
With A History Of Use Extending Back To Vedic Texts Of The Second Millennium Bc, Derivations Of The Name Mithra Appear In The Roman Empire, Across Sasanian Persia, And In The Kushan Empire Of Southern Afghanistan And Northern India During The First Millennium Ad. Even Today, This Name Has A Place In Yazidi And Zoroastrian Religion. But What Connection Have Mihr In Persia, Miiro In Kushan Bactria, And Mithras In The Roman Empire To One Another? Over The Course Of The Volume, Specialists In The Material Culture Of These Diverse Regions Explore Appearances Of The Name Mithra From Six Distinct Locations In Antiquity. In A Subversion Of The Usual Historical Process, The Authors Begin Not From An Assessment Of Texts, But By Placing Images Of Mithra At The Heart Of Their Analysis. Careful Consideration Of Each Example's Own Context, Situating It In The Broader Scheme Of Religious Traditions And On-going Cultural Interactions, Is Key To This Discussion. Such An Approach Opens Up A Host Of Potential Comparisons And Interpretations That Are Often Side-lined In Historical Accounts. What Images Of Mithra Offers Is A Fresh Approach To The Ways In Which Gods Were Labelled And Depicted In The Ancient World. Through An Emphasis On Material Culture, A More Nuanced Understanding Of The Processes Of Religious Formation Is Proposed In What Is But The First Part Of The Visual Conversations Series.
This volume investigates the historical and cultural connections between the various manifestations of the deity Mithra across the Roman, Sasanian, and Kushan empires. The authors, a team of specialists in material culture, challenge traditional text-heavy historical methodologies by prioritizing visual evidence. By centering their analysis on the physical representations of the god, they propose a framework for understanding how religious identities were constructed and communicated through material culture in the ancient world.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and historians recognize this work as a significant contribution to the study of ancient religious iconography and cross-cultural exchange. Readers frequently note the academic rigor of the analysis and the effectiveness of the visual-first methodology in recontextualizing established historical narratives.
Page Count:
240
Publication Date:
2017-01-01
ISBN-10:
0192511106
ISBN-13:
9780192511102
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