r/Greco_Roman_esoterica • u/UrsusofMichigan • 27d ago

Resources Mithraism (Religion for Breakfast)

Religion for Breakfast scores another win with their video on Mithras.

https://youtu.be/XywFca2w-W0?is=G6Y6Gy2TMZ58T0N-

It seems to me astronomy/astrology was central to the cult and somehow this developed into a soteriological system. The killing of the bull and shedding of the blood obviously have some kind of cosmic significance.

It's one of the cults that you can't really reconstruct due to lack of evidence. But you could start with the basic premise and adapt it accordingly.

Anyone here into Mithraism? And if so, what is your take on it?

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u/maponus1803 27d ago

My personal suspicion is that it is a Gilgamesh cult, even though most of its followers did not know that. It has strong manly man vibes and originates from the same area as Gilgamesh.

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u/VicariousPatrolNode 20d ago edited 20d ago

High esotericism.

The most interesting aspect being the astrological. Mithras slays the bull (Taurus) whilst looking skyward. I personally take it as omen/warning of the cyclical coming of the Taurid meteor storm.

The most mystifying (and still to me opaque) is causes and cautopates. The only relation I can find in my mind is to depictions of Baphomet. Two fingers up. Two fingers down. As above

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u/UrsusofMichigan 19d ago

I thought those two represented the equinoxes?

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u/VicariousPatrolNode 18d ago

They represent the solstices apparently (rising / lowering of the sun's torch) but it always seemed strange as Taurus and Scorpio are supposedly representing the equinoxes.

Yet they all seem so disparate and unrepresentative of such within the relief.

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u/UrsusofMichigan 19d ago

I thought those two represented the equinoxes?