Mithraism: Reading list
From: Simon Ewins
To: Paul Dry 02-Jul-93 11:41am
Thus spake Paul Dry to Simon Ewins:
SE> Mithras was one of the biggest at the time and the early christians
SE> borrowed very heavily from his myths. Mithraism believed in the
SE> immortality of the soul, a future judgement, the resurrection of the
SE> dead and the second coming of Mithras himself who would then battle
SE> and defeat the principles of evil. He was born in a grotto, cave or
SE> stable, shepherds attended his birth and brought him gifts. Baptism
SE> and communion were important aspects of Mithraism. The Mithraic communion
SE> ritual involved these words: "He who shall not eat of my body nor drink
SE> of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him shall not be
SE> saved."
PD> Please fill us in on a source to verify these statements.
Main entry: Beck, Roger, 1937-
Title: Planetary gods and planetary orders in the mysteries of
Mithras / Roger Beck. --
Imprint: Leiden ; New York : E.J. Brill, 1988.
LCCN: 87030906 //r91
ISBN: 9004084509 (pbk.)
Main entry: Ulansey, David.
Title: The origins of the Mithraic mysteries : cosmology and
salvation in the ancient world / David Ulansey. --
Imprint: New York : Oxford University Press, 1989.
LCCN: 88029426
ISBN: 0195054024 (alk. paper) : $24.95
Main entry: Harris, Eve.
Title: The oriental cults in Roman Britain / Eve and John R.
Harris. --
Imprint: Leiden : E.J. Brill, 1965.
Main entry: Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef.
Title: Mithras : the secret god / by M.J. Vermaseren. ; [translated
by Therese and Vincent Megan]. --
Imprint: London : Chatto and Windus, 1963.
Main entry: Cumont, Franz Valery Marie, 1868-1947.
Title: The mysteries of Mithra / by Franz Cumont ; translated from
the second French edition by Thomas J. McCormack. --
Imprint: Chicago : The Open court publishing company ; London : Kegan
Paul, Trench and Tr|bner, 1903.
LCCN: 03018293
Main entry: Oxtoby, Willard Gurdon.
Title: Ancient Iran and Zoroastrianism in Festschriften : an index
/ Willard Gurdon Oxtoby. --
Imprint: Waterloo, Ont. : Council on the Study of Religion, Executive
Office, Waterloo Lutheran University ; Shiraz, Iran : Asia
Institute of Pahlavi University, 1973.
LCCN: 73084888 //r833
ISBN: 0889160074 : $5.00. 0889160082
Main entry: Mead, G. R. S. (George Robert Stow), 1863-1933.
Title: The complete Echoes from the gnosis / by G.R.S. Mead ;
edited by Stephen Ronan. --
Imprint: Hastings, E. Sussex, England : Chthonios Books, 1987.
LCCN: 88141330
ISBN: 0948366060 : #19.50
Main entry: Campbell, Leroy A.
Title: Mithraic iconography and ideology. [By] Leroy A. Campbell.
--
Imprint: Leiden : E. J. Brill, 1968 [1969]
LCCN: 75386269
ISBN: 107.70
Title: The "Mithras liturgy" / edited and translated by Marvin W.
Meyer. --
Imprint: Missoula, Mont. : Published by Scholars Press for the
Society of Biblical Literature, c1976.
Collation: x, 27 p. ; 24 cm. --
LCCN: 76018288 //r882
ISBN: 0891301135 : $2.80
Main entry: International Congress of Mithraic Studies, 1st, Manchester
University, 1971.
Title: Mithraic studies; proceedings. John R. Hinnells, editor.
Imprint: [Manchester, Eng.] : Manchester University Press. ; [Totowa,
N.J.] : Rowman and Littlefield, [1975]
LCCN: 74007310 //r77
ISBN: 0874715571
Title: Rethinking religion : studies in the Hellenistic process /
edited by Jxrgen Podemann Sxrensen. --
Imprint: Copenhagen : Museum Tusculanum Press, 1989.
ISBN: 8772890797
LCCN: BL41 R48 1989
Title: A silver casket and strainer from the Walbrook Mithraeum in
the City of London [by] J. M. C. Toynbee.
