A temple built by followers of Mithraism, a mystery cult that flourished throughout the Roman Empire from the second to third centuries A.D., has been discovered in Iraq's northern Duhok province.

The temple, which consists of three parts, lies in the Badri Mountains in eastern Duhok, and includes a place for prayer facing the sun, the province's antiquities director, Hassan Ahmed Qassim, said in a statement to the website of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.

"This discovery is important in helping to understand and learn the region's history, and the important stages it passed through," Qassim was quoted by Aswat al-Iraq newspaper as telling a news conference at Duhok University.

Mithraism focused on Mithra, the god of the sun, contracts and mutual obligation. It spanned most of the Roman Empire from Rome to Turkey to Britain, and died out after the conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity in the fourth century.

More than 400 archeological sites linked to Mithraism have been found, along with about 1,000 inscriptions and 1,150 pieces of sculpture. Many of the temples were built underground. The cult was open only to men.