The Phrygian cult of Cybele, the Maga Mater,
which had been introduced in Rome in 204 BC, still had pious
followers in the 4th century. They gathered in sanctuaries
like the Vatican phyrigianum, or temple on the Campus
Martius. Like Mithras, this cult had an initiation covering
several grades including baptism and rebirth using the blood
of a bull whose throat was cut drenching the inititiate as
part of a pledge to a new life as described by the poet
Prudentius. The initiate also ate food from the tambourine
and drank liquor from the cymbal which were used in the cult
of Attis, Cybele's partner. Their great annual festival was
a holy week in Spring. This all led to followers accusing
the Christians of imitating their rites with baptism, the
Eucharist and Easter week.
Their religion was banned by Emperor Theodosius
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| The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries by David Ulansey Mithraism began as a religious response to Hipparchus's discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mithras List @ groups. yahoo.com for people with scholarly or spiritual interest in Mithraism. |
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During the rituals, the evolution of the universe and the destiny of mankind was explained. The service consisted chiefly of contemplating the Mithraic symbolism, praying while knelt before benches, and chanting hymns to the accompaniment of flutes. Hymns were sung describing the voyage of Mithras' horse-drawn chariot across the sky. Invokers and worshippers of Mithras prayed, "Abide with me in my soul. Leave me not [so] that I may be initiated and that the Holy Spirit may breathe within me." Animal sacrifices, mostly of birds, were also conducted in the Mithraeums. The Mithraic clergy's duty was to maintain the perpetual holy fire on the altar, invoke the planet of the day, offer the sacrifices for the disciples, and preside at initiations. The Mithraic priests were known as Patres Sacrorum, or Fathers of the Sacred Mysteries. They were mystically designated with the titles Leo and Hierocorax, and presided over the priestly festivals of Leontica (the festival of lions), Coracica (the festival of ravens), and Hierocoracica (the festival of sacred ravens). The great festival of the Mithraic calendar was held on December the 25th, and the 16th of every month was kept holy to Mithras. The first day of the week was dedicated to the sun, to whom prayers were recited in the morning, noon, and evening. Services were held on Sundays, in which bells were sounded and praises were offered to Mithras. On great occasions, the 'soldiers of Mithras' took part in the sacrament of bread and wine as sacred bulls were sacrificed.
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"Mithras, God of the Sunset,
low on the Western main. Thou descending immortal, immortal to
rise again! Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is
drawn, Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!” ~From Song to Mithras, Rudyard Kipling, Freemason."1 |
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| Commentary on Hamlet's Mill by John Major Jenkins |
antiquity.
Mithras was the deity that mediated between the earth and the sky for humanity and he is seen killing the bull because the act symbolizes the ending of the cosmic age in which Mithraism was born and by killing this primeval bull, its life force is released for the benefit of humanity.
| Precessional movement of earth defines the great ages. The central image of Mithras portrays the death of the Age of Taurus the Bull |
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The Earth goes
through one complete precession
cycle in a period of approximately 25,800 years, The precession
results in the equinoxes moving slowly backward along the
zodiac, passing through one zodiacal constellation every 2,160
years and through the entire zodiac every 25,920 years. |
The great wealth of preserved iconography is our primary source of knowledge about Mithraic beliefs. The central image in Mithrasim is called the tauroctony and the star constellations represented by its symbols all lay on the celestial equator as it was positioned during the great age of Taurus immediately proceeding the Greco-Roman "Age of Aries". Mithra is the Mediator (Mesites) between God and man. Ironically, the religion of Mithras historically has performed the role of hand-maiden to the birth of the age of Pisces and the m onotheism of Christianity and Islamic religions which distinguish the first two millenniums after Jesus Christ. It might yet perform this role again as we move tenuously into the next great age of Aquarius.
