This conference is the latest in a series dedicated to the study of the so-called Oriental cults – religious traditions of Egyptian, Anatolian, Syrian, and Iranian origin – in the Danubian and Balkan provinces during the Roman imperial period (Skopje 2013; Zagreb/Ptuj 2022).
Building on these foundations, the 2026 conference brings together archaeologists, historians, and specialists in ancient religion to examine how these cults were transmitted, adopted, and reshaped across diverse communities between the Danube and the Adriatic. Rather than viewing them as fixed or uniform phenomena, the conference approaches them as dynamic traditions whose meanings, practices, and material expressions were continuously negotiated through interaction with local cultural, social, and political contexts.
Drawing on case studies ranging from new archaeological discoveries and fresh methodological approaches to broader comparative perspectives, participants will address a range of questions: Why did certain cults flourish in some provinces while leaving little or no trace in others? How were global religious traditions reshaped to reflect local needs, identities, and practices? And what can the material remains of sanctuaries and votive objects reveal about the communities that adopted and sustained them?
Organizers Nirvana Silnović (Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Eduard Pollhammer (Office of the Lower Austrian Provincial Government, Department of Art and Culture, Archaeological Park Carnuntum)
Inga Vilogorac Brčić (Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb)
Aleksandra Nikoloska (Research Centre for Cultural Heritage “Cvetan Grozdanov,” Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts)
Date
28–30 September 2026
Location
Day 1 and 3
Otto Wagner Postsparkasse, Georg-Coch-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna, Room 2-3, 3rd Floor
Sol and Luna are reversed, and Cautes is a lazy boy, with a column to hold up his arm. 😉 He’s got another pine cone for the corpus. They are important and deserve their own tag.
Indeed: “In front of the altars lay a ritual hearth, fed with special fuel made from Mediterranean pinecones.” Unfortunately, we can’t tag shrines, but this one will pop up when searching the db in full-text mode. Linking it here for reference: https://www.mithraeum.eu/monument/26
I know the Mithras site (since my childhood) at Carrawburgh and have worked at the APX Xanten (Germany) knowing about the Mitras Altar find down the road in Kalkar.
Batava Auxiliary Units where stationed at Xanten and Kalkar until they where transfered in disgrace (after the Batava uprising 69/70AD) to the Vindolanda area.
I was just checking the connection and if the same Batavian Cohort had maybe built and used the two temples and had maybe brought the cult to the area of north England
I have been pleasantly surprised to read this inscription proving a Betavian connection to Mitras at Carrawburgh.
The Altar found at Kalkar (not in situ.) is unfortunately dated after the official exodus of the Batavians although the Temple itself has not been found or excavated and the founding of the temple could possibly of an earlier date!
A Getic ceremonial gold helmet bearing a ram-sacrifice scene proposed by some scholars as a possible iconographic precursor to the Mithraic tauroctony.
salve. The site entry for Gaius Cassius Flavianus says there is attestation that he was part of the mithraeum at Ad Enum, Noricum. Where would I find a reference to this please?
Salve Isabelle, and thank you for pointing this out. You were right: the reference to Ad Enum was due to a database error that incorrectly associated a number of individuals with that location. Gaius Cassius Flavianus is only attested at Inveresk, and the entry has now been corrected. Many thanks for bringing it to our attention!
![This conference is the latest in a series dedicated to the study of the so-called Oriental cults – religious traditions of Egyptian, Anatolian, Syrian, and Iranian origin – in the Danubian and Balkan provinces during the Roman imperial period (Skopje 2013; Zagreb/Ptuj 2022).
Building on these foundations, the 2026 conference brings together archaeologists, historians, and specialists in ancient religion to examine how these cults were transmitted, adopted, and reshaped across diverse communities between the Danube and the Adriatic. Rather than viewing them as fixed or uniform phenomena, the conference approaches them as dynamic traditions whose meanings, practices, and material expressions were continuously negotiated through interaction with local cultural, social, and political contexts.
Drawing on case studies ranging from new archaeological discoveries and fresh methodological approaches to broader comparative perspectives, participants will address a range of questions: Why did certain cults flourish in some provinces while leaving little or no trace in others? How were global religious traditions reshaped to reflect local needs, identities, and practices? And what can the material remains of sanctuaries and votive objects reveal about the communities that adopted and sustained them?
Organizers
Nirvana Silnović (Austrian Archaeological Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Eduard Pollhammer (Office of the Lower Austrian Provincial Government, Department of Art and Culture, Archaeological Park Carnuntum)
Inga Vilogorac Brčić (Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb)
Aleksandra Nikoloska (Research Centre for Cultural Heritage “Cvetan Grozdanov,” Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts)
Date
28–30 September 2026
Location
Day 1 and 3
Otto Wagner Postsparkasse, Georg-Coch-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna, Room 2-3, 3rd Floor
Day 2
Kulturfabrik Hainburg, Kulturplatz 1, 2410 Hainburg an der Donau
[ref:6a52842f056f2]](https://www.mithraeum.eu/album/post/909e77f8d8070905.jpg)
Batava Auxiliary Units where stationed at Xanten and Kalkar until they where transfered in disgrace (after the Batava uprising 69/70AD) to the Vindolanda area.
I was just checking the connection and if the same Batavian Cohort had maybe built and used the two temples and had maybe brought the cult to the area of north England
I have been pleasantly surprised to read this inscription proving a Betavian connection to Mitras at Carrawburgh.
The Altar found at Kalkar (not in situ.) is unfortunately dated after the official exodus of the Batavians although the Temple itself has not been found or excavated and the founding of the temple could possibly of an earlier date!