![]() The Cincinnati Art Museum now displays the work within its extensive collection. Although now removed from its hidden subterranean temple, it still evokes the mysterious and ancient world of Mithraism. Mithras Slaying the Bull was a devotional icon used during the seven stages. The seven stages were Raven ( Corax), Nymph ( Nymphus), Soldier ( Miles), Lion ( Leo), Persian ( Perses), Runner of the Sun ( Heliodromus), and Father ( Pater). This quasi-apathetic objective aimed to purify and transcend the followers through seven stages of initiation to reach an ultimate spiritual goal.Ī very loose comparison to Nirvana in Buddhism could be proposed. There are a few references to the trials that mystai endured to develop control over their emotions and feelings similar to Stoicism. As a result, little information is documented. Participation in the mystery religion was limited to initiates ( mystai). Little is known about the rituals and ceremonies of Mithraism that surround Mithras Slaying the Bull. Hence such a simple detail of roughly hewn rocks in the background of Mithras Slaying the Bull indicates the artwork’s location, its narrative, its symbolism, and its manufactured source material. They also rendered the cosmos with their darkness and obscurity. Like a womb, they represented the origin of life. Therefore, caves as Mithraea (plural of Mithraeum) were steeped in symbolism. ![]() Moreover, it was inside a cave that Mithras lured, captured, and slew the wild bull. Mithras was born from rock deep within a hidden cave on December 25, and it is not a coincidence that Christianity later supplanted Mithraism with Jesus having the same birthday. The cave walls of a Mithraeum are echoed by the cave walls of Mithras Slaying the Bull, but they also echo the narrative of Mithras too. Eating bread and drinking wine were regular events that occurred around a centrally-placed icon such as Mithras Slaying the Bull. Inside a Mithraeum is where followers would stage and perform their devotional acts. This type of dedicated cave was known as a Mithraeum since it was essentially a Mithraic temple. Followers of Mithras would congregate in hidden caves found naturally in the countryside or created artificially in the urban underground. They are depicted as the decorative background of roughly shaped rocks. Detail.īehind the storytelling and action of Mithras are cave walls. Mithras Slaying the Bull, 150-200 CE, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA. Mithras Slaying the Bull allies with its target audiences through its ethnicity, clothing, and violence. ![]() With his Phyrigian cap atop his head symbolizing his freedom, Mythras stabs the wild bull with his knife. The unknown artist tailored the frieze towards the greatest supporters of Mithraism who were Roman military members. The carved frieze also presents Mithras in Roman military garb with his cape and tunic compared to his mythical nakedness. Mithras Slaying the Bull depicts the beautiful young god as ethnically similar to its target audience: city-dwellers of Rome. However, despite his origins, Mithras is not depicted as an Indian or Persian person but as a Western European with his very Roman classicized face. He was an Indian-Persian god who blended Eastern and Western beliefs on glorifying war, overcoming evil, and achieving salvation. In the top central area of this frieze is the protagonist himself, Mithras. Map of the Roman Empire at the death of Emperor Trajan in 117 CE.
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