Mithras

Wall painting from the Mithraeum in Dura Europos (Roman Syria), c. 210 AD

Sol: Did you bring the bull? Because I distinctly remember telling you to bring the bull.

Mithras: ...

Today I would like to talk about Mithras identity:

I've been meaning to talk about Mithras and his identity for a long time, but I always felt that I was missing something important. And then after I completed my series of articles about Apollo and his link to Nergal, I realised that I finally had everything.

What does Apollo have to do with Mithras?

Well, the earliest images of Mithras wearing the Phrygian hat, are from the kingdom of Commagene, Anatolia and date to 1st c. BC. And, very importantly, Mithras was there syncretised with Apollo...And this was not done for no reason...This is a great article about that...

Here are all the Apollo - Nergal articles 

"Palil". About "Palil" a nickname of Nergal, the terrible, burning, destructive sun of Jul/Aug, Leo...And about the origin of the name Apollo and its meaning...

"Lord of the flies". About Nergal and Apollo as "The lords of the flies"...And about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the peak of the fly and fly born diseases season in Northern Hemisphere...

"Lions of Delos". About the Lions of Delos, the burning destructive sun in Jul/Aug, Leo, and the fact that both Nergal and Apollo are linked to lions. 

"Apollo and dolphins". About Jul/Aug, Leo being the "best time to sail in Eastern Mediterranean", and the link between dolphins and Lions...and Apollo...

"Marble throne of Apollo". About snakes (symbols of sun's heat), dragons (symbols of burning sun's heat) and terrible sun gods, Nergal and Apollo who are dragons themselves...

"Apollo and Python". About why Python followed Apollo after his birth? Cause snakes are solar animals...According to the Delphian tradition, Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios (Jan/Feb)

"White raven". About the black and white raven legend which is found in both Nergal and Apollo mythology, Egyptian vultures and the twins that guard the gates of hell. And some other weird stuff...

"Threshing floor of Apollo". About the threshing floors as solar observatories/temples, about the threshing floor of Apollo from Delphi, about Jul/Aug, Leo, being the holy month of Apollo, and about solar bonfires...

"Apollo the great archer". About why Apollo was the terrible "far shooting" archer...About arrow and bow constellation from Mesopotamia, Ishtar, Sirius, and Jul/Aug, the season of Perseid meteor shower...

"Apollo Sminthius". About Apollo and peak infectious diseases season, Jul/Aug

I will start, of course, with the interpretation of the Tauroctony, the depiction of Mithras killing a bull...I will use this bronze plate from Szőny

I have chosen this particular depiction of the most famous Mithraic mystery because it contains all the important animal and plant calendar markers found across all the Tauroctony reliefs and wall paintings...

Which will make the analysis of this scene using animal and plant calendar markers more complete...

Of course I was going to use animal and plant calendar markers 🙂. They already helped us makes sense of so many other "mysterious" artefacts containing "random" animals and plants.

Which is why I have been itching to use them to analyse Tauroctony...

I first started thinking about Tauroctony while I was writing my articles about the bull sacrifice in Ireland and Serbia way back when...

In the past both the Irish and the Serbs sacrificed bulls in Jul/Aug. I talked about this in my post "Bull of Crom Dubh" and "Bull of Grom Div"...

Why?

It is the fact that these bull sacrifices took place at the end of summer which starts in Apr/May, in Taurus, that made me think about animal calendar markers for the first time...

So I started looking around...

Soon, things like this started making sense 

Order in which Romans sacrificed boar, ram, bull during Suovetaurilia was not random. 

It was governed by animal calendar markers order. Serbs preserved this knowledge as they sacrifice: 

Boar/Goat in Dec, winter

Ram in Apr, spring 

Bull in Aug, summer

I talked about this in my post "Suovetaurilia"... 

And then things like these started making sense too:

Ram, marks lambing of Eurasian wild sheep

Bull, marks calving of Eurasian wild cattle

Lion, marks mating of Eurasian lions

Goat, marks mating of Eurasian wild goats

I talked about this in my post "Symbols of the seasons"...

Which then led to this: European zodiac corresponds directly to the annual animal mating/birthing lifecycle events in Europe. I talked about this in the posts linked from my page "Zodiac"...

Where the earliest zodiac circle of this type was found, dated to 3rd c BC...

I talked about this in my post "Nakovana"...

Which then lead to realisation that people all over the world, at some stage, had the same idea: to use the annual animal mating/birthing lifecycle events to create animal calendars. Calendars which were eventually mythologised/deified and turned into myths and religions... 

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…Then check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am way way behind...

All along, I kept wondering: Are Serbian and Irish bull sacrifices in Jul/Aug linked to these depictions of lion killing bull? Like on this Coin from Cilicia, dated to 361-334BC. Is the meaning of this symbol Autumn (starts in Leo) ends (kills) summer (starts in Taurus)...

If so, why were people so obsessed with depicting this?

The more I researched animal calendar markers, the more I was certain that lion killing bull was a complex animal calendar marker for Jul/Aug. And that for some reason it was really really important to mark this time of the year...

I talked about it in my posts "Mystery seal", "Cypriot stamp seal with cow and calf", "Lion killing bull under date palm", "Bull leaping in Syria", "Butt chewing"...and many others...

