Julius Caesar and Mithraism

[Voyageur]

precession.

We have two possible clues as to what the "secrets" were:

Porphyry (c. 234 – c. 305 AD) wrote that the mithraeum functioned as the place of initiation into a mystery of the “descent and exit of souls” and that it was designed and equipped for this purpose as a “likeness of the universe. The things which the cave contained, by their proportionate arrangement, provided [the] symbols of the elements and climates of the cosmos.

And:

Georgius Cedrenos (fl. 11th century), wrote:
Perseus, they say, brought to Persia initiation and magic, which by his secrets made the fire of the sky descend; with the aid of this art, he brought the celestial fire to the earth, and he had it preserved in a temple under the name of the sacred immortal fire; he chose virtuous men as ministers of a new cult, and established the Magi as the depositors and guardians of this fire which they were charged to protect.

Concerning the “descent and exit of souls” from the above (and possibly virtuous men as ministers), Hall makes reference to the Mithra initiation:

The rites of Mithras were performed in caves. Porphyry, in his Cave of the Nymphs, states that Zarathustra (Zoroaster) was the first to consecrate a cave to the worship of God, because a cavern was symbolic of the earth, or the lower world of darkness. John P. Lundy, in his Monumental Christianity, describes the cave of Mithras as follows:

"But this cave was adorned with the signs of the zodiac, Cancer and Capricorn. The summer and winter solstices were chiefly conspicuous, as the gates of souls descending into this life, or passing out of it in their ascent to the Gods; Cancer being the gate of descent, and Capricorn of ascent. These are the two avenues of the immortals passing up and down from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth."

The so-called chair of St. Peter, in Rome, was believed to have been used in one of the pagan Mysteries, possibly that of Mithras, in whose subterranean grottoes the votaries of the Christian Mysteries met in the early days of their faith. In Anacalypsis, Godfrey Higgins writes that in 1662, while cleaning this sacred chair of Bar-Jonas, the Twelve Labors of Hercules were discovered upon it, and that later the French discovered upon the same chair the Mohammedan confession of faith, written in Arabic.

Initiation into the rites of Mithras, like initiation into many other ancient schools of philosophy, apparently consisted of three important degrees. Preparation for these degrees consisted of self-purification, the building up of the intellectual powers, and the control of the animal nature. In the first degree the candidate was given a crown upon the point of a sword and instructed in the mysteries of Mithras' hidden power. Probably he was taught that the golden crown represented his own spiritual nature, which must be objectified and unfolded before he could truly glorify Mithras; for Mithras was his own soul, standing as mediator between Ormuzd, his spirit, and Ahriman, his animal nature. In the second degree he was given the armor of intelligence and purity and sent into the darkness of subterranean pits to fight the beasts of lust, passion, and degeneracy. In the third degree he was given a cape, upon which were drawn or woven the signs of the zodiac and other astronomical symbols. After his initiations were over, he was hailed as one who had risen from the dead, was instructed in the secret teachings of the Persian mystics, and became a full-fledged member of the order. Candidates who successfully passed the Mithraic initiations were called Lions and were marked upon their foreheads with the Egyptian cross. Mithras himself is often pictured with the head of a lion and two pairs of wings. Throughout the entire ritual were repeated references to the birth of Mithras as the Sun God, his sacrifice for man, his death that men might have eternal life, and lastly, his resurrection and the saving of all humanity by his intercession before the throne of Ormuzd. (See Heckethorn.)

Now, the other thing that occurred to me, and I have not looked into this at all, but it is interesting that down through history, the image that we're given for "evil" is often accompanied by horns, and I was wondering if this was perhaps by design, in the same vein of Mithraism.

Curiously, with a point on the Bull's horns, moreover the struggle between good an evil (Ahriman) comes up here (again by Hall):

When Ormuzd created the earth, Ahriman entered into its grosser elements. Whenever Ormuzd did a good deed, Ahriman placed the principle of evil within it. At last when Ormuzd created the human race, Ahriman became incarnate in the lower nature of man so that in each personality the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil struggle for control. For 3,000 years Ormuzd ruled the celestial worlds with light and goodness. Then he created man. For another 3,000 years he ruled man with wisdom, and integrity. Then the power of Ahriman began, and the struggle for the soul of man continues through the next period of 3,000 years. During the fourth period of 3,000 years, the power of Ahriman will be destroyed. Good will return to the world again, evil and death will be vanquished, and at last the Spirit of Evil will bow humbly before the throne of Ormuzd. While Ormuzd and Ahriman are struggling for control of the human soul and for supremacy in Nature, Mithras, God of Intelligence, stands as mediator between the two. Many authors have noted the similarity between mercury and Mithras. As the chemical mercury acts as a solvent (according to alchemists), so Mithras seeks to harmonize the two celestial opposites.

