Sign-In
Cart
The Mithraic Mysteries: Soldiers of the Bull
Paperback
Series: Secret Societies Revisited, Book 2
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 236
Weight: 0.71
Height: 0.54 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Over 420 underground temples. From Hadrian's Wall to the Euphrates. More than 700 images of the same scene carved in stone, painted on walls, sculpted in marble: a young god in a Persian cap, killing a bull in a cave while a dog, a snake, a scorpion, and a raven attend the sacrifice. Hundreds of dedicatory inscriptions naming soldiers, officers, imperial freedmen. Seven grades of initiation, each assigned to a planet. A religion that spread across three continents without producing a single word of scripture.
And then it vanished. Completely.
The Mithraic Mysteries: Soldiers of the Bull is the investigation. Who worshipped Mithras? Roman soldiers, overwhelmingly. Why? The cult offered a graded hierarchy, a sworn brotherhood, and a cosmic framework that made sense of lives spent on distant frontiers. How did 420 underground temples maintain the same iconographic program without a central authority, a canonical text, or a coordinating hierarchy? Nobody knows. The standardization was transmitted through initiation itself, person to person, grade to grade, and it worked for three hundred years. How it worked is not documented.
The scholarly debate is as fascinating as the cult itself. Franz Cumont spent seventy years convincing the world that Mithraism was an Iranian survival. The 1971 Manchester congress overthrew him. David Ulansey argued the tauroctony is a star map encoding the precession of the equinoxes. Roger Beck said the stars are the language, not the message. Manfred Clauss mapped the demographics. Richard Gordon mapped the social function. They agree on the evidence. They disagree on what it means. The worshippers themselves left no explanation.
The Mithras-Christianity comparison gets the honest treatment. The documented parallels are real: the sacred meal, December 25, ritual purification. Justin Martyr acknowledged the sacred meal and blamed it on demonic plagiarism. The fabricated parallels are fabricated: Mithras was not born of a virgin, did not have twelve disciples, was not crucified, did not rise from the dead. Zeitgeist: The Movie made those claims in 2007. None of them have any basis in any ancient source. Where the scholarly debate is genuinely open (the December 25 question, the calculation thesis vs. the borrowing thesis), the investigation says so. Where the popular mythology is demonstrably wrong, the investigation says that too.
Every claim sourced to the archaeological record, the epigraphic corpus, the ancient literary sources, and the peer-reviewed scholarly literature. Every scholarly debate presented with both sides at full strength. No conspiracy endorsement. No religious apologetics. No New Age credulity.
The evidence is the story. The silence is what remains.
Secret Societies Revisited is a fifty-book investigative nonfiction series examining the organizations built around secrecy, initiation, and concealed knowledge. From the ancient mystery cults through the medieval military orders to the Freemasons, each book investigates a single secret society with the same methodology: take the institution seriously, examine the mythology with equal seriousness, and let the evidence speak.
Each book stands alone. Each follows the evidence wherever it leads.
Also in
Religion General
The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World
O'Brien, Barbara
Paperback
The Destiny of Modern Societies: The Calvinist Predestination of a New Society
Zafirovski, Milan
Paperback
Queer Faith: Reading Promiscuity and Race in the Secular Love Tradition
Sanchez, Melissa E.
Paperback
The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune
Stille, Alexander
Hardcover
You Have Stept Out of Your Place: A History of Women and Religion in America
Lindley, Susan Hill
Paperback
Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible: Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 5
Bloesch, Daniel W.
Kelly, Geffrey B.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich
Hardcover
The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism
Schmidt, Leigh Eric
Paperback
The Kabbalistic Mirror of Genesis: Commentary on the First Three Chapters
Smith, David Chaim
Paperback
Friendship and Society: An Introduction to Augustine's Practical Philosophy
Burt, Donald X.
Paperback
Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion: 300 Terms Thinkers Clearly Concisely Defined
Evans, C. Stephen
Paperback
Medieval Handbooks of Penance: A Translation of the Principal Libri Poenitentiales
McNeill, John
Gamer, Helena
Paperback
Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds
Fugelsang, John
Hardcover
As a Man Thinketh - the Original 1902 Classic (includes the Mastery of Destiny) (Reader's Library Classics)
Allen, James
Paperback
The Jesus Discoveries: 10 Historic Finds That Bring Us Face-To-Face with Jesus
Johnston, Jeremiah J.