Like the other ancient "mystery religions," such as the Eleusinian mysteries and the mysteries of Isis, Mithraism maintained strict secrecy about its teachings and practices, revealing them only to initiates. The cult, which was known as the Mysteries of Mithras and was reserved for male initiates only. The place of worship were called mithraeam and have no windows as each mithraeum was intended to be as dark as the original cave of Mithras.
The best speculation to the origin of the official religion of Rome tells us that Stoics in Tarsus to "hypothesize the existence of a new divinity responsible for this new cosmic phenomenon, a divinity capable of moving the structure of the entire cosmos and thus a divinity of great power." developed in the eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd or 1st century BC, spread to Rome in the 1st century AD, and was practiced throughout the Roman Empire from then until about the 4th century.
This function first arose from the fact that as the light-god he is supposed to float between the upper heaven and the earth as a mediator between the Sky and the Earth. Likewise a sun-god, his planet was supposed to hold the central place amongst the seven planets.
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The
tauroctony
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bull slaying scene
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the only image found universally in Mithraic cult sites and the central icon of Mithraism |
| Mithras's early life was one of hardship and
painful triumph. Finally,he captured the primeval bull
and, after dragging it back to his cave, killed the animal in
order to release its life force for the benefit of humanity:
from the bull's body grew useful plants and herbs, from its
blood came the vine, and from its semen all useful animals. This bull slaying scene - known as a tauroctony -was to be found in relief or as a wall painting in all Mithraea. Mithras is clad in a tunic, trousers, cloak, and a pointed cap usually called a Phrygian cap. He faces the viewer while half-straddling the back of a bull, yanks the bull's head back by its nostrils with his left hand, and plunges a dagger into the bull's thoat with his right. Various figures surround this dramatic event. Under the bull a dog laps at the blood dripping from the wound and a scorpion attacks the bull's testicles. Often the bull's tail ends in wheat ears and a raven is perched on the bull's back. Two figures named Cautes and Cautopates wear the same garb as Mithras with Cautes holding an upraised and burning torch while Cautopates' torch is pointed downward. In the upper left corner, is the sun god, Sol, in his chariot.
A long series of studies beginning with one by K.
B. Stark in 1869 and culminating in studies by Roger Beck (1984
and 1988), David Ulansey (1989) and Noel Swerdlow (1991) has
revealed a comprehensible astrological symbolism. Each figure
and element in the scene correlates to specific constellations,
to the seven planets recognized by the ancient Romans, and to
the position of these in relation to the celestial equator and
the ecliptic, particularly at the time of the equinoxes and the
solstices. |
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MITHRAS ON YOUTUBE
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Mithraeums
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In many
inscriptions Mithras is invoked as |
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The greatest concentrations have been found in the city of Rome itself, and in those places in the empire where Roman soldiers-- who made up a major segment of the cult's membership-- were stationed. The historic Slovenian city of Ptuj,a crossing point of the Danube favored by Romans has discovered six mithraeums thus far. In Ostia, the port city of Rome, 17 mithraeas have been discovered so far . They are all small, holding no more than 30 or 40 people and rarely large enough for a bull sacrifice.These represent the largest concentrations of evidence for mithraic worship yet found but the Worshippers preferred caves and grottos as temples wherever possible, or at least gave temples the internal appearance of caves or of being subterranean by building steps leading down to the entrance. The cult's membership included significant numbers of bureaucrats and merchants. It was possible for a mithraic initiate to be a member of more than one cult, but women were not permitted to become members. At the end of the aisle was always found a representation of the central icon of Mithraism: a "bull-slaying scene" in which Mithras is shown in the act of killing a bull.
Rome: Below the pretty 12th century Basilica of San Clemente are excavated levels. Stairs lead you down to the remains of a 4th century basilica, which was devastated by Northmanns. Via another pair of stairs you arrive at a shrine for Mithra.
