The Mind of Mithraists: Historical and Cognitive Studies in the Roman Cult of Mithras

Description

The Roman cult of Mithras was the most widely-dispersed and densely-distributed cult throughout the expanse of the Roman Empire from the end of the first until the fourth century AD, rivaling the early growth and development of Christianity during the same period. As its membership was largely drawn from the ranks of the military, its spread, but not its popularity is attributable largely to military deployments and re-deployments. Although mithraists left behind no written archival evidence, there is an abundance of iconographic finds. The only characteristic common to all Mithraic temples were the fundamental architecture of their design, and the cult image of Mithras slaying a bull. How were these two features so faithfully transmitted through the Empire by a non-centralized, non-hierarchical religious movement? The Minds of Mithraists: Historical and Cognitive Studies in the Roman Cult of Mithras addresses these questions as well as the relationship of Mithraism to Christianity, explanations of the significance of the tauroctony and of the rituals enacted in the mithraea, and explanations for the spread of Mithraism (and for its resistance in a few places). The unifying theme throughout is an investigation of the 'mind' of those engaged in the cult practices of this widespread ancient religion. These investigations represent traditional historical methods as well as more recent studies employing the insights of the cognitive sciences, demonstrating that cognitive historiography is a valuable methodological tool. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction 1 Roman Mithraism and Christianity 2 Reflections on the Mithraic Tauroctony as Cult Scene 3 The Roman Cult of Mithras: A Cognitive Perspective 4 Ritual Competence and Mithraic Ritual 5 The Ecology of Threat Detection and Precautionary Response from the Perspectives of Evolutionary Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Historiography: The Case of the Roman Cults of Mithras 6 The Landscapes and Mindscape of the Roman Cult of Mithras 7 Cult Migration, Social Formation, and Religious Identity in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: The Curious Case of Roman Mithraism 8 The Amor and Psyche Relief in the Mithraeum of Capua Vetere: An Exceptional Case of Graeco-Roman Syncretism or an Ordinary Instance of Human Cognition? 9 The (Surprising Absence of a) Mithras Cult in Roman Egypt Notes References Index