| Mithra | |
|---|---|
God of Covenant and Light | |
 Relief fromTaq-e Bostan inKermanshahIran. In this relief,Ardashir II is in the middle and to his right isShapur II and to the left of the king, the god Mithra, with beams of light like thesun emanating from his head in all directions, and he is standing on asacred lotus flower.[1][2][3] | |
| Avestan | Miθra 𐬨𐬌𐬚𐬭𐬀 |
| Affiliation | The Thirty-Three Deities,Guardians of the Days of the Month, The Twelve Deities |
| Abode | Hara Berezaiti |
| Symbol | Sunlight, light, Lion,Cypress tree |
| Sacred flower | Scarlet Rose |
| Attributes | God of the Covenant, God of Light and Brightness, God of War, God of Truth, Guardian of the Covenant, Judge of Deeds on the Final Day |
| Day | 16th of each month in theIranian calendar،Sunday of each week |
| Mount | Chariot |
| Gender | Male |
| Temples | Mithraeum |
| Festivals | Mehregan,Yalda Night (Birth of Mithra) |
| Associated deities | Verethragna,Rashnu,Sraosha |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek | Mithras |
| Roman | Mitras |
| Vedic | Mitra |
| Armenian | Mihr |
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Mithra (Avestan:𐬨𐬌𐬚𐬭𐬀Miθra;Old Persian:𐎷𐎰𐎼Miθraʰ) is an ancient Iranian deity (yazata) of covenants, light, oaths, justice, the Sun,[4] contracts, and friendship.[5] In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector ofTruth (Asha), and the guardian of cattle, the harvest, andthe Waters.
TheRomans attributed theirMithraic mysteries toZoroastrianPersian sources relating to Mithra. Since the early 1970s, the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between the Persian and Roman traditions, making it, at most, the result of Romanperceptions of Zoroastrian ideas.[6]
Together with theVedic common nounmitra, theAvestan common nounmiθra derives fromProto-Indo-Iranian*mitrám (Mitra), from the root*mi- "to bind", with the "tool suffix"-tra- "causing to". Thus, etymologicallymitra/miθra means "that which causes binding", preserved in the Avestan word for "Covenant, Contract, Oath".[citation needed]
InMiddle Iranian languages (Middle Persian,Parthian etc.),miθra becamemihr, from whichNew Persianمهرmehr andArmenianՄիհրMihr andՄհերMher ultimately derive.
As a member of the Iranianahuric triad, along withAhura Mazda andAhura Berezaiti (Apam Napat), Mithra is an exalted figure. Alongside Apam Napat, Mithra maintains order in society, as well asKhvarenah, by which legitimate rule is maintained among the Iranian peoples.[7][8] Together withRashnu "Justice" andSraosha "Obedience", Mithra is one of the three judges at theChinvat Bridge, the "Bridge of Judgement" that all souls must cross. Unlike Sraosha, however, Mithra is not apsychopomp, a guide of souls to the place of the dead. Should the Good Thoughts, Words, and Deeds outweigh the Bad, Sraosha alone conveys the Soul across the Bridge. As the god of contract, Mithra is indeceivable, infallible, eternally watchful, and never-resting. Mithra is additionally the protector of cattle, and his stock epithet is "of Wide Pastures." He is guardian ofthe waters and ensures that those pastures receive enough of it.