In the late 1st century AD, built on top of earlier structures that were destroyed in the great fire of 64 AD under Nero, an insula (apartment building) and mansion were built here. A Christian community is believed to have met in the mansion by the 2nd century. In the early 3rd century, the inner courtyard of the insula was made into a Mithraeum, or Temple of Mithras. St. Peter's in Rome: The Mithraeum which St. Peter's Basilica was built upon is still accessible.
Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres
- The mithreum of the seven
spheres is one of the most preserved in Ostia.
London Temple of Mithras,
Walbrook is a Roman temple whose ruins were discovered in
Walbrook, a street in the City of
London, during rebuilding work in 1954. It is perhaps the most
famous of all twentieth-century Roman discoveries in the City of
London. At least five other Mithraeums have been found in Great Britain. Remains were discovered in London near St. Paul's Cathedral, in Segontium in Wales, and three were found along Hadrian's Wall in Northern England. One of the most famous Mithraic bas-reliefs, showing twelve scenes from the life of the god, was discovered in Neuenheim, Germany in 1838. |
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Franz Cumont
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At the end of the nineteenth century Franz
Cumont, the great Belgian historian of ancient religion,
published in French a magisterial two- volume work on the
Mithraic mysteries based on the assumption of the Iranian
origins of the cult. Cumont's work immediately became accepted
as the definitive study of the cult, and remained virtually
unchallenged for over seventy years.
In the absence of any convincing alternative, Cumont's explanation satisfied scholars for more than seventy years. However, in 1971 the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies was held in Manchester England, and in the course of this Congress Cumont's theories came under concerted attack. Was it not possible, scholars at the Congress asked, that the Roman cult of Mithras was actually a new religion, and had simply borrowed the name of an Iranian god in order to give itself an exotic oriental flavor? How else to explain that the tauroctony, the secrecy and initiations, the masculine exclusivity - have no parallels from Persia. The suggestion of the central role of astrology. first made in 1869 by K. B. Stark has now become the accepted explanation of the symbols. First, every figure found in the standard tauroctony has a parallel among a group of constellations located along a continuous band in the sky: the bull is paralleled by Taurus, the dog by Canis Minor, the snake by Hydra, the raven by Corvus, and the scorpion by Scorpio. Second, Mithraic iconography in general is pervaded by explicit astronomical imagery: the zodiac, planets, sun, moon, and stars are often portrayed in Mithraic art. David Ulansey in his book and on his web site puts forth the idea that the central secret of Mithraism was the precession of the equinoxes, and that Mithras killing the bull is his bringing about the change of the spring equinox from occurring in Taurus to occurring in Aries |
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Initiation
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| Archeological evidence
suggests that initiations involved three ordeals that the
initiate had to endure: heat, cold, and hunger. Since Father was
the highest rank it was one frequently mentioned in
inscriptions, but becoming a Lion was also seen to be very
important and was regarded as a watershed in one's authority and
responsibility within the cult. Through their association with
Jupiter, Lions were aligned with fire and so it would have been
inappropriate for them to have been cleansed at their initiation
with water. Instead honey was used; it was also put on their
tongue to symbolise their pure and cleansing words. The worshippers of Mithras were divided into seven grades, each marking a stage of knowledge in the cult's mysteries. An initiate started as Corax (the Raven), then moved progressively through the stages. Each grade wore a costume and headmask to symbolize his grade.
Preceding initiation into the Mithraic fold, the neophyte had to prove his courage and devotion by swimming across a rough river, descending a sharp cliff, or jumping through flames with his hands bound and eyes blindfolded. The initiate was also taught the secret Mithraic password, which he was to use to identify himself to other members, and which he was to repeat to himself frequently as a personal mantra.
