archaeology magazine - killer, sun lord

8/8/2019 Archaeology Magazine - Killer, Sun Lord

1/7

eology Magazine - Bull-Killer, Sun Lord

www.archaeology.org/online/features/bull_killer/[11/12/2010 9:46:43 PM]

Bull-Killer, Sun Lord August 24, 2010by Carly Silver

A colorful fresco of the Mithraeum at Marino, Italy,shows the god Mithras slaying a bull. This scene

is known as the tauroctony . (WikimediaCommons)

Mithras shown born from arock ( petra genetrix in Latin)

(Wikimedia Commons)

publication of the Archaeological Institute of America

Foreign religions grew rapidly in the 1st-century A.D. Roman Empire, including worship of Jesus Christ, the Egyptian goddess Isis, and an eastern sun god, Mithras

Of the religions that expanded rapidly in the 1st-century RomanEmpire, worship of Mithras was particularly popular amongRoman soldiers, who spread his cult during their far-flungtravels. But no written evidence from the Mithraists themselvessurvives, and the literary evidence we have is mostly byChristian detractors. Mithras's temples, called Mithraea, are thebest archaeological evidence of the god's worship, and most ofthem featured a characteristic depiction of Mithras slaying a bull,

a scene called the tauroctony . Sifting through this imperfectrecord, scholars have been able to conjecture about manyaspects of this once widely practiced religion.

Greco-Roman religious scholar Luther Martin says thatMithraism remained de-centralized throughout the Empire. Itscontemporary, Christianity, got its central administration from St.Paul, who derived it from Judaism. Both it and Mithraism"were...pretty much locally controlled affairs," he says, thoughChristian communities did "come together as a coherentinstitution...after Constantine."

n later years, Christian commentators recognized similarities between Mithraic and Christian rites and were quicko condemn them. In Chapter 70 of Dialogue with Trypho , the 2nd-century Christian author Justin Martyr writeshat Mithras's worship in a cave and his "rock birth"--a frequent depiction of the god, emerging from a stone--isaken from Daniel 2:34 and Isaiah 33. The Mithraists "have no understanding" of these Scriptures, says Justin.

ustin Martyr LXXI: "And when those who record the mysteries of Mithras say that he was begotten of a rock, and call the place where those who believe in him are nitiated a cave, do I not perceive here that the utterance of Daniel, that a stone

without hands was cut out of a great mountain, has been imitated by them, and hat they have attempted likewise to imitate the whole of Isaiah's words?"

Daniel 2:34: "While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them."

n Chapter 66 of First Apology , Justin claims that "wicked devils...imitated" theEucharist by creating a Mithraic communal meal. In Chapter 40 of The Prescription Against Heretics , the 2nd-century Christian writer Tertullian notes that Mithraistscelebrate also the oblation of bread and introduce an image of a resurrection."

Aside from Tertullian, however, no other ancient source scholar mentions themage of resurrection in Mithraic ritual.

esus was not the only deity with whom Mithras shared similarities. In the laterRoman Empire, Mithras blended in with another sun god, Sol Invictus, theunconquered sun." Both gods appeared in the Spanish provinces around theame time, according to Jaime Alvar, an ancient history professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Some

1st-century votive offerings in Rome even conflate the two gods into one deity, "Sol Invictus Mithras."

By the 5th century, Mithraism faded. However, Mithras and SolInvictus have echoes in the worship of Jesus Christ. Martin

Exclusive FeaturesSneden's Legacy, Bull-Killer, Sun Lord; Dura-Europos

HOME SUBSCRIBE NEWS MARK ETPLAC TV EVENTS NEW Y ORK LINK S CONTACT FREE I NFO ADVERTISE SEARCH
http://www.archaeological.org/http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/http://www.archaeology.org/cgi-bin/ads_6.pl?banner=aia250x250;time=1289594777;zone=Side2http://www.archaeology.org/cgi-bin/ads_3.pl?banner=dutton;time=1289594776;zone=Sidehttp://www.archaeology.org/curiss/http://www.archaeology.org/curiss/http://www.archaeological.org/http://www.archaeology.org/cgi-bin/ads_1.pl?banner=ancientcivilizations;time=1289594754;zone=Mainhttp://www.archaeology.org/http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/


