Mithraism is a religion which was started in Persia. It was mostly worshipped by poor people and also by legions. Mithras was the Persian god of light.
Pompey in the year 67BC when he was hunting down the pirates found that they used to offer strange sacrifices on top of the volcano in Lycia (Southern Asia Minor) and celebrate secret rites- among them those of Mithras.
Pompey helped in the propagation as unlike Caesar he captured and then settled them on the land as far as possible from the sea. They were settled in Asia Minor, Greece and Italy.
Someone described as an obscure latin author is quoted as having said "The cult of Mithras passed from the Persians to the Phrygians and from the Phrygians to the Romans
In the 2nd yr AD the imperial court and educated classes converted to this religion.
Other sections
[My CV] [My calendar] [Video compression] Cinema studies [Video compression] [Surfing the World Wide Waves] [Environmental Systems] [Browse through this DVD collection] [What's new to the site] [The previous main page] [About this website]