Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mithras Liturgy
The Mithras Liturgy is the name given to one of the texts found in one of the Greek Magical Papyri, the so-called "Great Magical Book".[1] numbered PGM IV, on lines 475-834.[2] It was given the title "Mithras Liturgy" by its first translator, Albrecht Dieterich,[3] because one of the deities invoked is Helios Mithras ( ).[4] The text is sometimes considered a product of the religious syncretism characteristic of late antiquity, with no direct connection to particular rituals practiced within the Mithraic mysteries.[5][6] Other scholars consider it an authentic reflection of Mithraic liturgy,[7] or view it as Mithraic material reworked for the syncretic tradition of magic and esotericism.[8] The codex containing the text (Paris Bibliothque Nationale Suppl. gr. 574) was acquired by the French National library in 1857 and has been dated to the early fourth century AD. The first editor, Albrecht Dieterich, proposed that the text may originally have been composed as early as 100150 AD.[9]
References
[1] K. Preisendanz, vol. 1, vii: "Das Groe Zauberbuch der Bibliotheque Nationale Paris, Suppl. grec. 574, ein Sammelwerk von 3274 Zeilen auf 18 Doppelblttern, von der Kaiserl. Bibliothek 1857 aus der Collection Anastasi erworben..." [2] See the Greek text with German translation in Albrecht Dieterich, Eine Mithrasliturgie, 2nd edition, pp 1-2 (http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/ einemithraslitur00dietuoft#page/ 2/ mode/ 2up) [3] Albrecht Dieterich, Eine Mithrasliturgie (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/ einemithraslitur00dietuoft), Leipzig: Teubner, 2nd enlarged edn. 1910 [4] Meyer, Marvin (2006). "The Mithras Liturgy". In A.J. Levine, Dale C. Allison, Jr., and John Dominic Crossan. The historical Jesus in context. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp.180. ISBN0-691-00991-0.. The reference is on line 482. [5] The "Mithras Liturgy":Text, Translation and Commentary (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) [6] Richard Gordon, "Probably Not Mithras", The Classical Review Vol. 55, No. 1 (March 2005) pp. 99-100. [7] Marvin Meyer, "The 'Mithras Liturgy' as Mystery and Magic," in Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices (Brill, 2012), p. 447ff.
Mithras Liturgy
[8] Hans Dieter Betz, The "Mithras Liturgy": Text, Translation, and Commentary (Mohr Siebeck, 2005), p. 37 et passim. [9] Meyer, Marvin (2006). "The Mithras Liturgy" (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=wMbEyeDSQQgC& printsec=frontcover& rview=1#v=onepage& q& f=false). In A.J. Levine, Dale C. Allison, Jr., and John Dominic Crossan. The historical Jesus in context. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp.182. ISBN0-691-00991-0. . Retrieved 2011-01-20. [10] John Gee, review of Hans Dieter Betz, The "Mithras Liturgy": Text, Translation and Commentary (http:/ / www. bookreviews. org/ pdf/ 4294_4269. pdf), in Review of Biblical Literature (2005). [11] Johan Thom, review of Hans Dieter Betz, The "Mithras Liturgy": Text, Translation and Commentary (http:/ / www. bookreviews. org/ pdf/ 4294_5056. pdf), in Review of Biblical Literature (2006). [12] The "Mithras Liturgy":Text, Translation and Commentary (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003). p.15 [13] The "Mithras Liturgy":Text, Translation and Commentary (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003). p.12 [14] The "Mithras Liturgy":Text, Translation and Commentary (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) [15] Richard Gordon, "Probably Not Mithras", The Classical Review Vol. 55, No. 1 (March 2005) pp. 99-100. [16] Meyer, Marvin (2006). "The Mithras Liturgy". In A.J. Levine, Dale C. Allison, Jr., and John Dominic Crossan. The historical Jesus in context. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp.182. ISBN0-691-00991-0.
External links
Marvin Meyer, The Mithras Liturgy (http://hermetic.com/pgm/mithras-liturgy.html) - English translation.
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/