Mithra
| Mithra | |
|---|---|
God of Covenant and Light | |
Relief from Taq-e Bostan in Kermanshah Iran. In this relief, Ardashir II is in the middle and to his right is Shapur II and to the left of the king, the god Mithra, with beams of light like the sun emanating from his head in all directions, and he is standing on a sacred lotus flower. | |
| Avestan | Miθra 𐬨𐬌𐬚𐬭𐬀 |
| Affiliation | The Thirty-Three Deities, Guardians of the Days of the Month, The Twelve Deities |
| Abode | Hara Berezaiti |
| Symbol | Sunlight, light, Lion, Cypress tree |
| Sacred flower | Scarlet Rose |
| Attributes | God of the Covenant, God of Light and Brightness, God of War, God of Truth, Guardian of the Covenant, Judge of Deeds on the Final Day |
| Day | 16th of each month in the Iranian calendar، Sunday of each week |
| Mount | Chariot |
| Gender | Male |
| Temples | Mithraeum |
| Festivals | Mehregan, Yalda Night (Birth of Mithra) |
| Associated deities | Verethragna, Rashnu, Sraosha |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek | Mithras |
| Roman | Mithras |
| Vedic | Mitra |
| Armenian | Mihr |
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Mithra (Avestan: 𐬨𐬌𐬚𐬭𐬀 Miθra; Old Persian: 𐎷𐎰𐎼 Miθraʰ) is an ancient Iranian deity (yazata) of covenants, light, oaths, justice, the Sun, contracts, and friendship. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth (Asha), and the guardian of cattle, the harvest, and the Waters.
The Romans attributed their Mithraic mysteries to Zoroastrian Persian sources relating to Mithra. Since the early 1970s, the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between the Persian and Roman traditions, making it, at most, the result of Roman perceptions of Zoroastrian ideas. According to Boyce, the earliest literary references to the Mithraic mysteries are by the Latin poet Statius, about 80 CE, and Plutarch (c. 100 CE).