Of the Horns (modification of [T]horn eg. the crown of thorns representing the suffering of the soul):

In ancient Egypt it was during this period--when the vernal equinox was in the sign of Taurus--that the Bull, Apis, was sacred to the Sun God, who was worshiped through the animal equivalent of the celestial sign which he had impregnated with his presence at the time of its crossing into the Northern Hemisphere. This is the meaning of an ancient saying that the celestial Bull "broke the egg of the year with his horns.

Concerning Egyptian cosmology specifics and the Bull:

Sampson Arnold Mackey, in his Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients Demonstrated, makes note of two very interesting points concerning the bull in Egyptian symbolism. Mr. Mackey is of the opinion that the motion of the earth that we know as the alternation of the poles has resulted in a great change of relative position of the equator and the zodiacal band. He believes that originally the band of the zodiac was at right angles to the equator, with the sign of Cancer opposite the north pole and the sign of Capricorn opposite the south pole. It is possible that the Orphic symbol of the serpent twisted around the egg attempts to show the motion of the sun in relation to the earth under such conditions. Mr. Mackey advances the Labyrinth of Crete, the name Abraxas, and the magic formula, abracadabra, among other things, to substantiate his theory. Concerning abracadabra he states:

"But the slow progressive disappearance of the Bull is most happily commemorated in the vanishing series of letters so emphatically expressive of the great astronomical fact. For ABRACADABRA is The Bull, the only Bull. The ancient sentence split into its component parts stands thus: Ab'r-achad-ab'ra, i. e., Ab'r, the Bull; achad, the only, &c.--Achad is one of the names of the Sun, given him in consequence of his Shining ALONE,--he is the ONLY Star to be seen when he is seen--the remaining ab'ra, makes the whole to be, The Bull, the only Bull; while the repetition of the name omitting a letter, till all is gone, is the most simple, yet the most satisfactory method that could have been devised to preserve the memory of the fact; and the name of Sorapis, or Serapis, given to the Bull at the above ceremony puts it beyond all doubt. * * * This word (Abracadabra) disappears in eleven decreasing stages; as in the figure. And what is very remarkable, a body with three heads is folded up by a Serpent with eleven Coils, and placed by Sorapis: and the eleven Volves of the Serpent form a triangle similar to that formed by the ELEVEN diminishing lines of the abracadabra."

Never thought of that word and what it possibly meant.

 

[T.C.]

Today’s “Masonic interjection”

Initiation into the rites of Mithras, like initiation into many other ancient schools of philosophy, apparently consisted of three important degrees. Preparation for these degrees consisted of self-purification, the building up of the intellectual powers, and the control of the animal nature.

This is the same in Freemasonry. The first degree is about getting control over one’s base impulses. In the second, the candidate is ‘now given permission’ to pursue the ‘liberal arts and sciences’ for the bettering of their critical faculties. The raising in the third is the purification.

Candidates who successfully passed the Mithraic initiations were called Lions

The ‘grip’ used to raise the mason from their symbolic death is called the ‘lion’s grip’ or ‘lion’s paw’, due to the way the fingers are placed around each side of the base of the wrist.

 

[T.C.]

Found a quote on the Wikipedia Magi page that relates to:

Georgius Cedrenos (fl. 11th century), wrote:
Perseus, they say, brought to Persia initiation and magic, which by his secrets made the fire of the sky descend; with the aid of this art, he brought the celestial fire to the earth, and he had it preserved in a temple under the name of the sacred immortal fire; he chose virtuous men as ministers of a new cult, and established the Magi as the depositors and guardians of this firewhich they were charged to protect.

…which states:

One factor for the association with astrology was Zoroaster's name, or rather, what the Greeks made of it. His name was identified at first with star-worshiping (astrothytes "star sacrificer") and, with the Zo-, even as the livingstar. Later, an even more elaborate mytho-etymology evolved: Zoroaster died by the living (zo-) flux (-ro-) of fire from the star (-astr-) which he himself had invoked, and even that the stars killed him in revenge for having been restrained by him.

 

[T.C.]

