Sources

The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/the-religion-of-the-mithras-cult-in-the-roman-empire.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/the-religion-of-the-mithras-cult-in-the-roman-empire

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-the-religion-of-the-mithras-cult-in-the,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://www.divinityatlas.com/sources/the-religion-of-the-mithras-cult-in-the-roman-empire},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Roger Beck is a leading specialist in Roman Mithraism, and this study states its own central evidentiary limit honestly rather than presenting a false certainty: the Mithraic cult left no surviving scripture or creed of its own, so any account of its beliefs is necessarily a modern scholarly reconstruction built from surviving images, inscriptions and the astral symbolism of its ritual grades, not a documented statement of belief in the cult's own words. Beck's own interpretive framework, reading the imagery astrologically, is presented here as his scholarly reconstruction rather than as the cult's own confirmed doctrine. Use it for established archaeological and iconographic facts about Roman Mithraism and for Beck's own interpretive framework; treat any reconstructed belief as inference from images rather than as a documented creed.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Roger Beck's scholarly reconstruction of the Roman Mithras cult focused on its astral symbolism, published by Oxford University Press; the cult left no surviving scripture of its own, so any claim about its beliefs is necessarily a modern scholarly reconstruction, not a documented creed.

Notes

Roger Beck's scholarly reconstruction of the Roman cult of Mithras, focused on its astral symbolism and the cosmological meaning of its imagery and ritual grades. Use for established scholarly facts and Beck's own interpretive framework for Roman Mithraism; the cult left no surviving scripture of its own, so a claim about its beliefs is necessarily a modern scholarly reconstruction from images and inscriptions, not a documented creed.

Citation

Author

Roger Beck

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Publication Year

2006

URL

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-religion-of-the-mithras-cult-in-the-roman-empire-9780198140894

Source Type

academic monograph

Claims Backed By This Source (119 claims)

This source backs 119 claims across the atlas. As facts: 87 well-attested, 3 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 9 holds. Plus 20 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Articles, 32 claims: 28 well-attested, 4 general references.
Sacred Sites, 19 claims: 13 well-attested, 2 holds, 4 general references.
Deities, 15 claims: 13 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 1 general references.
Prayers, 14 claims: 8 well-attested, 3 holds, 3 general references.
Doctrines, 9 claims: 3 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 1 holds, 3 general references.
Religions, 9 claims: 8 well-attested, 1 general references.
Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
Sacred Architecture, 5 claims: 4 well-attested, 1 general references.
Bodies of Water, 4 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 holds, 2 general references.
Empires & Polities, 4 claims: 1 well-attested, 2 holds, 1 general references.