A Mithraic Pope? The “Pater Patrum” or “Father of Fathers”
Among the nonsense that circulates on the web is an interesting claim, which may be found in the old online Catholic Encyclopedia,[1] and spread into atheist literature via the medium of Joseph...
View ArticleThe office of “Pater patratus” in Roman religion
Yesterday I noted that the title pater patratus appears in some inscriptions connected with the cult of Mithras. All these inscriptions fall between 100-400 A.D. But the title is an ancient one, and...
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Inscriptions containing the title “Pater Patratus”
At the moment I am looking at a mysterious Roman title, the Pater Patratus, of uncertain meaning. Yesterday I looked at the passage in Livy which gives us most information about it. Today I decided...
View ArticleThe fetiales in Nonius Marcellus
The Pater Patratus was the title of one of the priests known as fetiales, whose duties concerned treaties with other cities.[1] Nonius Marcellus quotes a passage from Varro, De vita populi Romana,...
View ArticleFrom my diary
Last night I spent hunched over a hot scanner, transforming a text book from paper into a PDF. My first reason for doing so is that it is simply more accessible in that format. The library charges $8...
View ArticleFrom my diary
I spent some time this evening writing a page on the Mithraeum discovered at Lugo (ancient “Lucus Augusti” in Spain) in 2003. Found a few images online, mostly of the dig, but also of a rather...
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A Mithraic brooch in the Ashmolean in Oxford
Last Saturday I was in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, browsing idly the Roman exhibits. Suddenly I realised that I was looking at a set of small finds, all of Empire-period deities; and I started...
View ArticleFrom my diary
I did a little more on the Mithras pages. I was able to identify one of the images that I found online and create a CIMRM page for it. The section in CIMRM on material from Alba Iulia is not very...
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Finding interesting things at the Christies web-site
Few of us will be aware that there are good quality images of past sale objects on the website of Christie’s, the fine art dealers. But an accident took me there this evening, and I found half a dozen...
View ArticleFrom my diary
I’ve been looking at some of the entries for Syria in the CIMRM, the collection of all Mithraic monuments and inscriptions. In particular the two altars at Sia have drawn my attention. One is easy...
View ArticleFrom my diary
I’ve been adding a few more Mithraic monuments to my collection of pictures online. A Mithraeum from 1969 from Cologne is the focus. Otherwise I am doing little. Gainful employment beckons!
View ArticleFrom my diary
Regular readers will know that through an intermediary I have commissioned a lady in Syria to type up the Arabic text of Erpenius’ 1625 edition of the second part of al-Makin. Al-Makin was a 13th...
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A ray of light for Mithras at Hawarte on the 25th December?
I’ve been back working on the Mithras site in the evenings, and in particular looking at Mithraea found in recent years. I’ve created a page for these, and I’m going through them. Last night I was...
View ArticleFrom my diary
I’m mainly busy with the Mithras site at the moment. I’ve been working through a list of new finds since 1960 made by John W. Brandt, together with a list by Szabo Csaba. In each case I do a web...
View ArticleFinding archaeology online about Mithras
I’m extremely busy at the moment adding material to the Mithras site. At the moment this is driven by a list of Mithraeums discovered since 1960. I am attempting to research each of these online,...
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Mithras scholar Vermaseren on the Mithras cranks
There are endless crank books about Mithras, usually with an anti-Christian twist. They go unnoticed by scholars, as a rule. A correspondent drew my attention to some remarks made by Maarten...
View ArticleFrom my diary
I’m very busy with the Mithras site, uploading more data about monuments. Last night I worked on the page on the Caernarvon Mithraeum, adding information from the excavation report. It was discovered...
View ArticleFrom my diary
Lately I’ve been taking an interest in the monuments of Mithras in Egypt. Apparently some are in the museum in Alexandria, while others come from Memphis and are in the Graeco-Roman room in the Cairo...
View ArticleFrom my diary
It’s hotter than hell in the office in which I work, which is not helping me get anything done! However I’m also close to Cambridge University Library, and I’ve made two trips there in the evening...
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Mithras, the church of Santa Prisca, and the perils of the imagination
The Mithraeum of Santa Prisca in Rome is of great importance to Mithraic studies because it contains striking wall paintings, with text against the images. The scenes depict a procession of the seven...
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