Axial Precession - Mithraic Question

Mithraic Question

Mithraism was a mystery religion or school based on the worship of the god Mithras. Many underground temples were built in the Roman Empire from about the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD. Understanding Mithraism has been made difficult by the near-total lack of written descriptions or scripture; the teachings must be reconstructed from iconography found in mithraea (a mithraeum was a cave or underground meeting place that often contained bas reliefs of Mithras, the zodiac and associated symbols). Until the 1970s most scholars followed Franz Cumont in identifying Mithras with the Persian god Mithra. Cumont's thesis was re-examined in 1971, and Mithras is now believed to be a syncretic deity only slightly influenced by Persian religion.

Mithraism is recognized as having pronounced astrological elements, but the details are debated. One scholar of Mithraism, David Ulansey, has interpreted Mithras (Mithras Sol Invictus – the unconquerable sun) as a second sun or star that is responsible for precession. He suggests the cult may have been inspired by Hipparchus' discovery of precession. Part of his analysis is based on the tauroctony, an image of Mithras sacrificing a bull, found in most of the temples. According to Ulansey, the tauroctony is a star chart. Mithras is a second sun or hyper-cosmic sun and/or the constellation Perseus, and the bull is Taurus, a constellation of the zodiac. In an earlier astrological age, the vernal equinox had taken place when the Sun was in Taurus. The tauroctony, by this reasoning, commemorated Mithras-Perseus ending the "Age of Taurus" (about 2000 BC based on the Vernal Equinox – or about 11,500 BC based on the Autumnal Equinox).

The iconography also contains two torch bearing boys (Cautes and Cautopates) on each side of the zodiac. Ulansey, and Walter Cruttenden in his book Lost Star of Myth and Time, interpret these to mean ages of growth and decay, or enlightenment and darkness; primal elements of the cosmic progression. Thus Mithraism is thought to have something to do with the changing ages within the precession cycle or Great Year (Plato's term for one complete precession of the equinox).