The religion of the Mithras cult in the Roman Empire mysteries of the unconquered sun PDF
Preview The religion of the Mithras cult in the Roman Empire mysteries of the unconquered sun
THE RELIGION OF THE MITHRAS CULT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE This page intentionally left blank The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun ROGER BECK 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto WithoYcesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork (cid:1)RogerBeck2006 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2006 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN0-19-814089-4 978-0-19-814089-4 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 To Richard Gordon, John Hinnells, and Luther Martin This page intentionally left blank Preface This book has been many, many years in the making. So it is appropriate that Idedicateittothethreescholarswhoovertheyearshavehelpedmemostalong thewaywiththeirfriendship,encouragement,andwisecounselontheMysteries ofMithrasandhowtoaddressthem.Thereareofcoursemanyotherswhohave generouslyaidedme,andIhopetheywillexcusemeifIdonotrepeatherethe acknowledgements recently made in the collection of my past articles and new essays,BeckonMithraism. I do however want to thank my editor Hilary O’Shea for her trust and forbearance over what must surely be one of the lengthiest projects to come to fruition and a record-holder in deadlines overrun. I also want to thank my researchassistantNormanValdezforhisskilfulproductionofthediagrams. SinceChapter1isentirelyprogrammatic,Ishallrefrainfromintroducingmy subjectandoutliningmymethodshere.LettheTableofContentswhichfollows serveasamapoftheroadahead. This page intentionally left blank Contents ListofFigures xiv Abbreviations xv 1. IntroductiontoInterpretingtheMysteries:OldWays,NewWays 1 1. Anagenda 1 2. Awordonontology 8 3. Templateforare-descriptionoftheMithraicmysteries 10 4. Oncomparisons 12 5. Oncognition 13 6. Synchronicversusdiachronic;structureandmeaningversus historiccauseandeVect;interpretationversusexplanation 14 7. Conclusion 15 2. OldWays:TheReconstructionofMithraicDoctrinefrom Iconography 16 1. Agatewaytoaninterpretationofthemysteries:Porphyry, Deantronympharum6,ontheformandfunctionofthe mithraeum 16 2. Thetraditionalroute:fromtheiconographyofthemonuments tothemythofMithrastothebeliefsofMithraists 17 3. Themeritsandachievementsofthetraditionalheuristicprocedure 20 4. Theshortcomingsofthetraditionalheuristicprocedure 22 Appendix:someremainingmethodologicalproblemsforthe explicationoftheMithrasmythasrepresentedontheWgured monuments 25 3. TheProblemofReferents:InterpretationwithReferencetoWhat? 26 1. Iconographyandtheproblemofreferents 26 2. Referentsinthesurroundingculture? 26 3. Iranianreferents? 28 4. Celestial(astronomical/astrological)referents? 30 5. Conclusion 39 4. DoctrineRedeWned 41 1. BacktoPorphyry,Deantro6 41 2. ‘Inductionintoamystery’:thedoctrinalmisconstructionof Deantro6 41
The list of books you might like
