be known by the name of Destiny and every country and every city in the Orient worshipped its Destiny. The Semites called it gadā. It was rendered among the Greeks as Tyche. Alexander's successors adopted it to strengthen their royal position that they had usurped, and established the worship of the Glory or Tyche of the king. People swore by the Tyche of King Seleukos. The kings of Cappadocia, Pontus, and Bactriana honoured the Glory. The Seleucids proclaimed themselves the favourites of the Glory or Fortune and thus ordained to rule by the grace of God. The Yasht dedicated to Mithra speaks of him as the giver of Glory.[1] It was this function of Mithra of dispensing the Kingly Glory that made him the favourite of the Roman emperors who likewise declared themselves possessed of this divine Glory. They ruled with absolute power in the name of God, and ordered this goddess of their own person to be worshipped. A number of theophorous or god-bearing names compounded with the name of Mithra were used enthusiastically.
The creed. The supreme godhead is Kronos, Time, known in the Avestan texts as Zrvan Akarana or Boundless Time. He is devoid of name, sex, and passions. He is the First Cause. The Sun is his physical manifestation. In sculptures he is represented as a lion-headed human monster. A serpent encircles his body. He holds the sceptre and the bolts of sovereignty and holds in each hand a key to the gates of heaven. He is the creator and destroyer. He created Heaven and Earth. The Earth begot the Ocean. The Heaven is Ormazd, or Jupiter, the Earth is Spenta Armaiti or Juno, the Ocean is Apam Napat or Neptune. Atar or Vulcan is the angel of fire. Shahrivar or Mars is the genius of metals. Haoma or Bacchus personifies plants. Drvaspa or Silvanus is the genius of agriculture. Anaitis or Venus and Cybele is the goddess of water. Vanainti or Nike is the angel of victory. Asha or Arete presides over virtue. These Iranian Yazatas that have accompanied Mithra were worshipped under Greek and Latin names. With other divinities they dwell on the sunlit summits of Mt. Olympus. Fire, wind, water, and earth are the four steeds that drive the chariot of the Supreme God. The Sun goes his daily round in his chariot. The moon drives in a cart drawn by white bulls. Verethraghna is likened to a bellicose and destructive boar, one of the forms
- ↑ Yt. 10. 16, 128, 141.
