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Rumor and the Roman Religions

Introduction Joseph Campbell, in Masks of God: Primitive Mythology, said of mythologies: The sense of it allor rather nonsense of it allis to be made forever in the festivals and monstrous customs of the community itself; but is also evident in every part and moment of the universe, for those who have been taught by way of the rites to see and know the world as it truly is. In a sense, Campbells words describe this study, for religionssignificant subjects in this work--are not far removed from mythologies. In the study of religions and mythologies, can Gordon Allports theory of rumor transmission be applied, particularly in the context of the Roman Empires transition from being largely paganparticularly, Mithraic--to becoming the seat of Christianity within a few centuries? Did the Roman religions, especially Christianity, transform during antiquity in the same way that rumor transforms as it travels from one rumor agent to another? In the course of attempting to model how religious content traveled within and among the Roman religions through time, it is inevitable that what Campbell referred to as festivals and monstrous customs of religious groups be studied as well. From a larger perspective, the study of the Roman religions and the communication of religious content during antiquity is one way to see and know the world as it truly is, as the fate of the present most influential religious denomination was initially decided only a few centuries after Jesus of Nazareth. The study of ancient religions poses certain challenges: the rarity of historical records regarding mystery religions, especially Mithraism, and the impossible task of satisfactorily recreating historical scenarios necessary for demonstrating Gordon Allports rumor transmission theory. It is also important to remember that, in the discussion of Mithraism and Christianity, the roles and influences of other pagan Roman religions cannot be discounted; it is imperative that they too be examined with a reasonable degree of critical thought. This examination can be used as a foundation in analyzing the transformation of the Roman religions as seen from Allports theory of rumor transmission.

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Definitions The following terms are defined according to their meanings during antiquity. The term Christian will be used in two respects: first, as an adjective, in which form the term pertains to the quality of being Christian by virtue of being derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ or by being associated with a group of people considered Christians; second, as a noun, in which form we refer to the person who considered himself a Christian. It is important to note that during the New Testament Era, when the Christian Church was only beginning to establish itself in the Roman Empire, there were many variants of the Christian belief, which allowed one Christian to call another a blasphemer, as in the case of Origen, the second century Christian theologian who was later branded by early Church fathers as a Gnostic heretic. Early Christianity historian Bart Ehrman defines the Christian of antiquity as anyone who understood him or herself to be a follower of Christ (Ehrman, e-mail interview). We will adhere to this definition as we attempt to isolate what defined the Christian person during that era. In this way, we may account for the disagreements among early Christians with regards to who or what could be considered Christian. The term pagan is very subjective. Ehrman asserts: Pagan is not a term pagans used on themselves (Ehrman, e-mail interview). The word stems from the Latin pagus, a collection of homesteads distinctly separated from other areas (A Short History of Religions 100). However, use of the term in history is strongly tied to the Christian belief, as in the use of the word gentile by the Jews. Historians designate the word to the large majority of people in antiquity that was neither Jewish nor Christian (Ehrman, e-mail interview). By Mithraism, Mithraicism and Mysteries of Mithra, we refer to the worship of Mithras (used interchangeably with Mithra), the Persian god of the sun, justice, contract and war (Mithraism). One of the major Roman religions, its monuments dotted almost all parts of the Empire, from the Tyne to Euphrates (Kellett 262). While believed to have sprung from Persia, some scholars argue that the Mithraism of Rome is an entirely new Roman invention because in Persian myth, Ahura Mazda is the supreme deity; Mithras is simply a soldier or right hand (Ulansey). This study will pertain to the Romans version of the Mithraic faith: that Mithras is god of the sun, of soldiers and of loyalty toward the king (Mithraism). Overview of Gordon Allports Theory on Rumor Transmission Gordon Allports theory of rumor transmission was born in the uncertain years surrounding the Second World War. Rumor--of the outcome of the war, of possible horrors and wishes of peace--was becoming a national concern because of its effects on American soldiers posted in battlefronts (Allport and Postman, Analysis 501). Allport, a Harvard professor and psychologist, proposed his theory in 1947 with the help of his student, Leo Postman. With it, he appended a mathematical formula for rumor: R~ixa