2/7



Sol Invictus (with a halo of sunlight) and Mithras(to his right) feast together. (Wikimedia Commons)

The tauroctony scene, in which Mithras kills thebull, from Rome (Wikimedia Commons)

believes the ideas of brotherhood in Mithraism and apostleshipin Christianity descend from collegia , or Greek social andpolitical clubs. "My own take is that you've got two religionsdeveloping at the same time and in the same place and in thesame culture and they're going to develop similar kinds ofexpressions, symbolic expressions," he adds.

The Origins of Mithraism

The first mentions of "Mitra" come from India and Iran. The Rig Veda is a collection of sacred Sanskrit texts composed as earlyas 1200 B.C. Its Hymn 66 invokes "Mitra," a protector of the lawand a god of light. In Iran, Mithras continued in the same vein:the modern Farsi word for "sun" is "mehr," also the root of

Mithras." The Greek historiographer Strabo (63 B.C.-A.D. 23) corroborates this report in Book XV of hisGeography , noting that the Iranians "worship the sun also, whom they call Mithras." In Hymn 10 of the Yasht , anranian collection of praise poems to gods dating from after 250 B.C., Ahura Mazda, the god of light, commends

Mithras. He tells his disciple, Zoroaster, that Mithras respects justice and brings "down terror upon the bodies ofhe men who lie...to [him]."

We pretty much know for certain he wasn't originally a sun god," says David H. Sick, chair of the Greek andRoman Studies department at Rhodes College, who uses extant literary sources to study the Iranian Mithras. Headds, "The original meaning of the god's name is 'contract', so he starts with 'contract' and, somehow, becomes theolar god. ...The reason that the contract god may become a solar god is because both contracts and the sun areelated to sacrifice."

n Roman reliefs, Mithras kills a bull, an action called a tauroctony. In Indo-Iranian myths, men sacrifice cattle toplease the gods. Sacrifice is an element of proper conduct in Greek mythology, which Sick argues was heavilynfluenced by Indo-Iranian stories. If one does not sacrifice to the gods and fulfill his part of the human-divine

contract, that individual will be punished. The all-seeing sun witnesses contracts between the divine and mortalworlds and also is the master of cattle-for example, Helios's herds in Book XI of Homer's Odyssey . Though Sickmaintains these cows are distinct from the bull of the tauroctony, he places great emphasis on the mythologicalconnections that produced the Iranian Mithras and his Roman cousin.

The 19th-century Belgian archaeologist Franz Cumont,considered the father of Mithraic studies, believed that Roman

Mithras was a direct descendant of the Iranian Ahura Mazda,but modern scholars now believe Mithraism was a separatedevelopment. "There's Persian elements there [in RomanMithraism], but where they appear in Mithraism is not the wayhey appear anywhere in Persian materials," says Luther Martin.

Roman Mithras was a distant relative, not a direct descendant,of Indo-Iranian gods.

f Mithras was a Roman creation, why did he retain the Iraniannfluences, like his name and solar association? "Again, we'repeculating, but the Romans, like modern Americans, wereascinated by the wisdom of the east," says Martin. The Romans

had an attitude of mixed veneration and condescension foreastern knowledge, says Roger Beck, author of several bookson Mithraism. Though it had conquered the east, the Greco-Roman world still saw "these civilizations [as] older and thushaving] access, particularly in physiologies, to speculation about the gods and maybe secret" knowledge, Beckays. To access these ancient secrets, perhaps the Romans mimicked eastern rites and gods.

