Corax

Thanks for the recomendations Corax, I'll definately look into those. The novels I've been reading are a series of books called the Forgotten Legion chronicles by Ben Kane. It's set in the late Republic around the time of Caesar, Pompey, Crassus etc. Mithras doesn't appear till the second book but then the religion plays quite prominent role in the storyline. http://www.amazon.co...gion+chronicles I did a review for UNRV on the first book in the series a while ago. ...we are going to do reviews of both follow up books (Silver Legion and Road to Rome) in the near future... I look forward to reading them - by the way, I tried to find the review of the first book but could not find it ..probably looking in the wrong place.... Corax

Thank you too for the info about Ben Kane. I had not hear of him before but he will definitely go on my increasingly long wish list! Corax

Thank you everyone for your kind welcome. Gaius - As regards an introduction to the mysteries of Mithras, I found David Ulansey's "The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries - Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World" - to be a good starting point. One slight warning: he identifies Mithras as representing the constellation of Perseus in the tauroctony (bull-killing icon)and quite a few scholars part company with him there and prefer to interpret Mithras as the Sun. But he is good on the background to the religion and, for me, the book was detailed enough to give a good introduction. Part of Robert Turcan's "The Cults of the Roman Empire" has a section on Mithras - cannot comment on it as it only arrived yesterday but it looks good.! IMO the most impressive work I have found so far is Roger Beck "The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire - Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun. " It is not an easy read for me as I know very little about ancient astronomy or astrology but it is well worth the effort if you want to gain an idea of how complex a religion it was. By the way, what is the name of the novel you are reading? It sounds tempting! Happy reading! Corax

Apologies that I did not introduce myself before starting to post on other fora but I am still finding my way round the site and only just fell upon this one! So - here goes - My twenty-first century name is Sukey and I am a semi-retired civil servant with some lovely extra time on my hands to learn about the past. I have always been interested in history but my interest in the Romans started with the Hadrian exhibition at the British Museum a few years ago. I then promised myself a visit to the Wall and this exceeded all my expectations. This was followed by a visit to Rome a couple of times and this has just encouraged me yet further! One of my main areas of interest is anything to do with the emperor Hadrian. After visiting the mithraea at St Clemente in Rome and Brocolitia on the Wall I became particularly interested in the mysteries of Mithras and am currently reading everything I can get hold of about them. (Amazon is doing well out of me!) My ambition is to visit every mithraeum still in existence but this may well be a tall order! So that explains why I am calling myself Corax as we Ravens have to start somewhere! I am so pleased to have found a site full of people who are so enthusiastic about all things Roman and I look forward to joining in many more discussions and learning from you. Many thanks - Corax

Thank you to everyone for your very useful suggestions. The trains website is excellent. It does look to be a very long journey so I may well go for the Trier option instead. I did not realise there was quite so much Roman stuff there! Thanks again. Corax

I hope this is the right forum for this query! All being well, I plan to go to Cologne for a few days next month. I understand that there is a Temple of Mithras at a place called Brebach Heidenkapelle which is apparently near Saabrucken. There is not much about it on the internet so I wondered if anyone had been there and could let me know if it is worth a visit? Also, is it possible to get there from Cologne by public transport? Thanks for any help! Corax

According to David Ulansey - in The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries - there was a deeply-rooted cult of Perseus in Tarsus. He was reputed to be the founder of the city. Apparently Plutarch stated that the Mysteries started amongst the pirates in Cilicia (now southern Turkey) but I have not read him - yet! The capital was Tarsus. M L Vermaseren states that representations on coins from Tarsus show the bull-slaying. I think it is impossible to establish exactly where the Mysteries came from. I know that they were seen to have come originally from Persia. Porphyry in De Antro uses the term "Persians" when describing those invoved in the Mysteries of Mithras. Another rather odd coincidence - if it is - is that Perseus had a son called Perses. Herodotus says that he gave his name to Persia, which is a nice story but not true. But rather intriguing is the fact that Perses (the Persian) is one of the seven Mithraic grades. Fascinating stuff, though! Corax

This is my first post so please be patient with me if I get it wrong!I did try to post this a few days ago but it disappeared into the ether! I am interested in learning more about the Mysteries of Mithras. I note that when the god is shown as killing the bull (the tauroctony) he is always shown as looking away from it. I know that David Ulansey identifies Mithras with Perseus who killed the Gorgon; he goes on to argue that as Perseus looked away from the Gorgon because her look could turn men to stone this has been transferred to Mithras and the bull. Does anyone have any other ideas? Many thanks. Corax