Mithra

Mithra (Avestan: 𐬨𐬌𐬚𐬭𐬀, Miθra; Old Persian: 𐎷𐎰𐎼, Miθraʰ‍) is an ancient Iranian deity (yazata) of covenants, light, oaths, justice, the Sun, contracts, and friendship. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth (Asha), and the guardian of cattle, the harvest, and the Waters. The Romans attributed their Mithraic mysteries to Zoroastrian Persian sources relating to Mithra. Since the early 1970s, the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between the Persian and Roman traditions, making it, at most, the result of Roman perceptions of Zoroastrian ideas. Several characteristics of the later Roman Mithras are present in the Avesta. The tenth book of Yashts shows the deity's close connections with the social and cosmic order, the securing of fertility and water supply, the connection to the sun, and the ethical conditions imposed on the faithful. These four important themes appear in a different, but recognizable form in the Roman cult. According to Boyce, the earliest literary references to the Mithraic mysteries are by the Latin poet Statius, about 80 CE, and Plutarch (c. 100 CE). 4486 Mithra, a near-Earth asteroid, is named after Mithra.