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85-415: Some travellers mention the name of this place as "Kasr Zerzaua" in 18th century while Evliya Celebi , an Ottoman traveller who lived in 17th century mentions in his Seyahatname (volume IV) about this place as "Zerzivan Valley" while travelling from Diyarbakir to Mardin . The name of Zerzevan derives from Kurdish word of "zêr" (gold) and it "is the changed form of Zerzaua mentioned by the travellers and it

170-476: A biga . In some depictions, the central tauroctony is framed by a series of subsidiary scenes to the left, top and right, illustrating events in the Mithras narrative; Mithras being born from the rock, the water miracle, the hunting and riding of the bull, meeting Sol who kneels to him, shaking hands with Sol and sharing a meal of bull-parts with him, and ascending to the heavens in a chariot. In some instances, as

255-505: A 105–124 m (344–407 ft)-high rocky hill next to Demirölçek village about 13 km (8.1 mi) southeast of Çınar town in Diyarbakır Province on the highway D.950 to Mardin. It is located about 45 km (28 mi) from Diyarbakır. The first archaeological excavations took place in the summer months of 2014. The works were initially carried out by a team of 35 led by an archaeologist from Dicle University , under

340-418: A 21–22 m (69–72 ft)-high watchtower . Inside the castle, there are ruins in a wide area and a rock- necropolis . In the north of the castle, which is at a lower elevation, residences and streets were erected while in the south public buildings were constructed on the higher terrain. A church building facing east-west remains one of the most well-conserved public buildings. Other public buildings include

425-407: A Mithraic grade. Some scholars maintain that practice may have differed over time, or from one Mithraeum to another. The highest grade, pater , is by far the most common one found on dedications and inscriptions – and it would appear not to have been unusual for a mithraeum to have several men with this grade. The form pater patrum (father of fathers) is often found, which appears to indicate

510-765: A catechism, apparently pertaining to the Leo grade, was discovered in a fragmentary Egyptian papyrus (Papyrus Berolinensis 21196), and reads: Almost no Mithraic scripture or first-hand account of its highly secret rituals survives; with the exception of the aforementioned oath and catechism, and the document known as the Mithras Liturgy , from 4th century Egypt, whose status as a Mithraist text has been questioned by scholars including Franz Cumont . The walls of mithraea were commonly whitewashed, and where this survives, it tends to carry extensive repositories of graffiti ; and these, together with inscriptions on Mithraic monuments, form

595-444: A cavern, into which Mithras has carried the bull, after having hunted it, ridden it and overwhelmed its strength. Sometimes the cavern is surrounded by a circle, on which the twelve signs of the zodiac appear. Outside the cavern, top left, is Sol the sun, with his flaming crown, often driving a quadriga . A ray of light often reaches down to touch Mithras. At the top right is Luna , with her crescent moon, who may be depicted driving

680-577: A graffito exists in which he referred to himself as Evliya-yı Gülşenî ("Evliya of the Gülşenî"). A devout Muslim opposed to fanaticism, Evliya could recite the Quran from memory and joked freely about Islam. Though employed as a clergyman and entertainer at the Imperial Court of Sultan Murad IV , Evliya refused employment that would keep him from travelling. Çelebi had studied vocal and instrumental music as

765-504: A large amount of buying and selling occurred in Mecca during the pilgrimage season. He wrote one of history's longest and most ambitious accounts of travel writing in any language, the Seyahatnâme . Although many of the descriptions in the Seyahatnâme were written in an exaggerated manner or were plainly inventive fiction or third-source misinterpretation, his notes remain a useful guide to

850-521: A mithraeum are named with their Mithraic grades. At Virunum, the membership list or album sacratorum was maintained as an inscribed plaque, updated year by year as new members were initiated. By cross-referencing these lists it is possible to track some initiates from one mithraeum to another; and also speculatively to identify Mithraic initiates with persons on other contemporary lists such as military service rolls and lists of devotees of non-Mithraic religious sanctuaries. Names of initiates are also found in

