David Ulansey's book breaks new scholastic ground by arguing that the Roman cult of Mithras did not originate in Persia, as previously thought. Instead, Ulansey suggests, the cult was triggered by the reaction of a group of Tarsian intellectuals to the discovery in 128 BCE, of the Precession of the Spheres. To these fatalistic Stoics the only possible explanation for this phenomenon was the existence of a divinity powerful enough to shift the heavens, and this was to become the revelation at the heart of the Mithraic mysteries. This information was then married to the astrology of the zodiac and to the symbolism of popular Tarsian myths surrounding Perseus to create the fabric of the religion. David Ulansey's study is an absorbing, carefully researched, and frequently beautiful description of an ancient cult which long fascinated scholars by virtue of the lack of written evidence concerning it and the paradoxical wealth of artefacts and iconography uncovered by archaeologists.
Reviews
`Ulansey contributes important new ideas and presents them in clear and well punctuated stages, avoiding the abstruse technicalities which might have deterred non-astronomers.' Classical Review
'Dr Ulansey's extremely interesting book throws a completely new light on the origin of the Mithras religion.' B.L. van der Werden, University of Zurich
'(Puts) the development of western Mithraism in an utterly new perspective.' Martin Schwartz, University of California, Berkeley
'the first new attempt to find a global explanation for the mysteries of the god Mithra ... For this exceedingly difficult endeavor, the scholar of Boston University should be commended ... major contribution to this new trend of research.' Ioan P. Culianu, University of Chicago, The Journal of Religion



Book Information
ISBN 9780195067880
Author David Ulansey
Format Paperback
Page Count 168
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 239g
Dimensions(mm) 209mm * 142mm * 11mm