1 Earliest Rome

I I . T H R E A T S T O T H E R O M A N O R D E R
and requests to the best of his human power (that you may take along with you the
horoscope of today's day and hour whose name is Thrapsiari morirok, so that you may
appear and give prophecy at the good hours: eoro rore orri orior ror roi or reorori eor eor
eor eore).' When you have said these things, he will come to the celestial pole, and you
will see him walking around as if on a road. You should while gazing on sound a long
bellow like a horn, releasing all your breath and straining your sides, and should kiss the
phylacteries and say, first to the right: 'Protect me prosumeri.' When you have said these
things, you will see doors opening and, coming from far within, seven virgins dressed in
fine linen, with the faces of asps. They are called the Fortunes of heaven and wield golden
sceptres . . . (674) There come forth another seven gods, with the faces of black bulls, in
linen loincloths, wearing seven gold diadems. They are the so-called Pole Lords of
Heaven. . . . (692) When they take their appointed places, gaze in the air and you will see
bolts of lightning descending and light flashing and the earth shaking and the most
mighty god coming down, having an appearance of light, young, golden haired, in a
white tunic with a gold crown and trousers, holding in his right hand the gold shoulder
of a calf: he is the Bear who moves and rotates the heavens, ascending and descending in
season. 1
Then you will see lightning flashes leaping from his eyes and stars from his body.
You should immediately sound a long bellow, straining your stomach, so that you may
stimulate your five senses, a long bellow until out of breath, kissing the phylacteries again
and saying: 'mokrimo pherimophereri life of me, X, stay, dwell in my soul, do not
abandon me, for entho phenen thropioth commands you.' And gaze upon the god
sounding a long bellow and greet him as follows: 'Lord, Hail, master of water, Hail,
founder of the earth, Hail, ruler of wind, light of brightness, proprophenge, emethiri
artentepi: theth: mimeo uenaro phurchecho pseri dario: Phre Phrelba: give prophecy,
lord, abo,ur such and such a thing. Lord, while I am reborn I am passing away, while I am
growing and having grown I am dying, being born from life-giving birth I am freed and
proceed to rebirth {apogenesis) 2
, as you have founded, as you have legislated and created
the mystery. I am pheroura miouri.' When you have said these things, he will
immediately give an oracle. You will be weak in your soul and will not be in yourself
when he replies to you. He utters the oracle to you in verse and when he has spoken he
will go away. But you stand in silence; you will comprehend all these things on your own,
and then you will remember without error what has been uttered by the mighty god,
even if the oracle has a million lines.
270
1. The rwo pairs of seven deities represent the stars of Ursa Minor and Major, who guard
the world's axis; the Great God with the shoulder of a calf (which was the Egyptian con­
stellation corresponding to Ursa Major) is at the celestial pole between the two constel­
lations. On numerous Mithraic reliefs in the scene of Sol kneeling before Mithras,
Mithras carries the shoulder of a bull (e.g. Nersae 12.5b n.l 1); this may symbolize that
Mithras controlled rhe universe. The confirmation of the parallel between the papyrus
and the Mithraic reliefs has shown that there may have been two-way borrowings
between the cult of Mithras and Graeco-Roman magical and astronomical beliefs.
2. On apogenesis set 12.5gn.7.