Rogue Thoughts

I wrote this review of Roger Becks book: The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire – Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun for the Journal of Roman Studies (2009). the book is interesting because it uses cognitive science to throw light on history. This was also the approach I took in my PhD dissertation “The Dissemination of Divination in the Roman Republic”
I really like the eclectic approach of Beck, but eventually you get caught up in too many views on the subject. Some views are not consistent with each other, and it is difficult to find out what is what. That is the problem with eclecticism. Ok. Here it is:

Roger Beck: The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire – Mysteries of the Unconquered Sun, Oxford University Press 2006

By Anders Lisdorf

Roger Beck should be no stranger to anyone who have even the slightest knowledge on Roman Mithraism. Indeed one could legitimately claim that he is one of a handful of “grand old men” who have been vital in shaping contemporary research on Mithraism and he has dedicated several decades to the study of Mithraism. This is why it is all the more impressive to see him provide a new look at this subject without stubbornly clinging to old views, but with an open explorative mind set worthy of a true scholar. The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire is a synthesis of Beck’s earlier work with new theoretical advances particularly in the field of the cognitive science of religion. This makes for an interesting eclectic journey through one of the most mysterious cults in the Roman Empire.
Beck starts by showing that contemporary scholarship, with a few exceptions, has reached a dead end in interpreting the meaning of Mithraism mainly because of the paucity of textual evidence. This has resulted in interpretation being replaced with a narrow positivism focusing purely on the material evidence which exists in abundance compared to the textual. This impasse in traditional approaches is attributable to a number of problems: they undervalue the literary testimony in favour of the monumental; they undervalue the significance of the mithraeum; since there is no doctrine, it has been implicitly assumed that the mysteries did not entail any sophisticated cognitive enterprise; and there has been a total disregard of semantics and semiotics. The resolution is to be found in new methods in the cognitive science of religion. Instead of the old hermeneutics (of Franz Cumont) or the new narrow positivism (of Manfred Clauss), the mysteries should be seen ‘(..) as a system of symbols both complex and orderly, apprehended by the initiates in cult life and especially in ritual’ (4).
One of the questions that have been given much attention in the history of research is the search or the original Mithraic doctrine. Beck is very clear that this search is futile. Rather than on a doctrine, Mithraism was based on a limited number of fundamental principles that Beck calls axioms. They are: 1) Deus sol invictus Mithras and 2) Harmony of tension in opposition. These principles may at first glance appear equally mysterious to the modern scholar. The first axiom aims at clarifying that Mithras is the central deity of the religion and he is the unconquered sun. The second axiom makes clear the central significance of opposites such as night and day in Mithraism. These axioms find expression in a number of motifs such as the sacred story of Mithras, the cosmos, the sublunary world and the destiny of human souls. The symbol system, the object proper of the study, conveys these axioms and motifs and is manifested in three distinct structures: the central scene of the tauroctony, the mithraeum and the organizational structure of the 7 grades. These structures were apprehended by the initiates primarily though ritual action, but also through the iconography, exchange of words (to avoid the word teaching) and ethical behaviour consonant with the mysteries.
Throughout the book this interpretative scheme is filled out with impressively meticulous analysis of the textual evidence, the symbolic structure of the mithraeum and the tauroctony. These analyses illustrate that the mithraic symbol system was communicated in the idiom of, what Beck terms “star talk”, where the central focus is the mystery of the descent and ascent of the human soul. There is no doubt that the Beck’s knowledge of all extant evidence is comprehensive and the interpretation he provides is among the most coherent and all encompassing.
There are however also a number of critical points. That Beck’s approach is eclectic is perhaps an understatement. He picks and chooses whatever part of any theory as long as it throws some light on the Mithras cult. The upside of this is a very inspiring and creative analysis. The downside is occasional confusion and theoretical inconsistency. An example of this is his explicit appropriation of the ideas of the cognitive anthropologist Dan Sperber. Later Beck endorses the idea of thick description of Clifford Geertz. Probably no two theories could be more inconsistent with each other. According to Sperber symbols don’t really exist, whereas symbols constitute the texture of culture according to Geertz.
Beck also uses modern ethnographic evidence. More precisely he uses the the practices of the Chamulas, a people of Southern Mexico, who also have a sun cult, as an example. It is difficult to see the theoretical justification of a one to one comparison, since there are also great differences between the Chamulas and mithraists. It seems that Beck thinks sun cults are predetermined to use a specific symbolism (82). This seems to deserve some further explication and justification: could we just just pick and choose from the ethnographic record the religion that comes closest to our personal interpretation of the Mithras cult or any other cult?
That said, the overall impression is that this book should be regarded as a quarry of information and good ideas on the Mithras cult. Along with the work of Richard Gordon and Luther Martin it is the best bid contemporary scholarship has on what sort of religion the Mithras cult was.