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Mithras—also called Mithra—was a deitygod or goddess from ancient Indo-Iranianhaving to do with the peoples and cultures of northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran mythology. He became a major figure in the religion known as Zoroastrianism, which originated in ancient Persiaancient land in southwestern Asia, including much of present-day Iran and Afghanistan. The cultgroup bound together by devotion to a particular person, belief, or god of Mithras spread into the Mediterranean world, where for a time it rivaled Christianity as the fastest-growing new religion.

Some scholars identify Mithras with Mitra, a mythic figure of the Aryan peoples who invaded northern India around...