God Mithra is depicted as riding in a chariot drawn by white horses, armed with a silver spear, a bow and arrows of gold, daggers, axes, and his famous mace, the most formidable of his weaponry. As the god who controlled cosmic order, he was responsible for the protection and dispensation of the farr (“divine grace”) which legitimized a king’s rule. Mithra granted a monarch the right to rule and, when the king violated the contract by unrighteous behavior, the divine grace was withdrawn and given to another found worthier.
Mithra is best known from the Roman mystery religion, the Cult of Mithras, which, though no doubt influenced by the Roman army’s association with Persian religion on their campaigns, is a distinct belief system having nothing, finally, to do with Persian/Iranian worship of Mithra pre-Zoroaster.
