Rom
Mystery
Religions
David Green - dgreen2@richmond.edu
A mystery religion is a religious organization or cult which
is focused mainly on a single deity. This deity usually has
something which it can offer to the individual member of the
society. the distinguishing characteristics of a mystery
religion are the focus on the individual, a sense of community
and generally a salvation theme.
The focus of
this web page is the importance of these mystery religions in
the Roman Empire. Beginning in the Republic, these religions
became increasingly popular in the early Empire and eventually
one of them, Christianity, became the official religion of the
Roman Empire. During the early Empire, the cults of Mithras
and Isis were also very popular, though were later driven
nearly to extinction by Christianity.
Common Mystery Religions
http://hermes.richmond.edu/dave/Cults/cults.html
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