THE REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, ON MITHRAISM. 269 



other Nature-religions (such as the worship of Isis,* for 

 instance), and to the association of Mithraism with the worship 

 of Cybele and other such deities, to say nothing of Anahita. 



Mithraic sculptures are abundant. The figure of Mithra 

 himself slaying the ball is generally the leading ornament in a 

 Mithraeum. He is represented as a vigorous youth, wearing a 

 Phrygian cap and attire, striking a dagger into the flank or 

 neck of a bull, whose nostrils he is holding. A dog and a 

 serpent are drinking the bull's blood, or trying to do so, and a 

 scorpion endeavours to destroy the animal's reproductive organs. 

 Panels containing the twelve signs of the Zodiac, through 

 which the Sun's apparent path lies, enclose this central bas- 

 relief. At other times the panels contain carvings which seem 

 to represent Mithra's exploits, some of which resemble (if we 

 may judge from the engravings) certain of the labours of 

 Hercules, and possibly, like the latter, have an astronomical 

 meaning. Attempts have been made to reconstruct from 

 these sculptures the details of the whole Mithraic myth, but 

 conjectures such as these are too fanciful to dwell upon here. 

 Nor is it necessary to speak at length of the Kronos-Zervan 

 statue occasionally found in association with Mithraic remains. 

 The nude lion-headed human figure with four wings, enfolded 

 in the coils of a monstrous serpent, may represent the Zrvdna- 

 akarana (" Boundless Time ") so seldom mentioned in the 

 Avesta,t from which sprang both Ormazd and Ahriman 

 according to the later Persian philosophical myth, but it has 

 little practical concern with Mithra-worship. It should be 

 noticed, however, that in Persia the twelve signs of the Zodiac 



Mr. Mallock and others speak of purity as distinctive of the Religion 

 of Isis. M. Renan's opinion is rather different, and he is supported by 

 classical writers. He says {Marcus Aurelucs, Hutchinson's version, pp. 284, 

 285): "Courtesans especially were nearly all devotees of Isis and 

 Serapis ; the temples of Isis had the reputation of being rendezvous 

 for lovers. . . . There were fasts and austerities and days of con- 

 tinence. Ovid and Tibullus complain of the wrong these holy days do 

 their pleasures, in a tone that clearly indicates that the goddess demanded 

 very limited mortifications from her fair devotees." 6/. Ovid, A'/nores, 

 Lib. I, El. viii, 74 : Lib. Ill, El. ix, 30 : Propertius II, 33, 3 : 

 Tibullus I, 3, 23. " Statues of Dionysus and Venus and Priapus stood in 

 the court of the Isium at Pompeii " (Prof. Dill, Roman Society from 

 Nero to Marcus Aurelius^ p. 581). Vide also Josephus, Ant. lud. Lib. 

 xviii, 3, 4. 



t Though in Vendiddd, Fargard xix, § 1, Ahura Mazda bids Zoroaster 

 invoke Zrvana-Akarana as well as other deities. 



