Mitra

Mitra (Proto-Indo-Iranian: *mitrás) is the name of an Indo-Iranian divinity that predates the Rigvedic Mitrá and Avestan Mithra.

The names, and some characteristics, of these established deities subsequently influenced other figures:

• Maitreya, a vrddhi-derived form of Sanskrit mitra, a bodhisattva in Buddhist tradition.
• Latin Mithras, the principal figure of the first-century Roman mystery cult of Mithraism, whose name derives from the Avestan theonym via Greek and some Anatolian intermediate.
• In Hellenistic-era Asia Minor, Avestan Mithra was conflated with various local and Greek figures leading to several different variants of Apollo-Helios-Mithras-Hermes-Stilbon.
• In Middle Iranian, the Avestan theonym evolved (among other Middle Iranian forms) into Sogdian Miši, Middle Persian and Parthian Mihr, and Bactrian Miuro (/mihru/). Aside from Avestan Mithra, these derivative names were also used for Greco-Bactrian Mithro, Miiro, Mioro, and Miuro.
• Mithra, the "first messenger" of Iranian Manichaeans.