ColossiansOne

Side by side, from the sources

Mithra vs Michael

These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Enforcers of covenant with a thousand eyes; Mithra's contract-keeping is Michael's guardianship of a people.

Deity · Persian · c. 1000 BCE

Mithra

also called Mithras, Mitra, Mithras Petrogenes, Mithras Petrogene, Mithras Rockborn, Mithras Rock-Born

God of the binding contract, worshipped from India to Roman Britain. No other deity in this compendium can be traced across three civilisations so cleanly.

Alignment
Disputed
Rank
Lord of Covenant
First attested
Rigveda · c. 1500-1200 BCE
Named there as
Mitra
Texts naming it
3
Powers attributed
4
78attestedZoroastrianRomanVedic & Hindu

Angelic · Archangels / Chief Princes · c. 400 BCE

Michael

also called Mikha'el, Mika'il, Michael the Archangel, St Michael, Mikael, St. Michael, Saint Michael the Archangel, St Michael the Archangel, The Archangel Michael, Saint Michael, St. Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael, the Right Hand of God, Right Hand of God

The warring archangel: prince of Israel in Daniel, captain of the host in Revelation, and the only angel the New Testament calls an archangel outright.

Alignment
Celestial
Rank
Archangel
First attested
Hebrew Bible & Deuterocanon · c. 900–100 BCE
Named there as
Michael
Texts naming it
6
Powers attributed
6
100attestedChristianJewishIslamicEnochian

Where do they actually overlap?

Texts naming both

None. The two never appear in the same text in this corpus, which is worth knowing before accepting any confident claim that they are one figure.

Powers credited to both

Grants Victory in WarGuards & WardsExecutes Judgment

Common questions

Are Mithra and Michael the same figure?

These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Enforcers of covenant with a thousand eyes; Mithra's contract-keeping is Michael's guardianship of a people. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.

Which is older, Mithra or Michael?

Mithra is the older name: first attested around c. 1000 BCE, against c. 400 BCE for Michael. Where the two dates are far apart, that gap is the whole reason the pair is worth comparing.

Do any texts name both Mithra and Michael?

No text in this corpus names both. That is not proof they were considered the same figure, but it is why the identification has to be traced through the scholarship rather than read off a page.
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