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Mithraism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Another more widely accepted interpretation takes its clue from the writer Porphyry, who recorded that the cave pictured in the tauroctony was intended to be "an image of the cosmos." According to this view, the cave depicted in that image may represent the "great cave" of the sky. One of the central motifs of Mithraism is the tauroctony, the myth of sacrifice by Mithra of a sacred bull created by the supreme deity Ahura Mazda, which Mithra stabs to death in the cave, having been instructed to do so by a crow, sent from Ahura Mazda. Further support for this theory is the presence of a lion and a cup in some depictions of the tauroctony: indeed Leo (a lion) and Aquarius ("the cup-bearer") were the constellations seen as the northernmost (summer solstice) and southernmost (winter solstice) positions in the sky during the age of Taurus. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Mithraism   (3274 words)

Mithraism   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) This is a depiction of the god Mithras in the act of killing a bull (male bovine), with a snake, a scorpion, a dog, and a raven present. Leo (a lion) and Aquarius (the cup-bearer) were the constellations seen as the northernmost (summer solstice) and southernmost (winter solstice) positions in the sky during the 'age of Taurus'. The writer Porphyry recorded that the cave pictured in the tauroctony was intended to be "an image of the cosmos." The writer Plutarch wrote about pirates of Cilicia who practiced the Mithraic "secret rites" in the first century BC (about 67 B.C.). www.bopedia.com /en/wikipedia/m/mi/mithraism.html   (1169 words)

Taming the Winds On almost every tauroctony, certain animals and objects appear with regularity, and these can be related to a constellation or star: the bull (Taurus), the dog (Canis Major), the serpent (Hydra), the cup (Crater), the raven (Corvus), the scorpion (Scorpio), the lion (Leo), the ear of wheat (the star Spica). Mithraic scenes other than that of the tauroctony can be found: Mithraism is no different to other mystery cults in that its central deity is seen by his/her worshippers as being the ruler, but never the creator, of the cosmos. The seven planets are reflected in the seven grades of initiation for the followers of Mithras: the Raven, the Bride, the Soldier, the Lion, the Persian, the Sun-Courier, and the Father. www.angelfire.com /al3/anemokoitai/mithras.html   (3741 words)

Mithraism   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) The most important icon in the mithraeum was the tauroctony, a depiction of Mithras in the act of killing a bull. The tauroctony was either painted or depicted in a sculptural relief, sometimes on the altar. Indeed, the constellations common in the sky from about 4000 BC to 2000 BC were Taurus the Bull, Canis Minor the Dog, Hydra the Snake, Corvus the Raven, and Scorpio the Scorpion. www.serebella.com /encyclopedia/article-Mithraism.html   (2650 words)

Mithraism and Precession: The Tauroctony - © Dr Shepherd Simpson Mithraism and Precession: The Tauroctony and the Celestial Equator This, he argues, is how the tauroctony is able to depict a particular moment in time: owing to the Precession of the Equinoxes, the constellations which lie along the Celestial Equator change slowly with time, so a particular constellation list indicates a particular time period. In conclusion whilst the argument that the Mithraic tauroctony depicts the end of an Astrological Age is an intriguing one, the evidence from the Roman period simply doesn't support the idea. www.geocities.com /astrologyages/mithraismandprecession.htm   (1835 words)

[No title] Also, this imagine of the Tauroctony would be surrouded by smaller images filled with mythical scenes or symbolic figures. It is known that the bull was a symbol in Zoroastrian lore, as is clearly found in the Avesta, a symbol of nature's fecundity; upon it's death from within it's corpse sprung out a myriad of vegitation that filled the world. Other scenes present within the images surrounding the Tauroctony are his springing for from a rock, shooting an arrow at a cliff to bring forth water, chasing the bull, feasting with his twelve apostles right before his ascension into the sky upon his chariot of the sun. www.mithraism.erudition.net /rome/mystery.htm   (931 words)

Mithra References Page It was this purely hypothetical variant on the myth of Ahriman's killing of a bull that according to Cumont lay behind the tauroctony icon of the Roman cult of Mithras. Thus all of the figures found in the tauroctony represent constellations that had a special position in the sky during the Age of Taurus. The Mithraic tauroctony, then, was apparently designed as a symbolic representation of the astronomical situation that obtained during the Age of Taurus. www.tylwythteg.com /mithra.html   (3767 words)