Imprint: Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1963.
LCCN: 68003273 //r885
Main entry: Speidel, Michael.
Title: Mithras-Orion : Greek hero and Roman army god / Michael P.
Speidel. --
Imprint: Leiden : Brill, 1980.
LCCN: 81458430
ISBN: 9004060553 (pbk.) : fl 28.00
Main entry: Hinnells, John Russell, 1941-
Title: Persian mythology. --
Imprint: [London] Hamlyn [c1973]
Main entry: Laeuchli, Samuel, ed.
Title: Mithraism in Ostia : mystery religion and Christianity in
the ancient port of Rome [by] Dennis Groh [and others]
With a pref. by Giovanni Becatti. --
Imprint: [Evanston, Ill.] Northwestern University Press [1967]
Main entry: Legge, Francis.
Title: Forerunners and rivals of Christianity : from 330 B.C. to
330 A.D. --
Imprint: New York : University Books, c1964.
LCCN: 64024125
Main entry: Phythian-Adams, William John Telia Phythian, 1888-
Title: Mithraism. --
Imprint: London : Constable, 1915.
Main entry: Beck, Roger
Title: Mithraism since Franz Cumont / by Roger Beck. --
Imprint: Berlin : W. de Gruyter, 1984.
Main entry: Vermaseren, M.J. (Maarten Jozef)
Title: The excavations in the Mithraeum of the Church of Santa
Prisca in Rome / by M.J. Vermaseren and C.C. Van Essen. --.
Imprint: Leiden : E.J. Brill, 1965.
Main entry: Wynne-Tyson, Esmi, 1898-
Title: Mithras; the fellow in the cap. -
Imprint: [Fontwell, Sussex] : Centaur Press, [1972]
LCCN: 72190298
ISBN: 0389044385
Main entry: Patterson, Leonard.
Title: Mithraism and Christianity; a study in comparative religion,
Imprint: Cambridge [Eng.] : The University press, 1921.
LCCN: 22013900
Main entry: Ferm, Vergilius Ture Anselm, 1896- ed.
Title: Forgotten religions, including some living primitive
religions. --
Imprint: Freeport, N.Y. : Books for Libraries Press, [1970, c1950]
LCCN: 70128240
ISBN: 083691922X
Main entry: International Seminar on the "Religio-Historical Character
of Roman Mithraism, with Particular Reference to Roman and
Ostian Sources", Rome and Ostia, Italy, 1978.
Title: Mysteria Mithrae : atti del Seminario internazionale su "La
specificit` storico-religiosa dei Misteri di Mithra, con
particolare riferimento alle fonti documentarie di Roma e
Ostia", Roma e Ostia, 28-31 marzo 1978 = Mysteria Mithrae :
proceedings of the International Seminar on the
"Religio-Historical Character of Roman Mithraism, with
Particular Reference to Roman and Ostian Sources", Rome and
Ostia, 28-31 March 1978 / pubblicati a cura di Ugo Bianchi.
Imprint: Leiden : E. J. Brill, 1979.
ISBN: 9004060014
Title: Journal of Mithraic studies. --
Imprint: London : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976-
Main entry: Merkelbach, Reinhold, 1918-
Title: Mithras / Reinhold Merkelbach. --
Imprint: Kvnigstein/Ts. : Hain, 1984.
LCCN: 85131387
ISBN: 3445023298
Main entry: Moeller, Walter O.
Title: The Mithraic origin and meanings of the rotas-sator square.
[By] Walter O. Moeller. --
Imprint: Leiden : Brill, 1973.
LCCN: 74165456
ISBN: 9004037519
Main entry: Walters, Vivienne J.
Title: The cult of Mithras in the Roman provinces of Gaul / by
Vivienne J. Walters. --
Imprint: Leiden : Brill, 1974.
LCCN: 75312425
ISBN: 9004040145 : fl80.00
>..... end .....<
There, that should keep you going for a day or two. I have more
technical references that I can point you to, if you are
interested. Let me know and I will be only to glad to help.
I will warn you, though, that an in depth and detailed study of
Mithraism will cast some rather grave doubts upon the veracity
of Pauline Christianity.
