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The religion of the Mithras cult in the Roman Empire : mysteries of the unconquered sun / Roger Beck.

By: Beck, Roger, 1937-Material type: TextTextPublication details: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006. Description: xiii, 285 p. : ill. ; 24 cmISBN: 0198140894; 9780198140894; 9780199216130 (pbk.)Other title: Mysteries of the unconquered sunUniform titles: University press scholarship online. Subject(s): Mithraism | Planets -- Religious aspects | Mithraism -- Rome | Rome -- ReligionLOC classification: BL1585 | .B44 2006NLM classification: BL 1585
Contents:
Introduction to interpreting the mysteries : old ways, new ways -- Old ways : the reconstruction of Mithraic doctrine from iconography -- The problem of referents : interpretation with reference to what? -- Doctrine redefined -- Transition : from old ways to new ways. The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, I : introduction and comparisons -- Cognition and representation -- The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, II : the mithraeum -- Star-talk : the symbols of the Mithraic mysteries as language signs -- The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, III : the tauroctony -- Excursus : the esoteric quartering, a lost helicoidal model of lunar motion, and the origin of the 'winds' and 'steps' of the moon : the identity of 'Antiochus the Athenian' -- Conclusions: A new basis forinterpreting the mysteries.
Summary: "This book provides a new description of Mithraism, one of the mystery cults of the Roman Empire, from the perspective of its initiates. Mithraism, which was centred on the sun god Mithras, is described as a complex of symbolic representations created, apprehended, and transmitted not only in the medium of an extraordinarily rich and detailed iconography, but also in ritual action and language, in cult life and hierarchy, and in the design of its sacred space, the mithraeum."-- Publisher's website.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books The BIAA David H. French Library
Shelf 43 - Main Room 		J7 BECK 25971 Not for loan BOOKS-000000026413

Paperback issued 2007.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-271) and indexes.

Introduction to interpreting the mysteries : old ways, new ways -- Old ways : the reconstruction of Mithraic doctrine from iconography -- The problem of referents : interpretation with reference to what? -- Doctrine redefined -- Transition : from old ways to new ways. The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, I : introduction and comparisons -- Cognition and representation -- The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, II : the mithraeum -- Star-talk : the symbols of the Mithraic mysteries as language signs -- The Mithraic mysteries as symbol system, III : the tauroctony -- Excursus : the esoteric quartering, a lost helicoidal model of lunar motion, and the origin of the 'winds' and 'steps' of the moon : the identity of 'Antiochus the Athenian' -- Conclusions: A new basis forinterpreting the mysteries.

"This book provides a new description of Mithraism, one of the mystery cults of the Roman Empire, from the perspective of its initiates. Mithraism, which was centred on the sun god Mithras, is described as a complex of symbolic representations created, apprehended, and transmitted not only in the medium of an extraordinarily rich and detailed iconography, but also in ritual action and language, in cult life and hierarchy, and in the design of its sacred space, the mithraeum."-- Publisher's website.