Links
There are lots of excellent resources on the internet to further study mystery religions, and I have annotated these links so you can know what I thought of them. Anything with "number 1 link" written beside it is what I consider to be the foremost website on that particular subject, otherwise sites are rated with stars (*), with five (*****) being the highest number, and one (*) being the lowest.
I would like to make it so this collection of links includes the best sites on the internet on these various subjects, so if you have a site (or even a page on a site) about any of these topics (except graphics, and general resources) then please email me with the link, and I might put it in, depending on its relevance.
Eleusinian Mysteries
Cybele
Isis & Osiris
Dionysus
Number 1 Link! Dionysos Links an enormous list of links about Dionysus. The biggest and best on the net.
****The Bacchae The Harvard Classics edition of the play in English. Highly recommended as a primary source, which are always more worth reading than secondary sources anyway ;)
***Images of Dionysus An interesting (and rather pretty) page with links to various images of Dionysus. Also worth seeing is texts about Dionysus from the same site. The texts aren't on the same server, but it is useful to have all of them pinpointed by links.
***Dionysus by Kristi Thompson. A short, if interesting page on Dionysus. She interprets the worship of Dionysus, rather than just describing it, bringing out deeper meanings. This is one for those who want to read something short, but good.
***The Bacchae a study guide on the classical play. If you are going to look at the play, this is interesting (though relatively short) as it both summarises the play, and asks questions of you at the end.
***The Art of Ancient Greece & Rome: Dionysus An online exhibition of photographs of artwork depicting Dionysus. Very interesting, and well worth a look.
***The Advent of Dionysus An online book about the psychological ramifications of Dionysus and modern-day occurances. I only gave this a three because its not directly historical research, but its well-presented and interesting anyway.
Mithras
Number 1 Link! The Cosmic Mysteries of Mithras From the pre-eminent scholar on Mithras, David Ulansey. This should be essential reading. And his website's not bad either ;) Also see his article on Mithras & the Hypercosmic sun and his article on the Mithraic lion-headed figure
****Mithraism an essay by David Fingrut. This is an extensive essay on the "old" ideas about Mithras, which look to be superceded by David Ulansey's ideas about him. This nevertheless is a very good, well researched and comprehensive essay, well worth reading.
****Mithraism in History & Archaeology Highly recommended This site aims to cover the old (Cumont) and the new (Ulansey) viewpoints on Mithraism. The site is surprisingly well designed and has a great deal of information on it.
****The Mithras Liturgy In Greek and English, Marvin W Meyer translation, posted under Fair Use. This is very basic formatting, but if you want to read the underlying Greek text, this is for you. If you want to read the English (same translator) on this site, go here
***Tour of a Virtual Temple of Mithras from Newcastle-upon-Tyne University. This includes a section on Mithraism, and contains a great deal of useful information - probably because Hadrian's Wall runs by the university, and this is a tour of the Mithraic temple there which was used by the soldiers.
***Mithraism from the Ecole Initiative, an article by Alison B Griffith. All the articles on the Ecole Initiative are good, and are provided by established scholars, and are well researched. While this is an overview of Mithraism, it is a fairly comprehensive one, and it covers both the old and new theories. Well worth reading, particularly if you don't want to read a huge amount of material, but are discriminating in what you do read!
***Catholic Encyclopaedia entry on Mithraism. It should be noted that the foremost (and still living) authority on Mithraism during the writing of the Catholic Encyclopaedia was Cumont, this is that edition of the Encyclopaedia transferred to the internet. It is also biased, and written with the aim of first objectively covering Mithras and Mithraism, and then (in about a paragraph) saying why Mithraism and Christianity cannot be compared. It is, however, an excellent resource.
***Mithras and Mithraism an article by Payam Nabaraz. This is an interesting article which, as well as providing an introduction to Mithraism, also draws links between his cult, and the bard Taliesin, of Britain. Certainly worth a look.
***The Avesta the compete Zoroastrian scriptures. This may take a while to read through, but it is necessary knowledge for the study of Mithras, Mithra as he was in Persia.
**Mithraism in the Roman Empire an interesting page on Mithras. This isn't a long article, but it is a good summary of Mithraic beliefs. However, the font size is very small indeed.
**Taming the Winds the four winds in Mithraic theology. An interesting site giving an overview of Mithraism, a short description of mystery religions, and discusses the symbolism of the four winds.
**Mithras List a Yahoo e-group dedicated to Mithraism. Worth joining if you're really interested, especially as it seems to be the only list on Mithras.
**Mithras & Coinage an interesting site asking whether the Romans minted coins with images of Mithras on them. This also includes a piece on the development of Mithraism. A warning in advance though: this site has bad midi music on it, with no way of turning it off.
*Electronic Journal of Mithraic Studies The information on this site (based at the University of Huelva, Spain) seems a bit patchy at the moment, and they don't have a huge amount of material online yet, but this will certainly bear watching, and is a good scholarly site.
*Mithraism in Roman Lincoln this is a small article from the British Archaeology Journal, about the discovery that a figure thought to be St Peter in a church is actually that of Mithras. While tiny, this is very interesting.
*Mithraeum An organisation dedicated to reconstructing Mithraism as a faith for today. It includes a section on historical Mithraism, as well as suggestions for how to worship the god today. I found the site faintly disappointing, as it did not include as much information as I thought, as the only group worshipping Mithras today, it should.
*Roman Religion in Britain includes a short piece on Mithraism. While overall an interesting site, its content on Mithraism is small, though it does include a floor plan of a Mithraic temple.
*Mithraism a very short overview of Mithraism, from a student at Richmond.
*Mithraism: The Cult Revived a German site working to revive the worship of Mithras. Its contents are in English as well as German, but they haven't been very well translated (maybe the author used Babelfish or something), which makes it hard to read, in addition the page layout is difficult to understand.
||
|-->
Sites not directly connected to our purpose
These are sites which aren't interested in Mithraism per se but compare it to other things.
Pagan Christs: has information on all the Mystery religions, comparing them with Jesus.
Mithraism and Freemasonry arguing that Freemasonry developed out of Mithraism.
Mithraism comparing Jung and Freud's ideas on the figure of Mithras and the slaying of the bull.
Saul of Tarsus and Mithraism.
General Resources
Number 1 Link!! Bartleby An extensive site with searchable editions of ancient and modern literature and verse, as well as a collection of encyclopaedias, dictionaries and other reference works. You really have to visit this!
*****The Catholic Encyclopaedia While this is a specifically Christian encyclopaedia, it covers an enormous variety of topics, pretty much all the topics you'll ever need.
Graphics Links
Divinus Graphics A small collection of backgrounds and borders, including some religious ones.
Boogie Jack a very good graphics collection, although their buttons and banners aren't very nice at all.
[ Sign Guestbook | View Guestbook | Email ]