Note 817 — Chapter XII · THE WORSHIP OF MITHRAS

Cumont, T. et M. I. pp. 19-20, relies on a passage quoted by Damascius from a certain Eudemos who may or may not be Eudemos of Rhodes (Alexander’s contemporary) that, “of the Magi and all the warrior [or Medic: ἄρειον] race some call the intelligible” [i.e. that which can be apprehended by the mind only and not by the senses] “and united universe Topos (place), while others of them call it Chronos (Time), and that from this universe are to be distinguished a good God and evil demon; or as some say, prior to these, Light and Darkness.” “Both the one and the other school therefore,” Damascius goes on, “after the undivided Nature, make the double series of the higher powers distinct from one another, of one of which they make Oromasdes the leader, and of the other Arimanius.” It seems evident from the above words, that only a certain sect of the Magi in the time of this Eudemos put Time at the head of their pantheon. Cf. Cory’s Ancient Fragments, 1832, pp. 318, 319.