Indo-Iranian divinity
Mitra (Proto-Indo-Iranian: *mitrás) is the name of an Indo-Iranian divinity that predates the Rigvedic Mitrá and Avestan Mithra.
The names, and some characteristics, of these established deities subsequently influenced other figures:
- Maitreya, a vrddhi-derived form of Sanskrit mitra, a bodhisattva in Buddhist tradition.
- Latin Mithras, the principal figure of the first-century Roman mystery cult of Mithraism, whose name derives from the Avestan theonym via Greek and some Anatolian intermediate.
- In Hellenistic-era Asia Minor, Avestan Mithra was conflated with various local and Greek figures leading to several different variants of Apollo-Helios-Mithras-Hermes-Stilbon.
- In Middle Iranian, the Avestan theonym evolved (among other Middle Iranian forms) into Sogdian Miši, Middle Persian and Parthian Mihr, and Bactrian Miuro (/mihru/).[citation needed] Aside from Avestan Mithra, these derivative names were also used for Greco-Bactrian Mithro, Miiro, Mioro, and Miuro.
- Mithra, the "first messenger" of Iranian Manichaeans.[a]
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