The origins and spread of the Mithridatic Mysteries

Tiridates II flourished second half of the 2nd century & first half of the 3rd century (he died 252). He was an Armenian Parthian Prince who served as a Roman Client King of Armenia.

Tiridates II was the son and heir of the Armenian King Khosrov I, by an unnamed mother. Tiridates II was the namesake of his ancestor, Tiridates I of Armenia and his of Parthian ancestors who ruled with this name as King. As a part of the Armenian Arsacid period, he was also known as Khosrov.

Tiridates I was King of Armenia beginning in 53 and the founder of the Arsacid Dynasty, the Armenian line of the Arsacid Dynasty. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. His early reign was marked by a brief interruption towards the end of the year 54 and a much longer one from 58 to 63.

The Arsacid dynasty known natively as the Arshakuni dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 to 428. They are a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty until 62 when Tiridates I secured Arsacid dynasty of Parthia rule in Armenia. An independent line of Kings was established by Vologases II (Vagharsh II) in 180.

Two of the most notable events under Arsacid rule in Armenian history were the conversion of Armenia to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator in 301 and the creation of the Armenian alphabet by Saint Mesrob in circa 406.

The Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran better known as ancient Persia. Its latter name comes from Arsaces I of Parthia who, as leader of the Parni tribe, founded it in the mid-3rd century BC when he conquered the Parthia region in Iran’s northeast, then a satrapy (province) in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I of Parthia (r. c. 171–138 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids.

At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now south-eastern Turkey, to eastern Iran. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and Han Empire of China, became a center of trade and commerce.

Frequent civil war between Parthian contenders to the throne proved more dangerous than foreign invasion, and Parthian power evaporated when Ardashir I, ruler of Estakhr in Fars, revolted against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, Artabanus IV, in 224 AD. Ardashir established the Sassanid Empire, which ruled Iran and much of the Near East until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century AD, although the Arsacid dynasty lived on through the Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia.

In addition to being a king, Tiridates I was also a Zoroastrian priest and was accompanied by other magi on his journey to Rome in 66. In the early 20th century, Franz Cumont speculated that Tiridates was instrumental in the development of Mithraism which – in Cumont’s view – was simply Romanized Zoroastrianism. This “continuity” theory has since been questioned.

Mithras-Helios, in Phrygian cap with solar rays, with Antiochus I of Commagene. (Mt Nemrut, first century BC)

According to the archaeologist Maarten Vermaseren, 1st century BC evidence from Commagene demonstrates the “reverence paid to Mithras” but does not refer to “the mysteries”.

In the colossal statuary erected by King Antiochus I (69–34 BC) at Mount Nemrut, Mithras is shown beardless, wearing a Phrygian cap and was originally seated on a throne alongside other deities and the king himself. On the back of the thrones there is an inscription in Greek, which includes the name Apollo Mithras Helios in the genitive case.

Antiochus I was the son and probably the only child of King Mithridates I Callinicus and Queen Laodice VII Thea of Commagene. Mithridates I Callinicus was a king of Orontid Armenian descent who lived between 2nd century BC and 1st century BC.

Mithridates was a prince, the son and successor of King of Commagene, Sames II Theosebes Dikaios. Before his succession in 109 BC, he married the Syrian Greek Princess Laodice VII Thea as a part of a peace alliance. Mithridates also embraced the Culture of Greece. Laodice bore Mithridates a son, Antiochus I Theos of Commagene (c. 86 BC–38 BC), a prince and future king of Commagene. Mithridates died in 70 BC and Antiochus succeeded him.

Sames or Samos II Theosebes Dikaios (died 109 BC) was the second king of Commagene. Of Armenian descent, he was the son and successor of Ptolemaeus of Commagene. Ptolemaeus was a man of Armenian descent who lived between the 3rd century BC and 2nd century BC, and became the first King of Commagene. He was of Orontid Armenian descent, being related to the king of Sophene Arsames I. His father was King Orontes IV of Armenia, son of Arsames I.

Ptolemy was in fact a relative to the King Mithridates I of Parthia and related to the Parthian King dynasty. According to fragments of inscribed reliefs found at Mount Nemrut, archaeologists have discovered that Ptolemy was a descendant of Persian King Darius I of Persia. Ptolemy died in 130 BC and his wife is unknown. His son and successor was Sames II Theosebes Dikaios.

Arsames I seems to have taken control of Commagene, Sophene and Armenia in the year 260 BC after the death of his grandfather Orontes III, king of Armenia, and his father Sames, king of Commagene.

Vermaseren also reports about a Mithras cult in Fayum 300 BC. R. D. Barnett has argued that the royal seal of King Saussatar of Mitanni depicts a tauroctonous Mithras from c. 1450 BC.

The origins and spread of the Mysteries have been intensely debated among scholars and there are radically differing views on these issues. According to Clauss mysteries of Mithras were not practiced until the 1st century AD.

According to Ulansey, the earliest evidence for the Mithraic mysteries places their appearance in the middle of the 1st century BC: the historian Plutarch says that in 67 BC the pirates of Cilicia (a province on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor) were practicing “secret rites” of Mithras.

However, according to Daniels, whether any of this relates to the origins of the mysteries is unclear. The unique underground temples or Mithraea appear suddenly in the archaeology in the last quarter of the 1st century AD.