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{{Short description|Deity of darkness in Greek and Latin texts}}
{{distinguish|Armenius|Arminius (disambiguation){{!}}Arminius}}
[[File:Siria, sculture del mitreo di sidon, 389 dc, krono mitriaco con testa leonina e spire del tempo (serpente).JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|Lion-headed figure from the [[Sidon]] Mithraeum, sometimes identified as a Mithraic form of Arimanius (500&nbsp;CE; [[Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae|CIMRM]]&nbsp;78 & 79; [[Louvre]])]]
'''Arimanius''' ({{langx|el|italic=no|Αρειμάνιος}} {{grc-transl|Αρειμάνιος}}; {{langx|la|Arīmanius}}) is a name for an obscure deity found in a few [[ancient Greek literature|Greek literary texts]] and five [[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|Latin inscriptions]]. It is supposed to be the opponent of [[Ahura Mazda|Oromazes]] ({{langx|grc|italic=no|Ὡρομάζης}} {{transliteration|grc|Hōromázēs}}), the god of light. In classic texts, in the context of [[Zoroastrianism]], ''Areimanios'' (with variations) fairly clearly refers to the Greeks' and Romans' interpretation of the [[Persia]]n [[Ahriman]].<ref name=Beck1984>{{cite book |last=Beck |first=Rodger |year=1984 |article=Mithraism since Franz Cumont |at=II.17.4 |title=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt |trans-title=The Rise and Fall of the Roman World}}</ref>{{rp|page= 2034}}
The Latin inscriptions which were found in a [[Mithraic mysteries|Mithraic]] context suggest a re-defined or different deity with a near-identical name.<ref name=Gordon1975>{{cite book |last=Gordon |first=Robert L. |year=1975 |chapter=Cumont and the doctrine of Mithraism |title=Mithraic Studies |publisher=Manchester University Press}}</ref>{{rp|page= 226}}

The most extended passage in [[classics|classical literature]] on ''Areimanios'' is in two sections of [[Plutarch]]<ref name=PlutarchIsis>{{cite book |author=Plutarch |author-link=Plutarch |title=Isis and Osiris |year=1936 |pages=46–47 |publisher=Loeb Classical Library |postscript=;}} available online: {{cite book |author=Plutarch |author-link=Plutarch |year=1936 |title=Isis and Osiris |pages=46–47 |via=[[LacusCurtius]] |publisher=University of Chicago |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Isis_and_Osiris*/C.html#46}}</ref> who describes him as the dark or evil side in a [[dualistic cosmology|dualistic]] opposition with Oromazes (for ''Ohrmuzd'' or [[Ahura Mazda]]).{{refn|''Areimanios'' is also mentioned in other texts as an evil ''[[daimon]]'', "the worst spirit", or even equated with [[Satan]] as [[Satan#Hebrew Bible|"the adversary"]]: [[Diogenes Laërtius]]&nbsp;1.8; [[Damascius]], ''Dubitationes et Solutiones''&nbsp;125; [[Agathias]], ''Historiae''&nbsp;2.25; [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]] ''apud'' [[Photius]], ''Bibliotheca''&nbsp;72.81, cited by de&nbsp;Jong (1997).<ref name=deJong1997>{{cite book |last=de&nbsp;Jong |first=A. |year=1997 |title=Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin literature |publisher=Brill}}</ref>{{rp|pages= 313–314}} }}
However, [[Plutarch]]<ref name=PlutarchIsis/> was specifically describing Persian [[Zoroastrianism]], rather than the obscure Arimanius of  the [[Mithraism|''Mysteries of Mithras'']]. In the context of Roman [[Mithraism]], from the way the name is used, it seems implausible that it refers to an evil entity, no matter how formidable his depictions might appear.{{nowrap|<ref name=Gordon1975/>{{rp|pages= 226–227}} }}

==The name==
The most common form of the name in its few occurrences among Greek authors is {{lang|grc|Ἀρειμανιος}} (''Areimanios''), presumably rendering an unattested [[Old Persian]] form *{{Lang|peo-Latn|ahramanyu}}, which, however, would have yielded a [[Middle Persian]] *{{Lang|pal-Latn|ahrmen}}. The name is given as {{lang|grc|Ἀριμάνης}} (''Arimanēs'') by [[Agathias]], and {{lang|grc|Ἀρειμανής}} (''Areimanēs'') by [[Hesychius of Alexandria|Hesychius]], rendering the Middle Persian {{Lang|pal-Latn|Ahreman}}. Variations of the name not derivable by systematic linguistics may well be explained to its similarity to Greek words meaning "warlike" (see [[Ares#Names|''names and epithets of Ares'']]).<ref name=deJong1997/>{{rp|pages= 312–313}}

== Plutarch ==
According to Plutarch<ref name=PlutarchIsis/>{{rp|at= 46}} [[Zoroaster]] named "Areimanios" as one of the two rivals who were the artificers of good and evil. In terms of sense perception, [[Ahura Mazda|Oromazes]] was to be compared with light, and Areimanios to darkness and ignorance; between these was [[Mithras]] the Mediator. Areimanios received offerings that pertained to [[apotropaism|warding off evil]] and [[mourning]].

