Mithras
Μίθρας
(Μίθρας), the god of the sun among the Persians. (Xenoph. Cyrop. 7.5.53; Strab. xv. p.732.) About the time of the Roman emperors his worship was introduced at Rome, and thence spread over all parts of the empire. The god is commonly represented as a handsome youth, wearing the Phrygian cap and attire, and kneeling on a bull which is thrown on the ground, and whose throat he is cutting. The bull is at the same time attacked by a dog, a serpent, and a scorpion. This group appears frequently among ancient works of art, and a fine specimen is preserved in the British Museum.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.