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The formula states that rumor is created and transformed according to the importance of the subject to the agent of the rumor times the ambiguity of the evidence related to the topic. Allport effectively specified that two criteriaambiguity and interestmust first be present in order for rumor to be created (502). According to Allport, ambiguity arises when there is little available information on a subject or when there are conflicting versions of it. Nowadays, for instance, rumors about approaching weather may be created, but anyone with access to a current news medium can easily check weather forecasts to confirm or deny the information. Interest is the level of significance a subject holds for the agents of the rumor (Allport and Postman, Psychology 2). A Virgin Islander is not likely to create rumors about the weather in a rural town in Azerbaijan as this does not directly affect his life. If either ambiguity or interest is absent, Allports theory will not stand. Allport adds that, as a story travels from one agent to another, it undergoes three distinct but mutually dependent processes: leveling, sharpening and assimilation. This basic course of distortion modifies the story with each retelling (Allport and Postman, Analysis 504). Leveling is the decline in details that causes stories to grow shorter and more concise (505). When a listener hears a narrative, rather than absorbing the whole story, he becomes selective in what he retains of it, remembering only the details that are resonant in his own field of experience (Abel 272). Fewer and fewer details are preserved, and the narrative becomes more leveled the further along it travels (276). V. Taylor asserts that this is especially true in a setting where the norm is oral transmission; stories told and retold tend to go in the direction of abbreviation (qtd. in Abel 276). Sharpening is a necessity of leveling: when details are taken out, the remaining details are necessarily sharpened. Especially in the oral tradition, the general plot remains the same as narratives are transmitted, but the details, according to Bultmann, are subject to the control of fancy and are usually made more explicit and definite (qtd. in Abel 275). Ernest Abel calls the process temporal sharpening, putting emphasis on the effects of the passage of time (i.e. the amount of time the narrative has been in circulation) to the degree of change that the details undergo (279). Assimilation has to do with the interests, habits and sentiments in the listeners mind. It accounts for leveling and sharpening, because decisions about what to retain or disregard in a narrative received lie in the interests of the agent of rumor. Assimilation moves toward a central theme and conforms to expectation, taking into account what are central and significant in a groups life and using these in the processing and interpretation of information, from its receipt to its transmission. Every story has a leading theme, a generic motif, which has an equivalent in the agents personal experiences or, if not, for which an equivalent is assigned. In the reception and interpretation of a narrative, the agent makes sense of the story by leveling and sharpening so it resembles his own expectations of the theme (Allport and Postman, Analysis 504).

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When a story has undergone a certain amount of leveling, sharpening and assimilation, it eventually stabilizes, reaching a point where it can be approximately reproduced purely by memory. At this point, the story no longer becomes subject to distortion (Abel 276). Applicability of Gordon Allports Rumor Theory The changes that occur in a narrative after undergoing Allports basic course of distortion are more evident on a smaller scale. Applying his theory in the observation of large scale transformations--in this case, those that occur in whole religions--is another matter entirely. An intensive investigation into assimilation in the person-to-person level must somehow be connected to the changes in the larger picture. Did the Roman Catholics begin the tradition of communion in their masses because earlier Christians somehow managed to observe it in Mithraic ceremonies, or did they pluck details of it from the grapevine? Was this Mithraic tradition in some way documented? If so, where did this documentation come from and how reliable would it be, given the Mithraists penchant for secrecy? Application of Allports theory may be more easily accepted if we consider religious systems to be extended forms of the individual narratives that are passed around in rumor transmission. A religion may be regarded as a larger, more complicated story or system of stories that allows the person to explain the supernatural and reconcile himself with it. In this view, Allports rumor theory may be applied on two levels: on the entire religion treated as one, unified story, or on the individual stories within the religious system. It may also be applied if material artifactsbas reliefs, inscriptions, architecture, paintingsare treated as stories or fragments of stories that can be interpreted in various ways. Moreover, an important similarity between the evolution of religions and that of rumor content may warrant application of Allports rumor theory. Religions are personified, are treated as if they were personal. The believer selectively identifies objects of worship from his environmentthe sun or sacred stoneswhich he believes can place him in a beneficial relationship with the supernatural. Some find the cause of this mental attitude in fear, or dreams, or regard for ancestors, or the appetencies of sex (Matthews 60). In a similar manner, an agent of rumor, upon receiving a malleable piece of information, molds it, consciously or unconsciously, into a personalized narrative that makes sense according to his own experiences, his interests ranging from fear, or wishes, or wedge-driving motives (Allport and Postman, Analysis 504). His own consciousness is projected onto the information he receives. Ambiguity and Interest in the Roman Empire During the First Five Centuries In order to look at the Roman religious transition through the lens of Gordon Allport, it is necessary to establish that ambiguity and interest were present in the milieu against which this phenomenon was set.

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The margin for ambiguity in the Roman Empire, especially with regards to Mithraism and Christianity, was high during the first five centuries CE. To exacerbate the lack of efficient, centralized methods of disseminating information to the Roman public, the messages propagated by early Christianity were open to subjective interpretation, especially as varied types of people were brought into the fold. The early Church itself was divided: the Eastern Church has never been quite the same as that of the West, and each upheld different doctrines, even regarding such fundamental elements as the divinity of Jesus Christ (Slack). Until the fourth century, different variants of beliefs about the new religion of Christ existed. Bart Ehrmans Lost Christianities offers a list of apocrypha that the Church fathers deemed unsuitable for inclusion in the Holy Book: 16 Gospels, 6 Acts and 22 Epistles and related literature in varying degrees of deviation from the Judeo-Christian Bible. The lack of standardization meant inconsistencies in early Christian teachings (Martin 9). Ambiguity increased as early preachers and scribes of the Christian gospels took particular liberties in modifying textual content. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman describes how radically the texts have been altered over the years at the hands of scribes, who were not only conserving scripture but changing it (207). They were no longer seen as reporters, but as theologians and historians who examined the material they had available, and interpreted it in conformity with their own particular biases (Abel 277). Third-century philosopher Porphyry, referring to what he saw as contradictions in the gospels, called evangelists fiction writersnot observers or witnesses of the life of Jesus Christ (Ehrman, Misquoting 199). When pagan philosopher Celsus criticized Jesus Christs being a carpenter, Origen rushed to Christianitys defense, calling Celsus blind and declaring that in none of the Gospels current in the Churches is Jesus himself ever described as a carpenter (qtd. in Ehrman, Misquoting 203). It is possible that Origen may have forgotten about Mark 6:3 or the gospel text in his possession left out it this detail altogether. It is now known that such a manuscript--simply called P45--exists among the latent collection of New Testament manuscripts (204). Early Christianity did not have the central regulating mechanisms at the disposal of more recent church systems. No rigid distinctions existed between bishops and elders, nor indications of a single chief priest at the head of a church. There was hardly a separation of clergy from laity, giving any Christian the liberty to preach the gospel according to his own understanding of it. Before the writing of the gospels, groups of Christians commonly met in the house of one of their members (Slack). Christian teachings and traditions circulated orally within the scattered Christian community in the form of individual, self-contained units known as pericopae, from which information spread by word of mouth, later to be collected and edited by evangelists. Unlike Judaism, which requires rigorous study and memorization of sacred texts, early methods of retelling the Christian message were not standardized (Abel 270). The absence of uniform, written gospels deprived early Christians of a formula that may have been intended to be memorized by simple Christians so that they should be able to give an account of their faith (Ehrhardt 76). Mithraic adherence to a strict code of secrecy is a major contributor to ambiguity. Religious information was rarely shared to the outside world. During sacramentum, the initiation, candidates for Mithraic membership were made to vow,

