are a mixture of folklore and history

But some stories that reach us from the dim distant past

will always be more of a mystery.

By the wall Emperor Hadrian's soldiers built

to mark out his empire's extent

they made temples to workship a little-known god

that they honoured wherever they went

(Latin recitation)

This god was no Jupiter, Neptune

or one Roman citizens would see as home-grown

This god, Mithras, some claimed was Persian

until the soldiers, they made him their own

And to honour this Mithras and offer him thanks

for the benefits they thought that he gave

they built temples so that on the inside

they'd resemble an underground cave

At an image of Mithras slaying a bull

an officer officiated

In the darkness where torches gave flickering light

new followers were initiated

Blindfolded and naked they entered the place

Before the god Mithras they'd kneel

And some sort of ceremony was performed

that all swore they would never reveal

But what was the ceremony? We really don't know

what the rites of Mithras were about

and when Rome adopted the Christian faith

gods like Mithras were soon driven out

By the wall Emperor Hadrian's soldiers built

to mark out his empire's sway

they made temples to honour a little-known god

You can still see their ruins today.

We know a few things about the Mithras cult and they're always from the outside. We know

that it was a secret religious society of initiates, that it was especially popular

in the Roman army which carried it all over the empire, that it was supposed to come from

Persia but probably came from Rome itself and that people were initiated up through

seven grades in it which correspond roughly to the seven visible planets of ancient times.

We know that initiation involved the initiate being naked and being given various terrifying

experiences before being released. We know that there was a god at the centre of the

cult who's a good-looking young male who kills a huge bull. The cult of Mithras was one of

the greatest mystery religions of the Roman Empire, carried on secretly in subterranean

temples of which English Heritage cares for a beautiful one at Carrawburgh on Hadrian's

Wall. Today the Temple of Mithras on Hadrian's Wall is reduced to foundations so it's a rectangular

structure with a floor and the basis of an altar at the end but you can see the shape

of it and it's easy to imagine the roof going back on. It would have been windowless and

therefore dark. You would have come in to torchlight or candlelight and seen that relief

of the divine male slaughtering the great bull shimmering at the end of the wall. Or

at least you would have seen it when your blindfold would have been removed and you'd

be allowed to take part in the mysteries. Most of the ruined temples of Roman Britain

were to public cults for the community and for the empire. Places like the Mithraeum

at Carrawburgh are about real individuals having real religious experiences with deities

of their choice and you can't get closer to the heart of religion than that.