Mithraism and Christianity

Mithraism

Mithraism was the chief rival to Christianity in its early days.  Mithra was the Vedic Sun-god, one of the pantheon of gods described in the Proto-Indo-European (aka Aryan) Migration post.  He was associated with Sunday (of course). Mithraism has a lot a similarities to Christianity, the most significant are that Mithras:  

• Was born on December 25th to a virgin
• Was resurrected to save mankind and achieve world peace
• Described as ‘The Light’ or ‘The Way’
• Celebrated a last supper with his 12 disciples
• Partook in a sacramental meal of bread called maza in Greek or mass in English 

 

Christianity 

 

There are historical artefacts like the Interpretatio Christiana that confirm that early Christians adapted non-Christian cultural beliefs and said they were part of Christianity.

 

The Christians adopted the image of Helios, the Greek sun god, to represent Christ.  He is portrayed as riding a chariot drawn by four white horses carrying the sun.  This is in the mosaics in St. Peter's! This is the same imagery used for the Greek god Apollo or the Hindu god Surya at the Konarak Sun Temple, India that we discussed in the Didyma and the God Apollo post.    Again, these beliefs stem from our common ancestral culture to the Ancient Greek, Roman and Hindu religions due to our common Indo-European heritage. 

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