550/500 BC terracotta arula decorated with lion killing bull scene relief, found inancient Kentoripa, Italy. Museo Archeologico Regionale P. Orsi di Siracusa, Sicily. 

But I only managed to fully understand why were people so obsessed with marking this moment in solar year recently, after I stumbled across the real identity of Apollo. 

And understanding this turned out to be very important for understanding the meaning of Tauroctony which symbolically tells us who Mithras is...

So after this brief intro 🙂 let's get back to interpreting Tauroctony. It depicts bull (summer, which starts in Apr/May, Taurus), being killed (ending), in Jul/Aug, Leo...

Taurus, Bull (it really should be Calf), originally had nothing to do with stars. It was a marker for Apr/May, the beginning of the calving season of the wild eurasian cattle. Talked about it in many of posts which you can find here...

How can we be sure the the bull is killed in Jul/Aug? Cause of the fact that every Tauroctony depicts a dog licking the blood pouring from the bull's neck wound.

And this is important because of this. Basically the dog is the animal calendar marker which firmly fixes the time of the year of the bull killing to Jul/Aug.

When our mythologies were made out of animal calendar markers, Sirius, the Dog Star rose with the sun in Jul/Aug, when mating season of the old dog breeds began...

I talked about this in my posts about dog animal calendar marker and Sirius in

Egypt: "Dog days"

Mesopotamia: "Tishtrya"

India: "The bitch of gods"

On some depictions of Tauroctony, like this one from Budapest that I am using, they also added a lion, drinking from the cup that collects the bull's blood. Just to confirm that we are talking about Jul/Aug, Leo...

Leo (Jul/Aug), originally had nothing to do with stars either. It is the ancient animal calendar marker marking the beginning of the main mating season of the Eurasian lions. I talked about this in many of my posts and X threads...

Speaking of Lion animal calendar marker in Mithraism, what is the meaning of the Mithraic lion with a bee in his mouth and a star above his back?

Well, Lion is Leo, Jul/Aug, which is the time when honey collection starts in Anatolia...Talked about it in my post "Deer and bee" about this silver tetradrachm of Ephesos, dated to 390–380 BC.

And the star above the lion?

Inanna/Ishtar, deified Sirius, which rises with the sun (morning star) in Leo, Jul/Aug, the hottest time of the year. Which is why she is depicted standing on a lion with the sun above lion's head and is known as "The Lioness of heaven"...I talked about her in many of my posts...

Finally, Jul/Aug, Apellaios, was in Delphi the month dedicated to Apollo, and the month when 100 bulls were sacrificed to the "Terrible" god Apollo...I talked about this in my post "Threshing floor of Apollo"...

Anyway, one of the things that is always depicted as part of the Tauroctony is a snake lying below the bull. 

Why? Because of this:

Snake is a pure solar animal. It is in our world when sun is here (day, hot half of the year) and it is in the underworld when sun is there (night, cold half of the year)...I talked about this in many of my posts...

Snakes, symbols of sun's heat. This 3rd millennium BC, Bactrian seal depicting the sun god (see heat rays emanating from his shoulders) holding snakes, symbols of sun's heat. I talked about this in in my post "Winged hero dominating snakes"...

Snake is also a calendar marker for Apr/May, the beginning of summer, season marked by the bull... 

Why is Hermes, the herald of Zeus, carrying a staff with two coiling snakes, given to him as a present by Apollo, the sun god?

Cause snakes (solar animals) mate (coil) in Apr/May...

Heralding the beginning of the thunderstorm season in Europe. I talked about this in my post "Lyre of Apollo"...

This literally symbolically equates Snake and Bull as symbols and animal calendar markers...

My favourite 2nd millennium BC Bactrian seal depicts a snake with two heads: a dragon (left) and a bull (right)...Symbolically equating dragon (summer sun) and bull (summer starts in Taurus) and linking both with the sun's heat, symbolised by a snake body. I talked about this in my post "Bactrian snakes and dragons"...

Finally, we arrive to Apollo, whom snake/dragon Python followed since his birth? 

Why? Cause in Greece snakes come out in Feb...And according to the Delphian tradition, Apollo was born on the 7th day of the month of Bysios (Jan/Feb). Solar animal following solar god...I talked about this in my post "Apollo and Python"...

But Apollo was not just Solar god followed by solar snake/dragon. Apollo was the solar snake/dragon...Here depicted as a snake sitting on his throne coiling around (holding) his bow...Important!!! Roman marble. I talked about this in my post "Marble throne of Apollo"...

BTW, what is the reason why snake is often depicted drinking the bull's blood from the collection vessel? Like on this Gradišče cult vessel with snake representations...

In Slavic mythology, snakes are  directly linked to sun's heat...Slavs believed that the snakes "feed of the sun's heat" and this is why we have winter, because snakes "suck all the heat out of the sun during spring, summer and autumn". I talked about this in my post "Enemy of the sun"...

And so solar bull, symbol of summer which starts in Taurus, gets killed, and his blood (essence, solar energy, heat) gets collected in a vessel, and is then drank by snakes...Makes sense?

Example of snake as a symbol for sun's heat used in the same way on a cylinder seal from Ugarit. I talked about this in my post "Mystery seal"...

