131509651X (electronic bk.)

9781315096513 (electronic bk.)

0754640817

9780754640813

Ashgate contemporary thinkers on religion

Machine derived contents note: Contents

1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION: Four stages on a road to redescribing the Mithraic mysteries

Part A. The Scholarly Scene

2. Mithraism since 'Mithraism since Franz Cumont',1984-2003

Part B. Foundation

3. Introduction

4. The Mysteries of Mithras: A new account of their genesis. Originally published in Journal of Roman Studies 88 (1998), pp. 115-28.

5. A summary description of the Mysteries of Mithras in six propositions

Part C. Mythmaking And Other Fictions

6. Introduction: 'Images and underthoughts and imitations'

7. Ritual, myth, doctrine, and initiation in the Mysteries of Mithras: New evidence from a cult vessel. Originally published in Journal of Roman Studies 90 (2000), pp. 145-80

8. History into fiction: The metamorphoses of the Mithras myths. Originally published in Ancient Narrative 1 (2001-02), pp. 283-300

9. Apuleius the novelist, Apuleius the Ostian householder, and the Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres: Further explorations of an hypothesis of Filippo Coarelli. Originally published in S. G. Wilson and M. Desjardin (eds), Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity: Essays in Honour of Peter Richardson, Studies in Christianity and Judaism 9, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2000, pp. 551-67

Part D. Mithras And The Heavens, 1: First Explorations

10. Introduction

11. 'The Seat of Mithras at the Equinoxes': Porphyry De antro nympharum 24. Originally published in Journal of Mithraic Studies 1 (1976), pp. 95-98

12. Cautes and Cautopates: Some astronomical considerations. Originally published in Journal of Mithraic Studies 2 (1977), 1-17.

13. Interpreting the Ponza Zodiac, I. Originally published in Journal of Mithraic Studies 1 (1976), pp. 1-19

14. Interpreting the Ponza Zodiac, II. Originally published in Journal of Mithraic Studies 2 (1977-78), pp. 87-147

Part E. Mithras And The Heavens, 2: Quis Ille ?

15. The rise and fall of the astral identifications of the tauroctonous Mithras

16. Astral symbolism in the tauroctony: A statistical demonstration of the extreme improbability of unintended coincidence in the selection of elements in the composition

17. In the Place of the Lion: Mithras in the tauroctony. Originally published in J. R. Hinnells (ed.), Studies in Mithraism, Rome: Bretschneider, 1994, pp. 29-50

Part F. The Astronomical And Astrological Matrix

18. Introduction

19. The astronomical design of Karakush, a royal burial site in ancient Commagene: An hypothesis. Originally published in Culture and Cosmos 3 (1) (1999), pp. 10-34

20. Whose astrology? The imprint of Ti. Claudius Balbillus on the Mithraic mysteries

Part G. Eikona Kosmou: The Mithraeum

21. Introduction

22. Cosmic models: Some uses of Hellenistic science in Roman religion. Originally published in T.D. Barnes (ed.), The Sciences in Greco-Roman Society, APEIRON 27 (4) (1994), pp. 99-117

23. Qui mortalitatis causa convenerunt: The meeting of the Virunum Mithraists on June 26, A.D. 184. Originally published in Phoenix 52 (1998), pp. 335-44.