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Home , Cancer (constellation), Orion (constellation)

3. MITHRAS-

Orion is the one that closes the gap between and the other equatorial summer . Mithras' identification with Orion thus becomes absolutely necessary if the constellations of the bull slaying scene are to be equatorial. But we are not reduced to inferences of this kind, however compelling, for there exists proof for Mithras being Orion in written sources. Porphyry, the neo-Platonic philosopher of the later third cen­ tury A.D., with his wide command of the Mithraic literature then available, constitutes one of our best literary sources for Roman . 1 In his essay on the meaning of the cave in the (13, 102-112) Porphyry reports, with approval, the views of the second­ century Platonic and Pythagorean scholar Numenius :2 the cave is an image and symbol of the cosmos of which the two extremities in the heavens are the tropic of and the tropic of . These circles are assigned to the Moon and to Saturn respectively as the planets closest to and farthest from men. There follows a disquisition showing which signs of the are the respective 'houses' of the seven planets,-obviously to further underpin the assignment of Cancer to the Moon as her '' and of Capricorn to Saturn as his 'house'. After a description of Cancer and Capricorn as the northern gate for souls coming to genesis and the southern gate for souls leaving from genesis, Porphyry continues with an essential passage :3

1 On Porphyry, Numenius, and his pupil Cronius and their reports about Roman Mithraism in general see R. Turcan (1975: 62 ff.). 2 Porphyrius-, De Antro Nympharum 21ff. (= A. Nauck, 1886:70ff.; Arethusa I, 1969: 22ff., with translation). 3 Porphyrius, De Antra Nympharum 24 (= A. Nauck, 1886: 73; Arethusa I, 1969: 24): 1:0 J.lEv OUV M iON OtKElUV KUStOpuv 1:T]v KU1:U 1:U~ iO'l1J.l£piu~ il1ttm~uv' OtO KPLOU J.l!';V

'To Mithras they assigned his proper seat on the equinoxes That is why he bears the of , the sign of Mars, and why he also straddles the bull of Venus. Like the bull a demiurge and lord of genesis, he is placed on the equator, the north to his right, the south to his left', .... The sword Mithras is bearing, and the bull he is straddling, leave no doubt that Mithras is seen here as the bull slayer of the cult icon. But why do Aries and Taurus support his being on the equator? The answer, we believe, is given by . In his famous description of the equator, quoted above, he says of that circle: 'The sign for it is the Ram and the knees of the Bull'.4 It seems that Aries and Taurus are adduced by Porphyry because they are the first two signs of the equator and thereby support and explain Mithras' position on that line. Disregard of Aratus' passage has led to different interpretations of Porphyry's report. F. Cumont thought Taurus is mentioned here because in remote 'Chaldaean' times the spring equinox was in Taurus. Yet on the reckoning of the precession of the , that would lead us back at least to the third millennium B.C.-hardly a convincing proposition, especially when considering the state of Babylonian . 5 Another suggestion was to emend the text of the manuscripts radically so as to read '(Mithras) rides on the Bull of Venus; is the house of Venus as is the Bull'.6 Thereby one would have gained a reference, even though devious, to the second equinoctial point, i.e. Libra, a reference that would well justify Mithras being on the equinoxes. Unfortunately this latter solution is altogether invented and has no support in the manuscript tradition. What both these proposed solutions have in common is that they search for the points of the

4 Aratus, Phaenomena SIS (= G. R. Mair, 246): O'iilla of: oi KPIO~ Taupolo TE youvaw KElWI. See also the scholia to Aratus SIS (= J. Martin, 1974: 311): TT]V KaTUt,TjIjlIV auwG oioOlmv f:K TroV bnljlaVOVTOlv aunp ~QlOiOlV. O'TjIl£IOV 8£ wG KUKAOV {) KPIO~ {) 1tii~ Kai TU wG Taupov yovaTa KEIwl. 5 F. Cumont (1899: 201 but see ibidem, 21Of.). The equinoxes are apparently a Greek, not a Babylonian discovery, see D. R. Dicks (1966 and 1970). See also R. Beck (1977: 5 f.). A. Bouche-Leclercq (1899: 134) figured the equinox was in Taurus from 4400 B.c. to 2200 B.C. 6 R. Beck (1976, b).