Cumont on the end of the cult of Mithras

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve been at it again.  I’ve done some more on the Wikipedia article on Mithraism.  This time I updated the section on when the end came, and they had to put their bull away.  Manfred Clauss says that the deposits of coins left as offerings in Mithraea all stop by 400 AD.  He gives an example of the Mithraeum at Pons Sarravi, where the place was wrecked and the coins scattered contemptuously across the floor.  The latest dated coins?  Theodosius I (d. 395).

The article had a statement by Cumont that the cult may have survived into the fifth century in remote valleys in the Vosges.  As ever with Wikipedia, Cumont’s exact words were not given.  But there was a reference to the English version, his “Mysteries of Mithra”, p. 206.  This said:

A few clandestine conventicles may, with stubborn persistence, have been held in the subterranean retreats of the palaces. The cult of the Persian god possibly existed as late as the fifth century in certain remote cantons of the Alps and the Vosges. For example, devotion to the Mithraic rites long persisted in the tribe of the Anauni, masters of a flourishing valley, of which a narrow defile closed the mouth.”

OK, but no reference given.  So I went searching for “Anauni” – that can’t be a common word.  Nor was it.  A search in the US version of Google books brought up the French text of the same passage, this time in Textes et Monumentes vol. 1, Cumont’s full-length real publication, on p.348. 

Quelques conventicules clandestins purent s’obstiner encore à s’assembler dans les souterrains des palais [5]; le culte du dieu perse put se survivre au Ve siècle dans certains cantons perdus des Alpes ou des Vosges [6]. Ainsi, rattachement aux rites mithriaques persista longtemps dans la tribu des Anauni, maîtresse d’une florissante vallée dont un étroit défilé ferme l’orifice [7].

5) Les vers de Paulin de Nole cités t. II, p.32, ont été écrits dans les dernières années du IVe siècle. Vers 400, Prudence attaque encore le culte du Soleil (Contr. Symmach., I, 309 ss.). – Sur la persistance des pratiques paiennes à Rome au Ve siècle, voir les curieuses tablettes magiques publiées par M. Wunsch, Sethianische Verfluchungstafeln, 1898, p. 53 s.

[The poem of Paulinus of Nola cited in vol. 2, p. 32, was written in the last years of the 4th century.  Around 400 Prudentius attacked the cult of Sol again (Contra Symmachum I, 309 f). — On the persistence of pagan practices at Rome in the 5th century see the curious magical tablets published by M. Wunsch…]

6) Le mithréum de Sarrebourg ne parait avoir été détruit qu’en 395, cf. mon. 273ter y, (t. II, p. 618).

[The Mithraeum of Sarrebourg only seems to have been destroyed in 395, cf. mon. 273, vol. 2, p.618].

7) Un récit du martyre de St Sisinnius (AA. SS., 29 mai, p. 44), parle comme suit de la religion de l’Anaunie : “Alexandria putabatur, Anagnia, privatis religiosa portentis, numerosa daemonibus, biformis Anubibus, idolis multiformis semihominibus, quod est legis irrisoribus, plena Isidis amentia, Serapidis fuga.” Mais les monuments nous ont appris que le culte du Val di Non n’était pas celui d’Isis, mais de Mithra; cf. supra, p. 269, n. 6. [=”6) Téurnia, inscr. 400, cf. 417″] – St Sissinius souffrit le martyre en 397, mais les habitants qui mirent à mort le missionnaire et ses compagnons, persévèrent certainement encore quelque temps dans le paganisme.

Reference 6 is to the coins in the Mithraeum at “Sarresbourg”, i.e. Pons Sarravi.  And are they fifth century?  No, they are not.

But what about reference 7?  Now I can’t make sense of the syntax of the Latin, despite knowing most of the words!  They all seem to be in the ablative!  Let’s try…

A story of the martyrdom of St. Sisinnius (Acta Sanctorum, 29 may, p. 44) speaks as follows of the religion of the Anauni: “It was thought at Alexandria, Anagnia (?), after predictions of the abolition of private religion, by numerous demons, two-formed Anubises, many-formed half-human idols, because there is for the mockers of the law, happy in the madness of Isis, in the exile of Serapis.”  But the monuments tell us that the cult of the Val di Non was not that of Isis, but of Mithra.

Then there is a ref. to monument 400 in vol. 2, which I have looked up:

400. Teurnia (St Peter in Holz). CIL, III, 4736. Dans les jardins du comte Porzia à Spital.
Colonne à six pans.
Cauti | L(ucius) | Albius | Atticus | et C(aius) | Albius | Avitus.

This seems to be dedicated to Cautes.  Then Cumont continues:

St. Sissinius suffered martyrdom in 397 but the inhabitants who put to death the missionary and his companions certainly still persevered in paganism for some years.

OK.  That’s more evidence than I had expected.  But of course we have no real idea of the date of that inscription… do we?  It’s still not that clear.

