As many of you may know, Mithras and his followers feature heavily in The Silver Eagle. It’s a religion that has fascinated me from the time that I first heard about it. It’s known that it was a secretive sect, with underground temples, arcane rituals and was favoured by Roman soldiers, who, it is thought, first came in contact with it in Asia Minor in the 70s or 60s BC. But the religion was far older than that and from further east as well. The Parthians quite possibly worshipped Mithras, and he may even have been venerated as far east as India.
Mithraic temples are found all over the former Roman Empire. There’s one in the crypt of a church not five minutes from the Colosseum that is well worth a visit, and an amazing mosaic path in Ostia details the seven levels of initiation. There are several temples in Britain, most notably at Carrawburgh on Hadrian’s Wall. But no evidence of devotion to Mithras has ever been found in Scotland before. Until now! Read about this amazing find here.