Sooo...What's next. Ah, scorpion depicted cutting off the bull's balls with its pincers...

Jul/Aug marks the beginning of the mating season of wild Eurasion cattle. Mating which was marked by vicious bull fights...Where bulls charged at each other...Like this...

I talked about "charging bull" as animal calendar marker for Jul/Aug, and its link to "bull leaping" in several of my posts, like "Alidjun", "Bo-Vo", "Oldest narrative scene", "Bull leaping in Syria", "Theseus ring"...

Now the wild Eurasian cattle mating season, which started in Jul/Aug ended in Sep/Oct...After which came Oct/Nov, the time of the year marked by scorpion, because this is when scorpions disappear from the fields and appear in people's homes. Hence scorpion castrating the bull...

I talked about scorpion animal calendar marker in many of my posts. Like "Birdman", "Scorpion king", "Pillar 43", "Angra Mainyu"... 

Sooo. One more animal left: raven. Raven is depicted either standing on a bull, flying over the bull, or, like on this depiction of Tauroctony, standing on the ray of light connecting Sol and Mithras. This one was a real puzzle for me. 

Until I wrote my post "White raven", about the black and white bird legend which is found in both Nergal and Apollo mythology.

Now I know that Apollo is just Nergal in disguise and that Apollo'd white raven that sun turns black is the echo of Nergal's white vulture which sun turns black...And that change happens in Jul/Aug, when Mithras kills bull...

Apparently, there are some depictions of Tauroctony which also feature an ant. 

I couldn't find any pics, so would really appreciate if anyone has one. Apparently: "After Mithras plunged the dagger in bull's throat, Ahriman sent his servants, the snake the scorpion and the ant to lap up the life-giving stream of bull's blood, but in vain"...

I already talked about snake being a solar animal, which is in our world during the hot part of the year, and which, according to Slavic folklore, "feeds off sun's heat"...

Scorpions and ants are also solar animals, which are in our world during the hot part of the year. Interestingly, the flying ants season in Eurasia is Jul/Aug, Leo...

The exact time when Mithras spills the blood of the bull...

One other animal that sometimes appears on the depictions of Tauroctony, like this one from "Le gemme antiche figurate di Leonardo Agostini", is dolphin.

Why dolphin? For the same reason Apollo is linked to dolphins. 

Jul/Aug, Leo, the time of Apollo, is according to Hesiod "the best time to sail in Eastern Mediterranean". I talked about this in my post "Apollo and dolphins". Guess who else linked Lions and dolphins? Minoans. I talked about this in my post "Minoan dolphins fresco"...

The last two animals that I will talk about, that appear on the depictions of Tauroctony, are 

Nightingale and cockerel

Like on this Mithraic bronze brooch from Ostia, Cautes and Cautopates have been replaced by a nightingale and a cockerel.

Just like raven, which is animal calendar marker for Jul/Aug, they are also animal calendar markers. 

Cockerel is animal calendar marker for Apr/May, start of summer, cause this is when chicken natural mating season starts. Also cockerel announces start of the day. Talked about it in my posts "Pero", "Lei kung", "Asphodelus"...

Nightingale is animal calendar marker for Oct/Nov, cause this is when nightingales disappear, they have all migrated south to Africa during Jul/Aug/Sep...Also nightingale announces the end of the day...

So on the above brooch from Ostia, we have cockerel (Apr/May, Cautes), raven (Jul/Aug, Mithras), nightingale (Oct/Nov, Cautopates)

Here they are again, cockerel and nightingale (?), on this engraved bowl, from the "Late Sasanian Treasury of Qouri Qaleh Cave: Votive Offerings for a Mithra Temple in Kermanshah, Western Iran". Here we have cockerel (Apr/May, Cautes), lion (Jul/Aug, Mithras 🙂), nightingale (Oct/Nov, Cautopates)

Ok...Finally...That's all the animal calendar markers. Now plants. The Tauroctony bull is often depicted with a tail that ends in ears of wheat. And sometimes with ears of wheat pouring out of the wound on bull's neck instead of blood. Why?

To understand this, we need to look at Mithras. Mithras is always depicted wearing Anatolian dress with a Phrigian hat. This must have been done deliberately, to indicate the origin of the cult: Anatolia...

As I already said, the earliest images of Mithras wearing the Phrygian hat, are from Anatolia. 

What does Anatolia being the origin of Mithraic cult have to do with grain? In Anatolia, the grain harvest season starts in Jul/Aug, in Leo. I talked about this in my post "Grain and lions", about this Hittite shard depicting a god standing on a lion with grain symbol above lion's head...

So killing of the bull by stabbing it in the neck is symbolic depiction of grain harvest...The harvesting of the grain was in the past done in the same way people or animals were slaughtered: you pick the head (ears of wheat) and you slice across the neck (stalks of wheat). I talked about this in my post "Klas"...

So no surprise then that it is Saturn, god of agriculture, who gives Mithras dagger with which he kills the bull, but who is sometimes depicted holding Harpe, sickle sword...Like on this relief from Pescorocchiano. 

I talked about Harpe (sickle sword but really a sickle) in my post "Cetus", about Cetus killers, Perseus and Heracles... 

BTW, if cutting of the bull's neck by Mithras symbolically depicts the start of harvest (seed collection) season (Jul/Aug), then the castration of the bull by the scorpion symbolically depicts the end of the harvest season, Oct/Nov...

