The religion of the Mithras cult in the Roman Empire mysteries of the unconquered sun - Beck, Roger (Oxford University Press, 2006)
Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-271) and indexes
Cover -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction to Interpreting the Mysteries: Old Ways, New Ways -- 1. An agenda -- 2. A word on ontology -- 3. Template for a re-description of the Mithraic mysteries -- 4. On comparisons -- 5. On cognition -- 6. Synchronic versus diachronic; structure and meaning versus historic cause and effect; interpretation versus explanation -- 7. Conclusion -- 2. Old Ways: The Reconstruction of Mithraic Doctrine from Iconography -- 1. A gateway to an interpretation of the mysteries: Porphyry, De antro nympharum 6, on the form and function of the mithraeum -- 2. The traditional route: from the iconography of the monuments to the myth of Mithras to the beliefs of Mithraists -- 3. The merits and achievements of the traditional heuristic procedure -- 4. The shortcomings of the traditional heuristic procedure --
- Appendix: some remaining methodological problems for the explication of the Mithras myth as represented on the figured monuments -- 3. The Problem of Referents: Interpretation with Reference to What? -- 1. Iconography and the problem of referents -- 2. Referents in the surrounding culture? -- 3. Iranian referents? -- 4. Celestial (astronomical/astrological) referents? -- 5. Conclusion -- 4. Doctrine Redefined -- 1. Back to Porphyry, De antro 6 -- 2. 'Induction into a mystery': the doctrinal misconstruction of De antro 6 -- 3. Teaching versus enacting the 'descent and departure of souls': the commonsensical answer -- 4. An expectation of appropriate behaviour -- 5. 'Reason for the wise, symbols for the vulgar' -- 6. Mithraic doctrine and its stakeholders: various views -- 7. Doctrine and belief: the Christian 'faith' paradigm -- 8. Mithraic doctrine: three main issues -- 9. (i) Generalizing about Mithraic doctrine from unusual monuments --
- 10. (ii) What do we mean by 'doctrine' in the context of the Mithraic mysteries? An array of answers -- 11. (iii) Doctrine and the ordinary initiate -- 12. Conclusion -- Transition: from old ways to new ways -- 5. The Mithraic Mysteries as Symbol System: I. Introduction and Comparisons -- 1. Religion as a system of symbols: an anthropological approach -- 2. Are Geertzian description and interpretation applicable to the symbol system of the Mithraic mysteries? -- 3. Yes, Geertzian description and interpretation are possible, provided we begin not with the tauroctony but with the mithraeum and the grade structure -- 4. A culture within a culture: Mithraism as a subsystem within the cultural system of Graeco-Roman paganism. The hermeneutic implications -- 5. The symbol complex of the grade hierarchy -- 6. A modern comparator: the symbol system of the Chamulas -- 7. The construction of space in Mithraic and Chamula cultures --
- 8. Mithraism's second axiom: 'Harmony of Tension in Opposition' -- Appendix: on Porphyry's De antro nympharum as a reliable source of data on the Mithraic mysteries -- 6. Cognition and Representation -- 1. The cognitive approach: ontogenetic/phylogenetic versus cultural -- 2. Gods in mind: cognition and the representation of supernatural beings -- 3. Negotiating representations -- 4. Reintegrating th