Download or read book The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire written by Roger Beck and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2006-01-12 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the religious system of Mithraism, one of the 'mystery cults' popular in the Roman Empire contemporary with early Christianity. Roger Beck describes Mithraism from the point of view of the initiate engaging with the religion and its rich symbolic system in thought, word, ritual action, and cult life. He employs the methods of anthropology of religion and the new cognitive science of religion to explore in detail the semiotics of the Mysteries' astral symbolism, which has been the principal subject of his many previous publications on the cult.