Mithra was the ancient Persian god of light, truth, and victory. The

Question

Mithra was the ancient Persian god of light, truth, and victory. The worship of Mithra spread with the Persian Empire eastward into India and westward into Asia. Later, when the Roman Empire expanded westward into lands that the Persians had once ruled, the Mithra cult began to gain followers among Roman soldiers. During the second and third centuries CE, Mithraism was the dominant religion of Rome and spread to every corner of the empire.

There are several reasons for the success of Mithraism among the Romans. The established state religion of Rome had lost much of its power to inspire true reverence; Mithraism, like several other Eastern cults, had the appeal of novelty, antiquity, and exoticism. In addition, Mithra was worshipped as a special patron of soldiers, and his cult brought stability to the lives of the many imperial soldiers serving far from their native lands. Also, Mithraism was consistent with absolute loyalty to the emperor, and many of the emperors seem to have encouraged Mithra worship for that reason.

Mithraism was supplanted in the fourth century by Christianity. Again, there are various reasons for this transition. Mithraism was above all a religion of soldiers; in fact, it seems to have been all male. There were goddess cults, compatible with Mithraism, to which many wives and daughters of Mithraists adhered, but there were no activities in which whole families were united. This was a very different situation from that of Christianity, in which mothers could instruct sons and fathers daughters, and everyone could pray together. Moreover, Mithraism was a mystery religion; the ceremonies were similar in some respects to those of Christianity, but only people who had gone through secret initiation rites were allowed to participate. Christianity differed here too: priests underwent a special ordination ceremony, but initiation into the church by baptism was available even to children, and the doctrines and rituals of Christianity were never concealed from the faithful.    1 
 1. The author's primary purpose is to

A. detail the history of the spread of Mithraism in the ancient world
B. explain the rise and decline of Mithraism in ancient Rome
C. summarize the religious history of the Roman Empire
D. argue for the superiority of Christianity to Mithraism
E. describe the religious ceremonies of Mithraism

2 
 2. The author mentions all of the following as reasons for the rise of Mithraism in the Roman Empire during the second century EXCEPT:

A. Mithraism had not previously been widespread among the Romans.
B. The Persians had long been worshipping Mithra.
C. Mithraism was well-suited to soldiers, who were numerous.
D. Roman emperors had practical reasons for encouraging Mithraism.
E. Mithraism had some points of similarity to Christianity.

3 
 3. The passage provides evidence that supports which of the following assertions?

A. Mithraism became more prevalent in the Roman Empire than it did in India.
B. Romans began to worship Mithra after the Persians had ceased to do so.
C. Women did not participate in the rites of Mithra.
D. In the fourth century, all Mithraists converted to Christianity.
E. Mithraism is no longer practiced today.

RC Butler 2023  -  Practice Two RC Passages Everyday.   
Passage # 285 Date: 18 Aug-2023
 This question is part of RC Butler 2023 .  Click here for Details

chanandler_bong · Answer

Could you plase explain why in question 3 C is not correct, since it say that there were " goddess cults, compatible with Mithraism, to which many wives and daughters of Mithraists adhered, but there were no activities in which whole families were united ". Thank you

Sajjad1994 · Answer

C  is indeed the official answer to question 3. Please clarify your question.

chanandler_bong · Answer

I am extremely sorry. I typed wrong. I kindly wanted to have a clarification about why is C correct ( because I had selected D ) considering the fact that the text states that there were " goddess cults, compatible with Mithraism, to which many wives and daughters of Mithraists adhered, but there were no activities in which whole families were united ". ( where I understand that women indeed did participate to some rites of Mithra". 
Please correct my reasoning, thank you a lot. 
ps. sorry, in my previous comment the "not correct" should have been just "correct" without the not.

muskaansinha148 · Answer

plss explain the answers

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. The passage provides evidence that supports which of the following assertions?

Difficulty Level:   Medium

Explanation

Analyze the question stem

This is an Inference question, because the correct answer will be an assertion that is supported by the passage.

Research

With no research clue, the best way to proceed is to go straight to the answer choices.

Make a prediction

It's not possible to make a specific prediction, but keep the scope and purpose in mind while evaluating the choices.

Evaluate the answer choices

(A)  is not supported, as the passage never compares the popularity of Mithraism in the two locations.

(B)  is incorrect because the passage never says that the Persians ceased worshiping Mithra. Paragraph 1 does indicate that the Persians once ruled certain areas, apparently ceasing to do so once the Romans conquered them. But ceasing to rule is not the same as ceasing to worship.

(C)  is correct.  Paragraph 3 says that Mithraism  "seems to have been all male"  and that there were other cults to which many wives and daughters of Mithraists adhered.

(D)  is extreme; the passage never even hints at the idea that all adherents of Mithra became converts to Christianity.

(E)  is out of scope

Answer: C

Rohan96 · Answer

Can you please give a detailed explanation for Q1 & Q2 as well ?  Sajjad1994

ajayb1994 · Answer

Where can I find all the official explanations for the RC above?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

1. The author's primary purpose is to

Explanation

Analyze the question stem

The words  "primary purpose"  signal a Global question.

Research

The only research needed is to refer to the purpose in the passage map.

Make a prediction

The purpose is  "to explain the rise and fall of Mithraism during the Roman Empire."

Evaluate the answer choices

(B)  matches the prediction and is correct.

(A)  is incorrect because it's too broad. The passage doesn't talk about the spread of Mithraism in the ancient world, just in Rome.

(C)  is similarly too broad. The passage discusses only two religions: Mithraism and Christianity. The author makes no claim to be exhaustive in discussing
the religions of the Roman Empire.

(D)  is incorrect because the author never asserts that either religion is superior to the other. The author does indicate that one religion  "supplanted"  another, but that hardly argues for indicating superiority. In fact, the use of the word  "supplanted"  (rather than overcame or triumphed over, for example) would argue for the author’s neutral point of view, as does the word  "transition"  in the next paragraph

(E)  is incorrect because the passage never gives any details of Mithra ceremonies.

Answer: B

TAKEAWAY:   Often, choices in global questions can be eliminated by looking at their verbs and comparing them to the verbs in the passage map.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

2. The author mentions all of the following as reasons for the rise of Mithraism in the Roman Empire during the second century EXCEPT:

Explanation

Analyze the question stem

This is a Detail EXCEPT question; the four incorrect choices will be supported by the passage, while the correct choice will not be

Research

According to the passage map, the second paragraph is where reasons for the popularity of Mithraism are discussed.

Make a prediction

It's impossible to predict something that's not in the passage, but you can predict what the wrong answers might be. The passage emphasizes the military
nature of the religion, as well as its encouragement of loyalty, so those will likely show up in the choices, but be ready to research the others to see if they're supported

Evaluate the answer choices

(E)  is correct because even though the passage does say that Mithraism had some points of similarity to Christianity, this discussion occurs in the third
paragraph, not as a reason for the rise of Mithraism.

(A)  is supported by the word  "novelty"  in the second sentence of paragraph 2; this implies that if the religion were previously known, it would not have
spread as much.

(B)  is supported by the word  "antiquity"  in the same sentence; Mithraism's appeal to the ancient Persians is one of the reasons Romans were attracted.

(C)  and  (D)  are also supported in the second paragraph, as predicted.

Answer: E

TAKEAWAY:   Don't predict the right answer in EXCEPT questions; predict what the wrong answers might be.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

You can find Question #1  here   Question #2  here  and Question #3  here

Cheers

Mithra was the ancient Persian god of light, truth, and victory. The

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Mithra was the ancient Persian god of light, truth, and victory. The

Prep Toolkit

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