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Bull-Killer, Sun Lord

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Silas
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« on: August 26, 2010, 01:09:57 am »

Through an Ancient Lens

How did the ancients understand Mithraic imagery? "Nobody in antiquity gives an explication, explains what the function is--if there was one--of the bull-killing relief," says Beck. Because no explanations or texts written by Mithraists survive, Martin suggests that initiates conveyed meaning through the images. Mithraea were shaped like caves. In On the Cave of the Nymphs, the 3rd-century A.D. philosopher Porphyry noted, "Wherever Mithras was known, they propitiated the god in a cavern," he wrote. Mithras killed the bull in a cave; Porphyry also wrote that the first Mithraeum was a cave in Persia.

In his work, Sick notes the association of caves and solar imagery in Indo-Iranian mythology, citing an Indian myth of "the creation of a sun from a cave." Experts do not agree on which constellation the tauroctony represents: some argue for Perseus, while others support Orion. To Cumont, the tauroctony showed Mithras's power over the most precious of resources. In The Mysteries of Mithra (1902), Cumont says that, for the ancients, "cattle [was] the source of all wealth." When Mithras captured and killed the bull, that deed would be a mark of honor.

Many modern scholars lend credence to an astronomical interpretation of the Mithraeum. "The whole Mithraeum is set up as a miniature cosmos," Martin says. "You always get images of Mithras's cloak as the stars or planets. The astrological-astronomical basis of Mithraic imagery is fairly clear." Beck interprets the cave as "an image of the universe" in miniature. "Its function has to do somehow with the descent of the soul into mortality and the ascent out again of the soul into mortality," he says.

Astronomical signs were a means to understand Mithraic iconography, Beck says; he calls this language "star talk." "I think that's finally what it is, the language-like thing. It's a tool, a medium, through which you express yourself, through which you make representations." Because the ancients left no instructions on how to interpret this "star talk," Beck admits there is no way to understand the symbols' meaning. "When you play in the astronomical-astrological factors, the danger of scholarship is the danger of trying to decode," Beck says.

Based on literary evidence, Sick argues for additional interpretations. "The astrological material...might appeal to a certain type of devotee, but it has to be one, I think, that's fairly well-educated to understand what's going on there. I think it would be an elite member of the cult that would have that interpretation." Sick notes that common soldier-devotees of Mithras would not be educated enough to understand star talk. "There has to be, in my view, another series of stories, myths, phenomena that can be understood much more simply" to explain the rites.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2010, 01:10:49 am by Silas » Report Spam   Logged


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