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Mithra ( Miθra; Miθraʰ) is an ancient Iranian deity ( yazata) of covenants, light, oaths, justice, the Sun, contracts, and friendship. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Asha ( Asha), and the guardian of cattle, the harvest, and Aban.
The ancient Rome attributed their Mithraic mysteries to Zoroastrianism Ancient Persia sources relating to Mithra. Since the early 1970s, the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between the Persian and Roman traditions, making it, at most, the result of Roman perceptions of Zoroastrian ideas.Beck, Roger (2002-07-20). " Mithraism". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
In Middle Iranian languages (Middle Persian, Parthian etc.), miθra became mihr, from which New Persian مهر mehr and Armenian Միհր Mihr and Մհեր Mher ultimately derive.
The lack of Mithra's presence in the Gathas was once a cause of some consternation amongst Iranians. An often repeated speculation of the first half of the 20th century was that the lack of any mention (i.e., Zoroaster's silence) of Mithra in these texts implied that Zoroaster had rejected Mithra. This ex silentio speculation is no longer followed. Building on that speculation was another series of speculations, which postulated that the reason why Zoroaster did not mention Mithra was that the latter was the supreme God of a bloodthirsty group of daeva-worshipers that Zoroaster condemned. However, "no satisfactory evidence has yet been adduced to show that, before Zoroaster, the concept of a supreme god existed among the Iranians, or that among them Mithra – or any other divinity – ever enjoyed a separate cult of his or her own outside either their ancient or their Zoroastrian pantheons.".
The Avestan Mihr Yasht ( Yasht 10) is the longest, and one of the best-preserved, of the . Mithra is described in the Zoroastrian Avesta scriptures as "Mithra of Wide Pastures, of the Thousand Ears, and of the Myriad Eyes," ( Yasna 1:3), "the Lofty, and the Everlasting... the Province Ruler," ( Yasna 1:11), "the Yazad (Divinity) of the Spoken Name" ( Yasna 3:5), and "the Holy," ( Yasna 3:13). The Khorda Avesta (Book of Common Prayer) also refer to Mithra in the Litany to the Sun, "Homage to Mithra of Wide Cattle Pastures," ( Khwarshed Niyayesh 5), "Whose Word is True, who is of the Assembly, Who has a Thousand Ears, the Well-Shaped One, Who has Ten Thousand Eyes, the Exalted One, Who has Wide Knowledge, the Helpful One, Who Sleeps Not, the Ever Wakeful. We sacrifice to Mithra, The Lord of all countries, Whom Ahura Mazda created the most glorious, Of the Supernatural Yazads. So may there come to us for Aid, Both Mithra and Ahura, the Two Exalted Ones," ( Khwarshed Niyayesh 6-7), "I shall sacrifice to his mace, well-aimed against the Skulls of the Daevas" ( Khwarshed Niyayesh 15). Some recent theories have claimed Mithra represents the Sun itself, but the Khorda Avesta refers to the Sun as a separate entity – as it does with the Mah, with which the Sun has "the Best of Friendships," ( Khwarshed Niyayesh 15).
In Artaxerxes II's (r. 404 – 358 B.C.) trilingual (Old Persian, Elamite language, and Babylonian) inscription at Susa (A2Sa) and Hamadan (A2Hc), which have the same text, the emperor appeals to "Ahuramazda, Anahita, and Mithra protect me against all evil," and beseeches them to protect what he has built.
Although the Behistun inscription of Darius I (r. 522 – 486 B.C.) invokes Ahuramazda and "the Other Gods who are", this inscription of Artaxerxes II is remarkable as no Achaemenid king before him had invoked any but Ahura Mazda alone by name. Boyce suggests that the reason for this was that Artaxerxes had chosen Anahita and Mithra as his patron/protector Divinities.
Mithra is invoked again in the single known inscription of Artaxerxes III, A3Pa, found at Persepolis. In that inscription, that emperor appeals to "Ahuramazda and the God Mithra preserve me, my country, and what has been built by me."
In Zoroastrian scripture, Mithra is distinct from the divinity of the Sun, Hvare-khshaeta (literally "Radiant Sun", from which the Middle Persian word Khorshed for the Sun). However, in Zoroastrian tradition, Mithra evolved from being an all-seeing figure (hence vaguely associated with the Sun) into a divinity co-identified with the Sun itself, effectively taking over Hvare-khshaeta's role. It is uncertain how and when and why this occurred, but it is commonly attributed to conflation with the Babylonian sun god Shamash and/or the Greek deity Apollo, with whom Mithra shares multiple characteristics such as a judicial function and association with the Sun. This characteristic is part of Mithra's Indo-Iranian inheritance in that the Indic Rigveda has solar divinities that are not distinct from Mithra, who is associated with sunrise in the Atharvaveda. Om Mitraya Namaha is a Hindu mantra chanted in the practice of Sun Salutation, wherein Mitra is a name of the god of the Sun, Surya.
In the apocalyptic Zand-i Wahman yasn, the god Mithra intervenes on Peshotanu’s side in the struggle against the , who have exceeded their term of rule by 1,000 years, and defeats the daeva Aeshma, whereupon Aeshma and his followers flee back to hell.Sundermann, W. (1988-12-15). " Bahman-yast-middle-persian-apocalyptical-text". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Retrieved 2025-06-18.
Royal names incorporating Mithra's (e.g., "Mithradates") appear in the dynasties of Parthia, Armenia, and in Anatolia, in Pontus and Cappadocia.
The youthful Apollonian-type Mithra is found in images from other countries of Greater Iran in the Parthian Empire period, such as Commagene in the Roman-Parthian border and the Kushan Empire on the Indo-Iranian border.
The second figure mentioned above, the Third Messenger, was the helper and redeemer of mankind, and identified with another Zoroastrian divinity, Narisaf (derived from Pahlavi Narsēh from Avestan Nairyō.saȵhō, meaning 'Potent Utterance', the name of a Yazata). Citing Boyce,. Sundermann remarks, "It was among the Parthian Manicheans that Mithra as a Sun God surpassed the importance of Narisaf as the common Iranian image of the Third Messenger; among the Parthians the dominance of Mithra was such that his identification with the Third Messenger led to cultic emphasis on the Mithraic traits in the Manichaean God."
Unrelated to these Mihrs are Parthian and Sogdian language Mytr or Mytrg. Although sharing linguistic roots with the name Mithra, Werner Sundermann established that those names denote Manicheanism’s equivalent of Maitreya.
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