Meithras (ΜΕΙΘΡΑΣ)
The name of Mithras is given the value 365 in a body of modern writing on the mysteries, and the value requires the epsilon spelling: the more usual ΜΙΘΡΑΣ is 360, the circle of the year without its odd days.
I can find no ancient text that states the 365 of ΜΕΙΘΡΑΣ; the equation circulates in modern summaries of Mithraism, and the further step — that 365 therefore encodes a solar theology — is an inference from the number and not evidence for it. Compare abraxas, where the 365 is reported by a named ancient source, and note that 365 works here only in one spelling.
Practice
- Script
- Greek
- Derivation
- μ 40 + ε 5 + ι 10 + θ 9 + ρ 100 + α 1 + σ 200 = 365. Without the epsilon, ΜΙΘΡΑΣ gives 40+10+9+100+1+200 = 360.
Nature and meaning
- Kind
- Word
- Value
- 365
- Meaning
The name of Mithras is given the value 365 in a body of modern writing on the mysteries, and the value requires the epsilon spelling: the more usual ΜΙΘΡΑΣ is 360, the circle of the year without its odd days. That difference between 360 and 365 is the whole question, and the tradition's own iconography of the lion-headed figure does not settle it.
Details
- Correspondences
- Sun
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More in Gematria
The entries either side of this one in the same catalogue.
- Abraxas / Abrasax (Ἀβρασάξ)
- Kosmos (κόσμος)
- Iesous (Ἰησοῦς)
- Logos (λόγος)
- Theos (θεός)
- Sophia (σοφία)
New entries, when they land
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