935-593: A mithraeum would have made arrangements for this service to be provided for them in co-operation with the professional victimarius of the civic cult. Prayers were addressed to the Sun three times a day, and Sunday was especially sacred. It is doubtful whether Mithraism had a monolithic and internally consistent doctrine. It may have varied from location to location. The iconography is relatively coherent. It had no predominant sanctuary or cultic centre; and, although each mithraeum had its own officers and functionaries, there

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1020-517: A named dedicatory inscription from a particular initiate, who dedicated the altar to Mithras "in fulfillment of his vow", in gratitude for favours received. Burned residues of animal entrails are commonly found on the main altars, indicating regular sacrificial use, though mithraea do not commonly appear to have been provided with facilities for ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals (a highly specialised function in Roman religion), and it may be presumed that

1105-420: A new centre rather than expand an existing one. The mithraeum represented the cave to which Mithras carried and then killed the bull; and where stone vaulting could not be afforded, the effect would be imitated with lath and plaster. They are commonly located close to springs or streams; fresh water appears to have been required for some Mithraic rituals, and a basin is often incorporated into the structure. There

1190-541: A pupil of a renowned Khalwati dervish by the name of 'Umar Gulshani, and his musical gifts earned him much favor at the Imperial Palace, impressing even the chief musician Amir Guna. He was also trained in the theory of music called ilm al-musiqi . His journal-writing began in Istanbul, with the taking of notes on buildings, markets, customs and culture, and in 1640 it was augmented with accounts of his travels beyond

1275-483: A rock. But the image of bull-slaying (tauroctony) is always in the central niche. Textual sources for a reconstruction of the theology behind this iconography are very rare. (See section Interpretations of the bull-slaying scene below.) The practice of depicting the god slaying a bull seems to be specific to Roman Mithraism. According to David Ulansey, this is "perhaps the most important example" of evident difference between Iranian and Roman traditions: "... there

1360-432: A sacred space). In their basic form, mithraea were entirely different from the temples and shrines of other cults. In the standard pattern of Roman religious precincts, the temple building functioned as a house for the god, who was intended to be able to view, through the opened doors and columnar portico, sacrificial worship being offered on an altar set in an open courtyard – potentially accessible not only to initiates of

1445-399: A season especially associated with Mithraic festivities. The Virunum album , in the form of an inscribed bronze plaque, records a Mithraic festival of commemoration as taking place on 26 June 184. Beck argues that religious celebrations on this date are indicative of special significance being given to the summer solstice ; but this time of the year coincides with ancient recognition of

1530-471: A specific ordeal or test, involving exposure to heat, cold or threatened peril. An 'ordeal pit', dating to the early 3rd century, has been identified in the mithraeum at Carrawburgh . Accounts of the cruelty of the emperor Commodus describes his amusing himself by enacting Mithraic initiation ordeals in homicidal form. By the later 3rd century, the enacted trials appear to have been abated in rigor, as 'ordeal pits' were floored over. Admission into

1615-460: A strategic garrison settlement, dominating the entire valley and controlling the ancient road between Amida (now Diyarbakır) and Dara (now Mardin). The castle played a key role due to its location on the easternmost border protecting the Roman Empire. It marked the intersection and coalescence of the cultures in the west and the east. The place was known as Samachi in classical antiquity . It

1700-417: A subterranean sanctuary, able to hold 400 people, were also unearthed. In 2017, four more underground locations were discovered, where further excavation works are necessary to unearth them. The Mithraeum is one of the best-preserved structures of the castle. The 35 m structure carved into the main rock is 7 m long, 5 m wide, and 2.5 m high. On the eastern wall, there are columns carved into

1785-500: Is a bearded figure identified as the water god Oceanus , and on some there are the gods of the four winds. In these reliefs, the four elements could be invoked together. Sometimes Victoria, Luna , Sol , and Saturn also seem to play a role. Saturn in particular is often seen handing over the dagger or short sword to Mithras, used later in the tauroctony. In some depictions, Cautes and Cautopates are also present; sometimes they are depicted as shepherds. On some occasions, an amphora