Anyway, we are now done with all the animal and plant calendar markers. What about the torch bearers? Well, considering that they are depicted standing on both sides of the Tauroctony, they are clearly demarcating this scene in some way. But how?

In most cases the torch bearer in front of the bull is holding a flaming torch pointing up, and the one standing behind the bull is holding a torch pointing down. Could that mean increasing and decreasing light? Heat?

The three current propositions, according to this paper, are 

1. The torchbearers, together with Mithras represent the rising, noon and setting sun. 

Apparently, confirmed by the term "triformed Mithras", which appears in pseudo-Dionysius the Aereopagite and a relief panel from Dieburg, showing a tree with three branches, each ending in a head wearing a Phrygian cap...

2. The torchbearers are symbols of equinoxes, at the time when they fell in Taurus and Scorpio, based on attributes of the torchbearers in Dacia and in Rome, where one of the torchbearers holds a scorpion, and the other holds a bull’s head, with Mithras being sun on summer solstice...

3. The torchbearers are Dioscuri, Castor and Polux, who mark the summer solstice...And Mithras is the sun at summer solstice...

Now I don't think that the torchbearers holding bull head and scorpion mark equinoxes. I think that they mark Taurus, Apr/May and Scorpio, Oct/Nov, the start and end of the sunny, hot half of the year, confirming that Tauroctony is a calendar marker for Leo, Jul/Aug, the mid point between Taurus and Scorpio. 

This would mean that the Cautes, Mithras, Cautopates depict the sun in Taurus, Leo, Scorpio (Eagle, alternative zodiac sign for Scorpio). So the "triformed Mithras" still makes sense, although in a different way...

And the torches would then be symbols of sun heat, not sun light. Jul/Aug is the hottest time of the year, so the torch pointing up would mean increase in heat and torch pointing down decrease in heat...

And this would explain the 7 stars depicted above Mithras. 

Pleiades are in the sky with the sun (invisible) between Apr/May (Taurus) and Oct/Nov (Scorpio)...I talked about Pleiades in my posts "Pleiades", "Theseus", "Lyre of Apollo", "Angra Mainyu", "Trojan horse"...  

That I am correct in my interpretation can be seen on this depiction of Tauroctony from Mitreo di Palazzo Barberini, with zodiac signs depicted above the scene, where Cautes points at Taurus, the Mithras stabbing bull points at Leo and Cautopates points at Scorpio... 

Now what about the Dioskuri? Could the torchbearers still somehow be disguised Dioskuri, even though Mithras is the sun in Jul/Aug? Can they still somehow, symbolically frame the Tauroctony? Actually yes. 

In my post "White raven" about Apollo-Nergal, I talk about the Sumerian twin gods, identified as Gemini constellation, and associated with Nergal, which "guard the gates of hell"...Are they holding torches? Or keys?

Hell being the hottest and driest time of the year, the time of death, Jul/Aug. The seat of Nergal, the god of death, deified destructive sun in Leo...And you enter Jul/Aug by passing through summer solstice...Which is marked (guarded) by Dioskuri...Or Cautes and Cautopates holding torches...

BTW, there is a hymn, which refers to "the gatekeepers of the doors of the court of Nergal", Lugalirra and Meslamtaea as a pair of ravens, respectively black and white. And no one knows why...Well, we do now, don't we? I mean it is kind of obvious. White vultures lay their eggs in Mar/Apr/May start of summer. The eggs are incubated for a period of 39-45 days (Apr/May/Jun) summer solstice. Black chicks fledge (leave the nest) 70 to 85 days after hatching  (Jul/Aug/Sep). Summer solstice, the gate between light and darkness...

So it is entirely possible that the two twins are both symbols of Taurus and Scorpio and also Dioskuri...Both are framing (the sun in) Jul/Aug...Jul/Aug which in Mesopotamia was called Abu, the month of torches...You can read more about it in this article...

Soooooo...Who is Mithras? Well, as you could have guessed by now, I propose that he is the sun in Leo, Jul/Aug...Which is what Apollo is...So now Mithras-Apollo makes a lot of sense...

But as I already said Apollo is just Nergal wearing Greek clothes...This dude: Nergal, the deified destructive "burning" sun, was depicted as a lion man, because Jul/Aug, Leo, is the hottest and driest part of the year in Mesopotamia...Talked abut him in "Winged superhuman hero", "Lord of the flies"...

Which leads me to this: hidden in plain view, the real face of Mithras, the "mysterious" but ever present "Lion man". Like this one from Sidon...No one knows who this figure is supposed represent, but I think that I have give you enough proof that this is actually Mithras...

Snake, (symbol of sun's heat) coiling around a lion (Leo Jul/Aug, the hottest time of the year in the Northern hemisphere)...Sometimes depicted with wings (heavenly, sun)...

Sometimes holding key, or keys...Like on this relief from Bordeaux. I already told you that Nergal's twins were "The guardians of the doors of hell"? But did you know that Nergal himself, identified as Heracles, was seen as such in Hatra? You can read more about this in this article...

On some reliefs, like this one from Palazzo Colonna, the lion man is depicted blowing fire from his mouth...Why? 