In describing a ritual to Areimanios, Plutarch<ref name=PlutarchIsis/> says the god was invoked as [[Hades]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Reinach |first=S. |year=1909 |translator-last=Simmonds |translator-first=F. |title=Orpheus: A general history of religions |place=London, UK |publisher=Heinemann}}</ref>{{rp|page= 68}} gives the identification as [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], the name of the Greek ruler of the underworld used most commonly in texts and inscriptions pertaining to the [[mystery religions]], and in Greek dramatists and philosophers of Athens in the [[Classical Greece|Classical period]]. Turcan<ref name=Turcan1992>{{cite book |last=Turcan |first=Robert |orig-year=1992 |year=2001 |title=The Cults of the Roman Empire |publisher=Blackwell |language=en}} originally published 1989 in French.</ref>{{rp|page= 232}} notes that Plutarch makes of Areimanios "a sort of [[wikt:tenebrous|tenebrous]] Pluto". Plutarch, however, names the Greek god as ''[[Hades]]'', not the name ''[[Hades|Plouton]]'' used in the [[Eleusinian Mysteries|Eleusinian tradition]]{{efn|For distinctions in usage between the two names, see [[Pluto (mythology)#Mysteries and cult|Pluto in the mysteries and cult]] and [[Pluto (mythology)#In Greek literature and philosophy|Pluto in Greek literature and philosophy]].}} ("The Hidden One") and darkness.{{efn|In Greek religion, [[Hades]] was the ruler of the dead or shades, but not an evil god [[wikt:per se|''per se'']], except in the sense that death might be considered a bad thing – [[Wikt:κακόν|{{math|κακόν}}]], ''kakon''.}}

The Areimanios ritual required an otherwise-unknown plant that Plutarch calls "''[[Haoma|omomi]]''" ([[Haoma]] or [[Soma (drink)|Soma]]), which was to be pounded in a mortar and mixed with the blood of a sacrificed wolf. The substance was then carried to a place "''where the sun never shines''" and cast therein. He adds that "water-rats" belong to this god, and therefore proficient rat-killers are fortunate men.

Plutarch then gives a [[cosmogony|cosmogonical]] myth:
<blockquote>
Oromazes, born from the purest light, and Areimanius, born from darkness, are constantly at war with each other; and Oromazes created six gods, the first of Good Thought, the second of Truth, the third of Order, and, of the rest, one of Wisdom, one of Wealth, and one the Artificer of Pleasure in what is Honourable. But Areimanius created rivals, as it were, equal to these in number. Then Oromazes enlarged himself to thrice his former size, and removed himself as far distant from the Sun as the Sun is distant from the Earth, and adorned the heavens with stars. One star he set there before all others as a guardian and watchman, the [[Sirius|Dog-star]]. Twenty-four other gods he created and placed in [[world egg|an egg]]. But those created by Areimanius, who were equal in number to the others, pierced through the egg and made their way inside; hence evils are now combined with good. But a destined time shall come when it is decreed that Areimanius, engaged in bringing on pestilence and famine, shall by these be utterly annihilated and shall disappear; and then shall the earth become a level plain, and there shall be one manner of life and one form of government for a blessed people who shall all speak one tongue. — Plutarch<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Plutarch]] |title=Moralia |article=Isis and Osiris |at= |publisher=[[University of Chicago]] |article-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/H/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Isis_and_Osiris*/C.html |via=Penelope.UChicago.edu}}</ref><ref name=PlutarchIsis/>{{rp|at= 47}}
</blockquote>

Scholar [[Mary Boyce]] asserted that the passage shows a "fairly accurate" knowledge of basic Zoroastrianism.<ref>{{cite book |author1-link=Mary Boyce |last1=Boyce |first1=M. |last2=Grenet |first2=F. |name-list-style=amp |year=1991 |title=A History of Zoroastrianism: Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman rule |pages=458–459 |publisher=Brill}}</ref>

In his ''Life of Themistocles'', Plutarch has the Persian king invoke Areimanios by name, asking the god to cause the king's enemies to behave in such a way as to drive away their own best men; de&nbsp;Jong (1997)<ref name=deJong1997/>{{rp|page= 313}} doubted that a Persian king would pray to his own national religion’s god of evil, particularly in public.