Roman Religion Wasn't Built in a Day

Mithraism made its way west in the Roman Republic's late years. In his Life of Pompey , the historian Plutarchecorded that pirates from Cilicia, in southern Turkey, brought Mithraic rites to Rome in the 1st century B.C. In Asia

Minor, Mithras was an important god, as seen in the name of Mithridates VI, king of Pontus in northeasternTurkey. Mithridates, whose name means "gift of Mithras," opposed Rome in a series of three wars, only to bedefeated by Pompey the Great in 63 B.C.

Latest NewsDaily archaeological headlines

Interactive DigsZominthos, Crete; El Carrizal, Mexico;Johnson's Island, Ohio

On SiteTouring Provence, Voyage to Crete, Picturingthe Holy Land

Reviews"Tutankhamun's Funeral," "Becoming Human,""Discovering Ardi"

InterviewsEdward Bleiberg, Marc Van De Mieroop,Heather Gill-Robinson

Privacy Policy - Contact Us - Adv 2010 Archaeological Institute of Ame

Website by Castle Builder DesignHosting donated by Hurricane Electric

Se
http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/http://www.archaeology.org/onsite/http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/http://www.archaeology.org/online/interviews/http://www.archaeology.org/privacy.htmlhttp://www.archaeology.org/write/http://www.archaeology.org/advertising/http://www.archaeological.org/http://www.castlebuilder.com/http://www.he.net/http://www.he.net/http://www.castlebuilder.com/http://www.archaeological.org/http://www.archaeology.org/advertising/http://www.archaeology.org/write/http://www.archaeology.org/privacy.htmlhttp://www.archaeology.org/online/interviews/http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/http://www.archaeology.org/onsite/http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/


3/7



In Mysteries of Mithra (1903), Franz Cumont wrotethat this relief represented the Commagenian king

Antiochus I and Mithras. (Wikimedia Commons)

Mithras appears as a Palmyran archer in theMithraeum from Dura-Europos. (Carly Silver at the

Yale University Art Gallery)

Beck believes that the cult evolved from the kingdom ofCommagene in southeastern Turkey. In the 1st century B.C., hesays, the Greco-Persian ruling dynasty of Commageneworshiped Mithras as a sun god. He also argues that Mithraicsymbols from Commagene can be interpreted in an astrologicallight. Commagene's royal family was well versed in astrology:the famous Roman astrologer Balbillus married into the clan.

The first Roman inscription mentioning Mithras dates from the1st century A.D., when a slave of one of the emperor Trajan'sadministrators dedicated a sculpture to the god. Around thesame time, in what is now Frankfurt am Main in Germany,soldiers began to build temples to Mithras, called Mithraea.

What caused the growth of Roman Mithraism? As Rome'sempire expanded in the first and second centuries A.D., newgods traveled with immigrants and soldiers. The first centurybrought an influx of international trade under EmperorAugustus's "Pax Romana," or "Roman Peace." The movement

of goods parallels the movement of religions about the Roman world at this time. From Italy, Mithraism spreadoutward to the provinces as soldiers traveled to imperial provinces. They brought their god with them andestablished temples.

A bull-killing god appealed to warriors. "The tauroctony would appear, I argue, to most Romans as a sacrifice.Sacrifice has to do with blood, so you get the blood imagery, which the soldiers are involved in," says Martin. InMithraic rites, "one could see the value of bonding, of brotherhood, of hunting, of sacrifice, of blood, of the kinds ofpatterns you will in counter in militaries throughout the world." In a wall painting at the Mithraeum in Dura-Europos,Syria, Mithras is depicted as a hunter on horseback. Here, he fights in the same manner as the some of the localRoman legionnaires--archers from the Syrian city of Palmyra. Such scenes show that the soldiers thought ofMithras as one of their own.

n contrast to Greco-Roman gods like Jupiter and Apollo,Mithras was not a state-sponsored deity. He was worshiped in aprivate community with secret rituals. "It is a completely de-centralized religion," says Martin. "This is interesting becausehey're [the Mithraea] all completely recognizable, so there wasome sort of communication that's going on." Unlike the

aristocratic Roman high priests, Mithras's followers came from

all walks of life, Beck adds. "There is no suggestion" that onlyan "eternal, esoteric Mithraic elect" could experience spiritualejuvenation, he says. "As far as we know, the initiation...was

open to all," except women. However, evidence from NorthAfrica suggests that some Mithraic rites may have includedemales.