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1870-624: Is a form of Mithra , the name of an old, pre-Zoroastrian, and, later on, Zoroastrian, god – a relationship understood by Mithraic scholars since the days of Franz Cumont . An early example of the Greek form of the name is in a 4th century BCE work by Xenophon , the Cyropaedia , which is a biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great . The exact form of a Latin or classical Greek word varies due to

1955-490: Is a naked man's, entwined by a serpent (or two serpents, like a caduceus ), with the snake's head often resting on the lion's head. The lion's mouth is often open. He is usually represented as having four wings, two keys (sometimes a single key), and a sceptre in his hand. Sometimes the figure is standing on a globe inscribed with a diagonal cross. On the figure from the Ostia Antica Mithraeum (left, CIMRM  312),

2040-503: Is an unusual name of the sun god, mostly known as "Surya" or "Aditya", however. Iranian Mithra and Sanskrit Mitra are believed to come from the Indo-Iranian word mitrás , meaning "contract, agreement, covenant". Modern historians have different conceptions about whether these names refer to the same god or not. John R. Hinnells has written of Mitra / Mithra / Mithras as a single deity, worshipped in several different religions. On

2125-514: Is no evidence that the Iranian god Mithra ever had anything to do with killing a bull." In every mithraeum the centerpiece was a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull, an act called the tauroctony. The image may be a relief, or free-standing, and side details may be present or omitted. The centre-piece is Mithras clothed in Anatolian costume and wearing a Phrygian cap ; who is kneeling on

2210-568: Is seen, and a few instances show variations like an egg birth or a tree birth. Some interpretations show that the birth of Mithras was celebrated by lighting torches or candles. One of the most characteristic and poorly-understood features of the Mysteries is the naked lion-headed figure often found in Mithraic temples, named by the modern scholars with descriptive terms such as leontocephaline (lion-headed) or leontocephalus (lion-head). His body

2295-559: Is shown coming out of the rock as a child, and in one holds a globe in one hand; sometimes a thunderbolt is seen. There are also depictions in which flames are shooting from the rock and also from Mithras' cap. One statue had its base perforated so that it could serve as a fountain, and the base of another has the mask of a water god. Sometimes Mithras also has other weapons such as bows and arrows, and there are also animals such as dogs, serpents, dolphins , eagles, other birds, lions, crocodiles, lobsters and snails around. On some reliefs, there

2380-462: Is the case in the stucco icon at Santa Prisca Mithraeum in Rome, the god is shown heroically nude . Some of these reliefs were constructed so that they could be turned on an axis. On the back side was another, more elaborate feasting scene. This indicates that the bull killing scene was used in the first part of the celebration, then the relief was turned, and the second scene was used in the second part of

2465-516: Is the name given to the settlement while the village" was located in the same place. Zêr in Kurdish is Gold and Zîv is Silver (Gold and Silver), castle of gold and silver. Zerzevan Castle was built in the 4th century by the Eastern Roman Empire as a military base on the ancient trade route between Diyarbakır and Mardin . It was in use until the 7th century. The castle is situated on the top of

2550-571: Is unclear whether he was in Istanbul or Cairo at the time. Çelebi claimed to have encountered Native Americans as a guest in Rotterdam during his visit of 1663. He wrote: "[they] cursed those priests, saying, 'Our world used to be peaceful, but it has been filled by greedy people, who make war every year and shorten our lives.'" While visiting Vienna in 1665–66, Çelebi noted some similarities between words in German and Persian , an early observation of

2635-486: Is usually a narthex or ante-chamber at the entrance, and often other ancillary rooms for storage and the preparation of food. The extant mithraea present us with actual physical remains of the architectural structures of the sacred spaces of the Mithraic cult. Mithraeum is a modern coinage and mithraists referred to their sacred structures as speleum or antrum (cave), crypta (underground hallway or corridor), fanum (sacred or holy place), or even templum (a temple or

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2720-683: The Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras , was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity ( yazata ) Mithra , the Roman Mithras was linked to a new and distinctive imagery, and the level of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman practice remains debatable. The mysteries were popular among the Imperial Roman army from

