feasts of, in antiquity, were feasts cele- brated among the Romans in honour of Mithras or the sun. The most ancient instance of this Mithras among the Romans occurs in an inscription dated in the third century of Trajan, or about the year of Christ 101. This is the dedication of an altar to the sun under the above name, thus inscribed, Deo Soli Mithrae. But the worship of Mithras was not known in Egypt and Syria in the time of Origen, who died about the year of Christ 263; though it was common at Rome for more than a century before this time. The worship of Mi- thras was proclimed at Rome in the year 378, by or- der of Gracchus, prefect of the praetorium. According to M. Freret, the feasts of Mithras were derived from Chaldea, where they had been instituted for celebrating the entrance of the sun into the sign Taurus.