Mithraism

I visited recently the National ROman Museum of Rome and I paused longly in front of the low reliefs of Mithra with the ritual killing of the bull. Mithra kills the bull with a knife, and a scorpion pricks his testicles whereas a dog and a snake lick his blood. On the left and the right there are two boys holding a torch. one with the torch upright and the other wit the torch dowright. On the upper side there are the sun and the moon and a crow. I was pondering that Taurus and Scorpio are opposite in the zodiac, and are among the most brilliant costellation. Is it possible that the tauroctony is a representation of the sky? I went back home sure to have done a big discovery and alas! A rapid research on Wikipedia showed that it was proposed 20 years ago by Ulansey. This brilliant reseracher says that Mithra represent the precession of the equinoxes, and that the mithraeum is a representation of the sky from above (this is attested by ancient authors). Therefore the initiation to mythraism made the adept - probably - able to fly above the sky of the fixed stars, in a manner similar to that described by Plato in the Phaedrus (and also as experinced much later by Dante in his journey to Paradise). In this way the interpretation of the main lines of mithraism is relatively straightfowrard (although of course the spiritual experinece of the adept is not).

I have - perhaps - just a little contribution to give to this nice interpretation. it is said that Mithra was identified with Ophiucus. In my opinion it was Orion, that is much more brilliant and reminds strongly the shape of Mithra.