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

THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS.
ia Minor was colonized by the Persians. The up
lands of Anatolia resembled those of Persia in climate
and soil, and were especially adapted to the raising of
horses. 1 7 In Cappadocia
and even in Pontus the aris
tocracy who owned the soil belonged to the conquering
nation. Under the various governments which fol
lowed after the death of Alexander, those landlords
remained the real masters of the country, chieftains of
clans governing the canton where they
had their do
mains, and, on the outskirts of Armenia at least, they
retained the hereditary title of satraps through all
political vicissitudes until the time of Justinian, thus
recalling their Persian origin. 18 This military and
feudal aristocracy furnished Mithradates Eupator a
considerable number of the officers who helped him in
his long defiance of Rome, and later it defended the
threatened independence of Armenia against the enter
prises of the Caesars. These warriors worshiped
Mithra as the protecting genius of their arms, and
this is the reason why Mithra always, even in the
Latin world, remained the "invincible" god, the tute
lary deity of armies, held in special honor by warriors.
Besides the Persian nobility a Persian clergy had
also become established in the peninsula. It officiated
in famous temples, at Zela in Pontus and Hierpcaesarea
in Lydia. Magi, called mtfgousaioi or pyrethes (fire
lighters) were scattered over the Levant. Like the
Jews, they retained their national customs and tra
ditional rites with such scrupulous loyalty that Barde-
sanes of Edessa cited them as an example in his at
tempt to refute the doctrines of astrology and to show
that a nation can retain the same customs in different
climates. 1 ^ We know their religion sufficiently to be