Paperback
Don't Believe Everything You Think (Expanded Edition): Why Your Thinking Is the Beginning & End of Suffering
Nguyen, Joseph
Hardcover
Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made
Kobes Du Mez, Kristin
Hardcover
Tactics, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions
Koukl, Gregory
Paperback
Braving the Truth: Essential Essays for Reckoning with and Reimagining Faith
Evans, Rachel Held
Bessey, Sarah
Hardcover
Nothing Is Impossible with God: Eleven Heroes. One God. Endless Lessons in Overcoming.
Bream, Shannon
Hardcover
Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging
Buchdahl, Angela
Hardcover
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume
Meyer, Marvin W.
Robinson, James M.
Paperback
The Culting of America: What Makes a Cult and Why We Love Them
Reed, Amy
Mestyanek Young, Daniella
Hardcover
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World
Comer, John Mark
Hardcover
Determined to Believe?: The Sovereignty of God, Freedom, Faith, and Human Responsibility
Lennox, John C.
Paperback
I Belong to Me: A Survivor's Guide to Recovery and Hope After Religious Trauma
Levings, Tia
Hardcover
Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel & the Christianity We Haven't Tried Yet
Watterson, Meggan
Paperback
The Books of Enoch: The Complete and Original Edition, Also Includes the Book of Jasher and the Book of Jubilees
Charles, R. H.
Paperback
40 días de viaje en silencio hoy: Una guía para escuchar a Dios en el silencio
Zambrano, S.
Paperback
A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Selected from the World's Sacred Texts
Tolstoy, Leo
Hardcover
Consagracion a San Jose: Las Maravillas de Nuestro Padre Espiritual
Calloway, Donald H., MIC
Paperback
Pray Like a Champion Today: Sacred Stories from the Sidelines of Notre Dame Football
Wills, Nate, CSC
Paperback
Mythology (75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition): Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Hamilton, Edith
Hardcover
Los Destinado al ��xito: C��mo alcanzar tus mejores sue��os
Gebel, Dante
Paperback
The Official Study Guide to I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist
Jimenez, Jason
Geisler, Norman L.
Paperback
Every Moment Holy: New Liturgies for Daily Life: (Pocket Edition) (Over 100 Prayers and Illustrations for Practicing Mindfulness of the Presence of Go
McKelvey, Douglas Kaine
Hardcover
Spiritual Hygiene: A Practical Path for Clean Living, Inner Authority, and Divine Freedom
Vanzant, Iyanla
Hardcover
Did America Have a Christian Founding?: Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth
Hall, Mark David
Paperback
The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family's Quest to Craft a Christian Nation
Blanding, Michael
Hardcover
Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism and the Fight Over Free Speech in Modern America
Loeffler, James
Hardcover
From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says about Women in Leadership
Sprinkle, Preston
Paperback
A Celebration of Sex: A Guide to Enjoying God's Gift of Sexual Intimacy
Rosenau, Douglas E.
Paperback
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Paperback
Pagan Threat: Confronting America's Godless Uprising with a Foreword by Charlie Kirk
Miles, Lucas
Hardcover
Bless & Release: The physics of letting go-and wanting what's meant for you.
Laporte, Danielle
Paperback
Unoffendable Bible Study Guide Plus Streaming Video: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better
Hansen, Brant
Paperback
Through a Season of Grief: 365 Devotions for Your Journey from Mourning to Joy
Dunn, Bill
Leonard, Kathy
Paperback
It Works: The Famous Little Red Book That Makes Your Dreams Come True!
Jarrett, Rh
Jarrett, Roy Herbert
Paperback
The Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods and Goddesses
Illes, Judika
Hardcover
The Hardest Sermons You'll Ever Have to Preach: Help from Trusted Preachers for Tragic Times
Zondervan Publishing
Paperback
The 10: 10 Challenge: 10 Weeks, 10 Ways to a Jesus-Led Life
Lesperance, André
Jackson, Andrea
Paperback
Beyond Wellness: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us
Bucar, Liz
Hardcover
A Catechism of the Strange: Stigmata, Relics, and the Miracles That Shape the Soul
Allen, W. Tyler
Paperback
David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God: A Spiritual Meditation on His Music and Creativity
Ormerod, Peter
Hardcover
Cuando No Sabes Qué Orar: 100 Oraciones Esenciales Para Sobrellevar Las Tormentas de la Vida
Stanley, Charles F.
Paperback
The Christian Past That Wasn't: Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths That Hijack History
Throckmorton, Warren
Hardcover
The Genesis 6 Conspiracy Part II: How Understanding Prehistory and Giants Helps Define End-Time Prophecy
Wayne, Gary
Paperback
Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence
Leo XIV, Pope
Paperback
The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth
Barr, Beth Allison
Paperback
The Way of Orisa: Empowering Your Life Through the Ancient African Religion of Ifa
Neimark, Philip J.
Paperback