Iranica.com - MITHRAISM More often this "tauroctony" is a self-contained icon, and from its privileged location at the head of the central aisle we know that it was the cult's principal icon; consequently, that the bull-killing was the main event in the Mithras myth. So while the tauroctony does indeed represent an episode in a story, it represents, it evokes, it intimates something more; and it does so by means of the elements of the composition functioning as symbols, collectively or individually. Certain of the compositional details of the tauroctony resonate with the former: the bull's tail metamorphosed into the wheat ear, the scorpion at the bull's genitals, the presence of the Moon as well as the Sun. www.iranica.com /articles/sup/Mithraism.html   (6154 words)

Ceisiwr Serith's Homepage - Mithraism Main Page The invariant element in mithraea was a statue or relief of Mithras killing a bull, called the "tauroctony." This was placed at the end of the mithraeum opposite the door, and was clearly meant to be the focus of the temple. From both its everpresence and the centrality of its location, the tauroctony is obviously an expression of the most important mystery of the cult. Just as in the other tauroctony the leontocephalous was plugging the hole out of the world cave, so here Mithras has made his way out, reborn from the rock of the cosmos, into the celestial realm. www.ceisiwrserith.com /mith/whatismith.htm   (5719 words)

Mithras - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Although some of these temples were built specifically for the purpose, most of them were rooms inside larger structures which had a different purpose, such as a private home or a bath house. In every Mithraeum, the place of honor was occupied by a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull, called a tauroctony, which many scholars believe is an astrological allegory and not an actual animal sacrifice. In fact, it is widely accepted nowdays that the image of Mithras, the bull, and the other representations of the tauroctony, such as the scorpion and dog, actually represent constellations (Ulansey, 1991). en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Mithras   (665 words)

[No title] Several writers represented here were deeply impressed by the 1989 monograph by David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World, and accept, though not without qualifications, his theory that Mithras personified the force responsible for the precession of the equinoxes (discovered by Hipparchus in the second century B.C.). Couliano, in "The Mithraic ladder revisited" (75-91), discusses the effect of Gnostic doctrine on late antique mysteries in which the ascent of the soul to heaven was widespread, concluding that the doctrine of the planetary journey (reported by Celsus as Mithraic) was especially popular among Platonists. The hazards of Mithraic scholarship are illustrated by several papers in which "one may wonder whether," "it is possible to see," "it is easy to suppose" and similar phrases introduce a host of speculations unsupported by solid evidence. www.infomotions.com /serials/bmcr/bmcr-9508-north-studies.txt   (934 words)

MITHRAISM This remarkable explanation of the tauroctony is based on two facts. First, every figure found in the standard tauroctony has a parallel among a group of constellations located along a continuous band in the sky: the bull is paralleled by Taurus, the dog by Canis Minor, the snake by Hydra, the raven by Corvus, and the scorpion by Scorpio. Second, Mithraic iconography in general is pervaded by explicit astronomical imagery: the zodiac, planets, sun, moon, and stars are often portrayed in Mithraic art (note for example the stars around the head of Mithras in the carving of the tauroctony illustrated above); in addition, numerous ancient authors speak about astronomical subjects in connection with Mithraism. www.expage.com /miaremi3   (506 words)

[No title] The tauroctony is generally recognized as a version of the scene depicted on a first-century Italian terra-cotta relief where the goddess of Victory, Nike, kneels on the back of a bull as she slaughters it, but looking directly at it. The plant sprouting from the wound in one tauroctony relief has been identified as Cannabis, and although there certainly is no reason why the Mithraists of the Roman period would have avoided its use, the plant depicted appears to be sheaves of grain. Thus, too, could Saturn, who like the raven, commissioned the tauroctony, be depicted, at the moment of Mithraic birth, with the horns of Neptune, in imitation of the bull and with the sea nymph Amphitrite by his side, to suggest the synchronous water miracle. www.entheomedia.org /Mithras_notes.doc   (10983 words)