The goal of their religious quest was to achieve the soul's ascent out of the world again by gaining passage through seven heavenly gates, corresponding to seven grades of initiation. Therefore, being promoted to a higher rank in the religion was believed to correspond to a heavenly journey of the soul. Promotion was obtained through submission to religious authority (kneeling), casting off the old life (nakedness), and liberation from bondage through the mysteries. The process of Mithraic initiation required the symbolic climbing of a ceremonial ladder with seven rungs, each made of a different metal to symbolize the seven known celestial bodies. By symbolically ascending this ceremonial ladder through successive initiations, the neophyte could proceed through the seven levels of heaven. The seven grades of Mithraism, were: Corax (Raven), Nymphus (Male Bride), Miles (Soldier), Leo (Lion), Peres (Persian), Heliodromus (Sun-Runner), and Pater (Father); each respective grade protected by Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, the Moon, the Sun, and Saturn.
The lowest degree of initiation
into the grade of Corax symbolized the death of a new member,
from which he would arise reborn as a new man. This represented
the end of his life as an unbeliever, and cancelled previous
allegiances to the other unacceptable beliefs. The title Corax
(Raven) originated with the Zoroastrian custom of exposing the
dead on funeral towers to be eaten by carrion birds, a custom
continued today by the Parsis of India, the descendants of the
Persian followers of Zarathustra. |
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The
Cosmic Egg
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That the rock from which
Mithras is born does indeed represent the cosmos is proven by
the snake that entwines it: for this image evokes the famous
Orphic myth of the snake-entwined "cosmic egg" out of which the
universe was formed when the creator-god Phanes emerged from it
at the beginning of time. Mithraists
explicitly identified Mithras with Phanes.The Orphics equated Phanes with the Elder Eros (Sexual Desire) of Hesiod's Theogony, who emerged at the beginning of time alongside Khaos (Air) and Gaia (Earth). Phanes also incorporated aspects of other primordial beings described by various ancient writers. Phanes was portrayed as a beautiful golden-winged hermaphroditic deity wrapped in a serpent's coils. The poets describe him as an incorporeal being invisible even through the eyes of the gods. His name means "bring to light" or "make appear" from the Greek verbs phanaô and phainô.
The gods Vishnu, Phanes, and Mithras, are all "egg born" solar deities. Another solar entity, the rooster, is also born of an egg.
The serpent plays an important role in every culture. It is a dual role, as a symbol of wisdom and of evil. A snake is a lowly creature who cannot leave the ground, making it an obvious symbol of base desires and material entrapment. As a sexual symbol, the snake can represent the energies of the universe, or base human desires and lust- traditional pictures of dragon slayers are allegories to conquered material desires such as these, as are many human/monster hybrids. However, as even the lowest serpent sheds its skin and renews itself, it is a token of resurrection. As a symbol of spiritual power, the serpent represents the awakened self. Serpents depicted symbolically on a vertical
axis nearly always represent sexual energy- the twin serpents of
the cadeceus, the kundalini serpents, the alchemical crucified
serpent, and the serpent of Genesis are all symbols of the
sexual nature of man. In the
Even the name Vatican bears the etymological imprint of the serpent: Vati = place; can = serpent." |
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Mithrasism merged into
Christianity in 4th century
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| Mithras was believed to have been born on
DEC-25, circa 500 BCE. His birth was witnessed by shepherds and
by gift-carrying Magi. This was celebrated as the "Dies Natalis
Solic Invite," The "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun."
The faithful referred to Mithras as "the Light of the World", symbol of truth, justice, and loyalty. He was mediator between heaven and earth and was a member of a Holy Trinity. According to Persian mythology, Mithras was born of a virgin given the title 'Mother of God'. The god remained celibate throughout his life, and valued self-control, renunciation and resistance to sensuality among his worshippers. Mithras, like Jesus, is a central figure incarnating the Light and the Good, in perpetual conflict with Evil. Mithras represented a system of ethics in which brotherhood was encouraged in order to unify against the forces of evil.
