amiphitri - Tumblr blog

amiphitri · 4 months

Text

Explaining the mythological origins and namesake of Mithra (MHYK): a very long and probably unnecessary post by a mhyk obsessed mythology nerd

Let me just preface this by saying that I haven’t gone through any formal education in ancient history or religions (yet) and even if I’ve researched it quite a bit I’m still bound to make plenty of mistakes. Also my expertise lies in grecoroman myth and I only have very surface-level knowledge of the other religions I mention here, although I’ve recently gone down a rabbit hole in regards to specifically their portrayal of the mithraic figure because goddamnit those wizards have me in a stranglehold and if I can’t combine my two current hyperfixations what’s even the point.

As there is gonna be quite a few different Mithras mentioned I will be referring to the fictional Mithra as “Mithra (mhyk)”. If I mention any other Mithra/Mitra/Mithras assume I’m talking about the deity.

Also this text is quite long so read more under the cut:

As you may or may not know if you’ve read through Mithras (mhyk) wiki page he takes his name from persian mythology! However this is a bit of an oversimplification as Mithra actually appears in pre-Zoroastrian Persian myth, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Roman myth and Mithraism, although with slight variations in his name and more significant variations in his role and portrayal.

Unfortunately since I have no knowledge of japanese and am entirely basing my interpretation of mahoyaku off the english translations I can’t attest to if the romanji of his name is accurate nor if japanese translations of mithraic texts make any differentiation between the names of Mithra in the different religions in which he’s present, but going off the romanisation i’ve seen used his name is spelled “Mithra” which is the spelling used for the Mithra in persian mythology and zoroastrianism. In roman mythology and mithraism hes called “Mithras”, and in hinduism he’s called “Mitra”, so Mithra (mhyk) using that particular spelling for his name would imply that he’s more based on the pre-zoroastrian and zoroastrian Mithra.

However after reading about all different Mithras from the different religions I can find possible links and references to all Mithras in Mithras (mhyk) writing so I’m gonna talk about all of them anyways! I’m mostly gonna focus on Zoroastrianism and Mithraism tho since those are the ones I’m able to find the most information on!

The first mention of Mithra comes from 1400 BC where he is mentioned as a Vedic deity (gross oversimplification but Vedic religion is a sort of pre-cursor to Hinduism) and referred to as “Mitra”. He then seems to have spread to ancient Persia where he is adopted into the Persian pantheon, and when Zoroastrianism takes over as the dominant religion in Persia he continues to be a prevalent figure.

Zoroastrianism is (is not was because it’s actually still practiced! fun fact Freddie Mercury was a Zoroastrian) a dualistic religion that focuses on the fight between good and evil, with a supreme being commonly referred to as “Ahura Mazda” and an evil spirit referred to as “Angra Mainyu” whom he stands in conflict with. Gods from the earlier pre-zoroastrian religion are incorporated into Zoroastrianism as beings called “ahuras”and “daevas”, with a few divinities called “yazatas” standing directly under “Ahura Mazda”. One of these “yazatas” is Mithra!

Scholars argue whether Zoroastrianism should be considered a monotheistic or polytheistic religion but many choose to refer to yazatas and by extension Mithra as divine beings that are underneath god rather than actual gods (think like angels), with “Ahura Mazda” being the only true god. However wether or not Mithra counts as a god there are still some scholars that believe that he was worshipped kinda like one!

In Zoroastrianism Mithra is the yazata of justice, the sun, light, friendship (“Mitra” actually means friend!!! it can also mean “that which binds” or oath/contract/covenant), pacts, covenants, contracts and most notably for our purposes oaths. Yep, oaths. As in promises. Sound familiar?

As the keeper of oaths he observes the world and makes sure no-one breaks their promises, and if they do they suffer his wrath, which may have caused him to also sometimes be viewed as a god of war according to some scholars. Mithra follows the path of the sun during the day, and during the night he fights evil demons with a spiked club, which is why the sky is red at the break of dawn (as he smashes the demons to pieces). So yeah the deity Mithra doesn’t get any sleep either, although I find this more likely to be a coincidence than intentional lol. Mithra rides a chariot drawn by four horses with no shadows and gold and silver hooves. He’s described to have millions of eyes and ears that can observe any oath-breakers and arms that can stretch and aid his followers all throughout the world (reminds me of Mithras (mhyk) signature teleportation magic a bit).

