- 著者
-
星野 陽
- 出版者
- 一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会
- 雑誌
- オリエント (ISSN:00305219)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.11, no.3-4, pp.37-51,192, 1968 (Released:2010-03-12)
- 参考文献数
- 18
It is a widely-known fact that Mithra, famed in Avestan Hymn (Yasht) is considered identical with Mithras, the God of War who waged a fierce religious contention against Christianity in the Mediterranean World at the end of the Ancient Period.Studies in this field, however, have largely been focused, as seen i n the study by Prof. Cumont, on the development of Mithraicism in the Roman World, and so far due attention has not been paid to the process of the formation of Mithraicism in the Orient. This is due, first, to the fact that the interest of Western historians has mainly been centered to elucidating Christian European Civilization, and therefore the study of Mithra, despite its connection with Christian European Civilization, has had to be confined both in time and area to the limited world of Rome at the end of the Ancient Period, and secondly it is due to linguistic and other osbtacles that one cannot avoid in the study of Orient Mithras.The study of the entire history of Mithraicism will become possible only when the unity of Orient and Latin worlds is successfully attained, but unfortunately the two worlds have remained separate without any interchange of inter-world study between Orient and Latin worlds.The proposed study into Mithra in Avestan Hymn is intended to give light upon the original nature of Mithraicism and also to inquire into the causes of the development of the religion during the period of more than 2, 000 years.Renan once said something to the effect that if any fatal hindrance had prevented Christianity from development, the world would have been under the rule of Mithra. This statement clearly suggests the important religious role played by Mithraicism in the Imperial Roman Period.As it is well-known, a great variety of religions of both Oriental and Occidental worlds flourished in the Ancient Mediterranean World. I deem it worth its while to look into the problems of Mithracism in its original nature, to which religion one often refers “an amalgam of religions in Iran, Babylonia-Greece and those of the Romans and the Hebrews”.