2805-695: The Ottoman court , his father, Dervish Mehmed Zilli, as a jeweller, and his mother as an Abkhazian relation of the grand vizier Melek Ahmed Pasha . In his book, Evliya Çelebi traces his paternal genealogy back to Ahmad Yasawi , the earliest known Turkic poet and an early Sufi mystic. Evliya Çelebi received a court education from the Imperial ulama (scholars). He may have joined the Gulshani Sufi order, as he shows an intimate knowledge of their khanqah in Cairo , and

2890-593: The Parthenon 's sculptures and described the building as "like some impregnable fortress not made by human agency." He composed a poetic supplication that the Parthenon, as "a work less of human hands than of Heaven itself, should remain standing for all time." Of oil merchants in Baku Çelebi wrote: "By Allah's decree oil bubbles up out of the ground, but in the manner of hot springs, pools of water are formed with oil congealed on

2975-415: The pater with primary status. There are several examples of persons, commonly those of higher social status, joining a mithraeum with the status pater – especially in Rome during the 'pagan revival' of the 4th century. It has been suggested that some mithraea may have awarded honorary pater status to sympathetic dignitaries. The initiate into each grade appears to have been required to undertake

3060-467: The western half of the empire , as far south as Roman Africa and Numidia , as far east as Roman Dacia , as far north as Roman Britain , and to a lesser extent in Roman Syria in the east. Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity . In the 4th century, Mithraists faced persecution from Christians , and the religion was subsequently suppressed and eliminated in the Roman Empire by

3145-660: The "Kılab" or Llapi river as having its source in Arnavudluk (Albania) and by extension the Sitnica as being part of that river. Çelebi also included the central mountains of Kosovo within Arnavudluk. Çelebi travelled extensively throughout Albania , visiting it on 3 occasions. He visited Tirana , Lezha , Shkodra and Bushat in 1662, Delvina , Gjirokastra , Tepelena , Skrapar , Përmet , Berat , Kanina , Vlora , Bashtova, Durrës , Kavaja , Peqin , Elbasan , and Pogradec in 1670. In 1667 Çelebi expressed his marvel at

3230-562: The 17th century, mentioned the northeast of Bulgaria as the Uz (Oğuz) region, and that a Turkish speaking Muslim society named Çıtak consisting of medium-sized, cheerful and strong people lived in Silistra , and also known as the "Dobruca Çitakları" in Dobruja . He also emphasizes that "Çıtaklar" is made up of a mixture of Tatars , Vlachs , and Bulgarians . In 1660 Çelebi went to Kosovo and referred to

3315-455: The 1st to the 4th century CE. Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi , those "united by the handshake". They met in dedicated mithraea (singular mithraeum ), underground temples that survive in large numbers. The cult appears to have had its center in Rome , and was popular throughout

3400-449: The Crimea but only 187,000 free Muslims. In contrast to many European and some Jewish travelogues of Syria and Palestine in the 17th century, Çelebi wrote one of the few detailed travelogues from an Islamic point of view. Çelebi visited Palestine twice, once in 1649 and once in 1670–1. An English translation of the first part, with some passages from the second, was published in 1935–1940 by

3485-704: The Mithraic leontocephaline figure has been found. Based on dedicatory inscriptions for altars, the name of the figure is conjectured to be Arimanius , a Latinized form of the name Ahriman – perplexingly, a demonic figure in the Zoroastrian pantheon. Arimanius is known from inscriptions to have been a god in the Mithraic cult as seen, for example, in images from the Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (CIMRM ) such as CIMRM  222 from Ostia , CIMRM 369 from Rome, and CIMRM  1773 and 1775 from Pannonia . Some scholars identify

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3570-538: The basement of an apartment block might be converted; elsewhere they might be excavated and vaulted over, or converted from a natural cave. Mithraic temples are common in the empire; although unevenly distributed, with considerable numbers found in Rome , Ostia , Numidia , Dalmatia , Britain and along the Rhine/Danube frontier, while being somewhat less common in Greece , Egypt , and Syria . According to Walter Burkert,