Mithra is also one of the three judges in the afterlife. When someone dies the zoroastrians believe the soul remains in the body for three days, after which it goes to the Chinwad bridge. Mithra, Srosh and Rashn judges the soul and if it’s deemed to have lived a good life the bridge widens and the soul can pass through with ease, but if it’s deemed to have lived an evil life the bridge becomes narrow and the soul falls down into the abyss below. The associations with death really aren’t as strong in Mithra as they are in Mithra (mhyk), but its still interesting to see that they’re there.

Mithra is also associated with fire and running water, both of which are considered holy in Zoroastrianism. (Old zoroastrians used to dispose of corpses by tying them up and letting birds eat them as the body is considered impure after the soul departs and thus can’t be cremated or risk getting near running water (as fire and running water is holy). thats not really related to Mithra I just think that’s interesting lol.)

Like many other deities Mithra was later picked up by the romans, where he became known as Mithras. Mithras shares very few similarities with the zoroastrian Mithra aside from etymological links and a connection to the sun, and it’s widely agreed that Mithras is simply the case of romans seeing the worship of Mithra and adopting the name rather than any actual zoroastrians spreading their worship to Rome. A lot of the time in antiquity people would make connections between gods that have similar roles from different cultures and associate them with eachother, and because of this Mithras became linked with sun gods such as Helios, Apollo and Sol. He also became known as “Sol Invictus” which means “The undefeated sun god”! Poor Mithra (mhyk) kinda failed the whole undefeated thing..

One of the most famous mystery cults and an early competitor to christianity was actually dedicated to the worship of Mithras. A “mystery cult” in antiquity refers to a cult which only those initiated are allowed to take part in, and “cult” when referring to ancient cults doesn’t have the same connotations as modern day cults and simply means a sub-sect of a bigger religion with it’s own teachings and rites. Although i’m not gonna lie the cult of Mithras is kinda giving me scientology vibes so. Yeah. Maybe it is a cult cult.

The cult of Mithras, commonly referred to as Mithraism by modern scholars, was a popular cult around the first to fourth century CE. Mithraism was mostly popular among soldiers, merchants and slaves and it’s worshippers consisted mainly of men. I’ve seen split opinions among scholars on wether women were allowed in the cult, but even if they were they most likely didn’t have the ability to climb the ranks in the same way men did. Mithraism had a rank system, where members could do work or pay probably (hence the earlier scientology comment) to learn more of the secrets of the cult and gain higher status.

There were 7 different ranks:

Corax (raven), Nymphus (bridegroom), Miles (soldier), Perses (persian), Heliodromus (sun-runner) and Pater (father), and each rank had their own protective planetary god and symbols.

Mithraism had some sort of an initiation ritual, however we don’t know exactly what that ritual entailed. It’s referenced as including both extreme heat and extreme cold, and inscriptions have been found where an initiate into the cult writes about having been “born again”. Christian writers have described the initiation ritual as being extremely brutal, but this likely isn’t true as those sources are incredibly biased with many christians standing in direct conflict with Mithraism.

The worship of Mithras took place in underground temples known as “Mithreums”. These Mithreums were often formed like caves, and had several altars, seats, a place to prepare food and several reliefs depicting Mithras in his various myths. The most central myth to Mithraism seems to have been a tauroctony, or in other words a slaying of a bull. All Mithraums have a depiction of the tauroctony in them.

In the tauroctony Mithras is shown grappling a bull and stabbing it with a dagger, with several animals almost always including (but not necessarily limited to) a dog, a raven, a snake and a scorpion surrounding them. Wheat grows out of the bulls tail, and grapes well out from the open wound in its throat. Watching down on them is Sol (a sun god heavily linked to and sometimes synonymous with Mithras) and Luna (a moon goddess), and two twins named Cautes and Cautopates stand on either side holding torches, with Cautes torch pointing upwards and Cautopates torch pointing downwards.