During his life, Mithras performed many miracles, cured many illnesses, and cast out devils. He celebrated a Last Supper with his 12 disciples representing the twelve houses of the zodiac. He ascended to heaven at the time of the spring equinox, about March 21. Devotees knelt when they worshipped and a common meal - a communion- took part in a ceremony in which they drank wine and ate bread to symbolize the body and blood of the god. Sundays were held sacred. The transformation of Mithras into a Bull or Ram which preceded the eating of his flesh and blood directly parallels the Christians Jesus' death and rebirth, his statement that his disciples should eat and drink his flesh and blood to wash away sin and gain eternal life. Both Mithraism and Christianity tell of an ark built to escape a flood. Mithraism had seven sacraments, the same as the Catholic Church, baptism, and communion with bread and water. The Eucharist hosts were signed with a cross, an ancient phallic symbol which originated in Egypt, and the Egyptian cross (the ankh) still shows the original form which included the female symbol. The worshippers of Mithras held strong beliefs in a celestial heaven and an infernal hell. The faithful to the Mithra believed they would live in bliss after death until the Judgment of mankind.They looked forward to a final day of judgment in which the dead would resurrect, and to a final conflict that would destroy the existing order of all things to bring about the triumph of light over darkness relegating the wicked to hell and establish the millennial kingdom. The worshippers of Mithras did not lose themselves in a contemplative mysticism like the followers of other near-eastern sects. Their morality particularly encouraged action, and during a period of war and confusion, they found stimulation, comfort and support in its tenets. The parallels to the Roman Catholic Church are startling at first glance but should not be so surprising considering Rome's interest in creating unity by replacing their former official religion with the Christian zealotry for belief. In fact, harsher critics consider the Christian claim of being the sole source of Salvation, as the only truly original and distinguishing characteristic of the new religion besides its insistence on the literal historical veracity of its Savior and His miracles. Previously the Christians were also known as Gnostics and were tolerant of very diverse beliefs. Some thought that Jesus was a man, while others thought that he was a God, and some believed that he became a God only after he was baptized. Some believed in a struggle between good and evil, others were non-dualistic. Most had widely-varying intricate systems of intermediaries between the ultimate deity and humanity. |
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The
Magi
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THERE
WAS ONCE, then, a Golden Age. Why, how, did it come to
an end? This has been a deep concern of mankind over
time, refracted in a hundred myths, explained in so many
ways which always expressed sorrow, nostalgia,
despondency. Why did man lose the Garden of Eden? The
answer has always been, because of some original sin.
But the idea that man alone was able to commit sin, that
Adam and Eve are the guilty ones, is not very old. The
authors of the Old Testament had developed a certain
conceit. Christianity then had to come to rescue and
restore cosmic proportions, by insisting that God alone
could offer himself in atonement.
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 Lion-headed
god standing on cosmic sphere with
intersecting circles of the ecliptic and the celestial equator. and holding key in right hand is a common
figure. One of the most famous and important references to this
cross formed by the ecliptic and the celestial equator is found
in Plato's dialogue Timaeus, where Plato tells us how the
Demiurge (the creator of the universe) constructed the universe
out of two circles which he joined "in the form of the letter X. The name Arimanius. was found on the base of a statue of
him in York, England. |
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| Christianity's greatest rival | ||
| "The Mysteries of
Mithra, which came to flower in the
near east during the Hellenistic age as a kind of Zoroastrian
heresy, and in the Roman period was the most formidable rival of
Christianity... Celebrants wore masks representing animals of the Zodiac: for astronomy was undergoing a new development in this period through an application of Greek thought to the data of the centuries of Sumero-Chaldean observation. In all religions of the age, the Zodiac had come to represent the bounding, ever revolving sphere of time - space - causality, within which the 
unbounded Spirit operates unmoved yet moving in all."