3655-463: The birthday of Mithras was on 25 December. Beck disagreed strongly. Clauss states: Mithraic initiates were required to swear an oath of secrecy and dedication. Mithras was thought to be a "warrior hero" similar to Greek heroes . Apparently, some grade rituals involved the recital of a catechism , wherein the initiate was asked a series of questions pertaining to the initiation symbolism and had to reply with specific answers. An example of such

3740-462: The castle develop into its final state prior to its ruin. The castle was most likely in use until 639 with the arrival of Arab Muslims in the beginning of the Arab–Byzantine wars . The castle stretches over an area of 5.7 ha (14 acres). The castle contains structures both above and below ground. Its ruined walls are 1,200 m (3,900 ft) long and 12 m (39 ft) high, and it has

3825-407: The castle. As the population grew to over 30 households, the residents ultimately abandoned the castle in the 1960s, descended to a place about 1 km (0.62 mi) from the castle, and founded a village under the name Zerzevan. This village is called Demirölçek today. Evliya Celebi Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( Ottoman Turkish : اوليا چلبى ),

3910-406: The celebration. Besides the main cult icon, a number of mithraea had several secondary tauroctonies, and some small portable versions, probably meant for private devotion, have also been found. The second most important scene after the tauroctony in Mithraic art is the so-called banquet scene. The banquet scene features Mithras and Sol Invictus banqueting on the hide of the slaughtered bull. On

3995-676: The central part of the region as Arnavud (آرناوود) and noted that in Vushtrri its inhabitants were speakers of Albanian or Turkish and few spoke Bosnian . The highlands around the Tetovo , Peja and Prizren areas Çelebi considered as being the "mountains of Arnavudluk". Çelebi referred to the "mountains of Peja" as being in Arnavudluk (آرناوودلق) and considered the Ibar river that converged in Mitrovica as forming Kosovo's border with Bosnia . He viewed

4080-447: The community was completed with a handshake with the pater , just as Mithras and Sol shook hands. The initiates were thus referred to as syndexioi (those united by the handshake). The term is used in an inscription by Proficentius and derided by Firmicus Maternus in De errore profanarum religionum , a 4th century Christian work attacking paganism. In ancient Iran, taking the right hand

4165-681: The confines of the city. The collected notes of his travels form a ten-volume work called the Seyahâtname ("Travelogue"). Departing from the Ottoman literary convention of the time, he wrote in a mixture of vernacular and high Turkish, with the effect that the Seyahatname has remained a popular and accessible reference work about life in the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century, including two chapters on musical instruments . Evliya Çelebi died in 1684, it

4250-568: The cult, but also to colitores or non-initiated worshippers. Mithraea were the antithesis of this. In the Suda under the entry Mithras , it states that "No one was permitted to be initiated into them (the mysteries of Mithras), until he should show himself holy and steadfast by undergoing several graduated tests." Gregory Nazianzen refers to the "tests in the mysteries of Mithras". There were seven grades of initiation into Mithraism, which are listed by St. Jerome. Manfred Clauss states that

4335-407: The culture and lifestyles of the 17th century Ottoman Empire. The first volume deals exclusively with Istanbul, the final volume with Egypt. Currently there is no English translation of the entire Seyahatnâme , although there are translations of various parts. The longest single English translation was published in 1834 by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall , an Austrian orientalist: it may be found under

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4420-513: The dedication inscriptions of altars and other cult objects. Clauss noted in 1990 that overall, only about 14% of Mithraic names inscribed before 250 CE identify the initiate's grade – and hence questioned the traditional view that all initiates belonged to one of the seven grades. Clauss argues that the grades represented a distinct class of priests, sacerdotes . Gordon maintains the former theory of Merkelbach and others, especially noting such examples as Dura where all names are associated with

4505-446: The end of the century. Numerous archaeological finds, including meeting places, monuments, and artifacts, have contributed to modern knowledge about Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire. The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol (the Sun). About 420 sites have yielded materials related to the cult. Among