Like most other divinities, Mithra is not mentioned by name in theGathas, the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and traditionally attributed toZoroaster himself, or by name in theYasna Haptanghaiti, a seven-verse section of theYasna liturgy that is linguistically as old as the Gathas. The lack of Mithra's presence in the Gathas was once a cause of some consternation amongst Iranians. An often repeated speculation of the first half of the 20th century was that the lack of any mention (i.e., Zoroaster's silence) of Mithra in these texts implied that Zoroaster had rejected Mithra. Thisex silentio speculation is no longer followed. Building on that speculation was another series of speculations, which postulated that the reason why Zoroaster did not mention Mithra was that the latter was the supreme God of a bloodthirsty group ofdaeva-worshipers that Zoroaster condemned. However, "no satisfactory evidence has yet been adduced to show that, before Zoroaster, the concept of a supreme god existed among the Iranians, or that among them Mithra – or any other divinity – ever enjoyed a separate cult of his or her own outside either their ancient or their Zoroastrian pantheons."[9]
The AvestanHymn to Mithra (Yasht 10) is the longest, and one of the best-preserved, of theYashts. Mithra is described in theZoroastrianAvesta scriptures as "Mithra of Wide Pastures, of the Thousand Ears, and of the Myriad Eyes," (Yasna 1:3),[10] "the Lofty, and the Everlasting... the Province Ruler," (Yasna 1:11),[10] "theYazad (Divinity) of the Spoken Name" (Yasna 3:5),[10] and "the Holy," (Yasna 3:13).[10] TheKhorda Avesta (Book of Common Prayer) also refer to Mithra in the Litany to the Sun, "Homage to Mithra of Wide Cattle Pastures," (Khwarshed Niyayesh 5),[11] "Whose Word is True, who is of the Assembly, Who has a Thousand Ears, the Well-Shaped One, Who has Ten Thousand Eyes, the Exalted One, Who has Wide Knowledge, the Helpful One, Who Sleeps Not, the Ever Wakeful. We sacrifice to Mithra, The Lord of all countries, Whom Ahura Mazda created the most glorious, Of the Supernatural Yazads. So may there come to us for Aid, Both Mithra and Ahura, the Two Exalted Ones," (Khwarshed Niyayesh 6-7),[11] "I shall sacrifice to his mace, well-aimed against the Skulls of the Daevas" (Khwarshed Niyayesh 15).[11] Some recent theories have claimed Mithra represents the Sun itself, but the Khorda Avesta refers to the Sun as a separate entity – as it does with theMoon, with which the Sun has "the Best of Friendships," (Khwarshed Niyayesh 15).[11]
In the apocalypticZand-i Wahman yasn, theyazata Mithra intervenes onPeshotanu’s side in the struggle against thedaevas, who have exceeded their term of rule by 1,000 years, and defeats the daevaAeshma, whereupon Aeshma and his followers flee back toDuzakh.[12]
Although there is no known Mithraic iconography in theAchaemenid period,[13] the deity is invoked in several royal Achaemenid inscriptions:
InArtaxerxes II's (r. 404 – 358 B.C.) trilingual (Old Persian,Elamite, and Babylonian) inscription at Susa (A2Sa) and Hamadan (A2Hc), which have the same text, the emperor appeals to "Ahuramazda,Anahita, and Mithra protect me against all evil," and beseeches them to protect what he has built. Although theBehistun inscription ofDarius I (r. 522 – 486 B.C.) invokes Ahuramazda and "the Other Gods who are", this inscription of Artaxerxes II is remarkable as no Achaemenid king before him had invoked any but Ahura Mazda alone by name. Boyce suggests that the reason for this was that Artaxerxes II had chosen Anahita and Mithra as his patron/protector Divinities.
Mithra is invoked again in the single known inscription ofArtaxerxes III, A3Pa, found atPersepolis. In that inscription, that emperor appeals to "Ahuramazda and the God Mithra preserve me, my country, and what has been built by me."