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among other things, never to divulge the rites and liturgies revealed to them (Ulansey). Being a Mithraic initiate was not a light undertaking. Some frescoes uncovered at Capua, Italy show initiates of Mithras kneeling, blindfolded and prostrate (Mithraism). Among the daunting rituals that initiates must survive were the Twelve Tortures, which involved perilous tests of the body and mind (Morse). Belgian historian of Mithraism Franz Cumont, referring to writings by Saint Jerome, described how the initiates passed through seven grades of initiation, assuming as they went along the names of corax (raven), cryphius (occult), miles (soldier), leo (lion), perses (Persian), heliodromus (runner of the sun) and pater (father). A passage from Porphyry also suggests that initiates were not allowed to participate in liturgical rituals until they reached the fourth level (Cumont). Details of these ceremonies remained uncertain until the recent works, such as those of Ulansey and Merkelbach, extracted some meaning from the bas reliefs, statues and paintings found in unearthed Mithraic temples (Ulansey). These temples, called mithraea, were subterranean, built to resemble caves and accessible through underground passages. At most, they could receive about a hundred worshippers (Morse). Mithraea are still being uncovered today, mostly in Rome, but also as far as England to the north and Israel and Jordan in the south and east (Ulansey). Other contributors to ambiguity were the preclusion of women from Mithraic ranks, which significantly reduced the potential receivers and transmitters of religious information, and the absence of a sacred text analogous to the Hebrew Bible (Ulansey; Cumont). As a result, what little information there is about the Mithraic faith came largely from outsiders, including early Christian church fathers, such as Saint Jerome, whose aims were to attack the pagan religion (Martin 1). References to worshippers of Mithras are also found in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus, theologian Origen, and Platonic philosophers such as Porphyry (Morse). Roman interest in the subject of religions, particularly Mithraism and Christianity, was high during the first five centuries of the Common Era. The cult of Mithras was the dominant Religion in Rome, encompassing Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia during its lifetime. Mithraic scholars consider it one of the most important--and certainly one of the most intriguing--of the religions that arose at about the same time as Christianity (Ulansey). Known as a religion of loyalty to the king, Mithraism was endorsed by the emperors, including Commodus, Septimius Severus and Caracalla (Mithraism). It was popular in Caesars household and among the Italian nobilities who saw it as a fashionable religion (Kellett 263). Soldiers of the Roman legion also found appeal in Mithras, who often appeared in Mithraic iconography as a young soldier wearing a Phrygian cap. Romes obsession with expansion aided the spread of Mithraism through Roman soldiers who served as vehicles of the Mithraic faith as they were sent from post to post throughout the Empire (Mithraism). Cumont, who wrote the first comprehensive volumes on Mithraism, asserted that Rome was such a stronghold of Mithraic faith it was almost the seat of its papacy (qtd. in Martin 1). Then Paul of Tarsus came with tidings about a Jewish messiah, and Christianity rapidly and aggressively made converts. At one point, the size of the Christian population became roughly comparable to that of Roman Mithraism (Martin 4). The latter was so successful that the early Church fathers doubted Christianitys capacity to withstand it (Tishken 308). Cumont goes further, saying that the two faiths became