Few public documents remain to recount the cult's rituals. "Iteems as though these groups didn't produce any texts," says Martin. Surviving literary evidence comes from later

periods. "Even in the Roman side of things, the literary sources we have about Mithraism are from non-Mithraistsbecause Mithraism was a mystery cult," says Sick. "Mithraists, the ones that respected the cult, wouldn't tell whathey were doing and so a lot of what you get are from later Christian apologists, who are attacking the religion."

Mithraic Rituals

An initiate had to pass a series of tests to enter the cult, after which he was ceremonially "reborn" and accepted byhe group's leader, or Father ( pater in Latin). The Father represented Mithras's authority on earth. In his Letter to

Laeta from A.D. 403, St. Jerome lists the seven rankings of a Mithraic initiate in ascending order: raven ( corax ),bridegroom ( nymphus ), soldier ( miles ), lion ( leo ), Persian ( Perses ), sun-runner ( heliodromos ), and Father.

Each rank may be associated with a planetary counterpart,though sketchy details survive about individual ranks. Thosewho reached "lion" level offered incense to Mithras and bathedin honey, according to the 3rd-century A.D. philosopherPorphyry. The 4th-century writer Ambrosiaster claimed thatinitiates were blindfolded and had to make the animal soundcorresponding to their desired rank.


4/7



A depiction of the tools of a pater , a grade ofMithraic initiation; his tools include Mithras's

characteristic Phrygian cap (Wikimedia Commons)

The initiation rituals "involved techniques that produced alteredstates of consciousness," says Martin. "They were held at nightor in darkness with flickering candles and weird masks. These

things would be life-threatening, at least in the metaphoricalsense." He believes images on artifacts like an "initiating fatheraiming a bow and arrow at an initiate's head, close-up"

epresent actual initiation rites. These rituals would be "presenting threats under conditions that might producealtered states of consciousness...and these things become pretty memorable."

These rituals re-created stories about Mithras. One tale found Mithras striking a rock with an arrow to producewater in a dry place, making him a "civilizing force." "The story was presumably about one of the heroic featsperformed by Mithras," Beck says. The story of the bow-wielding Mithras "comes out of the tradition of Persianand] Parthian archery. Archery is what heroic figures from the East do," notes Beck, "[and] it then makes sensehat...he, Mithras, uses a bow and arrow in the stories for civilizing purposes."

n the initiation, a pater would aim a bow at an individual, Beck says, to "scare the bejeesus out of" him. Beckeferences a cup found in Mainz, Germany, showing this scene. Mainz "was the headquarters for two kinds of

egions," he says. "These were very tough guys, who knew about handling weapons." In order to create amemorable initiation experience, "this initiate would be brought in and the first thing he sees is this very seniorigure with a taut bow and arrow ready to fly right at him," Beck adds. "Many initiations work through terror."

Through an Ancient Lens

How did the ancients understand Mithraic imagery? "Nobody in antiquity gives an explication, explains what theunction is--if there was one--of the bull-killing relief," says Beck. Because no explanations or texts written by

Mithraists survive, Martin suggests that initiates conveyed meaning through the images. Mithraea were shaped likecaves. In On the Cave of the Nymphs, the 3rd-century A.D. philosopher Porphyry noted, "Wherever Mithra[s] wasknown, they propitiated the god in a cavern," he wrote. Mithras killed the bull in a cave; Porphyry also wrote thathe first Mithraeum was a cave in Persia.

n his work, Sick notes the association of caves and solar imagery in Indo-Iranian mythology, citing an Indian mythof "the creation of a sun from a cave." Experts do not agree on which constellation the tauroctony represents: someargue for Perseus, while others support Orion. To Cumont, the tauroctony showed Mithras's power over the mostprecious of resources. In The Mysteries of Mithra (1903), Cumont says that, for the ancients, "cattle [was] theource of all wealth." When Mithras captured and killed the bull, that deed would be a mark of honor.

