The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism [1911] - Get a Free Blog

140 THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS.
of roads that were as important to Rome as the rail
ways of Turkestan or of Siberia are to modern Russia.
At the same time Roman legions camped on the banks
of the Euphrates and in the mountains of Armenia.
Thus all the little Mazdean centers scattered in Cappadocia
and Pontus were forced into constant relation
with the Latin world, and on the other hand the dis
appearance of the buffer states made the Roman and
Parthian empires neighboring powers in Trajan s time
(98-117 A.D.).
From these conquests and annexations in Asia Minor
and Syria dates the sudden propagation of the Persian
mysteries of Mithra in the Occident. For even though
a congregation of their votaries seems to have existed
at Rome under Pompey as early as 67 B. C, the real
diffusion of the mysteries began with the Flavians,
toward the end of the first century of our era. They
became more and more prominent under the Antonines
and the Severi, and remained the most im
portant cult of paganism
until the end of the fourth
century. Through them as a medium the original
doctrines of Mazdaism were widely propagated in
every Latin province, arid in order to appreciate the
influence of Persia upon the Roman creeds, we must
now give them our careful attention.
However, it must be said that the growing influence
of Persia did not manifest itself solely in the religious
sphere. After the accession of the Sassanid dynasty
(228 A. D.) the country once more became conscious
of its originality, again resumed the cultivation of
national traditions, reorganized the hierarchy of its
official clergy and recovered the political cohesion
which had been wanting under the Parthians. It felt