4590-410: The exhausted bull, holding it by the nostrils with his left hand, and stabbing it with his right. As he does so, he looks over his shoulder towards the figure of Sol. A dog and a snake reach up towards the blood. A scorpion seizes the bull's genitals. A raven is flying around or is sitting on the bull. One or three ears of wheat are seen coming out from the bull's tail, sometimes from the wound. The bull

4675-530: The first transcriptions of many languages of the Caucasus and Tsakonian , and the only extant specimens of written Ubykh outside the linguistic literature. He also wrote in detail about Arabian horses and their different strains. In the 10 volumes of his Seyahatnâme , he describes the following journeys: It is found in drainages in western Anatolia in Turkey . Mithraism Mithraism , also known as

4760-454: The four wings carry the symbols of the four seasons, and a thunderbolt is engraved on his chest. At the base of the statue are the hammer and tongs of Vulcan and Mercury's cock and wand ( caduceus ). A rare variation of the same figure is also found with a human head and a lion's head emerging from its chest. Although animal-headed figures are prevalent in contemporary Egyptian and Gnostic mythological representations, no exact parallel to

4845-551: The grammatical process of inflection . There is archaeological evidence that in Latin worshippers wrote the nominative form of the god's name as "Mithras". Porphyry 's Greek text De Abstinentia ( Περὶ ἀποχῆς ἐμψύχων ), has a reference to the now-lost histories of the Mithraic mysteries by Euboulus and Pallas, the wording of which suggests that these authors treated the name "Mithra" as an indeclinable foreign word. Related deity-names in other languages include: In Sanskrit, mitra

4930-498: The items found are about 1000 inscriptions, 700 examples of the bull-killing scene ( tauroctony ), and about 400 other monuments. It has been estimated that there would have been at least 680  mithraea in the city of Rome. No written narratives or theology from the religion survive; limited information can be derived from the inscriptions and brief or passing references in Greek and Latin literature . Interpretation of

5015-533: The lion-man as Aion , or Zurvan , or Cronus , or Chronos , while others assert that it is a version of the Zoroastrian Ahriman or the more benign Vedic Aryaman . Although the exact identity of the lion-headed figure is debated by scholars, it is largely agreed that the god is associated with time and seasonal change. According to M.J. Vermaseren and C.C. van Essen, the Mithraic New Year and

5100-427: The main source for Mithraic texts. It is clear from the archaeology of numerous mithraea that most rituals were associated with feasting – as eating utensils and food residues are almost invariably found. These tend to include both animal bones and also very large quantities of fruit residues. The presence of large amounts of cherry-stones in particular would tend to confirm mid-summer (late June, early July) as

5185-434: The name "Evliya Efendi." Von Hammer-Purgstall's work covers the first two volumes (Istanbul and Anatolia ) but its language is antiquated. Other translations include Erich Prokosch's nearly complete translation into German of the tenth volume, the 2004 introductory work entitled The World of Evliya Çelebi: An Ottoman Mentality written by Robert Dankoff , and Dankoff and Sooyong Kim's 2010 translation of select excerpts of

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5270-584: The number of grades, seven, must be connected to the planets. A mosaic in the Mithraeum of Felicissimus, Ostia Antica depicts these grades, with symbolic emblems that are connected either to the grades or are symbols of the planets. The grades also have an inscription beside them commending each grade into the protection of the different planetary gods. In ascending order of importance, the initiatory grades were: Elsewhere, as at Dura-Europos , Mithraic graffiti survive giving membership lists, in which initiates of

5355-439: The other hand, David Ulansey considers the bull-slaying Mithras to be a new god who began to be worshipped in the 1st century BCE, and to whom an old name was applied. Mary Boyce , an academic researcher on ancient Iranian religions, writes that even though Roman Mithraism seems to have had less Iranian content than ancient Romans or modern historians used to think, nonetheless "as the name Mithras alone shows, this content

5440-449: The palace, administrative building, baths, cereal storage, arsenal , and 54 cisterns . Military and medical material, jewelry, ornaments, and bronze coins were also found during the excavations. In 2016, a subterranean church and secret passageways were discovered. The discovered underground secret passageway was not in use for about 3,000 years and the subterranean church was closed around 1,500 years ago. A Mithraic underground temple and

