252 THE EEV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, D.D., ON MITHRAISM. 



father, in a certain* sense, of Attis, was said to be the son of 

 Jupiter and of a huge rock.f As Agdistis is evidently " a 

 doublet of Attis," it was not difficult to transfer to Mithra the 

 statement that he was born of a rock, especially as in Avestic 

 Persian the same word asman (in Vedic Sanskrit asman) means 

 not only rock, but also cloud and ski/. It was evident to all that 

 the Sungod was born afresh from the sky day by day. As the 

 Avestic account of Mithra's birth § does not mention either sky 

 or rock, it is evident that the birth from tlie ' petra genetrix"" 

 was borrowed, with so much else, from Phrygia. From the 

 same source came the tauroholio7i\\ and krioholion ceremonies^ 



^ Vide the story in Arnobius, Lib. v. 



t Arnobius, Lib. v. The account is said to be taken from the 

 Mysteries of the Mater Deum.^ but it is not fit for quotation. 

 Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. 224. 



No details are given, but, as we have seen, Mithra is said to have- 

 had Ahura Mazda for his father and Armaiti, the Earth- spirit, for his- 

 mother. 



II AureUus Prudentius gives the following graphic description of this, 

 rite (Peristephanon, Lib. x, 1011-1050) : — 



" Sumraus sacerdos nenipe sub terram scrobe 

 arta in profundum consecrandus mergitur, 

 mire infulatus, festa vittis tempora 

 nectens, corona turn repexus aurea, 

 cinctu Gabino sericam fultus togam. 



Tabu] is superne strata texunt pulpita, 

 rimosa rari pegmatis conipagibus, 

 scindunt subinde vel terebrant arcam 

 crebroque lignum perforant acumine, 

 pateat minutis ut frequens hiatibus. 

 Hue tauras ingens fronte torva et hispida, 

 sertis revinctus aut per armos floreis, 

 aut impeditis comibus, deducitur : 

 iiecnon et auro frons corusoat hostiae 

 setasque fulgor bractealis inticit. 



Hie ut statu ta est immolanda bellua, 

 pectus sacrato dividunt venabulo : 

 eructat amplum vulnus undam sanguinis, 

 ferventis, inque texta pontis subditi 

 fundic vaporum Humen et late aestuat. 

 Tum per frequentes niille rimarum vias 

 inlapsas imber tabidum rorem pluit, 

 defossus intr.s quem sacerdos excipit 

 guttas ad omnes turpe subiectans caput,, 

 et veste et omui putrefactus corpore. 

 Quin OS supinat, obvias offert genas, 

 supponit aures, labra, nares obiicit, 

 ocuJos et ipsos perluit liquoribus, 

 nec iam palato parcit et linguam rigat, 

 donee cruorem totus atrum conbibat : " etc. 