Many modern scholars lend credence to an astronomical interpretation of the Mithraeum. "The whole Mithraeum iset up as a miniature cosmos," Martin says. "You always get images of Mithras's cloak as the stars or planets. The

astrological-astronomical basis of Mithraic imagery is fairly clear." Beck interprets the cave as "an image of theuniverse" in miniature. "Its function has to do somehow with the descent of the soul into mortality and the ascentout again of the soul into mortality," he says.

Astronomical signs were a means to understand Mithraic iconography, Beck says; he calls this language "staralk." "I think that's finally what it is, the language-like thing. It's a tool, a medium, through which you express

yourself, through which you make representations." Because the ancients left no instructions on how to interprethis "star talk," Beck admits there is no way to understand the symbols' meaning. "When you play in the

astronomical-astrological factors, the danger of scholarship is the danger of trying to decode," Beck says.

Based on literary evidence, Sick argues for additional interpretations. "The astrological material...might appeal to acertain type of devotee, but it has to be one, I think, that's fairly well-educated to understand what's going on there.

think it would be an elite member of the cult that would have that interpretation." Sick notes that common soldier-devotees of Mithras would not be educated enough to understand star talk. "There has to be, in my view, anothereries of stories, myths, phenomena that can be understood much more simply" to explain the rites.

Early Archaeology of Mithraism

n the 19th century, several major finds resurrected interest inMithraism, especially in Rome and its nearby port, Ostia. In the


5/7



The standard structure of a Mithraeum is a long

hall with benches on either side, with a depictionof the tauroctony at the end. (Ken Pennington)

The tauroctony in the Mithraeum beneath theBasilica di San Clemente, Rome (Claudia Porcel)

20th century, Franz Cumont uncovered the Mithraeum of Dura-Europos and published his research in a series of books,ncluding The Mysteries of Mithra. The standard form of a

Mithraeum was a long room with benches on either side,culminating in a cult niche, where a tauroctony and votiveofferings would be found.

Rome boastssome of theworld's mostfamous Mithraea. Between A.D. 212 and 217, the Romanemperor Caracalla built a massive bath complex. In 1908,archaeologists began to excavate beneath these baths, and,four years later, they discovered the largest Mithraeum found todate in Rome. Few carvings survived from this Mithraeum, but amarble fragment of a relief found shows Sol, the Romanpersonification of the sun, and Luna, or the moon. A smallerinscription gives Mithras the epithet of "unconquered," furtherassociating Mithras with Sol Invictus. Other reliefs appear tohave been deliberately destroyed; only pieces of the tauroctony

survived.

Perhaps the most famous Roman Mithraeum is underneath theBasilica di San Clemente. First excavated in 1914, thisMithraeum is similarly shaped to that in the Baths of Caracalla:

a long, rectangular room with benches on either side, culminating in a cult niche. The arched roof of the SanClemente temple is remarkable for its implications on Mithraic theory. It contains 11 holes, four of which scholar W.Marburg Lentz identified as ventilators. The other seven may represent seven celestial bodies. This possibledentification has led some scholars to theorize that Mithraic iconography had ties to star maps and equinoxes.

With ships coming in from all over the world, Rome's port of Ostia was subject to many foreign influences. It is nowonder, then, that more than a dozen Mithraea have been identified there. The Mithraeum of the Seven Gates wasbuilt around A.D. 160-170. A plaster-topped altar stands near mosaics depicting Mithraic symbols. Most striking,hough, is the floor mosaic, showing a center archway framed on each side by three more arches. These "seven

gates" give this Mithraeum its epithet. The recurrence of the number seven resonates with St. Jerome's descriptionof seven ranks of Mithraic initiation. This gate mosaic is located behind the entrance to the Mithraeum: once onehas stepped into the temple, the initiation has begun.

