MITHRAS (cf. Sanskrit Mitram, friend), the highest of the twenty-eight second-class divinities of the ancient Persian pantheon, the reed (lend. razata), or genius of the sun, and ruler of tlatirdivere.. Protector Anil supporter of man in thisAire; lie watches over his soul in the next, defending it against the unptire spirits, and transferring it into the realms of eternal bliss. He is all-seeing and all-hearioss and, armed with a club—his weapon against Ahriman and the evil Dews—he unceasingly "runs his course" between heaven and earth. The ancient monuments represent him as a beautiful youth, dressed in Phrygian garb, kneeling upon an ox, into whose neck he plunges a knife; several minor, varying, allegorical emblems of the sun and his course, surrounding the group. At times he is also represented as a lion, or the head of a lion. The most important of his many festivals was his birthday, celebrated on Dec. 25, the day subsequently fixed —against all evidence—as the birthday of Christ. The worship of Mithras early found its way into Rome, and the mysteries of Mithras (Hierocoracica, Coracica Sclera), which fell in the spring equinox, were famous even among the many Roman festivals. The ceremonies observed in the initiation to these mysteries—symbolical of the struggle between Ahriman and Ormuzd (the good and the evil)—were of the most extraordinary and, to a certain degree, even dangerous character. Baptism and the partaking of a mys
tical liquid, consisting of flour and water, to be drunk with the utterance of sacred formulas, were among the inaugurative acts. The seven degrees—according to the num ber of the planets—were: T. Soldiers; 2. Lions (in the case of men), or hyenas (in that of women); 3. Ravens; 4. Degree of Perees; 5. Of Oroodos; 6. Of Helios; 7. Of fathers—the highest—who were also called eagles and hawks. At first of a merry character—thus the king of Persia was allowed to get drunk only on the feast of the mysteries—the solemnities gradually assumed a severe and rigorous aspect. From Persia the cultus of Mithras and the mysteries were imported into Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, etc., and it is not unlikely that in some parts human sacrifices were connected with this worship. Through Rome, where this worship, after many vain endeavors, was finally suppressed in 378 A.D., it may be presumed that it found its way into the w. and n. of Europe; and many tokens of its former existence in Germany, for instance, are still to be found, such as the Mithras monuments at Hederuheim, near Frankfort-on-the-Main, and at other places. Among the chief authorities on this subject are Anquetil du Perron, Creuzer, Silvestre de Sacy, Lajard, 0. MilIler d. alien Kunst). See GUEBRES, PAR SEES, ZENDAVESTA.