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What did Late Roman senators wear to the senate?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

To Canterbury to see Luke Lavan who is an archaeologist working at Ostia and generally interested in daily life in late antiquity.  In passing he says that most ordinary people imagine senators in late antiquity running around in togas as in the early empire.  I’d never given the idea a moment’s thought.  What DID they wear at that time?  I wish I’d thought to ask.

When did the Romans stop wearing the toga?

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Still thinking about archaeology online

Posted on by Roger Pearse

… and wondering what is NOT online that we all would like to see?

In my case, more photos of statues, inscriptions, labelled with their date might be useful.  What else?

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Light from the ancient East

Posted on by Roger Pearse

After scribbling about the Paris magical codex, and giving a link to a “preview only” version of Adolf Deissmann’s Light from the ancient East (1910), I wondered if a full version was around online.  Perhaps I might scan that spell of pagan exorcism from it, I thought.  Off I went to Google books; but no joy! 

I’m so used to finding stuff there, that it was actually a shock to find so many “snippet” versions.  So I went to Archive.org, and found it there.  Relief!

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How do we put archaeology online?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Imagine you were an archaeologist.  You have people digging for you, you end up with a heap of photos, some plans, a cardboard box full of artefacts, pottery, bones … perhaps a crate with the Ark of the Covenant in it … and you need to make this stuff accessible to people who live in basements a long way away.  What do you do?

I’ve been thinking about this a bit.  I don’t pay a huge amount of attention to archaeology, but there are a fair number of open-access journals which publish things.

Trouble is, archaeologists are really bad at publishing.  Stuff just gets left in store-cupboards.

I wonder if the answer is simply to create a bunch of PDF’s from the dig; scan the scribbled notes, the plans, and turn them into PDF files.  Upload the photos — not necessarily OCR any of this — and just stick it online in a directory on a web server.  Maybe hook it all together using the software from Wikipedia Commons.  That seems to work fairly well.

Do we need to do more, to facilitate public accessibility?  Would that be very onerous?

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The spirit of persecution in Firmicus Maternus

Posted on by Roger Pearse

In Firmicus Maternus, The error of profane religion, 16, we read the following exhortation to the emperors (ca. 350):

3. These temples, very holy emperors, one should call them bonfires. Yes, bonfires of poor wretches, this is the name which is right for them. Because the deplorable servitude of men has led them to raise temples instead of tombs for people charged with crimes. Here we maintain the flames that have burned their bodies, the ashes of the dead are kept in obedience to an impious law; their despicable fate is renewed in the blood of victims daily, the sad lamentations for their death are commemorated by annual ceremonies of mourning, a groan comes to awaken the old pain, the low minds of men learn to honor and to imitate the parricides, incests and murders represented in the rites.

4. These abominations, most holy emperors, must be extirpated radically, in order to destroy them; apply to them the most severe regulations of your edicts, do not allow the Roman world to be sullied any longer by this disastrous error, that the impiety of these practices, a true plague, should not gain in power, and that the domination of that which seeks the ruin of the man of God should last no longer. Some refuse, conceal themselves, and desire with a feverish passion their own death. Come all the same to the assistance of these poor wretches, deliver them: they are perishing! It is so that you might remedy this wound that the supreme God has entrusted the empire to you. We know the danger to which their crime exposes them, we know the punishment reserved for their error: better to release some in spite of themselves than to leave them to their own desires to run to their perdition.

5. The sick like what harms them. When disease has seized the body of a man, the sick clamour for what would prevent them from recovering their health. A spirit oppressed by the languor of a disease always wants what will increase it, it mistakes and scorns the remedies of the experts, it resists the care of the doctor, and tends with an impassioned haste towards its own loss. If evil is gaining ground, it uses the most powerful remedies, the medicine that seeks the good of the patient, is more energetic. The repugnant food, the bitter drinks, those who refuse them are made to take them by force; and, if their disease still progresses, iron and fire are employed. Cured finally, returned to health, the man who underwent against his will the care that was given him because of his disease, recognizes, his spirit once again strengthed, that all these torments were inflicted on him for his good.

This is the authentic language of religious persecution.  “It’s for your own good”, the inquisitor cries.  And who decides what is right for me?  Why, the inquisitor!  We need not suppose Firmicus Maternus insincere; but we know that all too often those who claim this right over us have proven to be very insincere and self-seeking.  The emperors here are Constantius II and his ill-fated nephew, Gallus.  Few of us would willingly live under the rule of either.

So it was during the Cold War.  There were not lacking people who knew what was best for me better than I did.  “The will of people” must prevail, they cried; but somehow “the people” always meant “people other than me”. 

It would be nice to think that we have got past this stage, where a minority — or even a majority — force their views on others, “for their own good.”  Sadly there seems no sign of it.  Those who have power always seem to become arrogant.

