MITHRA. After Ahura Mazda¯ and together with Ana¯hita¯, Mithra is one of the major deities of ancient Iran, one that later crossed the borders of the Iranian world to become the supreme god of a mystery religion popular throughout the Roman Empire. In the Avesta and the later Zoroastrian literature Mithra turns up frequently; indeed, an entire Avestan.
Mithra is essentially a deity of light: he draws the sun
with rapid horses; he is the first to reach the summit of
Mount Hara¯, at the center of the earth, and from there
watches over the entire abode of the Aryans; he shines with
his own light and in the morning makes the many forms of
the world visible. If his name is synonymous with the word
mithra, meaning “contract, covenant,” as Antoine Meillet
(1907) suggests, his functions are not restricted to merely
personifying that notion. In the Iranian world, besides being
a deity of light with strong solar characteristics (which explains his identification with the Mesopotamian Shamash),
Mithra has a clear significance as a warrior god. Thus, in relation to the gods of the Indo-Iranian pantheon, he is closer
to Indra than to the Vedic Mitra. He also, however, has the
traits of a divinity who ensures rain and prosperity and who
protects cattle by providing it ample pasturage.
The cult of Mithra, together with that of Ana¯hita¯, constitutes the principal innovation of Zoroastrianism as it
evolved after Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) and represents its
major compromise with ancient polytheism. It was probably
Mithra’s role as defender and guardian of asha, truth and
order—the fundamental principle of earlier Indo-Iranian religion, as well as of Zoroastrianism—that redeemed him
from Zarathushtra’s original general condemnation of polytheism.
Mithra is essentially a deity of light: he draws the sun
with rapid horses; he is the first to reach the summit of
Mount Hara¯, at the center of the earth, and from there
watches over the entire abode of the Aryans; he shines with
his own light and in the morning makes the many forms of
the world visible. If his name is synonymous with the word
mithra, meaning “contract, covenant,” as Antoine Meillet
(1907) suggests, his functions are not restricted to merely
personifying that notion. In the Iranian world, besides being
a deity of light with strong solar characteristics (which explains his identification with the Mesopotamian Shamash),
Mithra has a clear significance as a warrior god. Thus, in relation to the gods of the Indo-Iranian pantheon, he is closer
to Indra than to the Vedic Mitra. He also, however, has the
traits of a divinity who ensures rain and prosperity and who
protects cattle by providing it ample pasturage.
The cult of Mithra, together with that of Ana¯hita¯, constitutes the principal innovation of Zoroastrianism as it
evolved after Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) and represents its
major compromise with ancient polytheism. It was probably
Mithra’s role as defender and guardian of asha, truth and
order—the fundamental principle of earlier Indo-Iranian religion, as well as of Zoroastrianism—that redeemed him
from Zarathushtra’s original general condemnation of polytheism.