Bull (mythology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander the Great's famous horse was named Bucephalus ("the ox-headed"), linking the self-proclaimed god-king with the mythical power of the bull. The bull is one of the animals associated with the Hellenistic and Roman syncretic cult of Mithras, in which the killing of the astral bull, the tauroctony, was as central in the cult as the Crucifixion is to Christians. Mithraic origins may have contributed to the rise of bullfighting in Iberia and the south of France, where the legend of Saint Saturninus ("Saint Sernin") of Toulouse and his protegé in Pamplona, Saint Fermin, are inseparably linked to bull-sacrifices by the vivid manner of their martryrdom, set in the 3rd century CE. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Bull_(mythology)   (864 words)

mithraism, astrotheology, and its similiarity to christianity   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) To summarize, the tauroctony represents the astronomical situation which was obtained during the epoch in which the spring equinox was in Taurus, the fact that the summer solstice was in Leo during that epoch provides a convincing explanation for the occasional presence of the figure of a lion in the tauroctony. Mithras holding the cosmic globe, his role of kosmokrator is certainly intended to be suggested by a number of tauroctonies which show the bull-slaying scene taking place within an arch or circle formed by the zodiac. that is, precisely the constellations represented in the Mithraic tauroctony. paganizingfaithofyeshua.netfirms.com /mithraism_astrotheology_similarity_cx.htm   (5996 words)

PUC For example, the raven in the tauroctony resembles in form the Raven constellation, Corvus; Luna in the tauroctony resembles the Moon, as she was culturally constructed. It is thus a given that he has a celestial persona in the tauroctony as in other contexts. Having precluded both unintended coincidence and the narrative scenario, one concludes that the elements of the tauroctony were intentionally selected for their celestial iconic referents (inter alia). www.erin.utoronto.ca /%7Erbeck/Puc.htm   (727 words)

The Origins of Mithraism Of the stars depicted in the space behind Mithras in the tauroctony relief from Rome (fig.8) it is the central one that is the largest and so appears the most significant. As already noted, the tauroctony is often displayed under an arch or within a circle of signs of the zodiac and so astrology would seem to be a reasonable starting point when looking for further iconographical clues. It could be argued that the standard arrangement of the tauroctony is symbolic and as seen from outside the cosmos, just as on the globe held by the ‘Farnese Atlas’ (fig.16). pages.britishlibrary.net /simon.mahony/ma-mith.html   (4358 words)

The Iranian: Jung, Freud, Mithraism Let us first imagine the classical tauroctony, the only image found universally in Mithraic cult sites and the central icon of Mithraism: Mithras is typically depicted as wearing a Phyrigian cap (a felt cap that would have represented someone from the eastern reaches of the Roman empire). The key component is the fact that the spring and autumn equinoxes occur within the period of one of the twelve zodiacal constellations and that they proceed backward through the zodiac every 2,500 years or so. And their disagreement over the tauroctony is a telling sign of dominance of Mithraism over psychoanalysis in Jung's own personal symbolic system. www.iranian.com /Opinion/Sept97/Mitra/index.html   (894 words)

IARH :: prilozi : #19   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) In a triptychal relation with the tauroctony, the animals represented in the scenes – a pig, a bull and a ram – used to be connected with the festivity suovetaurilia. Equally so his interpretation of the necessity of identifying the presentation of animals turned upside-down with the similar motif within the presentation of the Danubian horseman, with a scene of skinning a hanged ram. Particularly the latest interpretations are excluded, since on the examples of Rhine relieves from Ostenburken (Cimrm II, 1292), Diebrug (Cimrm II, 1247), Ruckingen (Cimrm II, 1137) and Nida (Cimrm II, 1083) we have pointed to the fact that they also contain presentations of a boar/pig and ram in their upper registers. jagor.srce.hr /iarh/prilozi/019/pr_019_08.php   (870 words)

AskWhy! on Mithras 1 - Christianity Revealed   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) The Neoplatonic philosopher, Porphyry, says the cave of the tauroctony, which the domed Mithraic grottos were meant to imitate, was “the cosmos.” The zodiac, planets, sun, moon, and stars are commonly portrayed in Mithraic art. The two torch bearers in the tauroctony are often shown with crossed legs because they stand for the sun at the spring and autumn equinoxes. In the tauroctony, a lion headed figure in the coils of a snake represents Ahriman, the “Prince of Darkness” and therefore evil. www.askwhy.co.uk /christianity/0690Mithras.html   (7379 words)

Mithraic Tauroctony Tauroctonies (bull-slaying scenes) employed certain figures and symbols relating to the mystery cult. The celestial twins, Cautes (torch held upwards) and Cautopates (torch held downwards) represent life and death, light and darkness, and the spring and autumn equinoxes; they are basically an extension of Mithras himself, and may be associated with the Greek Dioskouri, Kastor and Polydeukes. Mithras ruled (but did not create) the cosmos -- Sol, Luna and the Winds all took part in the creation of the universe, and their role is to help Mithras in moving the heavens towards celestial harmony (see the tauroctony at Augusta Treverorum for a fine example of this). www.shc.ed.ac.uk /undergraduate/collection/Casts/cast64.htm   (261 words)