Cause Jul/Aug, Leo, is the "time of fire breathing dragons", the hottest and driest time of the year in Eastern Mediterranean, Levant, Mesopotamia...Check my posts about dragons from Eurasia here

Fire breathing dragon, the symbol of the destructive summer sun's heat which burns everything and brings drought (steals water), is, according to Slavs, just "an old snake", symbol of old sun's, late summer sun's heat, heat of the hottest time of the year...Jul/Aug...Leo...Also Slavic "zmaj" (dragon) is masculine form of "zmija" (snake) 

BTW, the oldest depiction of the (Lion) Dragon, the personification of the hot dry half of the year, is found in Mesopotamia. 

Why was dragon depicted on this Tell Asmar seal, dated to 2200 BC, with lion body and 7 snake heads? Cause snake is the symbol of sun's heat, there were 7 summer months in Mesopotamian calendar, and the hottest part of summer was Jul/Aug, Leo. I talked about this in my post "Seven headed dragon"...

Convinced that Lion Man is Mithras? After all, what is the most important thing Mithras does? He kills the bull...

The stunning Corbridge Lion is carved from sandstone and once adorned an ancient Roman tomb near the town of Coria, just south of Hadrian's Wall. 

Interestingly, on this relief on a stone sarcophagus found in China and dated to 598 AD, and which belonged to an Iranian or Central Asian from an unidentified country, listed in this article, the rider is interpreted as Iranian Mithra...And below him is depiction of lion killing bull...

Some people believe that the Lion man is actually Ahriman, Iranian devil, as several dedications to Ahriman were found in Mithraic temples, but no one could explain what Ahriman has to do with Mithras...

Maybe this can help: Azhi Dahāka? Aždaha? Zahak? Arimanius? Ahriman? Angra Mainiu? Nergal? Dragon? Lion? Sun. 

Destructive sun of summer, which causes drought and death. Summer which starts in Apr/May, when vipers start to mate...But also snakes as symbol of sun's heat. Sun's heat, depicted on Mesopotamian, Iranian and Central Asian Bronze Age artefacts like this, like wavy (snaky) lines emanating from sun god's shoulders...

I talked about this in my post "Snake god from Hatra", "Shamash young and old"...

Ahriman was originally Angra Mainyu, the "negative force that brings chaos", which in Iran is the sun of the hot dry half of the year, which brings drought, disease, death...chaos... 

Angra Mainyu represents the period Apr/May-Oct/Nov, the hot, dry half of the year in Eastern Mediterranean, Western Asia...I talked about this in my post "Angra Mainyu"...

Hence: "King killing Angra Mainyu"...Why were Persian kings so obsessed with killing lions? Well they were't really killing lions. They were symbolically killing dry season...Which starts in Apr/May, Bull, peaks in Jul/Aug, Leo and ends in Oct/Nov, Scorpio/Eagle...I talked about this in my post "King killing Angra Mainyu"...

So basically Nergal is Angra Mainyu is Ahriman is Mithras is Apollo...Is the Lion (man)...Is the sun in Leo, Jul/Aug...Is Mithras...

But why then we have Sol who is separate from Mithras? Because Mitra is not Surya, Mithra is not Hvare-khshaeta, Nergal is not Shamash, Apollo is not Helios...They are all deified calendar marker for Jul/Aug, Leo...And a lot more happens in Jul/Aug, then just Sun in Leo...

So apart from being being the Sun in Leo, who is Mithras? The great hunter/archer of course...On this relief at Osterburken, we see Mithras on a horse shooting an arrow, accompanied by a lion and followed by a page bearing the god's quiver on his right shoulder...

As I said in my post "Red archer", there are two Great Archers in the sky: 

One that shoots his arrows towards Earth in Oct/Nov (Orionid meteor shower)

One that shoots his arrows towards Earth in Jul/Aug (Perseid meteor shower)

The presence of the lion suggests that Mithras, who btw shoots his arrows "at the ground", was one of many alter egos of the great archer who shoots his arrows towards Earth in Jul/Aug, Leo. Apollo, who was also associated with lions, was another one. And everyone, including all the gods, feared Apollo and his bow and arrows...

"I will remember and not be unmindful of Apollo who shoots afar. As he goes through the house of Zeus, the gods tremble before him and all spring up from their seats when he draws near, as he bends his bright bow..." I talked about this in my post "Apollo the great archer"...

And as I hinted in my post about Cetus (sea dragon) killers, so was Perseus...And as I also hinted in my post about Cetus killers, so was Heracles...

The inscription on Nemrut Dag warns that any transgressor will be "...affixed by the unerring shafts of Apollo and Herakles in his evil heart, which is the root of an unjust life..."

"...The invocation of Herakles and Apollo could have been something of a literary flurish calling on a tradition unknown to us..."

Apollo with a bow, 5th c. BC, Louvre

Right: Heracles with a bow, 6th c. BC, Met Museum

The tradition unknown to us? Some hints can be found in my post "Cetus"...

BTW, Nemrut Dag is the same place where we find this

Antiochus I of Commagene

Shaking hands with Heracles

Shaking hands with Mithras-Apollo

Interestingly, Perseus killed Gorgone, and then Cetus (using sickle!!!) to rescue Andromeda, whom he then married. Their son, Perses, was believed by the Greeks to be the ancestor of the Persians...

Now, George Kedrenos, an 11th c. Byzantine Greek historian says that: Perseus, they say, brought to Persia initiation and magic, which by his secrets made the fire of the sky descend...

And he had it preserved in a temple under the name of the sacred immortal fire, and 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.

According to the Sumerians, the fire descends from the sky in Jul/Aug, the month of Abu, the month of fires, torches...You can read about this in this article...

Interestingly, the middle of Jul/Aug, the hottest time of the year is by the Balkan Slavs called "kresovi", fires, torches...

Originally, I thought that this fire that descends from the sky was sun's heat, considering Jul/Aug is the hottest time of the year. But now I am convinced that in the past, this was truly fire descending from the sky...So that would explain why Persus could have brought fire from the sky. 

The same fire that came from the sky in India, in Jul/Aug 

Agni was born (among gods, in the sky) bright like the sun and was moving in the night sky along with smoke. After that Maruts were born with great commotion holding shining spears. Then the Maruts stood surrounding Agni with their lights.

Maruts then came (to earth) along with Agni from above. They are visible at a distance shining like stars. They come down in thousands to earth together. They are shaped like drops and are bright like fires. They gleam like serpents as they approach the earth. 

I talked about this in my post "Rudra"...

And something just occurred to me today. One thing that large meteors could look like while they are falling from the sky is burning torches...This could explain why Jul/Aug was the month of torches...

Now as I said, the tiny meteors falling from the sky looked to people like shining arrows, spears, and that the bigger ones could look like torches. 

But also like clubs. 

Hence Orion (Oct/Nov) armed with a club, and Heracles (Jul/Aug) armed with a club...

Again, South slavs, who knows why, called stars and Orion in Particular "Stone clubs"...Cause they look like shiny clubs while they are falling and they are made of stone...I talked about this in my post "Grandmother's clubs"...

And of course, Heracles, who is recognisable by the fact that he always carries a club, prances around wrapped in a skin of a lion he killed using that same club, and also carries a bow and arrows...Another great archer, clubber, this time throwing clubs, arrows in Jul/Aug, Leo?

BTW, there is a scene depicted in Mithraic temples depicting "Mithras triumphant over Sol". On some depictions, like on this one from Dura Europos, Mithra is leaning over a kneeling Sol, removing Sol's radiate crown with seven rays and holding a torch...

There are many depictions of the same scene, like this one from Mitreo di Marino where Mithras is depicted holding a club over Sol's head.

I would actually suggest that Mithra is "hitting" Sol with the torch/club. Why? Cause these torches and clubs are calendar markers for Jul/Aug...When torches, clubs, meteorites, fall from the sky. 

And when Mithras takes Sol's crown and puts it on his own head (Sun in Jul/Aug, Leo). Mithras with Sol's radiant crown from Carrawburgh...

Oh, did you notice that Sol's radiant crown usually has 7 rays? Remember the Mesopotamian lion dragon with 7 snake heads, one for each of the 7 hot dry months of the Mesopotamian dry season? 

Remember the beast of the apocalypse? Please count the dragon and lion heads. You can find full analysis of the Woman of the Apocalypse story in my post "Apocalypse"...

Covid mask...Good times...

Guess who else is armed with a club? Mithra. Iranian Mithra, whose main weapon is the club/mace, called vazra in Avestan and gorz in modern Farsi...

Apart from club/mace, Mithras also uses uses arrows, spears, knives... 

Mithra's club/mace was described as "being made of gold (shining metal) and bearing one hundred knobs"...Very much like the club of Heracles, just shiny...Like on this Roman gilded statue of Hercules, second century BC, Rome, Italy. Rome, Musei Capitolini...Or like a meteor...

We don't know what weapon was used by Indian Mitra, but we know that the god that replaced Mitra/Varuna, Indra, used Vajra (club/mace) which is cognate with Avestan Vazra: "mace; main weapon of Mithra"...Indra holding lotus and Vajra (burning mace!!!)

BTW, both Mitra/Varuna and Indra were gods of monsoon, which peaks in Jul/Aug. I talked about them in my posts "Yakshi", "Proto Durga", "Makara", "Musth", "Maruts", "Rudra"...

Indian crocodile hatch during Indian monsoon season...Which is why Varuna, the old monsoon god, rides on Makara, "a mythical being" which was sometimes (like on this 17th century illustration) depicted as a crocodile...

Indian elephants mate during Indian monsoon season...Which is why Indra, the new monsoon god, rides on a white cloud elephant...

Oh, and Indra is holding lotus cause...Cause lotus peak flowering season is Jul-Aug (Leo), the peak monsoon season in the Ganga river catchment area...I talked about this in my post "Modesty"...

So I would venture to propose that Mitra, Mithra, Mithras all wielded a club. A stone club...Basically a meteorite which when it fell down on earth turned out to be just a lump of rock...

And here things finally get interesting 🙂. Same Mithras as hunter, riding a horse under which are a lion and a serpent. But this time not shooting an arrow from his bow, but "holding a globe". From Neuenheim...

 

I would say he is not holding a globe. He is holding a rock, presumably to throw it "at the ground". A meteorite. Just like both Perseus and Heracles during their battle with Cetus, which took place in Jul/Aug...

