密特拉教 Mithraism

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Mithraism was an ancient mystery religion prominent from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD. It was based on worship of the god Mithras and derives from the Persian and Indic god Mithra and other Zoroastrian deities. Mithras was known throughout Europe and Asia by the names Mithra, Mitra, Meitros, Mihr, Mehr, and Meher. The veneration of this God began about 4000 years ago in Persia, where it was soon embedded with Babylonian doctrines.
密特拉教是一个古代的秘密宗教，在公元前一世纪到公元五世纪强盛。它主要是崇拜密特拉神，源自波斯和印度的神密特拉和其他琐罗亚斯德的神。密特拉也被欧洲和亚洲所知，其他名称是Mithra, Mitra, Meitros, Mihr, Mehr, and Meher。这个神大约在四千年前的波斯就开始受到尊敬，很快就植入巴比伦学说里面。
Mithraism apparently originated in the Eastern Mediterranean around the first or second centuries BC. It was practiced in the Roman Empire since the first century BC, and reached its apogee around the third through fourth centuries AD, when it was very popular among the Roman soldiers. Mithraism disappeared from overt practice after the Theodosian decree of AD 391 banned all pagan rites, and it apparently became extinct thereafter.
密特拉教很明显是源自公元前第一或第二世纪左右的地中海东部。自公元前第一世纪起在罗马帝国实践。当它在罗马士兵内十分流行的时候，在公元第三和第四世纪左右延伸到最远点。密特拉教的消失显然是在公元391年的西奥多法令之后，禁止所有的异教祭礼，从此就销声匿迹。

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Principles of Mithraism
密特拉教的规则

Romans encountered worship of the deity Mithras as part of Zoroastrianism in the eastern provinces of the empire, particularly in Asia Minor (now modern Turkey).
罗马在帝国东部的省份内遇见了崇拜密特拉神作为其中一部分的琐罗亚斯德教，尤其是在小亚细亚（现在的土耳其）。
Mithraism is best documented in the form it had acquired in the later Roman Empire. It was an initiatory 'mystery religion,' passed from initiate to initiate, like the Eleusinian Mysteries. It was not based on a supernaturally revealed body of scripture, and hence very little written documentary evidence survives. Soldiers appeared to be the most plentiful followers of Mithraism, and women were apparently not allowed to join.
密特拉教已经有了成文的文件，在后期罗马帝国获得允许。它是一个入会的“神秘宗教”，经历了由传授到传授，就像古代希腊Eleusis市的神秘主义。它并不是建立在一个超自然显示肉身的手稿上，因此非常少写到得救的书面证明。士兵是大多数密特拉教的追随者，妇女排除在教会之外。
Roman worship of Mithras began sometime during the early Roman empire, perhaps during the late first century of the Common Era (hereafter CE), and flourished from the second through the fourth century BCE. during which it came under the influence of Greek and Roman mythologies. The Mithraic cult maintained secrecy. Its teaching were only reveled to initiates.
罗马敬拜密特拉神是开始于早期罗马帝国的某段时期，很可能在公元头一个世纪后期，在第二至第四世纪强盛，在此期间是受希腊和罗马神话影响之下。密特拉教祭礼主张秘密举行。它的教导只有在传授中才给予。
The evidence for this cult is mostly archaeological, consisting of the remains of mithraic temples, dedicatory inscriptions, and iconographic representations of the god and other aspects of the cult in stone sculpture, sculpted stone relief, wall painting, and mosaic. There is very little literary evidence pertaining to the cult. Remains of Mithraic temples can be found throughout the Roman Empire, from Palestine across north of Africa, and across central Europe to northern England.
这种祭礼的证据主要是考古学上的，由密特拉庙宇的遗迹，献呈的题字，神的肖像描绘，石头雕刻的其他祭礼外貌，石头浮雕，壁画和镶嵌图案组成，几乎没有关于拉教祭礼的文字证据。密特拉教庙宇的遗迹可以在整个罗马帝国找到，从巴勒斯坦到北非，通过欧洲中部进入英国北部。
For over three hundred years the rulers of the Roman Empire worshipped the god Mithras. In Rome, more than a hundred inscriptions dedicated to Mithras have been found, in addition to 75 sculpture fragments, and aseries of Mithraic temples situated in all parts of the city. One of the largest Mithraic temples built in Italy now lies under the present site of the Church of St. Clemente, near the Colosseum in Rome.
三百多年以来，罗马帝国的统治者崇拜密特拉神。在罗马，发现了超过一百个有关献身于密特拉神的碑铭，除此之外还有75个雕刻碎片，还有一系列密特拉教庙宇，位置城市的各个部分。其中一个最大的密特拉教庙宇现在位于圣克莱门教堂之下，在罗马圆形大剧场附近。

密特拉神庙

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The Mithraeum
太阳洞穴

It is known that the center of the cult was the Mithraeum, either an adapted natural cave or cavern, preferably sanctified by previous local religious usage, or an artificial building imitating a cavern. Mithraea were dark and windowless, even if they were not actually in a subterranean space or in a natural cave. When possible, the mithraeum was constructed within or below an existing building. The site of a mithraeum may also be identified by its separate entrance or vestibule, its "cave", called the 'spelaeum' or 'spelunca', with raised benches along the side walls for the ritual meal, and its sanctuary at the far end, often in a recess, before which the pedestal-like altar stood.
据说祭礼的中心是太阳洞穴，或者是适合的自然洞穴或山洞，更适宜被早先的地方宗教认可，或者一种模仿洞穴的神圣建筑。太阳洞穴是黑暗和无窗的，即使它们并不是在真正的地下空地或者自然洞穴里面。一旦有可能，太阳洞穴就会建立在当前建筑物里面或下面。这个太阳洞穴的遗址也通过分开的入口或者门廊，它的“洞口”来认定，称为“spelaeum”或“spelunca”，拥有突起的长椅子，连同着墙上的边来作为祭礼，它的避难所就在远处末端，通常是在休息之地，在底架前面——就像祭坛。

Many mithraea that follow this basic plan are scattered over much of the Empire's former area, particularly where the legions were stationed along the frontiers. Others may be recognized by their characteristic layout, even though converted as crypts beneath Christian churches.
很多这种基本形式的太阳洞穴都分散在以前罗马帝国的地区上，尤其是当罗马军团驻守在边境上。其他的会被它们的典型设计图案所认知，即使是更换成基督教堂的地下室内。
In every Mithraic temple, the place of honor was occupied by a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull, called a tauoctony. It has been more recently proposed that the tauroctony is a symbolic representation of the constellations rather than an originally Iranian animal sacrifice scene (Ulansey, 1991).
在每一座密特拉教庙宇里，荣耀的地方被密特拉神宰杀神圣公牛的画像占据着，称为一个tauoctony。更新近的主张就是一个tauroctony是描绘星座的象征符号，更胜于原先的伊朗动物献祭场面（Ulansey, 1991）。

Mithras is associated with Perseus, whose constellation is above that of the bull. A serpent, a scorpion, a dog, and a raven are present, also thought to represent associated constellations.
密特拉神与珀尔修斯联合，星座是在公牛之上，呈现出毒蛇，一只蝎子，一条狗和一只大乌鸦，都被认为是描绘星座。

From the structure of the mithraea it is possible to surmise that worshippers would have gathered for a common meal along the reclining couches lining the walls. It is worth noting that most temples could hold only thirty or forty individuals.
从太阳洞穴的构造来看，猜测很可能是礼拜者的聚餐，放置着墙的内层。这并没有什么价值，大多数庙宇都只能容纳三四十人。

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Mithraic Ranks
密特拉教的等级

The members of a mithraeum were divided into seven ranks. All members were apparently expected to progress through the first four ranks, while only a few would go on to the three higher ranks. The first four ranks seem to represent spiritual progress, while the other three appear to have been specialized offices. The seven ranks were:
太阳式洞的成员分成七个等级。所有成员都很明显是期待去通过头四个等级来进展，只有少数几个会进入后面三个更高的等级。头四个等级看上去是代表精神上的进步，而另外三个等级显然是特别的公职。七个等级如下：

Corax (raven)
科拉斯（大乌鸦）
Nymphus (bride)
纽帕斯（新娘）
Miles (soldier)
迈尔斯（士兵）
Leo (lion)
里奥（狮子）
Perses (Persian)
帕撒斯（波斯）
Heliodromus (sun-courier)
海路德米斯（太阳—旅行从仆）
Pater (father)
佩特（父亲）

The new initiate became a Corax, while the Leo was an adept. The titles of the first four ranks suggest the possibility that advancement through the ranks was based on introspection and spiritual growth.
当里奥成为一个老手的时候，新的开始变成一个科拉斯。前四个等级的头衔暗示了通过建立在反省和精神进步基础上的等级前进的可能性。

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The Iconography of Mithraism
密特拉教的符号学

In the absence of any Mithraist scripture, all we know about Mithras is what can be deduced from his images in the mithraea that have survived.
没有密特拉教的手稿，一切有关密特拉教的都是根据幸存的太阳洞穴里面的肖像的推断而得知。
Some depictions show Mithras carrying a rock on his back, much as Atlas did, and/or wearing a cape that had the starry sky as its inside lining. A bronze image of Mithras, emerging from an egg-shaped zodiac ring, found associated with a mithraeum along Hadrian's Wall (now at the University of Newcastle), and an inscription from the city of Rome suggest that Mithras may have been seen as the Orphic creator-god Phanes who emerged from the cosmic egg at the beginning of time, bringing the universe into existence. This view is reinforced by a bas-relief at the Estense Museum in Modena, Italy, which shows Phanes coming from an egg, surrounded by the twelve signs of the zodiac, in an image very similar to that at Newcastle.
一些就描写密特拉神把一块岩石扛到背上，就像阿特拉斯所做一样，或者披上满布星星的天空般的斗篷作为内衬，一个密特拉神的铜像，浮现出一只蛋形的黄道十二宫环状物，与哈里安城墙的太阳式洞穴在一起（现在位于纽卡斯尔大学），一块罗马城的碑铭暗示了密特拉可以被看作创造者俄耳普斯——神菲尼斯，在太初与蛋形的宇宙联结在一起，使宇宙存在。这个浅浮雕后来在意大利麦丹娜的东方博物馆看得到，表明了菲尼斯是来自一只鸡蛋，被十二宫图的标记包围，这个肖像与纽卡斯尔的十分相似。
He is sometimes depicted as a man being born or reborn from a rock (the 'petra genetrix), typically with the snake Ouroboros wrapped around it. It is commonly believed that the cave in Mithraism imagery represents the cosmos, and the rock is the cosmos seen from the outside; hence the description of this god as 'rising from the dead'. According to some accounts, Mithras died, was buried in a cavernous rock tomb, and was resurrected.
他有时被描绘成一个在岩石出生或重生的人，通常有大毒蛇奥罗波罗斯围绕在他周围。通常认为，密特拉教洞穴的肖像是代表宇宙，岩石是从外面观看的宇宙；从而描绘这位神是从“死亡中提升起来”。跟据一些传说，密特拉神死了，被埋在一个似巨穴的岩石坟墓，然后复活。
Another more widely accepted interpretation takes its clue from the writer Porphyry, who recorded that the cave pictured in the tauroctony was intended to be "an image of the cosmos." According to this view, the cave depicted in that image may represent the "great cave" of the sky. This interpretation was supported by research by K. B. Stark in 1869, with astronomical support by Roger Beck (1984 and 1988), David Ulansey (1989) and Noel Swerdlow (1991). This interpretation is reinforced by the constant presence in Mithraic imagery of heavenly objects - such as stars, the moon, and the sun - and symbols for the signs of the Zodiac.
另一个更加广泛接受的解释就是作者帕菲利的线索，记录了洞穴的画面被确定为“一幅宇宙的肖像”。依照这种观点，洞穴的肖像描绘代表也天空的“伟大洞穴”。这种解释受到斯塔克在1859年的研究支持，天文学的证据受到罗杰贝克（1984年和1988年），戴维乌兰西（1989年）和诺埃尔（1991年）的支持。这种解释被强加于衡量描绘天空物体的密特拉肖像——比如太阳，月亮和星星——黄道十二宫的符号。
One of the central motifs of Mithraism is the tauroctony, the myth of sacrifice by Mithra of a sacred bull created by the supreme deity Ahura Mazda, which Mithra stabs to death in the cave, having been instructed to do so by a crow, sent from Ahura Mazda. In this myth, from the body of the dying bull spring plants, animals, and all the beneficial things of the earth. It is thought that the bull represents the constellation of Taurus. However, in the period we are considering, the sun at the Vernal Equinox had left Taurus two thousand years before, and was in the process of moving from Aries to Pisces.