The Mithraeum at Dura-Europos in eastern Syria was a spectacular find, discovered in 1934. It came tonternational prominence through the likes of Cumont and seems to be contemporaneous with the Ostian

Mithraeum of the Seven Gates. The first local inscription--accompanied by a tauroctony--dedicated to Mithrasdates from A.D. 168, around when Rome occupied Syria. In one wall painting at Dura, Mithras is depicted as aPalmyran archer, a hunter with bow and arrow. Many of the Roman soldiers stationed at Dura were archers fromnearby Palmyra.

The remains of the Mithraeum at Walbrook, London(Andrew Taylor)

A dedicatory relief to Mithras from the soldier UlpiusSilvanus from the Walbrook Mithraeum in London(Museum of London)


6/7



Mithras also held sway in Britain. In 1954, W. F. Grimes found a Mithraeum in Walbrook, London. Dating from themid-2nd century, this temple contained a white marble head and bust of Mithras. Inside, a tauroctony was foundwith a dedication from a Second Legion soldier named Ulpius Silvanus that may have been originally located withother votive offerings in the cult niche.

Recent Discoveries

n the past 15 years, Mithraea have been unearthed everywhere from Spain to Iraq. Many of them boast similarconstruction, consisting of a rectangular room with a place for votive offerings at its end. The temples were oftenconstructed during Mithraism's heyday of the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D.

Apri l 2010 : After decades of controversy, a long-closed sanctuary of Mithras was finally reopened. ThisMithraeum is located in the Rhodope Mountains in the town of Thermes on the border between Greece andBulgaria. Because of the tensions between Communist Bulgaria and Greece in the 20th century, the site'sexcavator, Bulgarian archaeologist--and eventual prime minister--Bogdan Filov, conducted no further enquiries intohe site after his initial foray in 1915. So far, the findings merely consist of a sacred spring and a sculptured relief.

Bulgarian officials have called for increased Greek involvement in a further investigation, which will lead to aplanned tourist venture in the area. Interestingly, Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov identified theveneration of rocks as a cultic ritual that was part of this Mithraic complex, resonating with the story of Mithras'sock birth.

Apri l 2010 : Archaeologists discovered the remains of a Mithraeum in Angers, northwestern France. Firstconstructed in the 3rd century A.D., the temple is located inside a domus , or Roman house. The temple wasprobably destroyed in the 4th century, as evidenced by shattered statues and signs of burning. It contains remains

of a relief depicting Mithras with torchbearers and of a worn head of the god, distinguished by his Phrygian cap.The offerings included about 200 coins. Other artifacts found include Nubian terracotta figurines, a brooch, and adeer-shaped pouring device with three holes in its throat, perhaps used in an unknown rite. Unfortunately, becausehe area is due to be razed for housing, archaeologists may not have much more time to excavate.

2009 : A Mithraeum was found in Iraq in the northern province of Dohuk. The prayer space in this Mithraeumaces the sun, says Hassan Ahmed Qassim, Dohuk's director of antiquities. Such a location seems apt,

considering Mithras was a solar deity. Qassim says that the Mithraeum's discovery is important in understandinghe historical transformation of the region. While this area was never under official Roman rule, Dohuk may have

come under its influence.

2009 : An Italian farmer outside Rome discovered a giant marble relief of Mithras on his property. Dating from the2nd century, the relief had been excavated illegally. Made of Tuscan marble, it originated in the Etruscan city ofVeio, about 12.4 miles from Rome. At the time, Italian police believed thieves planned to smuggle it to Japan or

China through the United Arab Emirates. Weighing more than 3,000 pounds, the relief was to be sold for 500,000euros.