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deadly rivals for importance, engaged in a ferocious and implacable duelfor the domination of the world (qtd. in Martin 1). The significance of one faith to the other was summed up in the words of French theologian Ernst Renan: If the growth of Christianity had been arrested by some mortal malady, the world would have been Mithraic (qtd. in Martin 2). Interreligious Assimilation in the Roman Empire during the First Five Centuries CE There exist different opinions regarding the similarities between Christianity and preexisting Roman religions. Some believe that Christianity is built upon pagan religions, and since Mithraism predated Christianity, similarities between the two must be elements borrowed from the Mithraic faith. Others believe that Mithraism borrowed concepts from Christianity. Some believe these are the work of the devil to promote confusion; still, others believe these to be no more than interesting coincidences (Morse). It cannot be denied, however, that during the first five centuries of the Common Era, the different religions of the Roman Empire made such energetic contact that a multi-directional assimilation between religions was inevitable. That the path of the early Christian Church, especially its Eastern division, intersected with that of the ancient Mysteries and Greek religions is not to be disputed (Slack).This is notably true for Mithraism and Christianity, given their position in the hierarchy of Roman religions. And in the struggle between the two may be found signs of Gordon Allports leveling, sharpening and overarching process of assimilation. The first century bore the first contact--and friction--between Christianity and Roman Mithraism. Jesus of Nazareth began his ministry at around 25 CE, when Rome was seeking to solidify its authority through the swaying power of religion. Augustus and the cult of Rome were designating national religions in the hope of uniting its remarkably diverse population (National Geographic 92). Caligula himself resolved to be worshipped as a god (Rogers 11). Paul of Tarsus was an infinitely significant element in the picture. James E. T. Rogers called him the one man *who+ saved Christianity; and this at a time when the words and acts of Christ had been recorded in no written gospel (Rogers). Paul added Christianity to the pool of Roman religions at around 50 CE, preaching to the Gentiles in busy towns and cities: first in Phillipi, then Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens and Corinth (Rogers 34). His early Christian teachings thrived in the eastern provinces of Rome, even as the imperial seat prescribed state religions. This is partly due to the attitudes of the provincial Roman nobles, who looked upon the faith of the conquered with condescension and viewed foreign gods as eventual subjects of the Roman deities. It is also due to the Roman habit of identifying foreign religious systems with its own, a form of assimilationaccording to Allport--in itself. The Roman nobles, for instance, recognized Jehovah Sabaoth under the name of Jupiter Sabazius (Rogers 6). An archaeological find along the Via Severiana, Ostia provides insight into the Romans reception of Pauls evangelistic efforts. In January of 1867, an inscription in a pagan tomb believed to belong to the Anneis (the family of the philosopher Anneus Seneca) was discovered. Beneath an invocation to the infernal gods (Diis Manibus), the words

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PAVLO and PETROPaul and Peterwere carved into stone. The artifact is either a testament to Pauls friendship with Seneca or an expression of the famed Roman tolerance for different faiths (Lanciani). This tolerance is mirrored, to a certain degree, by early Christian teachers, who were not skeptical toward the Greco-Roman gods. Of this attitude, Slack said: They did not tell the heathen that their gods were a delusion, but rather that they need not worship them...since the Christian was able to triumph over them and defy them (Early Christianity). The appeal of Pauls messianic message also lies in the way it resonates in the consciousness of a people steeped in the religion of the Greek gods. Joseph Campbell asserted that at the moment of Pauls conversion on the road to Damascus, what he actually realized was that the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross could be interpreted in terms of the mystery religions understanding of the death and resurrection of the savior (Transformation of Myths 190). Some scholars also believe that the reference to Jesus Christ as divi filius--Son of Godis an element sharpened from older Greek ideas. The story of an earthly savior fathered by a powerful deity mirrored the affairs of gods with human women, who eventually bore saviors and heroes: Zeus fathers the Greek hero Hercules by Alcmene, the human queen of Tiryns, and Perseus, later to found the Perseid dynasty, by Danae, princess of Argos. Such was the adherence to the concept of divi filius that even in Greek history, the wife of king Archon of Athens was officially betrothed to the god Dionysius (Slack). It may have also been Roman policy, the goal of which is to make subjects rather than create converts, that urged along the growth of the young religion of Christ worship (Rogers 6). The story of the Jewish Messiah had not yet posed the threat of disruption caused by fanaticism, such as the Jewish revolt against Vespasian and Titus; thus, in the Roman provinces, Pauls teachings flourished and spread relatively unmolested. Systematic persecution of Christians began only when the political and social system of the Roman Empire felt jeopardized by the new faith. It was only toward the end of the first century that the emperor Domitian began a widespread execution of Christians (National Geographic 94). The second and third centuries were marked by the rise of Christian ideology, as well as opportunities for the intermingling of the different religions in the Empire. This particular time in the history of Rome is seen as exceptionally fertile soil for the growth of new religions (Ulansey 130). The growth of the Gnostic Christian sects inspired the Christian community to push for the canonization of the Scriptures (National Geographic 98). The New Testament was finally canonized under Irenaeus in 185 CE. Tertullian wrote his Apologia and Clement and Origen, bishops of Alexandria, wrote extensive theological treatises. Augustines Acts of the Martyrs, stories of the suffering of the saints, also proliferated (100). As Christianity grew stronger, so did the attempt to somehow fuse the assortment of religious ideas that ran rampant on the streets of Rome. Greek philosopher and theologian Justin Martyr reconciled Platonic philosophy with Christian teachings (98). The prophet Mani, in 250 CE, preached a religion that attempted to blend Zoroastrianism (a possible root of Mithraism), Christianity and Buddhism into a cosmopolitan message (102). Uncovered artifacts from antiquity testify to the blending of faiths through religious icons sharing the same space. Toward the middle of the second century, a potter in Ostia who exported to different Roman

