The Cult of MithrasThe cult of Mithras was a religious cult that had been imported from the east by the Roman legionaries.
Pompey's republican troops and his officials imported the cult of Mithras from the Middle East and Cappadocia in Turkey, which had many underground cities and similar systems of defense. This cult included the practice of killing a bull and, it was said, Mithras was born of a virgin, died on December 25th and after three days was reborn from a rock.
The rituals were practiced by the military, politicians and state officials in caves and underground where, according to the few remaining sources, women were excluded for the simple reason that at that time there were no women in the military, nor female state officials. True that women could be priestesses of many cults
