From body to space and time: perceiving space and time in the Mithras cult

This article investigates the possible ways in which Mithraists perceived the major categories of space and time in their ritual context. Merleau-Ponty’s approach to the perception of space offers an appropriate theoretical framework for understanding how initiates used to perceive and experience the sacred space of the mithraeum. Further, the Lakoff and Johnson approach to the metaphorization and conventional conceptions of time is applied illustrating the way in which the initiates into the mithraic mysteries perceived and conceptualized time. In particular, it is suggested that conventional metaphorical mappings, imbuing the conceptual systems of Mithraists, functioned as a means of conceptualization of the initiatory experience in relation to the perception of space and time.