Mithras Slaying The Bull
From Lundy's Monumental Christianity.
The most famous sculpturings and reliefs of this prototokos show Mithras kneeling
upon the recumbent form of a great bull, into whose throat he is driving a sword. The
slaying of the bull signifies that the rays of the sun, symbolized by the sword, release
at the vernal equinox the vital essences of the earth—the blood of the
bull—which, pouring from the wound made by the Sun God, fertilize the seeds of living
things. Dogs were held sacred to the cult of Mithras, being symbolic of sincerity and
trustworthiness. The Mithraics used the serpent as an emblem of Ahriman, the Spirit of
Evil, and water rats were held sacred to him. The bull is esoterically the Constellation
of Taurus; the serpent, its opposite in the zodiac, Scorpio; the sun, Mithras, entering
into the side of the bull, slays the celestial creature and nourishes the universe with
its blood. MPH