An account of Mithras' birth describes Mithras as the “light bursting from the heavens” in the mythology of the Magi. The heavens were thought of as a sold vault of rock, hence by analogy Mithras was born from a rock. The tradition ran that the “Generative Rock,” of which a standing image was worshipped in the temples, had given birth to Mithras on the banks of a river, under the shade of a sacred tree (fig. 031)

THE GOD CAME FORTH

Shepherds ensconced in a neighboring mountain, had witnessed the miracle of his entrance into the world. They had seen him issue forth from the rocky mass (fig. 025) , his head adorned with a Phrygian cap, armed with a knife, and carrying a torch that had illuminated the somber depths below

Worshipfully the shepherds drew near, offering the divine infant the first fruits of their flock and their harvests

SOL IS COMPELLED TO PAY

The god concealed himself in the branches of a fig-tree (fig. 015) , eating of its fruit and making garments of its leaves (an image which perhaps gives rise to the legend that Mithras was born from a tree top)

132 MM Ser: 10 Pg 130 (d) FigNo 015

Sol kneels before Mithras, indicating that through conquering his animal nature (the bull) Mithras has arrogated to himself the strength of the sun and become its lord

Mithras performs a kind of ceremonial investiture: he consecrates the divine power of Helios by crowning him with his own hands. This relationship corresponds to that between Christ and Peter. Peter's attribute, the cock, gives him a solar character