Mithras--Mi[??]ra--Mitra: Der romische Gott Mithras aus der Perspektive der vergleichenden Religions-geschichte.

• Author: Ognibene, Paolo

Mithras--Mi[??]ra--Mitra: Der romische Gott Mithras aus der Perspektive der vergleichenden Religions-geschichte. By JAAN LAHE. Kasion, vol. 3. Munster: ZAPHON, 2019. Pp. 271, 30 pls. [euro]88.

Mithras by Jaan Lahe includes a preface, a list of abbreviations, an introductory essay, and eleven chapters followed by conclusions, a bibliography, an index, and forty-three illustrations. There are a dense set of notes (about 1200) and good quality black-and-white illustrations at the end of the book.

The author is an Estonian specialist in Mithraism, particularly interested in the relationship between Roman Mithras and the corresponding gods in Asia Minor, Iran, and India. In addition to this volume, he has dedicated numerous works in English and German to this topic. Note especially "Mitra--Mithra--Mithras: The Roman Mithras and His Indo-Iranian Background," Acta Antiqua 58 (2018): 481-91. Others, unfortunately, are in Estonian and less accessible (for example, "Mithra and Mithras: The Question of the Relationship between the Cult of Mithra in Iran and Asia Minor and the Cult of Mithras of Rome and the Origins of the Roman Cult of Mithras," Usuteaduslik Ajakiri 68 [2015]: 122-51). The wide-ranging book here under discussion analyzes Roman Mithras in relation to both Mithra in Asia Minor and his Iranian and Indian predecessors.

The first two chapters ("Der Gott Mithras in der romischen Religion," pp. 35-68; "Der Gott Mithra/Mithras/Mithres im hellenistischen Kleinasien," pp. 69-85) have a similar structure. Each considers the relevant literary sources (primary and secondary, distinguishing between non-Christian authors and Christian writers), inscriptions, reliefs, and sculptures, before summarizing the individual aspects of the gods.

The third chapter deals with Roman Mithras in relation to Mithra of Asia Minor ("Der romische Mithras und seine Beziehungen zu Mithra/Mithras/Mithres im hellenistischen Kleinasien," pp. 87-98). Particular attention is paid to the relationship between Mithra of Commagene and the iconography of the Roman cults of the god. The hypothesis of the origin of the Roman Mithras from Mithra of Asia Minor is also considered. The fourth chapter is about the god Mi[??]ra in the Iranian world ("Der Gott Mi[??]ra/Mihr im iranischen Kulturraum," pp. 99-136), examining the figure of Mithra in the Avesta, in Pahlavi literature, and in the Achaemenid inscriptions, before moving on to discuss the figure of Kushan Mithra.

The fifth...