Originally posted by seagrass
Byrd can you explain to me the dating of the Mithraic cults in the link I posted. Sounds like it could be very old if based on the astrological alignments he mentions. Are they older than Apis in that situation? I have a hard time with timelines.
The Mithraic religion is younger than the Apis bulls.
The astrological signs are Roman in origin (and Greek). The Sumerians and everyone else saw the same stars we do today, but they grouped them differently and had different constellations. For example, the Egyptians saw the hippopotamus goddess with a measuring stick standing in the stars near the North Pole.
So we have:
oldest Apis bull references/mummies: 2nd Egyptian dynasty, about 3000 BC
en.wikipedia.org...(Egyptian_mythology)
oldest Serapis references/statues: 300 BC
en.wikipedia.org...
Oldest Mithras references: about 10 AD
en.wikipedia.org...
I'm finding something I didn't know... that the bull apparently was NOT worshipped. There's no temples to bulls, no special sanctuary rooms to bulls, etc. They worshipped goddesses, yes, but not bulls (who may have been a "power animal" or a "special sacrifice animal") :
en.wikipedia.org...
www.mlahanas.de...


