Today I’ve obtained copies of some of the pages from Maarten Vermaseren’s great compilation of Mithraic inscriptions and reliefs, the Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae or CIMRM.
This work is frankly very useful indeed. There are two volumes, and neither is at all easy to access, or available in print. I do wish that it was possible to get hold of PDF’s of it.
The history of how the CIMRM was created would be useful to know. For the preface indicates that a third volume was originally projected as well:
The first two parts of this Corpus have laid a basis for the scientific conclusions to be drawn from the material. The texts will be included in the third volume. This will show Mithras and the world that surrounded him during the different periods of his cnlt, in all its abundant varieties. In the accomplishment of that arduous task I hope I may encounter the same spirit of helpful collaboration that I have found everywhere so far.[1]
Vermaseren himself did not write the work in English, but in Dutch. The translation of the material into English for publication was undertaken by A. M. H. Lemmers, apparently on commission. Let us hope that the work was done better than the translation (by others) in Mithras: the secret god.
What this means, however, is that a manuscript in Dutch must exist. And furthermore, that a manuscript of the third volume may also exist.
I wonder where Vermaseren’s papers are?
- [1]Vol.2, p.vi.↩