5525-564: The physical evidence remains problematic and contested. The term "Mithraism" is a modern convention. Writers of the Roman era referred to it by phrases such as "Mithraic mysteries", "mysteries of Mithras" or "mysteries of the Persians". Modern sources sometimes refer to the Greco-Roman religion as Roman Mithraism or Western Mithraism to distinguish it from Persian worship of Mithra . The name Mithras (Latin, equivalent to Greek Μίθρας )

5610-493: The precincts of almost any temple or religious sanctuary in the Roman empire, and such rooms were commonly used for their regular feasts by Roman 'clubs', or collegia . Mithraic feasts probably performed a very similar function for Mithraists as the collegia did for those entitled to join them; indeed, since qualification for Roman collegia tended to be restricted to particular families, localities or traditional trades, Mithraism may have functioned in part as providing clubs for

5695-691: The regions. By the time of Çelebi's arrival, many of the towns visited were affected by the Cossacks, and the only place in Crimea he reported as safe was the Ottoman fortress at Arabat . Çelebi wrote of the slave trade in the Crimea: A man who had not seen this market, had not seen anything in this world. A mother is severed from her son and daughter there, a son—from his father and brother, and they are sold amongst lamentations, cries of help, weeping and sorrow. Çelebi estimated that there were about 400,000 slaves in

5780-817: The relationship between what would later be known as two Indo-European languages . Çelebi visited Crete and in book II describes the fall of Chania to the Sultan; in book VIII he recounts the Candia campaign . During his travels in the Balkan regions of the Ottoman Empire Çelebi visited various regions of the modern-day Croatia including northern Dalmatia , parts of Slavonia , Međimurje and Banija . He recorded variety of historiographic and ethnographic sources. They included descriptions of first-hand encounters, third-party narrator witnesses, and invented elements. Çelebi traveled to Circassia as well, in 1640. He commented on

5865-413: The rock, a large niche in the middle flanked by two smaller ones. The flaming crown, one of the symbols of Mithraism , is carved on the eastern wall. Right in front of the left-hand small niche there is a carved pool on the ground. Some inscriptions and symbols are visible at the entrance gate of the structure. A new settlement was created within the castle once again in the 1890s, when a family moved into

5950-409: The secret character of Mithraic rituals meant that Mithraism could only be practiced within a Mithraeum. Some new finds at Tienen show evidence of large-scale feasting and suggest that the mystery religion may not have been as secretive as was generally believed. For the most part, mithraea tend to be small, externally undistinguished, and cheaply constructed; the cult generally preferring to create

6035-476: The self-taught Palestinian scholar Stephan Hanna Stephan who worked for the Palestine Department of Antiquities . Significant are the many references to Palestine, or "Land of Palestine", and Evliya notes, "All chronicles call this country Palestine." Evliya reported that the sheriffs of Mecca promoted trade in the region by encouraging fairs from the wealthy merchants. Evliya went on to explain that

6120-449: The solar maximum at midsummer, when iconographically identical holidays such as Litha , Saint John's Eve , and Jāņi are also observed. For their feasts, Mithraic initiates reclined on stone benches arranged along the longer sides of the mithraeum – typically there might be room for 15 to 30 diners, but very rarely many more than 40 men. Counterpart dining rooms, or triclinia , were to be found above ground in

6205-523: The specific banquet scene on the Fiano Romano relief, one of the torchbearers points a caduceus towards the base of an altar, where flames appear to spring up. Robert Turcan has argued that since the caduceus is an attribute of Mercury , and in mythology Mercury is depicted as a psychopomp , the eliciting of flames in this scene is referring to the dispatch of human souls and expressing the Mithraic doctrine on this matter. Turcan also connects this event to

6290-487: The supervision of the Diyarbakır Archaeological Museum . In 2015, the size of the team working at the site increased to 60. In 2020, archaeologists found the entrance of the castle. In 2021, archaeologists discovered a flute with six holes and a bronze ring with a key which was used to open a chest. Both items dated back to the 4th and 5th centuries AD. The castle was an Eastern Roman military base and

