Mithraism and Other Fertility Cults in the Ancient Near East

Agrarian societies have adopted the solar calendar in one form or another from time immemorial for obvious reasons. Peasants and landlords have to know exactly when to sow the seeds, irrigate the land, fertilize the soil, and harvest the crop. Keen observers could not fail to notice the death of life-giving earth in winter and its resurrection in spring. With time, princes and priests would construct an edifice—material as well as spiritual—around natural phenomena in the form of numerous religions, the common denominator of which revolved around those cyclical events. 

Examples abound, particularly in the Near East, which birthed the first agrarian societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The cults of Egyptian Osiris, Canaanite Adonis, and Christianity itself are but a few of those. Mithraism originated in ancient Iran, whence it spread to the Hellenistic world. It had been practiced throughout the Roman Empire from the first to the 4th century C.E.

Seen in this plate are two basaltic sculptures of Mithras slaying a bull, a central ritual in this cult where the spilled blood renovates the fertility of the soil it irrigates.  Both were found at or near Sīʿ, a village in as-Suwaydāʾ Governorate in Southern Syria, and both date from the third century of the Common Era.

The sculpture on the left measures 72 cm x 58 cm x 10 cm. It was discovered in 1919 by an archaeological expedition from Princeton University and had been stored for a while at the Teacher's College at al-Mazzā Boulevard before its acquisition by the National Museum of Damascus, where it currently resides.

Studied by Salīm ʿAbdel-Ḥaqq in the early 1950s, the one on the right features the same scene. It measures 112 cm x 106 cm x 4.5 cm and is also a possession of the museum.

Regrettably, many such ancient sculptures have been transferred from their original sites and recycled in modern dwellings, which has resulted in the deformation and loss of those priceless treasures. This phenomenon has been observed throughout Syria, including Damascus and the large cities.

Thomas M. Weber. Sculptures from Roman Syria in the Syrian National Museum of Damascus. Vol I, from Cities and Villages in Central and Southern Syria. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft. Worms. 2006.