1 Earliest Rome

Rutilius Namatianus, On his Return 1.371-6
12.5 The mysteries ofMithras
We halted our weary way at nearby Faleria, although Phoebus had scarcely reached mid­
point in the sky. As it happened, happy villagers were easing their weariness with joyful
rites at the crossroads in the countryside; it was indeed on that day that Osiris was at last
restored to life and arouses the seeds readily to yield new crops.
12.5 The mysteries of Mithras
The cult of Mithras was widely known throughout the Roman world from
around A.D. 100 onwards - though the evidence for its organization and beliefs
is complex and often obscure. The surviving remains of the Mithraic sanctuaries,
their design and decoration offer a starting-point, but interpretation is often
problematic (4.6a; 12.5a-b). There is no surviving writing on the cult from its
members themselves, except for some inscriptions and enigmatic painted
graffiti and a fragment of a papyrus book seemingly used in Mithraic initiations
(see 12.5c and h where we show how this material might be used to help our
understanding of Mithraism). Otherwise all surviving writing on Mithras and
his worship comes from outside the cult, from those with their own axes to
grind; and it is often hard to see how much of what they say is 'really Mithraic'.
Porphyry, writing as a neo-Platonic philosopher, devotes considerable space ro
Mithraism - but is using it as part of his own philosophical agenda (4.6c, 12.5d
and g); the so-called 'Mithras liturgy' took over aspects of the cult of Mithras for
magical purposes (11.6); Celsus described Persian mysteries (Mithraism was
believed to have originated in Persia) in his polemic against Christianity (12.5f);
and Christian writers referred to the cult in their defence of Christianity (Justin,
12.7a #66; Tertullian, 12.5e; Firmicus Maternus, 4.6b).
See further: Vol. 1, 277-80, 282-3, 285-8, 293-5. 300-1; Vermaseren
(1963); Beck (1984); Hinnells (1985) 74-90*.
12.5a The sanctuary ofFelicissimus at Ostia and Mithraic grades
The mosaic on the floor of a sanctuary of Mithras at Ostia (dating to the middle
of the third century A.D.) illustrates both the sequence of the 'grades' of initiation
in the cult and the tutelary deities associated with each grade. 'The
standard sequence of grades through which the initiate passed is (from bottom
to top): Raven, Male Bride, Soldier, Lion, Persian, Sun-runner, Father. Of
these the Lions were a crucial grade and the Fathers (as the most senior grade)
very prominent in our evidence.
Sec further: Becatti (1954) 105-12; CIMRM 299; Vermaseren (1963)
138-53*; R. L. Gordon (1976) on astrological symbolism and (1980a) on the
grades. Cf, 4.6 for other Mithraic sanctuaries.
305