6375-535: The surface like cream. Merchants wade into these pools and collect the oil in ladles and fill goatskins with it, these oil merchants then sell them in different regions. Revenues from this oil trade are delivered annually directly to the Safavid Shah ." Evliya Çelebi remarked on the impact of Cossack raids from Azak upon the territories of the Crimean Khanate , destroying trade routes and severely depopulating

6460-424: The tauroctony: The blood of the slain bull has soaked the ground at the base of the altar, and from the blood the souls are elicited in flames by the caduceus. Mithras is depicted as being born from a rock. He is shown as emerging from a rock, already in his youth, with a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. He is nude, standing with his legs together, and is wearing a Phrygian cap. In some variations, he

6545-485: The ten volumes, An Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the Book of Travels of Evliya Çelebi . Evliya is noted for having collected samples of the languages in each region he traveled in. There are some 30 Turkic dialects and languages cataloged in the Seyahatnâme . Çelebi notes the similarities between several words from the German and Persian , though he denies any common Indo-European heritage. The Seyahatnâme also contains

6630-462: The town's celebrated bridge , 28 meters long and 20 meters high. Çelebi wrote that it "is like a rainbow arch soaring up to the skies, extending from one cliff to the other. ...I, a poor and miserable slave of Allah, have passed through 16 countries, but I have never seen such a high bridge. It is thrown from rock to rock as high as the sky." Evliya Çelebi, who traveled around Anatolia and the Balkans in

6715-428: The unclubbed. The size of the mithraeum is not necessarily an indication of the size of the congregation. Each mithraeum had several altars at the further end, underneath the representation of the tauroctony, and also commonly contained considerable numbers of subsidiary altars, both in the main mithraeum chamber and in the ante-chamber or narthex . These altars, which are of the standard Roman pattern, each carry

6800-527: The women's beauty and talked about the absence of mosques and bazaars despite being a Muslim country. He talks about the hospitality of Circassians and mentions that he could not write the Circassian language using letters, and compared the language to a "magpie shout". Evliya Çelebi visited the town of Mostar , then in Ottoman Bosnia . He wrote that the name Mostar means "bridge-keeper", in reference to

6885-617: Was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands during the empire's cultural zenith. He travelled for over 40 years, recording his commentary in a travelogue called the Seyahatnâme ("Book of Travel"). The name Çelebi is an honorific meaning "gentleman" or "man of God". Evliya Çelebi was born in Istanbul in 1611 to a wealthy family from Kütahya . Both his parents were attached to

6970-435: Was no central supervisory authority. In some mithraea, such as that at Dura Europos , wall paintings depict prophets carrying scrolls, but no named Mithraic sages are known, nor does any reference give the title of any Mithraic scripture or teaching. It is known that initiates could transfer with their grades from one Mithraeum to another. Temples of Mithras are sunk below ground, windowless, and very distinctive. In cities,

7055-400: Was of some importance". Much about the cult of Mithras is only known from reliefs and sculptures. There have been many attempts to interpret this material. Mithras-worship in the Roman Empire was characterized by images of the god slaughtering a bull. Other images of Mithras are found in the Roman temples, for instance Mithras banqueting with Sol, and depictions of the birth of Mithras from

7140-442: Was often white. The god is sitting on the bull in an unnatural way with his right leg constraining the bull's hoof and the left leg is bent and resting on the bull's back or flank. The two torch-bearers are on either side are dressed like Mithras: Cautes with his torch pointing up, and Cautopates with his torch pointing down. Sometimes Cautes and Cautopates carry shepherds' crooks instead of torches. The event takes place in

7225-614: Was the site of heavy fighting between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire . Jewelry found in the castle also indicates that the civilian population and military personnel resided together, with soldiers living alongside their family members. It was large enough to sustain a population of around one thousand. Restoration and reconstruction works, which took place during the reigns of Eastern Roman emperors Anastasius I Dicorus (r. 491–518) and Justinian I (r. 527–565), saw

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