On stones and water:

In divination, an anachitis, or anancitis,[1]meaning "stone of necessity"[2] is a stone used to call up spirits from water.[3] It was described as a type of diamond by Martin Ruland the Elder.[1]

The stone was used in classical antiquity by the Magi, being described by Pliny the Elder as one of their "dreadful lies".[4] Its use had fallen out of favour by the Middle Ages.[5]

Anachitis - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Altair]

A: Mithraism was the reversal of the STO version {of tauroctony?}.

Does this hint that maybe the Bull was reversed.?

This statement of C's implies that there must have been an STO version of Mithraism (if I understood it correctly) which can also imply that among other things the iconography of this (original?) unreversed Mithraism (i.e. the imagery of tauroctony) could have been unreversed as well (for example, as seen from the Earth and not from outside).

 

[Konstantin]

A: Mithraism was the reversal of the STO version {of tauroctony?}.

I am following this thread with great interest. It is fascinating. The above answer from Cs made me think a lot.
I found this book in PDF. I don't know how relevant is this what I found I found but I thought that it may somehow help.

There are lot of books lately that are trying to colorise the whole antic period as Macedonian, and to name most of the ancient philosophers as Macedonian, so I don't trust these books very much. Maybe there is some truth, I don't know. I found these except from the book interesting and suitable for this thread. Maybe even helpful.

Authors are often using a lot of assumptions and semi triths and they mized them together to get some quazy historic "truth" at the end, that looks more like a new myth than a history.
This is the book:

The ancient Goods of Macedon by Basil Chulev.
THis is the part from the page 246 in the book.

This interaction practice between Macedonic and others gods is also visible in the case of the Persian creator Sky-god Ahura Mazda which met with the traditions and the prehistoric Macedonic rites of sacrifice and offerings. The chthonic earthly nature of the Great Mother Goddess was represented by the underground Mithraeums, and the very Mitra was born in the underground cave too; Mitra also adopted the tauroctony of the goddess Nike, the immortality and reincarnation of the sun-god Dze, the eternal signs of the Zodiac – they all melted and further transformed into one with Mitra, a sun-god of light, truth, and honor. This last solar-chthonic cult has been found established in an entire series of ports on the Mediterranean. Indigenous Pelasgian Macedonians from Phrygia reinvented and adopted back their traditions through the cult of Mithra from Persia, and reintroduced it in Dionisiac manner in certain regions of Macedonia and other provinces of the later Roman empire. His festival was celebrated on the same day of the winter solstice like Apollon, like Leivino Dionis, like the Horned God, like Orion, etc., and his birth had brought light into the world. Mitra‟s greatest deed was to slay the mystic bull Apis, the source of fertility. The concurrent causes of the spread of the Mithraic Mysteries overlapped from the previous Eleusian, Dionisiac and Orphic Mysteries.
Same principle of Macedonic cosmopolitan interaction was applied for the Macedonian Sun-God Dze (Illiy, Ilou, Ilion, Elliah, El, etc.) in Ptolemaic Egypt, where he became one with Osiris and in different regions influenced by Macedonic Pantheon transformed into Dionisiac Osiris-Serapis (Dze-Ro-Apis441 thus „Serapis‟), but also as the “Roman” Mithras and Sol Invictus in Dalmatia, Pannonia, and further

 

[Konstantin]

Dr. Michael J. Fuller writes this:

Terracotta lamp in the Museo civico archeologico di Bologna, with a depiction of a figure slaying the bull. Inv. 6077. But the figure seems to have wings, and so is perhaps an example of female Nike / Victory slaying the bull.

 

[Konstantin]

From the same book above:

 

[Laura]

Most interesting, Konstantin... I guess if we compile enough data, we can publish our own book!

 

[Konstantin]

A small book ( only 61 page) by the same author above about Mithraism. Maybe some useful hints can be found insude.
Just keep in mind that not all classification of the Author as "Macedonian" are true. Maybe some of them, maybe non of them I don't know.
Lets see if can find some hints, and signs about Mithraism.
Some parts from the book:

The earliest known testimony of the original Hittite/Phrygian deity Mitra (also spelled Mithras) appears
for the first time in the historical records on a clay tablets found in the Hittite capital city of Hatuša. It
was mentioned around 1380 BCE in a peace treaty stipulated between the king of the Hittites and the
client Mitani kings, where Mitra, as god-protector of treaties, was invoked among other Aryan deities to
honor the contract between two rulers.