According to Plutarch, the king then made a sacrifice and got drunk – essentially a [[running gag]] on Persian kings in Plutarch’s writing, and thus dubious evidence for actual behavior.<ref name=deJong1997/>{{rp|page= 314}}
[[File:Leontocephaline at Ostia Antica by Franz Cumont.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|right|Drawing of the [[Mithraism#Lion headed figure|"leontocephaline figure"]] found at the mithraeum of C.&nbsp;Valerius Heracles and sons, dedicated 190&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]] at [[Ostia Antica]], Italy (CIMRM 312)]]

==As a Mithraic god==
[[Franz Cumont]] believed that Greco-Roman [[Mithraism]] had been influenced by some beliefs of ancient [[Mazdaism]], including [[Dualistic cosmology#Moral dualism|ethical dualism]]. 
However, no evidence has been found in any [[mithraeum]] for the "''[[Haoma|omomi]]''" ([[haoma]], [[Soma (drink)|soma]]) cult<ref name=Gordon1975/> associated by Plutarch with the Persian ''Arimanios'' ritual.<ref name=PlutarchIsis/>

Most scholars doubt that [[Mithraism|Mithraists]] actually preserved the doctrine of [[magi|Persian magi]], despite their appeals to their authority, but the name ''Arimanius'' is difficult to separate from the [[Persian religion|Persian tradition]] of [[Ahriman]];<ref name=Turcan1992/>{{rp|page= 232}}<ref name=Gordon1975/>{{rp|pages= 217 ''ff''}} nevertheless the association of [[Mithras]] with an ostensibly undefeated evil god has been dismissed by many scholars as inherently implausible.<ref name=Gordon1975/>{{rp|page= 227}}

However implausible the toleration of an evil god, the inscription ''Deo Areimanio'' (''to the God Areimanius'') is indeed found on a few altars to [[Mithras]], but without any description that would link that name with a particular image.{{refn|For instance, [[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|''CIL'']] &nbsp;III.3415, III.3480, VI.47 (without naming Mithras);<ref>{{cite book |last=Bivar |first=A.D.H. |year=1971 |article=Mithra and Mesopotamia |title=Mithraic Studies |page=278 |publisher=University of Manchester Press |article-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBy8AAAAIAAJ&q=areimanius&pg=PA278 |via=Google Books}}</ref>}} There are five high-quality dedications to ''Arimanius'' found throughout the [[Roman Empire]], but none are on any of the many images of the [[Mithraic mysteries#Lion-headed figure|Mithraic lion-headed figure]].{{refn|Gordon<ref name=Gordon1975/>{{rp|pages= 226–227}} lists the dedications as [[CIMRM]]&nbsp;322 ([[Ostia Antica|Ostia]]); 369&nbsp;(Rome); 833&nbsp;([[York]]); 1773, 1775&nbsp;([[Carnuntum]]).<!-- was originally “Carnutum” -->}} The text of the dedications suggest that in a Mithraic context ''Arimanius'' was not conceived of as an evil being, however formidable. Gordon remarks:
: “the real point is surely that we know nothing of any importance about the western ''Areimanius''.”<ref name=Gordon1975/>{{rp|page= 227}}

Occultist D.J.&nbsp;Cooper conjectures that the [[Mithraic mysteries#Lion-headed figure|lion-headed figure]] does not depict a god, but rather symbolically represents the spiritual state achieved in the Leo degree – Mithraism’s “[[adept]]” level.<ref>{{cite book |first=D. Jason |last=Cooper |title=Mithras: Mysteries and initiation rediscovered |pages=48–49 |year=1996 |place=York Beach, Maine |publisher=Samuel Weiser |quote=''The statue is a representation of the Leo degree, internalized''.}}</ref> If so, it would be yet another reason to un-link the name ''Arimanius'' from the lion-headed figure.

===Roman Britain===
A mutilated statue found at [[York]] has a fragmentary [[votum|dedicatory]] inscription that has been read as containing the name ''Arimanius''. The figure seems to be entwined with a serpent. At one time it was conjectured that it represented the [[Mithraic mysteries#Lion-headed figure|lion-headed god of Mithraism]],<ref name=Turcan1992/>{{rp|page= 232}} or some form of [[Aion (deity)|Aion]]. But since ''Arimanius'' could also be a Romano-[[Brittonic languages|Celtic]] personal name, it is uncertain whether the inscription refers to the god represented by the statue, or to the person who made the votive dedication. No other Mithraic objects were found near the statue, nor was its head; any leonine features are speculative.<ref name=Beck1984/>{{rp|pages= 2034–2035}}

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==See also==
{{div col begin|colwidth=15em}}
*[[Aion (deity)|Aion]]
*[[Ares#Names|Ares’ names and epithets]]
*[[Aryaman]]
*[[Ahriman]]
*[[Mithraic mysteries#Lion-headed figure|Mithraism's lion-headed figure]]
*[[Zoroastrianism]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

[[Category:Hellenistic deities]]
[[Category:Deities of classical antiquity]]
[[Category:Mithraism]]
[[Category:Evil gods]]