The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun

by Roger Beck

Overview

This volume is a study of the religious system of Mithraism, one of the "mystery cults" popular in the Roman Empire contemporary with early Christianity. Roger Beck describes Mithraism from the point of view of the initiate engaging with the religion and its rich symbolic system in thought, word, ritual action, and cult life. He employs the methods of anthropology of religion and the new cognitive science of religion to explore in detail the semiotics of the Mysteries' astral symbolism, which has been the principal subject of his many previous publications on the cult.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198140894
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/09/2006
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	9.48(w) x 6.42(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

Roger Beck is Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to interpreting the mysteries: old ways, new ways2. Old ways: the reconstruction of Mithraic doctrine from iconography3. The problem of referents: interpretation with reference to what? 4. Doctrine redefinedTransition: from old ways to new ways5. The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system. 1. Introduction and comparisons6. Cognition and representation7. The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system. 2. The mithraeum8. Star-talk: the symbols of the Mithraic mysteries as language signs9. The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system. 3. The tauroctonyConclusions