Mitra is the genius of the celestial light. He appears
before sunrise on the rocky summits of the mountains; during the day he traverses the wide firmament in
his chariot drawn by four white horses, and when night falls he still illumines with flickering glow the
surface of the earth, "ever waking, ever watchful" (Verethraghna in Avestan). Thus, the common
associate of Mitra in the mysteries was the sun, due to widely present historic and prehistoric solar cults.

A piece of widely recognizable garment worn by Mitra underlines his undeniable homeland and
Macedonic origin – the Phrygian Cap.5 As testified by Erodot, the Phrygians were known as „Brygians‟
before they moved from their Macedonian homeland to Asia Minor. By extension, the Brygian/Phrygian
cap was explicitly applied to the "barbarians". Most notable of these extended senses of "Phrygian"
were the Trojans and other western Anatolian peoples, who in ancient authors perception were
synonymous with the Brygians/Phrygians, and whose heroes Paris, Aeneas6, and Ganymede were all
regularly depicted with a Brygian/Phrygian cap. Ancient clay pottery also depicts Amazons, the socalled
“Scythian” archers, and generally all freemen with Brygian/Phrygian caps. Although these are
military depictions, the headwear is distinguished and the figures are also identified altogether as
"barbarians". The headwear also appears in 2nd century BCE Boeotian Tanagra figurines of an
effeminate Eros, in various 1st century BCE statuary of the Macedonic kingdom of Commagene in
eastern Anatolia, as well as in Etruscan statuary in central Italy and Sardinia. Representations
of “Thracians” also regularly appear with Brygian/Phrygian caps, most notably Vendis (Macedonian
Vesna, Roman Vesta), the Thracian goddess of the moon and the hunt, and Orpheus, a legendary
Macedonian poet and musician.

However, the first great event that contributed to the greater international expansion and popularity of
Mitra‟s worship was the well-known 4th century BCE Macedonian conquest in the east, accomplished
by Alexander III of Macedon. In the cults of Apollo and Mitra, both identified with sun and/or moon,

So even before Roman, The Mithraism was probably worshiped among the soldiers.

As minor deity and protector of the warriors Mitra was unquestionably accepted by the Macedonian soldiers, and
as minor deity was worshiped among Alexander‟s famed Falankas and Royal Companions. When after 8
years of campaign in Asia the Macedonians returned back home, they were the first who spread the
Mitra‟s cult in the Macedonian

The very same goddess Nike is also found on the balustrade of the temple of Atena Nike on the
Acropolis in Athens, where the goddess of victory is depicted in undisputed Mitraic fashion – while
slaying a bull. The amazing identical statue of Nike Tauroctona in a posture while slaying a bull was
also found in the ancient Macedonic city of Pergamum, in ancient Mysia (western Asia Minor region),
in Apolonia14 (western Macedonian Peninsula), etc.

Is there some clue that the original form of Mithraism over time became corupted with different other mythologies so at the end it became the reversal of some basic STO original version?

The basic layer of this religion, its lower and primordial stratum, is the faith of ancient Hittite Empire,
from which it took its origin. The human mind does construct and entertain representations of
innumerable supernatural and paranormal beings entirely outside the religious domain. Folk tale and
fantasy literature abound with inventions of all sorts, whose connections with „religion‟ are
questionable or inexistent. And that is precisely the explanation of the Tauroctony in the Roman
exponential version of Mitra. Above the original Macedonian/Hittite prehistoric substratum was
deposited a thick sediment of later eastern and western mythology. Romans thoroughly collected and
added to their whole everything they managed to grab and plunder across the Mediterranean. In Rome
there was a Pyramid built, the replica of the Colossus from Rhodos (hence the “Colosseum”, which was
built nearby), Obelisks were brought from Egypt, thousands of Macedonic sculptures were stolen from
Macedonia, Asia Minor and Africa, etc.corrupted Russian form „Mitya‟ and/or “D‟mitry”; also the Old Macedonic pronoun „Miya‟- we, and the
plural suffix “-mina”;23 „Mihr‟ in Pahlavi, „Mehr‟ in modern Persian, and „Mher‟ in Armenian; as well
as Latin noun “military”, from „Miles, milite‟- soldier, etc. Thus the Indo-Hittite god of the contract,
Mitra, is heavily masculinized form of the neuter term mitra‟m/mitrae(m) - „lasting/contract‟.
Furthermore, it was also because of the important status of the Macedonic sun god Dzee (Latin Sol
Invictus) that the Mysteries of Mitra became one of the most popular religions of the civil and military
officials of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD. Sol Invictus rose at the same time from a lowranking
deity in the Roman pantheon to become the special protector of the empire.

