{"id":2911,"date":"2009-11-13T19:39:55","date_gmt":"2009-11-13T19:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/?p=2911"},"modified":"2009-11-13T19:39:55","modified_gmt":"2009-11-13T19:39:55","slug":"another-cumont-statement-turns-out-to-be-wishful-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/2009\/11\/13\/another-cumont-statement-turns-out-to-be-wishful-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Cumont on the end of the cult of Mithras"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been at it again.\u00a0 I’ve done some more on the Wikipedia article on Mithraism<\/a>.\u00a0 This time I updated the section on when the end came, and they had to put their bull away.\u00a0 Manfred Clauss says that the deposits of coins left as offerings in Mithraea all stop by 400 AD.\u00a0 He gives an example of the Mithraeum at Pons Sarravi, where the place was wrecked and the coins scattered contemptuously across the floor.\u00a0 The latest dated coins?\u00a0 Theodosius I (d. 395).<\/p>\n

The article had a statement by Cumont that the cult may have survived into the fifth century in remote valleys in the Vosges.\u00a0 As ever with Wikipedia, Cumont’s exact words were not given.\u00a0 But there was a reference to the English version, his “Mysteries of Mithra”, p. 206.\u00a0 This said:<\/p>\n

\n

A few clandestine conventicles may, with stubborn persistence, have been held in the subterranean retreats of the palaces. The cult of the Persian god possibly existed as late as the fifth century in certain remote cantons of the Alps and the Vosges. For example, devotion to the Mithraic rites long persisted in the tribe of the Anauni, masters of a flourishing valley, of which a narrow defile closed the mouth.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

OK, but no reference given.\u00a0 So I went searching for “Anauni” – that can’t be a common word.\u00a0 Nor was it.\u00a0 A search in the US version of Google books brought up the French text of the same passage, this time in Textes et Monumentes<\/em> vol. 1, Cumont’s full-length real publication, on p.348.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Quelques conventicules clandestins purent s’obstiner encore \u00e0 s’assembler dans les souterrains des palais [5]; le culte du dieu perse put se survivre au Ve si\u00e8cle dans certains cantons perdus des Alpes ou des Vosges [6]. Ainsi, rattachement aux rites mithriaques persista longtemps dans la tribu des Anauni, ma\u00eetresse d’une florissante vall\u00e9e dont un \u00e9troit d\u00e9fil\u00e9 ferme l’orifice [7].<\/p>\n

5) Les vers de Paulin de Nole cit\u00e9s t. II, p.32, ont \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9crits dans les derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es du IVe si\u00e8cle. Vers 400, Prudence attaque encore le culte du Soleil (Contr. Symmach<\/em>., I, 309 ss.). – Sur la persistance des pratiques paiennes \u00e0 Rome au Ve si\u00e8cle, voir les curieuses tablettes magiques publi\u00e9es par M. Wunsch, Sethianische Verfluchungstafeln<\/em>, 1898, p. 53 s.<\/p>\n

[The poem of Paulinus of Nola cited in vol. 2, p. 32, was written in the last years of the 4th century.\u00a0 Around 400 Prudentius attacked the cult of Sol again (Contra Symmachum I, 309 f). — On the persistence of pagan practices at Rome in the 5th century see the curious magical tablets published by M. Wunsch…<\/em>]<\/p>\n

6) Le mithr\u00e9um de Sarrebourg ne parait avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9truit qu’en 395, cf. mon. 273ter y, (t. II, p. 618).<\/p>\n

[The Mithraeum of Sarrebourg only seems to have been destroyed in 395, cf. mon. 273, vol. 2, p.618<\/em>].<\/p>\n

7) Un r\u00e9cit du martyre de St Sisinnius (AA. SS., 29 mai, p. 44), parle comme suit de la religion de l’Anaunie : “Alexandria putabatur, Anagnia, privatis religiosa portentis, numerosa daemonibus, biformis Anubibus, idolis multiformis semihominibus, quod est legis irrisoribus, plena Isidis amentia, Serapidis fuga<\/em>.” Mais les monuments nous ont appris que le culte du Val di Non n’\u00e9tait pas celui d’Isis, mais de Mithra; cf. supra<\/em>, p. 269, n. 6. [=”6) T\u00e9urnia, inscr. 400, cf. 417″]\u00a0– St Sissinius souffrit le martyre en 397, mais les habitants qui mirent \u00e0 mort le missionnaire et ses compagnons, pers\u00e9v\u00e8rent certainement encore quelque temps dans le paganisme.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Reference 6 is to the coins in the Mithraeum at “Sarresbourg”, i.e. Pons Sarravi.\u00a0 And are they fifth century?\u00a0 No, they are not.<\/p>\n

But what about reference 7?\u00a0 Now I can’t make sense of the syntax of the Latin, despite knowing most of the words!\u00a0 They all seem to be in the ablative!\u00a0 Let’s try…<\/p>\n

\n

A story of the martyrdom of St. Sisinnius (Acta Sanctorum, 29 may, p. 44) speaks as follows of the religion of the Anauni: “It was thought at Alexandria, Anagnia (?), after predictions of the abolition of private religion, by numerous demons, two-formed Anubises, many-formed half-human idols, because there is for the mockers of the law, happy in the madness of Isis, in the exile of Serapis.”\u00a0 But the monuments tell us that the cult of the Val di Non was not that of Isis, but of Mithra.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Then there is a\u00a0ref. to monument 400 in vol. 2, which I have looked up:<\/p>\n

\n

400. Teurnia (St Peter in Holz). CIL, III, 4736. Dans les jardins du comte Porzia \u00e0 Spital.
\nColonne \u00e0 six pans.
\nCauti | L(ucius) | Albius | Atticus | et C(aius) | Albius | Avitus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This seems to be dedicated to Cautes.\u00a0 Then Cumont continues:<\/p>\n

\n

St. Sissinius suffered martyrdom in 397 but the inhabitants who put to death the missionary and his companions certainly still persevered in paganism for some years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

OK.\u00a0 That’s more evidence than I had expected.\u00a0 But of course we have no real idea of the date of that inscription… do we?\u00a0 It’s still not that clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been at it again.\u00a0 I’ve done some more on the Wikipedia article on Mithraism.\u00a0 This time I updated the section on when the end came, and they had to put their bull away.\u00a0 Manfred Clauss says that the deposits of coins left as offerings in Mithraea all stop by 400 AD.\u00a0 He gives an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancient-world"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}