Busacca Gallery

PONTOS, KINGS, MITHRA DATES VI, Thrace, Odessos mint. Circa 80-72/1 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 16.21 g, 12h). In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon. Mithradatic alliance issue. Struck circa 120-90 BC. Head of Herakles right, with the features of Mithradates VI of Pontos, wearing lion skin / Zeus Aetophoros seated left; ΛAKΩ in left field, OΔH in exergue. Callatay group 3 (D3/R1); Topalov, Odesos 32. Good VF, toned. Considerably better than a usual portrait of this historically important and powerful king. The image of Mithra is found in company with those of other Persian, Greek, and Hindu gods. This coin merits our attention as being the only representations of Mithra which are found outside the boundaries of the Roman world. The fame of Mithra spread as the Persian empire expanded, and he became particularly strong in Asia Minor. Many of the Persian Kings grew very fond of Mithra. Mithra from the days of the Achæmenides, undoubtedly became accentuated in the period of confusion during which the Iranian tribes were still at war with one another. The "great kings" were certainly very closely attached to him, and looked upon him as their special protector. It is he whom they call to bear witness to the truth of their words, and whom they invoke on the eve of battle. They unquestionably regarded him as the god that brought victory to monarchs. The fame of Mithra extended to the borders of the Ægean Sea; he is the only Iranian god whose name was popular in ancient Greece, and this fact alone proves how deeply he was venerated by the nations of the great neighboring empires. Mithra is indeed a yazata, but he is also the most potent and most glorious of the yazata. "Ahura-Mazda established him to maintain and watch over all this moving world." It is through the agency of this ever-victorious warrior that the Supreme Being destroys the demons and causes even the Spirit of Evil, Ahriman himself, to tremble. This religion, cloaked in mystery and secrecy, has captivated the imaginations of scholars for generations.  Many facts discovered sheds vital light on the cultural dynamics that led to the rise of Christianity. All of the art is edited and chosen by us for its high quality and workmanship before posting.

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Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithra

Mithra (Avestan: Miϑra, Old Persian: / Miça) is the Zoroastrian angelic divinity (yazata) of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters.

The term Mithra is from the Avestan language. In Middle Iranian languages (Middle Persian, Parthian etc.), Mithra became Mehr, Myhr etc., from which Modern Persian مهر Mehr, Peshawari Pashto لمر Nwar, Waziri Pashto ميېر Miyer and Armenian Mihr/Mher ultimately derive.

The Romans attributed their Mithraic Mysteries to Persian or Zoroastrian sources relating to Mithra. However, since the early 1970s, the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities, and those mysteries are now qualified as a distinct Roman product



On Elamite tablets of the time of Darius, offerings are recorded five times for Mica-Baga — where Mica was Old Persian for Mithras — and, on one occasion, these offerings coincided with offerings to Ahuramazda. The name Mica-Baga also appears as Baga-Mira in the second monarch of the Pārata Dynasty of Western Pakistan. Artaxerxes III, is also known to have invoked “Ahuramazda and Mithras Baga”. In the compound, Mithras-Baga, Varuna, under the title Baga, began as an equal partner, but because Baga was understood to mean simply God, and was not used liturgically, Varuna was forgotten as a separate entity, and the compound was understood as Mithras-God.



Mithra is undeceivable, infallible, eternally watchful, and never-resting. Mithra is additionally the protector of cattle, and his stock epithet is "of wide pastures." He is guardian of the waters and ensures that those pastures receive enough of it.