### id283953954 initiation rites dependent on temples encourage temple maintenance > The initiation ceremony symbolized the descent and return of the initiate’s soul through the cosmos, a journey that included passing through the various celestial gates marked out by the iconography of the Mithraeum. While other cults could continue to conduct at least some of their rituals without temples, this was not possible for the cult of Mithras, for the space created by the Mithraeum and the rituals conducted in this space were deeply intertwined. For the cult to continue, Mithraea had to be maintained, and that is what we see in the archaeological evidence. Indeed, it is striking that in some locations, such as Poetovio and Aquincum, when the civilian towns had been largely abandoned toward the end of the fourth century, Mithraea in these locations were still being used, an indication that people were making a journey to these particular spaces, perhaps across a considerable distance. The form of the rituals conducted in these Mithraea had changed by this time, with considerable numbers of coins now deposited in them as offerings, but these spaces clearly retained a special importance for people that other neighboring structures, religious or secular, did not. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fvbb9xqmrj4dmp4jqq8nw5zt) - [[Military Communities and Temple Patronage by David Walsh#id283953954 initiation rites dependent on temples encourage temple maintenance|View in Vault]]