Joseph Campbell
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| December 25th | ||
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Winter Solstice |
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| The Babylonians celebrated
their "Victory of the Sun-God" Festival on DEC-25. Saturnalia
(the Festival of Saturn) was celebrated from DEC-17 to 23 in the
Roman Empire. The Roman
Emperor Aurelian
(September 9, 214–September 275), blended
Saturnalia with a number of birth celebrations of savior Gods
from other religions, into a single holy day: DEC-25. After much
argument, the developing Christian church adopted this date as
the birthday of their savior, Jesus. The people of the Roman
Empire were accustomed to celebrating the birth of a God on that
day. So, it was easy for the church to divert people's attention
to Jesus' birth. Mediterranean intellectual and religious life was pervaded by astrological beliefs. It was widely believed that the stars and planets were living gods, and that their movements controlled all aspects of human existence. In addition, at this time most people believed in what scholars call "astral immortality": that is, the idea that after death the human soul ascends up through the heavenly spheres to an afterlife in the pure and eternal world of the stars. |
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| A Song to Mithras | ||
"Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!--- Rudyard Kipling, British author and poet |
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Tauroctony encircled by the 12 signs of the zodiac |
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| Cautes and Cautopates | ||
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Cautes and Cautopates
can be found with varying levels of emphasis in
the Tauroctony itself where the torch-bearers have been though
to represent the two
equinoxes, the points where the zodiac crosses the celestial
equator. Cautes always holds an uplifted torch whilst
Cautopates has a down-turned torch. They are clothed in the
costume of ancient Persia, including the Phrygian cap. In 2002 archaeoastronomy sky simulations asserted that the two identical figures represent the constellation of Gemini since this would explain why the equatorial constellations of Orion and Libra were not included in the Mithraic icons despite being missing for only a small portion of the 2160 years of Spring Equinox represented by Taurus. This period was around 4000 BC at the beginning of the age of Taurus when Gemini was also an equatorial constellation. [more] |
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| Powerful Patrons | ||
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Why its the "Roman" Catholic Church |
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At a time when Christianity was only one of
several foreign Eastern cults struggling for recognition
in Rome, the hierarchal organization, religious dualism,
and dogmatic moral teaching of Mithraism set it apart from other
sects, creating a stability previously unknown in Roman
paganism. The cult's emphasis on truth, honor, courage,
and personal discipline had a special appeal to the spiritually
ambitious among soldiers, merchants and noblemen, The Roman emperors early on formally announced their alliance with the sun and emphasized their likeness to Mithras, god of its divine light. Mithras was also unified with the sun-god Helios, and became known as 'The Great God Helios-Mithras'.
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“There is one light of the
sun, though it is interrupted by walls, mountains and infinite
other things. There is one common substance, though it is
distributed among countless bodies which have their several
qualities. There is one soul, though it is distributed among
several natures and individual limitations. There is one
intelligent soul, though it seems to be divided. “ ---Marcus Aurelius, |
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| Nero | ||
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| Emperor Nero [ruled from 54 to 68] adopted the radiating crown as the symbol of his sovereignty to exemplify the splendour of the rays of the sun, and to show that he was an incarnation of Mithras. He was initiated into the Mithraic religion by the Persian Magi brought to Rome by the King of Armenia. Emperors from that time onwards proclaimed themselves destined to the throne by virtue of having been born with the divine ruling power of the sun. Nero was a popular emperor with the people and ruthless in protecting his throne. His tutor Seneca was well known as a Stoic writer and was the last word on a heliocentric solar system till Copernicus 1500 years later. | ||
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| Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), the Roman emperor, was the last of the great Stoics. Stoicism died out, as the popular saying goes, "because everyone became a Stoic." Everything Stoicism had to say became common property in Late Antiquity, and what was of value was absorbed into the Neoplatonic synthesis. | ||
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When Commodus (Emperor from 180‑192 A.D.) was initiated into the Mithraic religion, there began an era of strong support of Mithraism that included emperors such as Aurelian, Diocletian, and Julian the Apostate, who called Mithras "the guide of the souls". All of these emperors took the Mithraic titles of 'Pius', 'Felix', and 'Invictus' (devout, blessed, and invincible |
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| Emperor Aurelian | ||
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Aurelian (September 9, 214–September 275) strengthened the position of the Sun god, Sol or Oriens, as the main divinity of the Roman pantheon. His intention was to give to all the peoples of the Empire, civilian or soldiers, easterners or westerners, a single god they could believe in without betraying their own gods. The center of the cult was a new temple, built in 271 in Campus Agrippae in Rome, with great decorations financed by the spoils of the Palmyrene Empire. Aurelian did not persecute other religions. However, during his short rule, he seemed to follow the principle of "one god, one empire", that was later adopted to a full extent by Constantine. On some coins, he appears with the title deus et dominus natus ("God and born ruler"), also later adopted by his successor Diocletian. |
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| Emperor Diocletian | ||
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Emperor Diocletian (c. 236-316),also a
worshipper of Mithra, the Sun God, burned much of the Christian
scriptures in 307 A.D.