The oldest recorded evidence of this universal bull sacrificial rites in history pertains to be the
Mesopotamian imagery, depicting the myth of Gilgamesh killing the celestial bull sent by Ishtar; and
consequently other images of a bull being stabbed in the neck. Further followed the oxen sacrifice to the
Persian god Baal; Egyptian sacred bull Apis/Serapis; then the mythological Irakle (Latinized Hercules)
that kills the Minoan White Bull on Crete; the Cretan „Tauromachia‟ and „Taurokatapsia‟; the sacrifice
of cow in the Abrahams Covenant; the myth of Teseus and the Minotaur; and already mentioned above
testimony of the Macedonian king Dropion (250-230 BCE), who was noted by Pausanias when he gifted
in Delphi a trophy of the famous Paionian bison, which were still a hunting prey in the Macedonian
Peninsula in the 3rd century BCE - all of which performed a sacrifice rite involving a bovine animal.
And back then this ritual also represented the “cleansing from death” - a necessary and desirable belief
for the military profession of that time.

Unfortunately, no ancient authority tells us precisely why, for example, the Mitraic Tauroctony
regularly includes a dog, a snake, a scorpion, a raven, and other more or less present animals. Through
the wealth of explicit astronomical symbolism on the monuments reference is made to the visible
heavens by deploying astronomical symbols in a less obvious, less conventional form as elements in
what appears superficially to be an episode in a story. Mitra slays a bull, and around these two are
grouped a dog, a snake, a scorpion, a raven, a pair of twins, and not infrequently a cup and a lion; the
bull‟s tail is metamorphosed into an ear (or ears) of wheat. In the heavens of 1st century AD we find,
within a band extending along and below the Zodiac from Taurus to Scorpius, constellations imagined
in ancient astrology as a Bull (Taurus), Two Dogs (Canis Major and Minor), a Snake
(Hydra/Drako/Serpens), a Scorpion (Scorpius), a Raven (Corvus), a Pair of Twins (Gemini), a Cup
(Crater), a Lion (Leo), and finally a star called the „Wheat Ear‟ (Spica i.e. Alpha Virginis).29 The
Zodiacal system had a special meaning because the Taurus constellation in the night sky is on the
opposite side from the Scorpion constellation, confirming again the Dualistic nature of Mitra. Other
signs meaning is not so clear, but they were connected with the time-calculating, sun-moon and
celestial bodies cycles and influence.
However, the Mitra and the sacred bull remain the central subjects around which everything else is
more or less present. The animal-totem of Bull is just another visible symbol of this multitude-form
solar deity. The sacred bull is a symbol of cosmogony, of the high god, the paradise mountain,
primordial reality and unity. He is also known as the symbol of Uran(us)30, the heavenly supreme godcreator
of the whole Indo-Mediterranean areal. The same bull-god that was celebrated in the prehistoric
sanctuary of Čatal Hüyük (Asia Minor around 12,000 BCE), it was also the Minotaur slain by Teseus in
Crete, and the sacred bull Apis/Serapis in Egypt, and again the bull that was slain by Mitra - it has the
characteristic multitude nature: 3 heads or even 3 bodies united to one, and myriad of Orphic animals
around him. Derivations and similar copies of this primordial patchwork-animistic totemism are to be
found in other Mediterranean mythical beings as well, as the widespread Totoiti and famous Chimera.
They all contain the very same vast myriad of beings or parts of beings attached to them.

Again, the conquest of the east by Alexander III of Macedon renewed the old relations between
Macedonia and all the lands into which Magianism had directly spread itself, and this contact would aid
in the reinvigorated diffusion of the mystic knowledge of general Mazdaean/Mithraic tenets among the
learned. As Cumont writes: “it is certainly during the period of the moral and religious fermentation
promoted by the Macedonian conquest, that Mithraism received its more or less definitive form”.