Barlaam, Josaphat, and Mithra The scorpion, dog, and serpent that appear in the tauroctony were considered to be agents of the Evil Principle, sent to stop life at its source. One group of scholars has emphasized the parallels between figures appearing in the tauroctony and the planets and constellations known to astronomers of the time: the scorpion which had been regarded as an agent of Evil is simply the constellation Scorpio; the dog is Canis; the serpent is Draco; and so on. David Ulansey has found in the tauroctony a "star map," and suggested that Stoic philosophers found in it a representation of the immensely long world cycles of the cosmos -- of creations, fadings away, and recreations -- also found in Indian speculation. www.gnosis.org /thomasbook/ch21.html   (2203 words)

MITHRAS Internally, each had an antechamber, a nave with raised benches along the walls, and a sanctuary with altars and the tauroctony. In the sanctuary were found three large altars and some fragments of the tauroctony, the latter apparently having been smashed and removed after the Theodosian Edict of 391AD banned the worship of pagan gods. A ritual deposit of two pots with the skull of a cockerel and two lumps of charcoal made from pinecones was found under the altars. www.zum.de /Faecher/G/BW/Landeskunde/rhein/geschichte/roemer/ext_mithras/text.htm   (1535 words)

Mithras - Christianity Revealed - AskWhy! Publications   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) The Neoplatonic philosopher, Porphyry, says the cave of the tauroctony, which the domed Mithraic grottoes were meant to imitate, was the cosmos. Most of the other symbols found in the tauroctony were constellations along the celestial equator at this time. Sometimes a lion and a cup were added to the tauroctony, apparently symbols of the constellations Leo and Aquarius, which were the constellations in conjunction with the sun at the solstices in the age of Taurus. essenes.crosswinds.net /m55.htm   (6623 words)

The Eighth Gate: The Mithraic Lion-Headed Figure and the Platonic World-Soul Although his head is unfortunately damaged, this figure is undoubtedly the famous Mithraic leontocephaline or lion-headed figure, who is always depicted with a snake winding around him. In fact, there also exist tauroctonies in which there are nine fire-altars (CIMRM 1128) or four fire-altars (CIMRM 1816) above Mithras, indicating that the specific number of altars was not fixed. Oceanus is often depicted in the tauroctony beside the image of Mithras ascending in the chariot of the sun, and is easily identifiable by associated watery symbols such as waves, a boat, an oar, a vase, or a sail (see Fig. www.well.com /user/davidu/eighthgate.html   (2512 words)

Welcome to Adobe GoLive 5 This calls into question the traditional explanation that the tauroctony is a pictorial representation of an Iranian myth. Second, Mithraic iconography in general is pervaded by explicit astronomical imagery: the zodiac, planets, sun, moon, and stars are often portrayed in Mithraic art; in addition, numerous ancient authors speak about astronomical subjects in connection with Mithraism. In 128 B.C.E, the noted Greek astronomer Hipparchus discovered the precession of the equinoxes - a wobble in the axis of the earth's rotation which causes the celestial equator to intersect a new constellation of the Zodiac every 2,160 years. www.mc.maricopa.edu /~reffland/anthropology/anthro2003/legacy/ur/ugs/mithra.html   (2102 words)

mithras- pastures lawler   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) By slaying this Bull, Mithras released the creative force of the Universe, causing plants to grow and animals to be born. But the "slaying of the Bull" plaque, the tauroctony, was not present at Carrawburgh, and the whole temple was open to the world, leaving us feeling somewhat flat. The first thing you see are the three large front altars with the creation frieze, the tauroctony, above them. www.othergods.org /mdnpasture.html   (1074 words)

Mithra (Mithras) One of the key stories attached to Mithra, is that he slew a divine bull so that its body parts could assist mankind. The bull's blood produced the vine, its spinal cord brought forth wheat and the bull's sperm created each type of useful animal known to man. The bull slaying scene was depicted in the temples, and was referred to as the tauroctony. After a while mithra ascended to the heavens, where he continued to look down and care for mankind, especially those who were his followers. www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk /gods%26goddesses/mithra.html   (552 words)

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