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Mithra or Mithras

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Dictionaries
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Mithra
Webster Dictionary
• Mithras
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Mithras
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
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The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Mithras

(Greek Μίθρας ; Sanscrit Mitra or Mitras), the highest of the twenty-eight second-class divinities of the ancient Persian Pantheon, is generally regarded as the chief of the Izeds (Zend. Yazata), the ruler of the universe. He is spoken of as the god of the sun; but he is more properly the god of day, and, in a higher and more extended sense, the god of light, presiding over the movements and influence of the principal heavenly bodies, including the five planets of the sun and moon. The primary signification of the word Mitra is a friend, and Mithra would therefore convey the representation of light as the friend of mankind, and a