The cult of Mithra originated in Iran and appeared in Rome in the 2d half of 1c AD in modified form. The central episode of the myth is that Mithras seizes a bull by the nostrils and plunges a knife into its side while a dog licks its blood near a serpent and a raven and a scorpion chops off the genitals of the bull, from whose tail wheat ears emerge. (No, it makes no sense!)

February 14, 2019