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provinces created lamps that feature the Good Shepherd of the Christians, alongside Hercules and Diana, the Greek goddess of the hunt (Lanciani). Even the religiously reticent Mithraists made attempts to mingle with other faiths, moving their meeting places from private houses to public baths, barracks and circuses. Recent archaeological finds show Mithraic sanctuaries regularly discovered in close proximity to Christian churches (Martin 4). According to Lampridius, it was during this period that Mithraism reached its peak and became so important that the emperor Commodus decided to become its initiate (King). During the fourth century, leveling and sharpening on the political level, in the interest of maintaining control and sovereignty, is seen in the fluctuating attitudes of the emperors toward the different Roman religions. In 303 CE, Diocletian issued four edicts on non-toleration for Christianity, a mandate that led to the darkest time of Christian martyrdom (National Geographic 104). The imperial decree provided an opportunity for interreligious assimilation when the followers of Jesus Christ, undeterred, responded by paying homage to the Roman gods in order to escape persecution, holding secretly in their hearts the religion of Christ. Some Mithraic scholars suggest the probability that under the permitted symbols of Mithras, Christians continued to practice their ceremonies and worship the Son of God. In this view, the Mithraic monuments abundant in Germany may be evidences of the secret faith of the early Christian Romans (King). Barely a decade later, Constantine overturned Diocletians edicts with one of his own: the Edict of Milan. While Christianity was not yet declared the single official religion of Rome, it was elevated in status as one of its principal religions (National Geographic 104). Constantine presents a prime example of assimilation in the highest levels of government, which created a social climate rife for assimilation between religions. His radical conversion to Christianity occurred after the famed battle at Milvian Bridge in 312 CE, in which he ascribed his victory to a vision of the Christian cross going before him in battle (Mithraism). History has since branded him the first Christian emperor. On the other hand, Constantine has been described by some scholars as "devoid of religious feeling, although not an irreligious man, and, perhaps more shrewdly, as a keen politician who embraced the faith of the Christians in order to get their support (Luce 73). R. A. Lanciani casts light on Constantines motives, saying that the transformation of Rome from being a pagan to a Christian city was the natural result of the work of three centuries, brought to maturity under Constantine by an inevitable reaction against the violence of Diocletians rule (Pagan and Christian Rome). Whichever the case, when news of Constantines triumph under the Christian symbol spread throughout the Empire, dedications to Mithra ceased almost immediatelyat least, in public--even though there was no official prohibition of Mithraic ceremonies. When imperial favor turned away from the Mithraists, the religion appeared to collapse (Mithraism). However, the nature of religious evolution makes it impossible to annihilate one religion by another (Matthews 81). It is likely then that Roman Mithraism did not die with Constantines conversion, the nature and integrity of which currently remains under scrutiny. J.B. Carter, former director of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, said of Constantine:

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It was quite clear however that when he became Christian he thought he was embracing the cult of Mithras. That Constantine might learn exactly what he was worshipping, the Council of Nicaea was held. (Luce 73) Indeed, long after his conversion, Constantine retained elements of solar worship, such as the figure of the sun in his copper coinage. On it is the inscription, To the Invincible Sun, my companion (or guardian), a well-crafted phrase which could be satisfactorily interpreted by Christians and pagans alike (King). On the other hand, retention of the solar figure may be attributed to the fact that management of the currency fell under the prerogative of the Roman senate, a large majority of which remained pagan. Nonetheless, the emperor made political compromises, showing the various religions such leniency that the authenticity of his conversion became the subject of skepticism (Lanciani). The religious turmoil continued. In 380 CE, Theodosius I finally made Christianitythat is, the type practiced by the Byzantine throne--the official religion of the Roman Empire (Campbell 190). By the end of the fourth century, Mithraic temples were being sacked and destroyed. In the mithraem of S. Prisca, Italy, the eyes of figures in Mithraic frescoes were gouged out, bas reliefs shattered and the temple ruins filled with rubbish, presumably by Christians in the area (Martin 5). Then, in 382 CE, Gratian broke away from religious toleration and restored the pagan religions in what was to be called the pagan revival (Martin 6). In light of all the religious activity, it is important to note a suggestion by Augustine of Hippo: Mithraic worship was not an isolated, exclusive faith centered on Mithras alone. He spoke of members of the Mithraic clergy and their opinion of their Phrygian-capped god, saying, I know that the priests of him in the cap (istius pileati) used at one time to say, our capped one is himself a Christian(qtd. in King). By the fifth century, Christianity was reinforcing its authority by making doctrines official under the Catholic Church. When, again, the human nature of Jesus Christ was raised by Nestorius, the Catholic Church rose up in conflict. In 451 CE, the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon finally institutionalized the doctrines of Christianity according to the Nicene Creed (National Geographic 106). By this time, Christian churches were capitalizing on destroyed Mithraic temples, some of which still contained their original iconography, by building on top of them. At around 395 CE, for example, the Christian clergy of S. Clemente, Italy expanded their church to a building across the street, which was formerly a mithraeum (Martin 6). Across centuries of changing religious preferencesfrom the state-endorsed pagan religions to the evangelical advances of Christianity--it is important to explore the responses of the common Roman citizen to the shifting religious climate. While it would be ideal to find a document that speaks clearly of pagans adapting Christian practices or Christians emulating Mithraic traditions, history documented only the words of historians with indifferent accounts of the mysterious Mithraic cult, or the verbal attacks of early fathers of the Catholic Church (Cumont). The available records of Christianpagan interaction, which can provide the most insight into how Mithraists and Christians

