The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World - Hardcover

Ulansey, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195054024 ISBN 13: 9780195054026

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1989

Synopsis

The ancient Roman "mystery religion" of Mithraism--one of the major competitors to early Christianity--has intrigued generations of scholars, while frustrating all attempts to penetrate the veil of secrecy which cloaked the religion. In this book, David Ulansey challenges the prevailing theory that Mithraism is derived from ancient Iranian religion, arguing instead that the puzzling iconograpy which served as the focus of the cult was actually an astronomical code, and that the cult began as a religious reaction to a startling scientific discovery. As his investigation proceeds, Ulansey takes his readers on a fascinating journey into an ancient intellectual underground inhabited by a community of thinkers united by their belief that scientific knowledge could lead to salvation.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The teachings of the ancient Roman 'mystery religion' of Mithraism--one of the most important competitors of early Christianity--were guarded with the utmost secrecy, reveled only to select initiates. While the Mithraists never wrote down their secret doctrines, they did leave a key to them in the arcane iconography which filled the walls of their underground temples. Until now, all attempts to decipher this iconography have proven fruitless. Most experts have been content with a vague hypothesis that these images somehow derived from ancient Iranian religion.

About the Author:

About the Author:
David Ulansey is Assistant Professor of Religion at Boston University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0195054024
• ISBN 13: 9780195054026
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 166