Misterele lui Mithra în Imperiul Roman în timpul secolului al patrulea d. Hr.
Mysteries of Mithras in Roman Empire, during the fourth century A.D.

Summary/Abstract: Mithra is one of the most prosperous deities ever adored, from the Middle East to the northern region of Africa and the western lands of Europe. Although his roots reside in ancient Persia, he was also worshiped by the inhabitants of India, in the vedic and post-vedic eras. Originally a nocturnal god, he became a diurnal divinity, associated with the sun, empowered with high dignities: guardian of truth and protector of the army. Mithra was assumed by Roman soldiers, to bestow them the strength to defeat their enemies, given the fact that he was called Deus Sol invictus. Some emperors sustained the cult of the deity, like Diocletian, Maximian and Constantine Chlorus. But Constantine the Great brought paganism in a major decline. Even if Julian tried to revive pagan beliefs, two other emperors will give a final blow to Mithraism: Theodosius and Gratian. Regarding the cult, the mysteries were organized in a cryptic manner. The adepts were obliged to keep the doctrine and the practices as a sacred secret. The temple (the mithraeum), carved in the undergrounds or in a cave, was an edifice split in two, the second portion sheltering the rites. There, a permanent fire was guarded by its priests all the time – as a symbol of the god, it was sacred by its nature. The mysteries of The undefeated Sun seem to have borrowed elements from other pagan conceptions, but the assertion of some certain scholars that claim Mithraism could have influenced Christianism is utterly not founded and the arguments that will be presented will pinpoint that this is the only viable conclusion.

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