In the Magianism tradition Mitra is all-important deity; in Avestan theology, the latest development of
the great Zoroastrian reformation, Mithra holds but a subordinate place among the Yazatas, or „celestial
deities‟, created by Ahura-Mazda. It is, however, quite evident both from the oldest Vaidic hymns and
the oldest traditions preserved in the Avestan documents, that in the beginning the God whom the
hymns call Mitra was one of the highest deities of a pantheon which was in prehistoric ages the
common property of the forefathers of both the Macedonic and Persian Aryan races. Mitra‟s attributes
are such as to place him on almost an equality with the Supreme God. In earliest days Mitra was God of
Light, and was invoked together with Heaven (Zd. Ahura, Sk. Varuna). In the Avesta, Mitra is the Lord
of the Heavenly Light, and therefore of all the heavenly lights. He is the Light, but not the Sun, the Sun
is his chariot, or rather his charioteer. He is ever awake, ever on watch. He is neither sun nor moon nor
stars; but with his thousand ears and his ten thousand eyes watches over the world. He hears all, sees
all, no one can deceive him. And so by a natural transition he is the God of truth and loyalty, he is
invoked in taking oaths, and guarantees all the contracts and punishes all who violate their bond and
plighted word.

The Roman legionaries rapidly transformed Mysteries of Mitra into their preferred and
most intimate religious communion, a worship that made them feel accepted among each other, being
part of the “family of soldiers”. It was a “Mitraic fraternity” sealed by the secret Mitraic oaths and
initiation rites, that were used as means for reinforcement of their tight companion-bondages, a
relations of trust so much needed when confronting the enemy in battle.

Nevertheless, the only Mitraic ritual, known as „Mitraic
Climax‟, comes to us from an important quotation from the “True Word” of the philosopher Celsus,
who composed his criticism of Christianity around AD 175:
“These things are symbolically set forth by the wisdom of the Persians and the initiation of
Mitra which is practiced among them. In the latter there is a certain symbolic representation -
the two circuits in the heaven, both the regular circuit and of that which is assigned to the
irregular spheres, and the passage of the soul through them. This symbolic representation is as
follows:
‘A ladder with seven gates, and at its top an eighth gate.
The first of the gates is of
lead, the second of tin, the third of copper, the fourth of iron, the fifth of alloy, the sixth silver,
and the seventh of gold. The first they assign as Saturn’s, indicating by lead the slowness of the
star;
the second as that of Venus, setting in correspondence with her the brightness and
softness of tin the third of Jupiter, for it has a copper basis and is hard; the fourth as
Mercury’s, for both Mercury and iron are patient of work of every kind—the one transacts all
business, the other is wrought with much labour; the fifth as that of Mars, for it is irregular
from its mixture and variegated ; the sixth as the Moon’s, the silver one; and the seventh as the
Sun’s, the golden - in imitation of their colors.”

Mysteries of Mithras had three distinctive symbolic constructs, Tauroctony is one, the other two are the
Mitraeum and the hierarchy of the seven grades. The all seven stages of initiation were as they follow:
1. Corax („crow‟ or „battering ram‟) - Symbols: Crow, beaker (the Caduceus, a symbol of
Mercury) “Nama (“praise to us”)33 to the Crows, under the protection of Mercury!” Mystai, i.e.
the newly initiated, received new garments and new tasks in god's service. Zodiacal symbol and
constellation of Gemini.
33 “Nama” - „to us‟ in plain Macedonian.
Left: Caduceus, the symbol of initiated Corax
2. Nymphus (bridegroom) or Gryphus – Symbols: lamp; a diadem and a now unrecognizable
object are symbols of the goddess and planet Venus; “Nama to the Bridegrooms, under the
protection of Venus!” i.e. Urania, the heavenly female. Zodiacal symbol and constellation of
Taurus.
3. Miles (soldier) – Symbols: sling-bag, helmet, lance; “Nama to the Soldiers, under the
protection of Mars/Ares!” Zodiacal symbol and constellation of Scorpius.
4. Leones (lion) – Symbols: the fire-shovel (the rattle, sistrum and thunderbolt refer to Jupiter);
“Nama to the Lions, under the protection of Jupiter/Zevs!” Whoever possessed the fourth degree
of initiation was called a Lion. During his initiation he received Jupiter's weapon, the thunderbolt,
to be used in a kind of mystery drama to slay the Titans once again. Then the mystai were purified
by having their hands washed with honey34 before being awarded a lion's mask. The use of honey
in the Leontica rite is corroborated by the engraved figure of a lion with a bee in its mouth.
Zodiacal symbol and constellation of Sagitarius.
5. Perses (Persian „The keeper of the fruits‟) - Symbols: akimakes, a Persian hooked dagger; (the
crescent moon and stars refer to Luna/Artemis); “Nama to the Persians, under the protection of
the Moon!” Ritual of purifying the tongue with honey. Zodiacal symbol and constellation of
Cancer.
6. Iliodromus (sun-runner) - Symbols: torch, the rayed crown and whip (symbols of the sun);
“Nama to the Runners of the Sun, under the protection of the Sun!” The second highest grade that
a Mithras disciple could achieve was that of Heliodromus, the courier of the sun. The initiate thus
became like the sun god, who had revealed to Mithras the right point in time for sacrificing the
bull. Zodiacal symbol and constellation of Lion.
7. Pater (father) - Symbols: Phrygian cap, libation bowl, the staff and sickle (last two symbols of
Saturn); “Nama to the Fathers, from East to West, under the protection of Saturn!” Zodiacal
symbol and constellation of Taurus.

