Das grundlegende Werk zum Mithras-Kult ist das Resumee der langjahrigen Forschungen des belgischen Religionswissenschaftlers zu diesem Thema. Cumont beleuchtet alle Aspekte des indo-iranischen Kultes, den die Soldaten des romischen Reiches bei der Eroberung Vorderasiens kennenlernten und mit zuruck nach Westen brachten: Herkunft, Ausbreitung, rechtliche Stellung, Lehre und Liturgie, die Beziehung zu anderen Kulten und schliesslich die Kunst des Mithriacismus. Sorgfaltig nachbearbeiteter Nachdruck der deutschsprachigen Ausgabe aus dem Jahr 1903

This is a very detailed review of what is known about the eastern religions which were absorbed into Roman Paganism during the late Republic and Imperial periods. Cumont, who also wrote The Mysteries of Mithra was a Belgian scholar who specialized in the study of ancient religion. Topics include the cults of the Magna Mater, Cyblele, Isis, Astarte, Mithrism and Zoroastrianism, as well as a study of astrology and how it became part of Roman beliefs. Roman Paganism started out as a system of animist beliefs with a simple pantheon of gods and goddesses. Contact with these diverse near-eastern...

Franz-Valery-Marie Cumont (Aalst, Belgium, 3 January 1868 - Brussels, 25 August 1947) was a Belgian archaeologist and historian, a philologist and student of epigraphy, who brought these often isolated specialties to bear on the syncretic mystery religions of Late Antiquity, notably Mithraism. Cumont was a graduate of the University of Ghent (PhD, 1887). After receiving royal travelling fellowships, he undertook archaeology in Pontus and Armenia (published in 1906) and in Syria, but he is best known for his studies on the impact of Eastern mystery religions, particularly Mithraism, on the...