The Cult of Mithra was based on worshiping the god Mithra, who in traditional Hindu religion was the god of the sun, solar system, sky at day, and other similar things depending on who you ask. Mithra was considered a minor deity until a guy named Zoroastrian came along and decided to reform the religion a bit. He created a branch that was essentially monotheistic with Ahura Mazda as supreme god. Directly below Ahura Mazda in ranking was Mithra, who was essentially the god's hero and went around fighting for the right.
The most interesting thing about Mithraism is that in a lot of ways, it's very similar to traditional Christianity. Besides the obvious similarity of Ahura Mazda and Mithra to God and Jesus, a lot of their traditions were very similar. Not a whole lot is known about the rituals of Mithraism, but they've found evidence that they had animal sacrifices, led what we would consider moral lifestyles, and had a ceremony involving bread and wine.
The Catholic church in particular says that Mithraism is probably similar to Christianity because they borrowed a lot of Christian ideas. They also say that a major difference is that Jesus Christ has been proven to have walked this earth, although whether or not he was the Son of God depends on your own beliefs. Mithra, in contrast, has no evidence to support his existence, and it was a fairly small area that believed in him, which some say is evidence against him.
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