Unfortunately since Mithraism was a mystery cult there is not much written down about it’s teachings from actual practitioners, and most written sources we have are either heavily biased, written way after Mithraism stopped being practiced, or both. Most of the information we can gather thus comes from these reliefs, so interpreting what the myth is really about is a bit challenging.

Some scholars have interpreted it to be a sort of creation myth (kinda Ymir style if you’re familiar with norse mythology), which could be further cemented by the possible similarities between some iconography in Mithras birth and Orphic (another cult (although not a mystery one) don’t even get me started we’ll be here all day) creation myth.

Speaking of Mithras birth, he gets born out of a rock! Sometimes as a child but usually as a grown man, and often the torch-bearing twins are present at his birth too. This is also gathered from mostly reliefs and short inscriptions so we really don’t know much about it.

There is also reliefs of some sort of water miracle where Mithras shoots a rock with a bow and arrow and summons water from it, depictions of Mithras hunting the bull, a banquet where Mithras and Sol feast on the bull, a handshake between Sol and Mithras, and Sol and Mithras ascending to the heavens in a chariot. There is also a statue of a lion headed god with a snake wrapping around its body that commonly shows up in mithreums, however we don’t really know who this god is.

Mithraism seems to be heavily linked to astrology and many believe the figures in the tauroctony to be representative of different celestial bodies and star signs, however theres a lot of disagreement in regards to which figure represents what. Some even link Mithraism to some sort of astral ascension, but this is hotly debated.

Mithraism is also believed by some to have inspired christianity, with Mithras often being compared to Jesus. I personally don’t really buy this and see other mystery cults such as those surrounding Dionysus to be more likely to have been inspiration for Jesus, but it’s at the very least possible that Mithraism influenced christmas to be on the 25th of December. According to some scholars Mithras birthday was celebrated the 25th of December (others argue it was more a general celebration of the sun) and early christians may have chosen to put christmas on that day to directly compete with Mithraism. Additionally, many mithrean rituals have been compared to christian rituals and were described by christians at the time as evil imitations of christian practices.

When christianity became the state religion in rome Mithraism quickly declined, but during a good while Mithraism was just as widespread and popular as christianity and some believe that had things gone differently Mithraism could’ve ended up being an important world religion still to this day.

Now all of this is really interesting, but if you came here for Mithra (mhyk) it may not be all that relevant. Lemme tell you what’s more relevant tho: The bull is the moon. Or well more accurately, some scholars believe the bull to represent the moon.

Bulls were sometimes a symbol for the moon in antiquity due to their crescent shaped horns and their association with the moon goddess Selene/Luna. This, in combination with the imagery of Sol and Luna on opposing sides of the depictions of the tauroctony has made some believe that the scene depicts Mithras triumph over the moon and by extension death and darkness.

Additionally, Mitra (the Vedic Hindu version of Mithras) actually has a similar bull slaying story in which he reluctantly participates in the sacrifice of the moon god Soma who takes the form of a bull, so yeah multiple Mithras may do moon slaying. Ig Mithra (mhyk) fights the moon in every universe.

There’s obviously a lot more about all these deities I haven’t gone over but finding credible sources is unfortunately a bit difficult and if I continue I may be here for weeks so!! That’s all for now! I doubt Mahoyakus creators actually knew about all this, but I still think its really neat they chose Mithra as the name for their character considering hes such an interesting mythological figure!! Also ig the Cult of Mithras lives on in all the crazy Mahoyaku fans simping over Mithra (mhyk)..

#ik this isnt art but i put hours into researching it and i think tumblr needs to hear it #if anyone wants me to elaborate i can and will do so #mhyk literary references have me in a stranglehold #mahotsukai no yakusoku #mahoyaku #mhyk #promise of wizard #mithra #mithra mahoyaku

45 notes · View notes