Mitra, meanwhile, was also considered to be identical with Saturn (Olympian equivalent of Kronos).35
In the cult, the highest ranking member, the “Pater,” was thought of as his incarnations. These priests,
like Mitra himself, wore the same Phrygian cap, just like Saturn did. And strangely, but also Cybele‟s
priests wore them too. This hat was also known as a “liberty cap,” worn as heavy duty “Phrygian”
helmets by Macedonian soldiers, and later in Rome it was the symbol of free people or a slave that had
been freed. Accordingly, all slaves wore them during the Dionisiac festival of Saturnalia at the winter
solstice, because they were considered free during this time period.

 

[avivalevy3]

Concerning the “descent and exit of souls” from the above (and possibly virtuous men as ministers), Hall makes reference to the Mithra initiation:




Curiously, with a point on the Bull's horns, moreover the struggle between good an evil (Ahriman) comes up here (again by Hall):



Of the Horns (modification of [T]horn eg. the crown of thorns representing the suffering of the soul):



Concerning Egyptian cosmology specifics and the Bull:



Never thought of that word and what it possibly meant.

I am following this thread with great interest. It is fascinating. The above answer from Cs made me think a lot.
I found this book in PDF. I don't know how relevant is this what I found I found but I thought that it may somehow help.

There are lot of books lately that are trying to colorise the whole antic period as Macedonian, and to name most of the ancient philosophers as Macedonian, so I don't trust these books very much. Maybe there is some truth, I don't know. I found these except from the book interesting and suitable for this thread. Maybe even helpful.

Authors are often using a lot of assumptions and semi triths and they mized them together to get some quazy historic "truth" at the end, that looks more like a new myth than a history.
This is the book:

The ancient Goods of Macedon by Basil Chulev.
THis is the part from the page 246 in the book.

I am following this thread with great interest. It is fascinating. The above answer from Cs made me think a lot.
I found this book in PDF. I don't know how relevant is this what I found I found but I thought that it may somehow help.

There are lot of books lately that are trying to colorise the whole antic period as Macedonian, and to name most of the ancient philosophers as Macedonian, so I don't trust these books very much. Maybe there is some truth, I don't know. I found these except from the book interesting and suitable for this thread. Maybe even helpful.

Authors are often using a lot of assumptions and semi triths and they mized them together to get some quazy historic "truth" at the end, that looks more like a new myth than a history.
This is the book:

The ancient Goods of Macedon by Basil Chulev.
THis is the part from the page 246 in the book.

Candidates who successfully passed the Mithraic initiations were called Lions and were marked upon their foreheads with the Egyptian cross. Mithras himself is often pictured with the head of a lion and two pairs of wings. Throughout the entire ritual were repeated references to the birth of Mithras as the Sun God, his sacrifice for man, his death that men might have eternal life, and lastly, his resurrection and the saving of all humanity by his intercession before the throne of Ormuzd. (See Heckethorn.)

Before I read/consider commenting on the rest of the comments, I wanted to say this "lion" thing keeps jumping out at me all over the place, lion memes on Twitter, in movies, and in reading/research, also my son & my neighbor's sun signs are Leo (I have personal conflicts w/both of them).

The struggle between the "good inclination" (Yetzer HaTov in Hebrew) & the "bad inclination" (Yetzer HaRa in Hebrew) is as old as Judaism, but evidently even older than Judaism, if this Mithraic account is accurate. The "Lion of Judah" is actually the lion of Mithras, who succeeds in rising above the bad inclination, or at least he balances them so he can "lead" or steer, or control, or whatever verb you want to insert here for not being at the mercy of animal instincts in daily life.