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could have exchanged religious information, only amount to opportunities for assimilation, and refutable evidence of it at best. One such opportunity lies in pagan-Christian intermarriages. In 1877, a demolition near the Porta del Popolo uncovered a fragment of a second-century inscription: If anyone dare to do injury to this structure, or to otherwise disturb the peace of her who is buried inside, because she, my daughter, has been [or has appeared to be] a pagan among the pagans, and a Christian among the Christians (Lanciani) It was suggested at first that the father was hinting at his daughters religious inconsistency. However, Tertullian described the resulting apostasy (the disaffiliation from a certain religion, in this case, Christianity) of Christian girls married to pagan men. He related how these girls were seen to commit acts of idolatry by simply accompanying their pagan husbands to ceremonies. The revelation that the Christian girls viewed their affiliation with their husbands as risks suggests that their ties to Christianity were not completely severed, and their conformity to pagan traditions were not absolute (Lanciani). The parallels between Christianity and Mithraism are so striking that the only defense the early Church fathers could build against accusations of borrowing was that Satan himself had been mimicking Jesus Christ (Kellett 262). These parallels continue to generate much speculation as to the cause of the remarkable--and at times, very specific--similarities. Morse lists 23 similar ingredients found in both religions (Mithraism and Christianity). Tishken expresses how the similarities between the two are too many to be mere coincidence (Ethnic vs. Evangelical 308). King goes further with an outright assertion of the singular affinity between the ceremonial of the two, and the transfer of so much originally Mithraic into the usage of the Orthodox *church+ (Gnostics and their Remains). Evidence that Gordon Allports assimilation took place in this religious transition may be seen by looking at particular Mithraic and Christian ingredients that bear similarities to each other. The birth date of Jesus Christ, precisely set on the same date as that of MithrasDecember 25th in the Gregorian calendaris a product of assimilation urged by political necessity. In 530 AD, Dionysius Exiguus, a Roman abbot and astronomer commissioned to fix the birth date of the Messiah adopted the 25th of December because it was already in popular use as the date of birth of the pagan sun gods, the most important among which was Mithra. John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, later stated that the date was selected so that whilst the heathen were busy with their profane ceremonies, the Christians might perform their holy rites undisturbed (Carpenter). Indeed, December 25th was originally a pagan festival in honor of The Birthday of the Invincible One, which was later transferred to the commemoration of the birth of Christ (King). The deliberate adoption of this date

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shows elements of Allports assimilation process in the sense that the birth date of the new deity was made to conform to the expectation of the Roman populace and takes into account the significance of that time of year to peoples lives. Mithraic belief also dictates that salvation comes through the shedding of holy blood. Merkelbach writes of an inscription in the tauroctony, depicting Mithras slaying a bull, which states, Thou hast saved us also by pouring out the blood eternal (qtd. in Morse). While Mithraism prohibited female participation in its mysteries, the wives and daughters of the Mithraists performed their own Mithra-esque ritual, worshipping female gods--Artemis, Cybele, Anahita and Magna Mater--and holding their own version of baptism by blood. In a ceremony called taurbolium, the neophyte lay in a pit while a bull was slaughtered over her (Peronne, qtd. in Morse). The taurbolium served a similar purpose: the washing away of human faults and the obtaining of a new and eternal life. During the celebration of the vernal equinox, it was said that the blood spilled in the taurbolium was equivalent to the blood shed by Jesus Christ during the Christian Easter (Morse). Baptism in itself had been a Christian theological dilemma, drawing comments from Augustine in the West and Saint Cyril in the East. It was apparent, however, that it was not a unique creation of Christianity. There have been writings of the Baptism of Mary, the purification baths of the Jews, the lustration before prayer of the Greeks and Romans, and the ancient Assyrians blessing of the water through supplication. That the Church during the time of Saint Augustine believed in the mystical, healing properties of consecrated baptism water is reminiscent of pagan beliefs in magic (Slack). The Roman Catholic communion appears to have assimilated elements of Mithraic communion as well. The Last Supper is described as a tradition in which the Bread and Wine of which the Christian partook were a heavenly food and drink, elements of Divine Life, which were able to transform this mortal body to an immortal body (Slack). In the practice of Mithraism, a typical worship service culminated in a common meal, which was a regular feature in Mithraic ceremonies (Gnoli, qtd. in Morse).Interestingly, the bread used by Mithraists, termed the mizd, was a round cake of the same shape and dimension as the Roman Catholic host. The similarity was dismissed by Christian apologist Justin Martyr, who stated, The wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithra, commanding the same thing to be done (qtd. in Carpenter). The Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation (the belief of the literal transformation of bread and wine into Christs flesh and blood during communion) became part of the Latin Church dogma in 1215 CE, but it is not originally Christian. Older belief systems, such as the Thracian worship of Dionysius Sabazius, include the idea that gods may enter the body of a person, animal, or representations of these, which, when sacrificed and consumed, bestow on the partaker the nature of the said deity or form a special bond between the god and the partakers, or among the partakers themselves(Slack). The wafer of wheat that the priest raises at the culmination of the Roman Catholic mass is sometimes considered the equivalent of Persephone, as in the Eleusinian mysteries (Campbell 193). The Roman Catholic festival of the three kings also appears to have elements of the sun god Mithras. The traditional names of the three magi appear to be merely expressions of the properties of the solar deity: Caspar means The White One, Melchior means The King of Light, while Baltazar means Lord of Treasures (King).

