LEBANON — The ancient East long served as a crossroads of civilizations, ideas, and beliefs. In former times, the boundaries between peoples, religions and philosophies were far less defined than they are today. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great, cultures, languages and faiths intertwined more, and ideas traveled freely between Egypt, Beth Nahrin (Mesopotamia), Persia, Greece and Rome. During this period, religious and philosophical schools emerged that viewed knowledge, mystery and ritual as pathways to truth.
In an interview on the program “Hadith Ghair” broadcast by the Dawaeronline platform, Syriac researcher Leila Latti, specializing in ancient Eastern civilizations, discussed cultic and religious currents that flourished in the Hellenistic era and beyond, namely Mithraism, Hermeticism, and Gnosticism. These movements left a lasting mark on the history of religious and philosophical thought, and some of their symbols and concepts remain topics of historical debate to this day.
Mithraism
Latti explained that Mithraism was one of the most prominent belief systems of the ancient world, throughout vast regions of the Roman Empire. The figure of Mithras has its roots in ancient Iranian traditions but took on different forms as it spread across various cultures.
Mithraism was characterized by secret rituals and a graded system of initiation, through which followers ascended through multiple levels before reaching the higher ranks. One of its most iconic symbols is the image of Mithras slaying a bull, a scene frequently found in Mithraic temples scattered across the ancient world. Latti noted that Mithraic temples, known as Mithraea, were often built in caves or cave-like spaces, with water playing a prominent role in their rituals and symbolism. The cult was also closely linked to the sun, planets, and celestial movements, reflecting the influence of Babylonian astronomy and astrology on its symbolic framework.
Historical studies indicate that Mithraism spread throughout Rome, Greece, Asia Minor and Syria, and related artifacts have also been found in parts of Beth Nahrin.
The religion had a hierarchical structure of seven grades, each associated with a specific symbol, planet and metal, a system that mirrored a cosmic vision of the relationship between humanity and the heavens. This connection has led scholars to draw links between ancient religious beliefs and astronomy, alchemy, and planetary symbolism.
Read also: Leila Latti: The Sana’a manuscripts and Syriac influence on the Quran
Despite its widespread influence, Mithraism gradually declined with the rise of Christianity within the Roman Empire. Several factors contributed to this decline, including its secretive nature and its male-exclusive character, women were not permitted to participate in its rites. In contrast, Christianity offered a more inclusive religious framework in terms of communal participation. Furthermore, the similarities between certain Mithraic symbols and rituals and those found in later religious traditions have prompted scholars to investigate possible connections between these belief systems. However, it is essential to distinguish between symbolic resemblance and evidence of direct borrowing.
Image: Wolfgang Sauber. Via Wikimedia Commons.
One of the most debated topics in this context is the association of Mithras with 25 December, as well as themes of death, resurrection and fertility, motifs that appeared in various forms across several ancient Eastern religions.
If Mithraism represents one facet of ancient mystery cults, Hermeticism offers a different model, one that blends religion, philosophy, contemplation and knowledge.
Hermeticism
Hermeticism is linked to the figure of Hermes Trismegistus, a mysterious personality surrounded by a blend of Egyptian, Greek and Eastern mythology and traditions. Some traditions connect Hermes with the Egyptian god Thoth, while in Greek tradition he was associated with Hermes. Later comparisons were also made with religious figures such as Idris and Enoch. However, these connections belong to different historical traditions and interpretations and do not necessarily imply that these figures were historically one and the same.
The significance of Hermeticism lies not merely in its religious framework but in its extension into philosophy, astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and mysticism. It explored ideas about the mind, soul, cosmos, and the Logos.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Hermetic thought is its transition from a world of multiple deities to a more abstract conception of the divine and the cosmos. In certain Hermetic texts, there emerges a vision of a single God who represents the All, alongside concepts such as the Mind, the Soul and the Word, ideas that would later become subjects of study and comparison with monotheistic philosophies and religions.
Hermes depicted with a winged kerykeion, a kithara, a petasos and chlamys. Image Wikimedia Commons
Striding Thoth, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, via Wikimedia Commons
Hermetic thought also includes the notion of the soul’s descent into the material world and its eventual return and ascent toward its divine source. This idea echoes older Beth Nahrin traditions, particularly myths surrounding the deity Dumuzi (Tammuz), which dealt with death, return, life and fertility.
Here emerges one of the key features of the ancient East: ideas did not exist in isolation but traveled, interacted and evolved from one civilization to another.
Studying Mithraism and Hermeticism does not necessarily imply that one cult or religion directly originated from another, or that a specific ritual was literally transferred from one belief system to another. Rather, it reveals the vast network of influences and exchanges that characterized the ancient East. Beth Nahrin, Persia, Egypt, the farther East and Greece were not separate worlds; they were in constant contact through trade, warfare, migration and empires. Through these interactions, symbols related to the sun, planets, water, fertility, death and resurrection were transmitted and reinterpreted within each civilization’s unique religious and philosophical context.
Perhaps this is why the study of these ancient beliefs continues to spark curiosity today, not because it offers a simple answer to the origins of the heavenly religions, but because it opens a window into the intellectual and religious environment that preceded and accompanied their emergence.
The ancient East was not merely a stage for civilizations; it was a space where grand ideas about God, humanity, the soul, death, life and the cosmos took shape. These ideas traveled across millennia, reaching us in varied forms, some preserved in texts, others in temples and ruins and still others in symbols that remain embedded in our cultures to this day.
