gr. spelaion = caverna. No livro VII da República, Platão narra uma história que se tornou célebre com o nome de mito ou alegoria da caverna. Seu objetivo é fazer compreender a diferença entre o conhecimento grosseiro, que vem de nossos sentidos e de nossas opiniões (doxa), e o conhecimento verdadeiro, ou seja, aquele que sabe apreender, sob a aparência das coisas, a ideia das coisas.
In fact, much of Porphyry’s doctrine, and probably all of his information on the mysteries, is derived from the sources which we have been discussing, Pallas, Eubulus and Numenius (and/or Cronius). In fact, in discussing the doctrine of the De Antro, as Turcan discerns, we are still discussing Numenius. The first image to be considered, of course, is the Cave itself. It is natural that Mithraism should be introduced here by anyone acquainted with it, since caves are the characteristic centres of Mithraic worship. Of course, the Cave is a famous Platonic image – indeed, its presence in Empedocles (Fr. 120 D-K) makes it likely that it is Pythagorean – but the Platonic image has distinctly negative connotations. The Cave of Republic VII is not just the cosmos, but the lower world of illusion and slavery. The Mithraic spelaion is an image of the cosmos as a whole, and is a place of salvation rather than of deception. With its running water, its bees making honey in stone amphorae, and its two exits, the Cave of the Nymphs lends itself far more readily to allegorization on Mithraic lines, and that is what Numenius, it seems, gave it. The flowing water, again, had in Platonic tradition rather the connotation of the flux and turbulence of the material world, whereas in Mithraic tradition it represents purification and salvation. As for the bees and their honey, Plato has nothing obvious to contribute, whereas in Mithraic tradition they are a conspicuous aspect of the ritual of purification (cf. Turcan, 69fr.)