As for abracadabra.

The best explanation I've seen so far is very simple. It's a Hebrew phrase: אברא כאדבר

The first word from right to left, is ""Avreh" or "Abrah" means I will create. It is the root ב.ר.א which we find in Genesis:

אבְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ

So that three letter root is in Genesis where this line is translated as "In the beginning God CREATED (Bara) the heavens & the earth.

The "A" in front of it means "I will" it's simply future tense.

Abrah/Avreh means, "I will create." I will do.

The second Hebrew word is "Cah Adaber" means "As I will speak, as I will say."

The entire phrase Abra Ca Dabra is a corruption of Avreh Cadaber, אברא כאדבר means "I will do as I say," or "I will create as I speak." It might mean something happens literally as I speak, or it might just mean, I have integrity, I am going to follow through.

The discussion is interesting to me as I try to figure out my own roots, having very few personal historical records before 1903, when my father was born in Poland. My mother's grandfather may have been an Ottoman Turk. I've always been drawn to these Eastern cultures for some reason, my travels have always been to the East, and I do live in Western Galilee for the past 2 years.

Shalom, Salaam, Cheers & Pax,

Aviva in Akko

 

[avivalevy3]

Found a quote on the Wikipedia Magi page that relates to:



…which states:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/365933/jewish/Ner-Tamid-The-Eternal-Light.htm

Ner Tamid/Eternal Light is another Jewish custom it appears originated with the Persian practice of keeping a literal flame lit in the place of worship, we still do that now in Jewish practice (see Chabad link). Interesting.

 

[T.C.]

I’m finding it very difficult to track down any link between Nike and Tauroctony. There’s a mirror in a museum in Athens that purports to be from around 300BC that shows the winged figure killing a bull, and also the terracotta lamp Konstantin mentioned that I can’t find a date for, but all other images seem to be from the 1st century onwards.

At the Temple of Athena, there are apparently images of Nike leading bulls to be sacrificed, but that would seem to tie in more with the Taurobolium, as opposed to the Tauroctony.

I’ve looked at a few sources for the Nike myth/story and can’t find anything about bulls. So the mirror and the lamp are a bit weird. Maybe my research skills aren’t up to scratch.

I also noticed the Mecdonian link to what looks like the Phrygian cap while watching a video today about the history and fall of the Persian empire, and a brief Google image search shows that the link is pretty solid.

It seems Cumont is used heavily by the writer in the quotes from Konstantin, so I think any info in those quotes should be carefully sifted, even though there do seem to be some useful threads.

At the beginning of the second three-thousand year period, Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) attacked the world, and the Creator responded by placing the primordial plant, bovine, and human in the respective heavenly spheres of the stars, moon, and sun.[12] But Ahriman assaulted the sky and Ormuzd fed the bovine "medicinal mang" (mang bēšaz[d]) to lessen its suffering.[13]The bovine immediately became feeble, and then died.[e]

I just read something elsewhere that pointed out that Cumont pinned the slaying of this bovine on Persian Mitra, an interpolation on his part to help him link Mitra to Mithras, since as we see above, it was Ahriman who effectively killed it. This would also tie-in with something mentioned earlier in the thread: that either Zoroaster or Ahuramazda despised those who kill cattle, and Mitra was on their team.

 

[moyal]

From the same book above:

Session dated 9 August 1997:

Q: Okay. Now, next question: I understand that Libra was added to the zodiac and broke Scorpio and Virgo apart. Were there originally 10 or 11 signs in the zodiac?

A: Originally?

Q: You know what I mean!

A: There have been many combinations.

Q: Well, when did the present 12 sign zodiac begin to be established as it is?

A: 1302 A.D.

Q: And how many signs were there before that?

A: 11

Q: That's what I thought. ...

 

[Laura]

Looking at the reversed position of the constellations in the Tauroctony, I thought I would put in here a few images of how they appear correctly in the night sky, looking up. I took screen shots from my Starry Night program.

Here is Perseus:



A bit below Perseus is Taurus: The cluster toward the middle right is the Pleiades.



So, no matter how fancy it is drawn, you can see that the bull and Perseus both face left in the sky, when you are looking up. But on the Tauroctony, they are both facing right even if Perseus' head is turned backward.

Now, as far as I can see, this is either because the artist copied his images from the Farnese globe, or something very like it, or the images were deliberately reversed AS A STATEMENT or a clue to the observer who would know that it meant something.