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The retaining of names with connection to the sun god shows the selective sharpening of such characteristics that may also be applied to the Christian deity. The date for Easter as the celebration of Jesus resurrection, according to Tartakowski, was undoubtedly taken from Mithraism and possibly other religious cults being practiced at the time. The motive of the early church fathers was to ease membership into Christianity (qtd. in Morse). The Catholic celebration of Ash Wednesday also appears to have assimilated a Mithraic tradition. Tertullian compared the confirmation of members of the Christian faith to a rite in which the forehead of a follower of Mithras was marked. While the nature of the marking is different (In Mithraism, the mark may have been made by pressing red-hot iron against the flesh), many Catholic churches still observe a similar tradition: the smearing of the symbol of the cross on the foreheads of their members (Carpenter). Greek mythology offers similar incidents: Achilles sprinkles ashes on his head when he hears of Patroclus death and so did Priam when he learns his son Hector is killed. Some scholars believe that this ritual, including the Christian version, has mystical significance (Durand, qtd. in Stopford). Conclusion Gordon Allports theory of rumor transmission specifies the conditions of ambiguity and interest in the creation of rumor. It is clear that the social condition in the Roman Empire in late antiquity displays these two factors. Early Christianity contributed to ambiguity through the lack of unity in the teachings and methods of preaching of the early Christian church. The division of the Church into the East and West, the existence of different variants of Christian belief and the subjective modification of textual content of the gospels in the hands of the scribes and evangelists resulted in disunity. Ambiguity was exacerbated by the lack of regulation within the Church in terms of who were qualified to preach, the oral circulation of the gospels, the scattered nature of the Christian community, and the lack of a standard formula for the Christian message. The secretive nature of the Mithraic Mysteries is also a major contributor to ambiguity. The rigorous initiation rituals, the oaths of secrecy, the enigmatic worship gatherings, and the preclusion of women prevented the outward flow of Mithraic information, which could have led to a more accurate description of Mithraism. The absence of a sacred text similar to the Christian Bible and the fact that what little information that exists about the Mysteries of Mithra came from early Church fathers allowed inaccuracies in the publics perception of Mithraism. The setting also fulfills the requirement of interest. Mithraisms dominance in Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia, its popularity among Roman soldiers and its endorsement by emperors assures its importance to the Roman populace. On the other hand, the radical message of Christianity and its promise of freedom from oppression provided an appeal that rapidly produced converts and followers. The struggle for dominance between the two religions also assured the significance of one to the other. The first five centuries of the Common Era, heralded by the arrival of the Jewish Messiah, was inundated by religious and political events that fueled the interaction and overlap of the different Roman religions. These events elicited in the larger Roman public a reaction akin to Gordon Allports process of assimilation.

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However, while Gordon Allports rumor theory does apply in analyzing how the Roman religions assimilated elements from each other, the application is limited by several factors. First, while leveling and sharpening are distinctly observable in the passing of information from person to person, they become vaguely applied in the passing of information between large groups of people. In a context larger than personto-person transmission, its principles can only be applied in a very general sense. Second, direct observation of the actual reaction of the Romans to the religious shiftsthe content of the stories they spread by word of mouth about the new god introduced by Paul, the method by which they spread these stories, the specific changes that they made to the gospel narrative and the reason for these subjective alterations is virtually impossible. However, we can reasonably speculate from passages written by historians as well as the early Church fathers and from the artceramics, inscriptions, sculptures--of late antiquity, which present themselves as the best type of evidence (Campbell 190). These allow us to appeal to certain traditions of the Catholic Church that appear to have assimilated elements of or stemmed directly from Mithraism, as well as other pagan religions. The birth date of Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic festival of the three kings, the traditional names of the three magi, the date for Easter as the celebration of Jesus resurrection, salvation through baptism and the shedding of holy blood, the Roman Catholic communion and the Catholic celebration of Ash Wednesday are elements sharpened from preexisting Roman religions. In some of these cases, such as the adaptation of the birth date of Mithras, sharpening was conscious, deliberate, and politically rooted. In others, such as baptism and salvation, sharpening simply acted upon the common, almost archetypal beliefs regarding the mechanisms of the spiritual and supernatural. Whichever the case may be, the process aided greatly in conforming the new religion of Christ to the expectation of the Roman populace. Third, assimilation itself, while perfectly reliable in understanding how information is distorted by the individual personalities of the agents of rumor, can only be reasonably applied in analyzing the transmission of religious content if the process by which it operates and the driving force behind it are treated in a similar manner as those of natural selection as proposed by Charles Darwin. Between the evolution of religions and Darwins natural selection, we find parallels that encourage the use of the latter in analyzing how certain characteristics of Mithraism and other pagan religions survived even after the parent religions have long died. Matthews stated two key things in the evolution of religion: first, the transformation of the original organism through its relation with its environment and the nucleating about itselfof the cells of other experiences (The Evolution of Religions 63). Meanwhile, Darwin defined natural selection as the preservation of favourable individual differences, and the destruction of those which are injurious (Natural Selection 28). Christianity, around the time of its birth, was not a unified religion in terms of its doctrines and its internal hierarchical structure. The Council of Nicaea, the textually varied Gospel manuscripts from late antiquity and the institution of doctrines in the Council of Chalcedon are among the many historical testaments that it did undergo transformations. It can even be argued from a historical viewpoint that during the first five centuries, Christianity experienced its formation, not transformation. Whichever the case, we can assert from Matthews and Darwin that

