Cult worship of the sun-god Mithra spanned Asia. According to anthropologist Gabriel Seabrook, he was “a warrior god, who hurled life-destroying arrows and incurable diseases at his enemies on the battlefield.”

On December 25 “the Mithraists celebrated the birth of Mithra . . . There is absolutely no biblical authority for December 25 as having been the day of the Nativity.”​—Isaac Asimov.