密特拉教的其中一个中心主题就是塔拉托尼，密特拉牺牲的秘密，是一只被至高神阿胡玛兹达创造的公牛，密特拉在洞穴里被中伤致死，被阿胡玛兹达派来的乌雅指引去这样做。在这个神话，从死亡的公牛身体上跃出植物，动物和所有地球上的有益事物。据说公牛是代表天上的金牛座。然而，在我们正在考虑的这个密特拉时期，太阳在春分点上已经抛离了金牛座两千年之久，正在从白羊座到双鱼座移动。
In light of this interpretation, it has been suggested in recent times that the Mithraic religion is somehow connected to the end of the astrological "age of Taurus," and the beginning of the "age of Aries," which took place about the year 2000 BC. It has even been speculated that the religion may have originated at that time (although there is no record of it until the 2nd century BC).
按照这种解释，暗示了最近时期的密特拉教信仰是与占星上的“金牛座时期”完结相关，是“白羊座”的开始，大约发生在公元前二千年。甚至推断了宗教可能源于那个时期（尽管直到公元二世纪才有文字记录）。
The identification of an "age" with a particular zodiac constellation is based on the sun's position during the vernal equinox. Before 2000 BC, the Sun could have been seen against the stars of the constellation of Taurus at the time of vernal equinox [had there been an eclipse]. Due to the precession of the equinoxes, on average every 2,160 years the Sun appears against the stars of a new constellation at vernal equinox. The current astrological age started when the equinox precessed into the constellation of Pisces, in about the year 150 BC, with the "Age of Aquarius" starting in AD 2600.
十二星座的“时期”鉴定是建立在太阳在春分点的位置的基础上。公元前二千年之前，太阳在春分点的时候可以看到金牛座。因为岁差运动，每隔2，160年左右，太阳出现的春分点上会有新的星座。当前的占星纪元就是太阳春分点上的双鱼座，大约在公元前150年开始，而“宝瓶座时期”则开始于公元2600年。
Indeed, the constellations common in the sky from about 4000 BC to 2000 BC were Taurus the Bull, Canis Minor the Dog, Hydra the Snake, Corvus the Raven, and Scorpio the Scorpion, all of which may be identified in the fresco from Dura-Europos, a standard Hellenistic iconography. Further support for this theory is the presence of a lion and a cup in some depictions of the tauroctony: indeed Leo (a lion) and Aquarius ("the cup-bearer") were the constellations seen as the northernmost (summer solstice) and southernmost (winter solstice) positions in the sky during the age of Taurus.
事实上，描绘天空的星座图从大约公元前四千年起到公元前二千年都十分普遍，公牛代表金牛座，狗代表小犬星座，蛇代表长蛇座，乌鸦代表乌鸦座，蝎子代表天蝎座，所有一切都可以在一些壁画上找到，一种希腊风格的肖像画法。更进一步证实这种理论的是用一只狮子和一只杯来描绘星座：事实上狮子座（狮子）和宝瓶座（杯容器）是最北点（夏至）和最南点（东至）可以看到的星座，在金牛座时期出现在天空中。
The precession of the equinoxes was discovered, or at least publicized, by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus in the 2nd century BC. Whether the phenomenon was known by Mithraists previously is unknown. In any case, Mithras was presumed to be very powerful if he was able to rotate the heavens, and thus 'kill the bull' or displacing Taurus as the reigning image in the heavens.
岁差运动被发现，至少是公元前二世纪被希腊天文学家希帕克斯宣扬过，密特拉教是否明白这种现象就不得而知。在任何情形下，密特拉神都假定为力量十分强大，就像他能够把天空旋转，因而“杀死公牛”或者取代了金牛座在天上的统治地位。
Some commentators surmise that the Mithraists worshipped Mithras as the mediator between Man and the supreme God of the upper and nether world. Other commentators, inspired by James Frazer's theories, have additionally labeled Mithras a mystery religion with a life-death-rebirth deity, comparable to Isis, the resurrected Jesus or the Persephone/Demeter cult of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
一些评论员猜测密特拉教崇拜的密特拉神是人与天和地之间的至高神之间的中保或仲栽者。其他评论，受启发于詹姆士的理论，加之又把密特拉教套上神秘宗教的标签，是生命—死亡—再生的神性，可与伊希斯，耶稣的复活或者古代希腊神秘的帕尔修斯/得墨忒耳的祭礼相比较。