Which leads us to Mithra's birth from a rock...Mithras is depicted emerging from a rock, already in his youth, usually wearing his Phrygian hat and with a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. And no one knows what this means...

First why is Mithras emerging from the rock holding dagger and torch? Cause this is an indication that he is born during the month of torches, Jul/Aug, when he kills the bull with the dagger...He is born ready... 

That I am right about the time of Mithras birth, can be seen on this relief of the rock birth of Mithras from Cologne, where Mithras holds a bundle of wheat in his left hand instead of the usual torch. Remember, grain harvest in Anatolia starts in Jul/Aug...

Porphyry records the tradition that the Mithraic cave was intended to be "an image of the cosmos", basically it was supposed to depict the firmament, the stone sky...Like the one from Proložac. Why stone sky?

If giant rocks are falling from the sky, the sky must be made of rock, and there must be a giant (Saturn/Cronus???) living in the sky throwing them down...An early, logical, attempt to explain meteorites, from the time when Sky Gods were real scary motherf*ckers and thunderbolts were (often) made of stone. I talked about this in my post "Jack and magic beans"...

The earliest literary reference to Mithras is in Statius, ca. 80 AD, where the line contains the words "persei sub rupibus antri ..." and it is usually translated as "under the rocks of the Persian cave". 

But David Ulansey, in his The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World points out that "persei" is not actually the Latin adjective for Persian (Persicus, -a, -um) but rather means "Persean", from Perses, the son of Perseus and Andromeda, founder of the Persian nation in mythology. 

Also "persei" could be the genetive of Perseus, and the words would therefore mean "under the rocks of the cave of Perseus". The 5th c. commentator on Statius, Lactantius Placidus, in a scholion on this line states "He gives to the rocks of a Persian cavern the name of temple of Perseus".

Sooo...Mithras...Perseus...Sometimes, like in St Aubin, depicted emerging not from a single rock, but from a pile of round rocks...

And sometimes he is even depicted emerging from a rock holding one of these round rocks ready to throw it, like in Heidelberg. Round rocks like the ones thrown by Perseus and Heracles at Cetus in Jul/Aug...

Meteorites from the Perseid meteorite shower? I think so. Cause there are actual depictions of Mithras birth where the rock he is emerging from is on fire. Like this on from Dura Europos...

BTW, Look what is depicted in the other squares of this comic strip from Dura Europos...What's with the dude throwing round rocks from the clouds? I would say that a new interpretation of this whole set of images is in order, don't you think?

The last depiction of the Mithras birth from a rock holding a round rock, is this one from Trier. You can see that Mithra's head is pointing toward Leo zodiac sign (Jul/Aug). Raven, snake and dog all look at him being born (Jul/Aug). 

Above are lion (Jul/Aug) and a bird with a thunderbolt (eagle) meaning what? In India, Jul/Aug is the peak monsoon and thunderstorm season. 

BTW, Apr/May - Jul/Aug - Oct/Nov is the peak thunderstorm season in Southern Europe and Anatolia too...And eagle killing hare or snake was the symbol of thunder gods in these areas. Talked about it in my posts "Eagle killing hare" and "Eagle snake struggle"...

Oh and btw, remember the lion man coiled by a snake? Mithras being born from a rock, coiled by a snake. From Carnuntum... 

BTW, why is a Mithras often depicted standing next to, or coming out of a tree? And why are Mithras, Mithra and Mitra linked with cattle, green pastures, vegetation? Why when Mithras shoots his arrow at the rock, water pours out of the the place that the arrow struck? 

Because original Mitra, Indian Mitra, the deified calendar marker for Jul/Aug, was the guy who "ensured" monsoon arrived (Jul/Aug peak monsoon season) to the ones who respect the contract with "the friend" (The meaning of Mitra, an euphemism for "Scary MF that can destroy us") Mitra (Perseids meteor shower also peaks in Jul/Aug)...

In India this was obvious. In Iran, where the climate is the opposite to the Indian one, and where Jul/Aug is the driest time of the year, the meaning of Indian Mitra was lost, and how Iranian Mithra ensured the green pastures for the cattle became a mystery...

Zoroaster said that "daevas" were "wrong" or "false" gods that should be rejected...Were Iranian "daevas" actually Indian "devas"? And if so, what could have turned devas (good guys) into daevas (bad guys)??? Well, the opposite climate of course...I talked about this in my post "Daevas vs Devas"...

I wonder if Mithra was in Iran linked with Orion, who shoots his lightning arrows at earth in Oct/Nov, when the rains arrive to Iran and Iraq and when the pastures become green again? This would seriously screw up understanding of everything else...

I believe that by the time Indian Mitra migrated through Iranian Mithra into Roman Mithras, because of the different climate and the passing of time, most of the symbolism attached to Mitra/Mithra/Mithras was total mystery for most people. They preserved and worshiped the symbols without knowing their meaning. Except for the few initiates...

The last thing abut the birth of Mithras from a rock. A lot of people noticed that, a lot of times, the rock from which Mithras is born looks very much like the Omphalos. 

You know, the Omphalos, the stone that Rhea, who rides on a lion

Gave to Saturn/Cronus wrapped in a cloth to swallow instead of swallowing Zeus

Stone which Saturn/Cronus then vomited, and which then fell from the sky, and became the stone that marked the centre of the world, around which Delphi was built...

