Roger Beck is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. Mithraism has been his major research interest, as well as ancient astrology and narrative fiction. Among his many publications are Planetary Gods and Planetary Orders in the Mysteries of Mithras (Brill, 1988); Beck on Mithraism: Collected Works with New Essays (Ashgate, 2004); The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire (Oxford University Press, 2006); and A Brief History of Ancient Astrology (Blackwell, 2007).