In 303, Diocletian ordered a persecution of Christians that was
to be the last and greatest in the Roman Empire. This wave of persecution was enforced most strictly in the Empire's eastern provinces, where it lasted in some areas until 313 when the Edict of Milan by Constantine I and Licinius. In 305, at the age of 59, after almost dying
from a sickness, Diocletian retired to his palace in Dalmatia,
where Split Croatia is today on the Adriatic Sea, becoming the
first Roman Emperor to voluntarily remove himself from office. |
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| Emperor Constantine | ||
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Emperor Constantine merged the cult of Mithra
with that of Christianity that was developing much power among
his constituents. He declared himself a Christian but at the
same time maintained his ties to the Mithra cult. He retained
the title "Pontifus Maximus" the high priest. On his coins were
inscribed: "Sol Invicto comiti" which means, commited to the
invincible sun. In the 4th century, the Christian Church was wracked with controversy over the divinity of Jesus Christ, his relationship to God the Father, and the nature of the Trinity. In 325, Constantine I convened the Council of Nicea, which asserted that Jesus, the Son, was equal to the Father, one with the Father, and of the same substance (homoousios in Greek). |
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| Emperor Theodosius | ||
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declared Christianity as the only legitimate imperial religion |
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Flavius Theodosius
(January 11, 347 – January 17, 395), was Roman Emperor from
379-395. Reuniting the eastern and western portions of the
empire for one last time and assuring the ultimate irreparable
division of the empire after his death. He is also known for
making Christianity the official state religion of the Roman
Empire. Theodosius promoted Nicene Trinitarianism within
Christianity and Christianity within the empire. In May, 381, Theodosius summoned a new ecumenical council at Constantinople to fix the schism between East and West on the basis of Nicean orthodoxy. "The council went on to define orthodoxy, including the mysterious Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost who, though equal to the Father, 'proceeded' from Him, whereas the Son was 'begotten' of Him. The council also "condemned the Apollonian and Macedonian heresies, clarified church jurisdictions according to the civil boundaries of dioceses and ruled that Constantinople was second in precedence to Rome." In his early reign, Theodosius was fairly tolerant of the pagans, for he needed the support of the influential pagan ruling class. However he would in time stamp out the last vestiges of paganism with great severity. Many Christian churches would be built above temples of Mithraism, Cybele & Isis.
Pagan members of the Senate in Rome appealed
to him to restore the Altar of Victory in the Senate House; he
refused. After the last Olympic Games in 393, Theodosius
cancelled the games, and the reckoning of dates by Olympiads
soon came to an end |
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| Emperor Eugenius | ||
| the last stand at Italy-Slovenia border | ||
| Theodosius then moved from Constantinople with his army, and met Eugenius and Arbogast in the Battle of the Frigidus (on the modern Italy-Slovenia border) on September 6, 394. The bloody battle lasted two days, and was marked by unusual astronomical and meteorological events, but in the end Theodosius won. Arbogast immediately committed suicide after the defeat, while Eugenius was held for execution as a criminal, his head afterward being displayed in Theodosius' camp. | ||
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