January
10
/ 2021
Do our myths come from the stars or do we project our myths onto the stars? The story of Mithras truly does come from astronomical discoveries in the ancient world. It was noticed that every 2,160 years the night sky changes with the constellations seemingly moving backward one notch (the precession of the equinoxes). Mithras thus became the god who altered the night sky in this manner. Indeed, an iconography and narrative involving him killing a bull (among other things) and representing the sun (Sol Invictus) was developed to the point where Mithraism challenged Christianity during the first few centuries AD. Yet, when the Egyptians saw the star Sirius rise, heralding the flooding of the Nile, they took an already