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Christian elements that seem to derive from pagan Roman religions are evidence of the nucleation around Christianity of the traits that Darwin called favourable individual differences (Darwin 28). The traditions and festivals absorbed by Christianity reflect their favorability and the ease of their adaptability. The inverse is Christianitys own ability to assimilate elements from other religions. In A Short History of Religions, Kellett asserted that Mithraism died because it did not possess the power of assimilating culture and philosophy; in contrast, Christianity was always borrowing, and had been borrowing from the onset (264). The natures of Christianity and Mithraism, as those of all religions, are difficult to explain, much less define, and innumerable attempts have been made at explaining aspects of these religions. Looking at the transformation of the Roman religions through Gordon Allports rumor theory, this particular attempt submits that to some extent, whole religions, when received and interpreted by individuals, do suffer changes similar to those that rumor undergoes. Details that are irrelevant are leveled; those that resonate in the individuals world are sharpened and retained. In the end, the individual possesses a system of religious beliefs that is the product of assimilation of a very personal nature. It may stray from its original form, but therein lies the beauty of religion: it is, by nature, personal. Gordon Allport, speaking of myths and religious beliefs, said that they deal with themes that are among the most important that man ever has to face and that proofs pertaining to them are eternally ambiguous (Allport and Postman, Psychology 165). Each human being then, in dealing with themes crucial in his life, may be justified in laying claim to a personalized religion.

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Works Cited Abel, Ernest. The Psychology of Memory and Rumor Transmission and Their Bearings on Theories of Oral Transmission in Early Christianity. The Journal of Religion 51.4 (1971): 270-281. 20 February 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1201838>. Allport, Gordon, and Leo Postman. The Psychology of Rumor. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1947. Allport, Gordon, and Leo Postman. An Analysis of Rumor. The Public Opinion Quarterly 10.4 (1947): 501-517. 20 February 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2745703>. Campbell, Joseph. Transformations of Myth Through Time. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1990. Print. Carpenter, Edward. Solar Myths and Christian Festivals: The Pagan Origins of Christian Beliefs. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing, 2005. E-book. Cumont, Franz. The Mysteries of Mithra. Trans. Thomas McCormack. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Company, 1903. E-book. Darwin, Charles. Natural Selection. London: Bibliolis Books Ltd., 2010. E-book. Ehrhardt, Ahrnold. Christianity Before The Apostles Creed. The Harvard Theological Review 55.2 (1962): 73-119. 03 March 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1508832>. Ehrman, Bart. Re: Defining the terms Christian and pagan during the New Testament Era. Message to the Author. 03 Nov. 2010. E-mail. Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2003. Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2005. Grant, Robert. Religion and Politics at The Council of Nicaea. The Journal of Religion 55.1 (1975): 1-12. 03 March 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1202069>. Kellett, E. E. A Short History of Religions. Suffolk: Pelican Books, 1962. Print. King, Charles William. The Gnostics and Their Remains, Ancient and Mediaeval. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, & Co., 1864. E-book.

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Lanciani, Rodolfo A. Pagan and Christian Rome. Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin and Company/The Riverside Press, 1823. E-book. Luce, S. B. Professor Carters Lowell Lectures on the Religious Life of the Romans. The Classical Journal 7.2 (1911): 70-74. 26 February 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3287190>. Martin, Luther. Roman Mithraism and Christianity. Numen 36.1 (1989): 2-15. 26 February 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3269850>. Matthews, Shailer. The Evolution of Religion. The American Journal of Theology 15.1 (1911): 57-82. 03 March 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3155275>. "Mithraism." Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2010. Morse, Donald. Mithraism and Christianity: How Are They Related? The Journal of Religion and Psychical Research 20.5 (1994): 40-53. 03 March 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2745703>. National Geographics Concise History of the World: An Illustrated Timeline. 2006. Rogers, James E. T. Paul of Tarsus, An Inquiry into the Times and the Gospel of the Apostle of the Gentiles. London: Macmillan and Co., 1872. Slack, Samuel Benjamin. Early Christianity. London: Archibald Constable and Co. Ltd., 1908. Stopford, Joshua. Pagano-papismus; or, An exact parallel between Rome-pagan and Rome Christian, in their doctrines and ceremonies. London: J. Hatchard and Son, 1844. Tishken, Joel. Ethnic vs. Evangelical Religions: Beyond Teaching the World Religion Approach. The History Teacher 33.3 (2000): 303-320. 26 February 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/495028>. Ulansey, David. Solving TheMithraic Mysteries. Biblical Archaeological Review 20.5 (1994): 40-53. 03 March 2010 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2745703>. Ulansey, David. The Mithraic Mysteries. Scientific American 261.6 (1989): 130-135. 26 February 2010 <http://www.well.com/`davidu/sciam.html>.