The Iron Wheel and the Unconquered Sun

The 25th of December is celebrated by most of those in the Western Hemisphere as the birth of Jesus Christ. But Mithra, also known as Mithras, the Persian equivalent of the Messiah, was also said to be born on this date, as was the older Zoroaster, as well as the even older cognate Zarathustra.

This date in ancient days was called the "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun" which in the fourth century was transposed as the Christian holiday. Mithra's birth was celebrated on this date for centuries from the far rim of the Persian Empire through the Mediterranean world that was the Roman Empire. By the evidence of the archaeological record the worship of Mithras stretched as far as the shores of Britannia. Mithras was the primary patron god of the Roman soldier.

The Cult of Mithras, the Roman derivative of the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism, was the primary rival of both Christianity and the Cult of Isis among the ancient Romans. For the first four centuries of the first millenium A.D. it was the most popular religion in the Roman Empire. Especially popular with soldiers, they were the ones who brought the religion back with them from Persia and were the ones who carried its rituals to the far flung corners of the known world. In 307 C.E. the Roman Emperor officially declared Mithras as the "Protector of the Empire."

The Christian mythos later copied many aspects of the Mithraic Mystery religion. According to both ancient Roman and Vatican historians, St. Augustine even went so far as to declare that Christians and the worshippers of Mithras and Ahura Mazda, the One God of the ancient Persians, worshiped that same father deity.

It was even stated in ancient Persian folktales that Mithras' mother was a virgin and he was the sacred harvest of a virgin birth. It was also stated in Persian/Mithraic folklore that great Magi visited Mithras upon the eve of his birth. This leads one to the conclusion that an astronomical phenomenon may have taken place at the birth of Mithras, just as it did with Jesus. It was also said that Mithras, once he was grown into adulthood, performed miracles such as raising the dead, healing the sick, walking on water and casting out devils.

Even more similarities between Jesus Christ and Mithras occur, including the fact that before ascending into the heavens Mithras had a feast, a Last Supper, with his twelve disciples, who according to myth, equated the twelve symbols of the zodiac. (Author's Note: For those that know of such things, the images of procession and star movement abound in Zoroastrianism and Mithraic religion). Mithraic religion had the seven sacraments, just as the Christian faith has incorporated into its practices for centuries. Mithras was also said to, upon death, be placed into a cave, an image of his sacred earth mother's womb, where upon three days passing, he walked once more among the living. More over, Mithraism entered into many doctrines of the early Christian church through Manichean Christianity. Case in point, the Mithraic festival of Epiphany, marking the coming of the sun-priests, or Magi (a Zoroastrian priest was also called an Ervad in the Avestan tongue), to the messiah's place of birth, was adopted by the Christian church in 813 C.E.

The origins of Mithras and of Zoroastrianism as a collective, practicing religion are found in the archaeological record of ancient Persia around the mid 600's B.C.E. Yet, evidence indicates that this religion had its roots in a much older Aryan religion, practiced by the Indo-Iranian tribes as they splintered from the central Eurasian core of Indo-European groups, as early as 3,000 B.C.E.

Mithras was a neoteric cognate of the Indo-Iranian sun god(des), Mitra, and the Indus Valley sun god, Mitravaruna. Mitra seems to share a co-existing duality of a male/female divinity; a most unusual characteristic for a patriarchal religion.

Moreover, there is much evidence to show that Mithras was actually an ancient sun/sky goddess. A cognate of the demi-god/hero Mithras was the Assyrian Great Mother, Mylitta. Also a female Mithra, the androgynous Mithra-Anahita, or Sabazius-Anaitis, was the central goddess figure in several ancient Anatolian mystery cults. Anahita was the Anatolian "Mother of Waters" or primal seas, much like the Sumerian Tiamat; she of the primal waters, the pool of creation and from whose womb comes the bringer of light.

Another small stone of truth is unturned, another ember of meaning has been revealed from the mists of time and obscurity. (Michael Lohr)