2008 : A Mithraeum was discovered under a modern shopping mall in Szombathely in northwestern Hungary byarchaeologist Peter Kiss. This temple is the first example for Mithraism in Szombathely, though evidence for thecult has appeared elsewhere in Hungary. Thus far, the excavated area consists of an outer room and anentranceway. The temple burned down in the 4th century, as evidenced by pieces of ceiling and wall paintingsound on the floor. Currently, an artistic restorer is working to recreate the shattered paintings, which used

expensive pigments in their construction.


7/7


Reconstructing the Mithraeum at the Crypta Balbi(Michael Tinkler)

Excavating the Mithraeum at Lugo, Spain (Jaime Alvar) C. Victorius Victorinus's offering to Mithras from the LugoMithraeum (Jaime Alvar)

2003 : A Mithraeum was discovered in Lugo, called "Lucus Augusti" in Roman times, in northwestern Spain. Whileexamining a manor house, or pazo , in an area under consideration for building expansion, workers found theMithraeum. As it turned out, the pazo was on top of an old Roman residence. Historian Jaime Alvar theorized thathe temple's cult niche was destroyed during the Mithraeum's construction. The temple was most active in the 3rd

and 4th centuries. A granite altar found was dedicated by one C. Victorius Victorinus, who calls himself acenturion of the Seventh Legion" in the inscription. The inscription dubs Mithras "invictus," or "unconquered,"

allying him with Sol Invictus.

2000 : Daniele Manacorda of Roma Tre University found another Mithraeum in Rome, located in the Crypta Balbiat the southern end of the Campus Martius. This Mithraeum was built in the early 3rd century and used until theate 4th century. The temple has the typical Mithraic structure, though the cult niche has not yet been found. Aragment of a third-century tauroctony was discovered.

1998 : Archaeologists excavated a Mithraeum at Hawarti inSyria; initial forays were made into the building the 1970s, butnot completed until the '90s. Underneath what was a Christianbasilica in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., the Mithraeum wasrevealed when the basilica floors collapsed. By dating date ofcoins, pottery, and lamps to the mid-4th century A.D.,archaeologists have proposed that this Mithraeum is the latestconstructed of those yet found. Roger Beck characterizes theiconography of the Hawarti wall paintings as "all over the place."He adds, "There are these strange, strange figure[s] of Mithrasholding...naked, black demonic figures by chains." He suggeststhat this scene represents evil overcome by good, personified byMithras.

1993 : Construction workers were clearing an area in Martigny,southern Switzerland, for apartment buildings, when, to theirsurprise, they found a Mithraeum built between A.D. 150 and200. A long room with benches on either side, this Mithraeum

has a podium at the end for a tauroctony and other votive objects. Dedicatory offerings here ranged from coins toan earthenware vase bearing a Greek inscription from one Theodoros to the Greek sun god Helios. This offeringeinforces the notions of Mithras's worship under various epithets.

Carly Si lver is a junior at Barnard College, Columbia University, in New York City. A religion major, she is concentratingon ancient belief systems and their effects on the development of monotheism.

References

2010 by the Archaeological Institute of Americawww.archaeology.org/online/features/bull_killer/

Share Article

Stay up-to-date on news andnew features on our website.

Cl ick he re to s ign up .

Buy cu r ren t & back i s sues:

See what's available!
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bull_killer/references.htmlhttp://www.archaeology.org/subscribe/eupdate.htmlhttp://archaeology.k-online.biz/?loadGroup=BACKIS&loadSubGroup=ARCMAGhttp://www.archaeology.org/cgi-bin/ads_1.pl?banner=aia468x60;time=1289594774;zone=Mainhttp://archaeology.k-online.biz/?loadGroup=BACKIS&loadSubGroup=ARCMAGhttp://archaeology.k-online.biz/?loadGroup=BACKIS&loadSubGroup=ARCMAGhttp://www.archaeology.org/subscribe/eupdate.htmlhttp://www.archaeology.org/subscribe/eupdate.htmlhttp://www.archaeology.org/online/features/bull_killer/references.html

archaeology magazine - killer, sun lord

Documents