Raised By Wolves: The Mithraic Religion Explained

gamerant.com:

When it comes to critique of religion, creatives trend into some difficult territory and risk offending a lot of people. One way to reduce this problem would be to use a fictional religion, but an interesting alternative might be to use a real, but ancient, system of belief. Ridley Scott's HBO series combines elements of both these tropes in its portrayal of religion and religious conflict.

Raised by Wolves is a complex work of science fiction that deals with a lot of complex questions. While much of it explores questions about humanity of artificially intelligent beings, its human characters remain embroiled in a seemingly eternal religious war. It was this conflict that left the planet Earth uninhabitable and drove what remains of humanity to Kepler-22b, kicking off the series. Yet, even on this distant planet, the conflict remains.

Ridley Scott's Raised by Wolves Has Bladerunner Vibes

Mithraism is, or was, a real religion that emerged throughout Rome during the 1st through the 4th century CE. The religion, like all native belief systems of the era, was viewed as an enemy of Christianity and was violently persecuted by the church, leaving no trace by the end of the 4th century. It featured a tiered initiation system and a variety of large feast ceremonies. Worshippers met in underground temples called Mithraeum, where they praised an Iranian sun deity called Mithras, who was honored as a patron deity to the Roman Emperor. Mithraism existed before Zoroastrianism, blending the Iranian and Mediterranean groups in a shared faith. There are over 1,000 pieces of antiquity depicting the iconic scenes of Mithras that remain present, but there isn't a single piece of written theology for the sect available today. This makes