Mithras

American  

[mith-ras] / ˈmɪθ ræs /

Also Mithra

noun

Persian Mythology.

1. the god of light and truth, later of the sun.

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Mithras British  

/ ˈmɪθrə, ˈmɪθræs /

noun

1. Persian myth the god of light, identified with the sun, who slew a primordial bull and fertilized the world with its blood

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Etymology

Origin of Mithras

< Latin < Greek Míthrās < Old Persian Mithra

Example Sentences

Unlike Jews and adherents of Mithras and Isis, Christians were violently persecuted — and some of Rome’s earliest churches, including St. Peter’s, are martyriums: sites where saints were slain for their beliefs.

From New York Times • May 1, 2023

Mithrans believed that Mithras had been a soldier, slain by his enemies, who then rose to enjoy eternal life.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

It was built over a fourth-century church that itself sat atop a temple to the Roman god Mithras.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 12, 2016

The wine god’s local cult had installed itself in the 2nd-century Temple of Mithras, less than a mile away, when the soldiers’ god fell out of fashion.

From Washington Post • Jun. 9, 2016

Mithras just wasn’t one of the gods they talked about at Camp Half-Blood.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan