literally and figuratively, Christianity was built upon Mithraic foundations.2Such dependence was a great liability to a Church claiming a new and original dispensation, and every effort was made to suppress the commonalities. For the most part, this meant emphasizing the more obvious (and superficial) mythological and dogmatic differences, but this was hardly enough to demonstrate an essential practical difference between the visionary Eucharistic practices of the two competing Mystery Religions. In fact, the shared gnosis seemed to validate the syncretism and co-option that had so obviously occurred—even in the outward expressions—of the old and new “official” religions of the Empire. For the ancients, such a situation was the norm; that the unitive experiences elicited by the various Mysteries all demonstrated an essential and universal identification not only between the rites of particular gods and goddesses, but also between deities and the celebrant, and between the celebrant and the co-creative Cosmos as a whole.
Given such an underlying assumption of gnosis as a kind of basic and defining experience at the esoteric core of all the Mysteries, dogmatic and doctrinal differences were only of marginal concern and interest, and crass literal interpretations were easily abandoned in favor of a mythological richness infused and sacralized by a common gnosis.Mithraism, as we have shown, was a key and formative element in the radical syncretism that characterized much of Classical spirituality. Considered in these terms, it is important to note that Christianity came to stand in polar opposition to this synthesizing and comparatively tolerant attitude toward other religions. In fact, it is justifiable to consider the Christian claim, that of being the sole source of Salvation, as the only truly original and distinguishing characteristic of the new religion—this along with its insistence on the literal historical veracity of its Savior and His miracles. While Imperial Rome was singularly influential in popularizing and codifying both religions, we must recognize a common ecstatic and communal thread in them that starts in the earliest strata of Indo-European traditions and extends even into the present—intact in its esoteric, entheogenic essence.At the very root of the Mithraic Mysteries lay esoteric mythological, astrological, and pharmacological lore that was not easily to be suppressed, let alone destroyed. The long and almost unbelievably complex history of Mithraism in Eurasia had inseparably woven its mythopoeia into the very fabric of religious-intellectual, artistic, and literary culture throughout the Persian and Classical worlds. As Mithraism faded as a world religion, its venerable esoteric cannon became a river, fed by streams of derivative and original gnostic tradition. It is quite clearly this ancient torrent that sustained and characterized the post-Christian Hermetic and literary undercurrent, erupting throughout history in the various popular gnostic revivals, which were, repeatedly (and often violently), suppressed by the Church Triumphant, which opposed personal mysticism and insisted on imposing itself politically as the essential mediator with the deity.Surviving into modern times, and deriving from uncertain and legendary sources, Freemasonry3 is the most notable of the secret societies that have perpetuated the pre-Christian Mysteries. Although it is true that over the centuries the Masons have been accused of all manner of conspiratorial and diabolical activity (as has been the case with other ‘secret’ societies throughout history), this has been done with largely circumstantial evidence, partial understanding and paranoid zealotry. There can be no doubt, however, that Masonic lodges were indeed hotbeds of pro-revolutionary sentiment and the philosophies of the Enlightenment that opposed the feudal “Ancién Regime” with a “New World Order.”4 This new philosophy, in turn, was illuminated and inspired by the Classical Revival that had first found popular expression during the Renaissance. There can also be no doubt that Masonic membership was often made up of the social and intellectual elite who were the driving force behind the Revolutions that established the political reality of a new social paradigm—a paradigm that is at least as defining a characteristic of ‘modernity’ as the Industrial Revolution.Claiming to be the inheritors and preservers of ancient mysteries via direct lines of descent going back at least the time of the Knights Templar, Masonic symbolism does seem to betray a cohesive and accurate synopsis of the ancient Mysteries. Iconographic items such as the Sun, the all-seeing disembodied eye, the ouroboros, the sacred evergreen, and, most importantly for us, the red Phrygian cap atop a spear or Sword of the Accord are all elements well known to the ancient religions, possessing profound meanings to those initiates who learned of their true significance and interconnection.While most of these symbols are common to alchemical and Masonic imagery, the origins of the so-called ‘liberty pole’ and ‘liberty cap’ are less familiar. It goes without saying, however, that all elements are to be understood as cryptic references that simultaneously conceal and reveal arcane mysteries. The fundamental innovation promulgated in the revolutionary ideal is the dependence upon a kind of Natural Law—as well as the necessary and ongoing revelation of the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of citizens—as the nourishing and necessary spirit upon which a republican democracy might stand. Similarly, Thomas Jefferson appealed to the need for ‘eternal vigilance’ on the part of citizens in maintaining such a government.
While the American Revolution unfolded a world removed from the entrenched monarchies of Europe, the philosophical and political culture in which its revolutionary ideas fermented was fundamentally Continental. Encouraged by the American success, a democratic fervor set Europe—and especially France—ablaze with a call for an inevitable and radical reappraisal of basic political and social suppositions.The uncanny
correspondence between Mithraic, Alchemic, and revolutionary esoteric symbolism is clearly displayed in the various illuminated versions of the Declaration of the Rights of Man (Déclaration des droits de l’homme).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism

Taken in: France / Île-de-France / Paris / Quartier Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois (show map)

Taken on: April 1, 2016

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