InZoroastrian scripture, Mithra is distinct from the divinity of the Sun,Hvare-khshaeta (literally "Radiant Sun", from which theMiddle Persian wordKhorshed for the Sun). However, in Zoroastrian tradition, Mithra evolved from being an all-seeing figure (hence vaguely associated with the Sun) into a divinity co-identified with the Sun itself, effectively taking over Hvare-khshaeta's role. It is uncertain how and when and why this occurred, but it is commonly attributed to conflation with the Babylonian sun godShamash and/or the Greek deityApollo, with whom Mithra shares multiple characteristics such as a judicial function and association with the Sun. This characteristic is part of Mithra's Indo-Iranian inheritance in that the IndicRigveda has solar divinities that are not distinct from Mithra, who is associated with sunrise in theAtharvaveda.Om Mitraya Namaha is a Hindu mantra chanted in the practice ofSun Salutation, wherein Mitra is a name of the god of the Sun,Surya.[14]
In theZoroastrian calendar, the sixteenth day of the month and the seventh month of the year are dedicated to and are under the protection of Mithra. TheIranian civil calendar of 1925 adopted Zoroastrian month-names, and as such also has the seventh month of the year named "Mihr". The position of the sixteenth day and seventh month reflects Mithra's rank in the hierarchy of the Divinities; the sixteenth day and seventh month are respectively the first day of the second half of the month and the first month of the second half of the year. The day on which the day-name and month-name dedications intersect is (like all other such intersections) dedicated to the divinity of that day/month, and is celebrated with aJashan (from AvestanYasna, "Worship") in honor of that Divinity. In the case of Mithra, this wasJashan-e Mehregan, or justMehregan for short.
Royal names incorporating Mithra's (e.g., "Mithradates") appear in the dynasties of Parthia, Armenia, and in Anatolia, in Pontus and Cappadocia. The popularity of the god in the Parthian Empire is also demonstrated by the presence of numerous personal names composed of the name Mithra in administrative excavations discovered at the site of ancientNisa, Turkmenistan.[15]
In official iconography of the Parthian period, Mithra would take on the features ofApollo, on a coin fromSusa that seems to represent him, dating from the reign ofArtabanus II (12-38/40 AD). Before him is a kneeling Parthian king. This scene is echoed in a speech by KingTiridates I of Armenia, a descendant of theArsacids, to theRoman emperorNero, narrated byCassius Dio, in which theArmenian king mentions the fact that as a member of his dynasty he usually prostrated himself only before Mithra (and that he was prepared to make the exception of bowing before the Roman emperor).[16] The youthful Apollonian-type Mithra is also found in images from other countries ofIranian culture in theParthian period, such asCommagene in the Roman-Parthian border and theKushan Empire on the Indo-Iranian border.[13] Mithra was apparently regarded as a divine protector of theKushano-Sasanian rulers and gave them their power.[17]
Persian and Parthian-speakingManichaeans used the name of Mithra current in their time (Mihryazd, q.e. Mithra-yazata) for two different Manichaean angels.
The second figure mentioned above, the Third Messenger, was the helper and redeemer of mankind, and identified with another Zoroastrian divinity,Narisaf (derived fromPahlaviNarsēh fromAvestanNairyō.saȵhō, meaning 'Potent Utterance', the name of aYazata).[18] Citing Boyce,[19] Sundermann remarks, "It was among the Parthian Manicheans that Mithra as a Sun God surpassed the importance of Narisaf as the common Iranian image of the Third Messenger; among the Parthians the dominance of Mithra was such that his identification with the Third Messenger led to cultic emphasis on the Mithraic traits in the Manichaean God."[20]
Unrelated to theseMihrs are Parthian andSogdianMytr orMytrg. Although sharing linguistic roots with the name Mithra, Werner Sundermann established that those names denoteManicheanism’s equivalent ofMaitreya.
According to Boyce, the earliest literary references to the Mithraic mysteries are by the Latin poetStatius, about 80 CE, andPlutarch (c. 100 CE).[21] According toPlutarch,Zoroaster named "Arimanius" as one of the two rivals who were the artificers of good and evil. In terms of sense perception,Oromazes was to be compared to light, and Arimanius to darkness and ignorance; between these was Mithras the Mediator.[22]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).... the Persian affiliation of the Mysteries is acknowledged in the earliest literary reference to them. This is by the Latin poet Statius who, writing about 80 CE., described Mithras as one who "twists the unruly horns beneath the rocks of a Persian cave". Only a little later (c. 100 CE.) Plutarch attributed an Anatolian origin to the Mysteries, for according to him the Cilician pirates whom Pompey defeated in 67 BCE. "celebrated certain secret rites, amongst which those of Mithras continue to the present time, having been first instituted by them".
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