It should be emphasized that the purpose of this summary account is not to suggest that such ideas were taken over directly into the Roman mystery-cult. On the contrary, no direct continuity, either of a general kind or in specific details, can be demonstrated between the Perso-Hellenistic worship of Mitra and the Roman mysteries of Mithras. The oft repeated attempts to trace a seamless history of Mythras from the second millennium BC to the fourth century AD simply tells us something quite general about the relative stability, or, as it may be, flexibility, of religious ideas. We cannot account for Roman Mithras in terms borrowed from Persian Mitra.
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There is another reason too for thinking that it makes little sense to treat the mysteries of Mithras as but one stage in a longer evolution. The mysteries cannot be shown to have developed from Persian religious ideas, nor does it make sense to interpret them as a fore-runner of Christianity. Both views neglect the sheer creativity that gave rise to the mystery-cult. Mythraism was an independent creation with its own unique value within a given historical, specifically Roman, context.
[ and later, in a chapter titled Mithras and Christ ]
Most of the parallels between Mithraism and Chritianity are part of the common currency of all mystery cults or can be traced back to common origins in the Graeco-oriental culture of the Hellenistic world.
- see
Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and His Mysteries, by
Manfred Clauss