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All the PDF’s for the Patrologia Graeca online

Posted on by Roger Pearse

After collecting a set of links to all the volumes of the PL online, Rod Letchford has done the same for the volumes of the Patrologia Graeca which are online:

http://cyprianproject.info/PG.htm

This again is fantastically useful, considering how awkward it can be to find particular volumes.  Thanks Rod!

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The Paris magical codex

Posted on by Roger Pearse

In the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris is an early fourth century papyrus codex (ms. supplement grec 574) which contains a variety of texts, spells, hymns, etc.   It is 36 folios in length – large for a papyrus, and contains 3274 lines.

The manuscript was acquired in Egypt by the collector Giovanni Anastasi (# 1073 in his collection) and bought at auction in Paris by the BNF in 1857.  It probably comes from Thebes (=Luxor).  Apparently Anastasi was told that his papyri were found in a grave there, perhaps sometime around 1825, although we cannot be sure of this.  Anastasi certainly sold a larger collection of papyri to the Dutch archaeologist C. J. C. Reuvens, the founder and first director of the Oudheidkundig Museum in Leiden, sometime after 1825.1

The codex seems to be the working handbook for an Egyptian magician, compiled from many sources.  It contains more than 50 documents, doubtless acquired from various sources, and is the single most comprehensive handbook of magic known from the ancient world.  The documents contained in it must all be 4th century or earlier — possibly much earlier — and each document has its own history prior to being copied into the codex. 

The text was printed by Karl Preisendanz, Papyri Graecae Magicae, vol. 1, Leipzig, 1928, rev. 1973, as item IV (hence PGM IV).  Various online versions of this seem to exist.  An English translation was made by H.-D.Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in translation, 1986.  There is an enormous secondary literature.

The best known of these texts is on lines 475- 834, the so-called Mithras liturgy, a series of prayers which begins by invoking Sol Mithras and may — or may not — have some connection to the mysteries of Mithras.

Other parts show Jewish influence, and one spell, an exorcism ending with the words — Come out of NN — on line 3019, contains the words:

I adjure you by the God of the Hebrews, Jesus, Jaba, Jae, Abraoth, Aia, Thoth, Ele, …. 2

and ends with Ptah, which shows how magicians were willing to tap into supposed names of power in just the way recorded in Acts.  It also contains a string of the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet (a, e, h, i, o, u, w) which Eusebius tells us in the Praeparatio Evangelica 11.6.36 was treated by the pagans as a name of power equivalent to the Hebrew Tetragrammaton.  Its presence in the spell shows that he was right.  The same series are also used in the Mithras liturgy.

1 Pieter Willem van der Horst, Jews and Christians in their Graeco-Roman context, p. 269. Here.
2. A. Deismann, Light from the ancient East, pp.258-260 prints the full text of a two leaf spell with English translation, online here.

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All the PDF’s for the Patrologia Latina

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Rod Letchford has written to say that he has compiled a list of links to all the volumes of the Patrologia Latina available online.  It’s here:

http://cyprianproject.info/PL.htm

Apparently they all work from where he is, in Australia.

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Virgin birth of Mitra from Anahita?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve had an email directing me to a webpage supposedly containing an article by Mohammad Moqadam (Moghdam), with the subtitle “The Second International Congress of Mithraic Studies, Tehran 1975″.  This makes the claim:

The Saviour was born in the middle of the night between Saturday and Sunday, 24th and 25th of December, 272 BCE, and according to those who believed in Him from an Immaculate (Anahid) Virgin  (Xosidhag) somewhere not far from lake Hamin, Sistan, Lived for 64 years among men, and ascended to His Father Ahura Mazda in 208 BCE.

and is widely quoted by a certain sort of writer.

This article does not seem to be scholarly.  There are no real references in it to the texts being quoted, edition, etc.  Many of these texts are unfamiliar to me, although I know of al-Tabari.  But it sounds as if he is quoting this from an unspecified edition, in translation… what translation?

His quotes, if genuine — just imagine whether we could check these; it would be very difficult — suggest that by the Islamic period some of the Persians believed that the events of the life of Jesus took place during the Arsacid period.  No doubt such a confusion is possible.  But I don’t see the point of it, unless I am missing something.

The vague reference to Elise Vardapet, that the lord Mihr had a human mother…. this is really not much good.  The real reference is the Elisaeus Vardapet, “History of Vartan”, in a speech given by Christian bishops to the Sassanid governor trying to fend off a persecution.

https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/?p=2648

Some of the claims made seem rather odd to me.  But … I don’t actually see, in any of this, evidence for the claim he makes about a virgin birth of Mitra.  Is it actually there, anywhere?

A frustrating, infuriating article, I think.  It ends with another such example:

It is written in the Bayan al- Adyan, that “the Manicheans say that Jesus called men to Zoroaster.

Is it?  What is this text?  Where do we find it? And so on.

I think we can stick this article down the toilet, I’m sorry to say.  Whether the claim made is true or not, the article does not substantiate it.

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