Delphi which was ruled by snake/dragon Python, who guarded the Omphalos by coiling around it, until Apollo came, killed the Python and took Delphi for himself...Apollo who is the great archer...

You know, the Omphalos, depicted on this fresco from Pompei, which "...shows the the Omphalos stone covered with a net and the Python wrapped around it. A priestess stands at left with a sacrificial bull..." Ready to sacrifice the bull to Apollo, I guess...

You can't make this shit up...Actually you can 🙂

Anyway, I should really think about finishing this...After Mithras gets born, kills the bull, takes the radian halo from Sol, Sol and Mithras shake hands, like all good sports...Over a fire altar...With a raven hovering over their handshake...Like on this altar from Ptuj...

Is this another hint of Sol and Mithras becoming one (Sun in Leo) during the month of fires, Jul/Aug, which is marked by a raven animal calendar marker? 

BTW, that thing lying next to the fire altar is a bull leg...At least according to this article. And what does bull leg look like? 

Speaking of cooking, I just came across something very strange on the Tauroctony of Absalmos. Non one knows what this scene, unique to this relief, depicts. So let me try to interpret it myself:

The scene depicts torchbearers, carrying a large cauldron between them on a pole. Combined with the similar scene from Dura Europos, where the torchbearers are depicted carrying the dead bull on a pole, this could indicate a practice of boiling/roasting sacrificial meat for the ritual feast... 

The torchbearers are standing on the opposite banks of a river, through which water now flows...As I said, torchbearers most likely mark Apr/May and Oct/Nov, which doesn't mean much in the Roman Empire, but marks the start and end of the monsoon season in India...Which is brought by the original Mitra, and which peaks in Jul/Aug...

This is symbolically depicted by two torchbearers standing on opposite banks of a flowing river...With Mitra/Mithra/Mithras, the releaser of water, sitting on a boulder (meteor shower in Jul/Aug) in the full river bed (rivers levels peak during monsoon season, Jul/Aug). 

He is holding fire (the hottest time of the year, Jul/Aug, but also fire from the sky), which cooks the meat of the dead bull (summer, which starts in Taurus, ended in Jul/Aug), while the rest of the sky rocks (meteor shower in Jul/Aug) lie around...

Ardhanarishvara, the union of Shiva and Parvati, produces (the tree of) life and the river Ganges. 

A calendar marker for the peak of the monsoon season, Jul/Aug, where bull=summer=May/Jun/Jul  meets  lion=autumn=Aug/Sep/Oct. 

And peak Ganges river water runoff

I talked about this in my post "Ardhanarishvara"...

BTW, Shiva, meaning "kind", was an euphemism for Rudra, definitely not your kindest dude, Another face of the Great Archer who shoots his arrows at the earth in Jul/Aug...Talked about him in my post "Rudra"...

And his army, Maruts or Rudras, are armed with shining spears...Just like the two torchbearers depicted on the Tauroctony of Absalmos, another thing unique to this relief...

And after the handshake, they have a feast? They are sitting at the table covered with bull hide, eating and drinking...With a lion sitting under the table...To signify that the feast takes place in Jul/Aug, Leo? Like on this relief from Konjic...

And with two attendants, one with raven mask and one with lion mask...Again animal calendar markers for Jul/Aug, when all the Mithras miracles take place...

Oh, and those four cross buns...

Cross has been a solar symbol since Neolithic all over Eurasia. For instance, 4th millennium BC amber (sun stone) sun discs, Latvia, Europe...

I wrote about solar cross in my posts "Sun eyes", "Alaxamenos graffito", "Boeotian solar pyxis", "The cross of Shamash"...

And these two columns, are they supposed to symbolically depict palm trees? 

I know that palm tree was Roman symbol of victory, so maybe the association of Mithras with palms, , like on this altar from Rudchester, can be explained through "Victorious Mithras"... 

But I just can't resist the temptation to propose that maybe:

In Mesopotamia, the dates are harvested in Jul/Aug, when the bull of summer dies...Hence on this seal we see Lion (Autumn, starts in Leo, Jul/Aug) killing (ending) Bull (Summer, starts in Taurus, Apr/May). In dog days. Under a palm tree. I talked about this in my post "Lion killing bull under date palm"...

Anyway, after the feast, they all pack into the sun chariot pulled by horses, solar animals, and ascend to heaven...Until next year...

Ahhhh...I just realised why Mithras is always wearing a pointy Phrigian hat...

The head of the Mithras statue at Nemrud-Dagh. Beardless Mithras in Phrygian cap. Round the hem of the cap a diadem with thunderbolts (which were by the ancients imagined as stones, for some weird reason 🙂).

What does the shape of a human head with a pointy hat remind you of? 🙂

Of our "FRIEND" of course...

So that's that...

I am sure there is more stuff that I didn't cover, but I think that I have covered and connected more mysterious Mithraic stuff than anyone else before, so I will just leave this here...

Hope you liked it...

PS: Was Mithraism so popular among soldiers in the Imperial Roman army because Mithras was the personification of "Inevitable Victory"? After all, Lion (Autumn) inevitably kills (ends) Bull (Summer)...