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Images of Mithra / Philippa Adrych, Robert Bracey, Dominic Dalglish, Stefanie Lenk, and Rachel Wood.

By: Adrych, Philippa [author.]Contributor(s): Bracey, Robert (Writer on coins) [author.] | Dalglish, Dominic [author.] | Lenk, Stefanie [author.] | Wood, Rachel, 1985- [author.]Material type: TextTextSeries: Visual conversations in art and archaeologyPublisher: Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Edition: First editionDescription: xvii, 211 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 26 cmContent type: text | still image Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780198792536; 0198792530Subject(s): Mithras | To 1500 | Mithraism | Mithras (Zoroastrian deity) -- Art | Mithraism in art | Indo-European antiquities | Mithraism | Mithraism in art | MithraskultGenre/Form: History.DDC classification: 932-933 LOC classification: BL1585 | .A37 2017
Contents:
Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- List of illustrations -- List of maps -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Reconstructions : Mithras in Rome -- Patrons and viewers : Dura-Europos -- Settings : Bourg-Saint-Andéol -- Identifications : Mihr in Sasanian Iran -- Interpretations : Miiro in Kushan Bactria -- Syncretisms : Apollo-Mithras in Commagene -- Conclusion -- Epilogue : Quetzalcoatl and Mithra -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index of people and places -- Index of selected sites -- Index of subjects.
Summary: With a history of use extending back to Vedic texts of the second millennium BC, derivations of the name Mithra appear in the Roman Empire, across Sasanian Persia, and in the Kushan Empire of southern Afghanistan and northern India during the first millennium AD. Even today, this name has a place in Yazidi and Zoroastrian religion. But what connection have Mihr in Persia, Miiro in Kushan Bactria, and Mithras in the Roman Empire to one another? This book offers a fresh approach to how we think about gods in the ancient world. Over the course of the volume, specialists in the material culture of these diverse regions explore appearances of the name Mithra from six distinct locations in antiquity. In a subversion of the usual historical process, the authors begin not from an assessment of texts, but by placing 'images of Mithra' at the heart of their analysis. Careful consideration of each example's own context, situating it in the broader scheme of religious traditions and on-going cultural interactions, is key to this discussion. Such an approach opens up a host of potential comparisons and interpretations that are often side-lined in historical accounts. Further implications are made clear in a fascinating epilogue to the volume on the Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books The BIAA David H. French Library
Shelf 43 - Main Room
J7 ADRYC 31404 Not for loan BOOKS-000000024291

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-206) and indexes.

Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- List of illustrations -- List of maps -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Reconstructions : Mithras in Rome -- Patrons and viewers : Dura-Europos -- Settings : Bourg-Saint-Andéol -- Identifications : Mihr in Sasanian Iran -- Interpretations : Miiro in Kushan Bactria -- Syncretisms : Apollo-Mithras in Commagene -- Conclusion -- Epilogue : Quetzalcoatl and Mithra -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index of people and places -- Index of selected sites -- Index of subjects.

With a history of use extending back to Vedic texts of the second millennium BC, derivations of the name Mithra appear in the Roman Empire, across Sasanian Persia, and in the Kushan Empire of southern Afghanistan and northern India during the first millennium AD. Even today, this name has a place in Yazidi and Zoroastrian religion. But what connection have Mihr in Persia, Miiro in Kushan Bactria, and Mithras in the Roman Empire to one another? This book offers a fresh approach to how we think about gods in the ancient world. Over the course of the volume, specialists in the material culture of these diverse regions explore appearances of the name Mithra from six distinct locations in antiquity. In a subversion of the usual historical process, the authors begin not from an assessment of texts, but by placing 'images of Mithra' at the heart of their analysis. Careful consideration of each example's own context, situating it in the broader scheme of religious traditions and on-going cultural interactions, is key to this discussion. Such an approach opens up a host of potential comparisons and interpretations that are often side-lined in historical accounts. Further implications are made clear in a fascinating epilogue to the volume on the Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl.