or Mithras. The highest of the twenty-eight
second-class divinities of the ancient Persians, and the ruler of the
universe. Sometimes used as a synonym for the sun. The word means
friend, and this deity is so called because he befriends man in
this life, and protects him against evil spirits after death. He is
represented as a young man with a Phrygian cap, a tunic, a mantle on
his left shoulder, and plunging a sword into the neck of a bull.
(Sanskrit, mitram, a friend.) (See Thebais, i.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
