Daily Gazette

Contemporary Italian artist exploring myth, sacred imagery and the legacy of the ancient world.

Selected passages on Mithras drawn from Greek and Latin literary sources.

The mithraeum brought the cave of Mithras into the inhabited Roman world. Its benches, images and ritual furnishings created a place where a community could gather around the god and understand its sanctuary as an image of the cosmos.

Shared meals, offerings and ceremonies of initiation brought the mysteries into the lives of his worshippers. Within the mithraeum, members took their places in a community whose activities recalled the deeds of the god and reflected the order of the heavens.

Although no complete ancient account of Mithras’ myth survives, the monuments of the Roman world preserve many scenes from the sacred narrative of the Mithraic mysteries.

A system of titles, symbols and ritual roles through which initiates held different identities and positions within the communities of Mithras.

Mithras, also known as Mitra or Mithra depending on the historical period, region, or language, is one of the oldest known Indo-Iranian divinities.

After Christianity was adopted, most pagan monuments were destroyed or abandoned. Garni, however, was preserved at the request of the sister of King Tiridates II and used as a summer residence for Armenian royalty.

Urartian rock-cut sanctuary near Van, later known as Mher's Gate and associated in Armenian tradition with Mher, the Armenian form of Mihr.

Basalt altar from Dvin, dated to the 2nd century AD and interpreted as dedicated to Mithra on the basis of the symbols carved on its four sides.

Fragments of a marble bull discovered at Garni, interpreted by Armenian heritage authorities as remains of a group depicting Mihr fighting a bull.

An archaeological study of the Hellenistic sanctuary complex at Hoghmik in ancient Armenia.

Terracotta figurine from the Hoghmik sanctuary complex, identified by Hayk Hakobyan as Mihr-Mithra and dated to the 1st–3rd centuries AD.

A terracotta figurine of Mithra. I-III centuries AD, from the Hoghmik sanctuary complex

"...For the solution of our problem, it is important to refer to the Hellenistic temple complex of Hoghmik, located to the north of Gyumri. Here, we shall focus on two buildings among the complex’s numerous rooms and auxiliary structures.

The first is Room No. 1 (Fig. 7), which measures approximately 13 m in length and 9 m in width. Along the southern wall runs an elongated stone mastaba, approximately 0.5 m in both height and width, constructed on a pavement about 2 m wide. A second mastaba was built along another wall, although it is interrupted in two places. In the center of the room, between the two mastabas, stood a poorly preserved altar. In the northwestern corner, archaeologists uncovered a stone box containing burnt animal remains, probably those of a goat. In front of the box, along the edge of the wall, a rectangular opening was identified, which was probably intended for an idol.

The room itself is divided into three sections by four pairs of columns. The four central columns are positioned at some distance from one another, leaving sufficient space for a garret—a feature characteristic of the main room of the traditional Armenian house. Two sanctuaries and an iwan were also erected adjacent to the building.

Our initial suggestion was that the three east-oriented sections of the room were dedicated to the supreme gods of the Armenian pantheon. These structures were built in the 2nd century BC and remained in use for approximately four centuries, until the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of Armenia.

Approximately twenty meters north of these structures, another room was uncovered containing evidence of numerous animal sacrifices, as well as mastabas, altars, and idols. Between these buildings, in one of the rooms, archaeologists discovered a clay figurine identified as Mihr-Mithra (Fig. 7c)."

Source:
Hayk Hakobyan - ON THE ORIGIN OF ROMAN MITHREUMS https://fundamentalarmenology.am/datas/pdfs/624.pdf

Roman(?) Altar from Dvin (Armenia) with Mithraistic symbols, II c. AD(?)

Sun from the south, Raven from the north, Bull from the west, Cancer from the east.

Source:
Hayk Hakobyan - ON THE ORIGIN OF ROMAN MITHREUMS https://fundamentalarmenology.am/datas/pdfs/624.pdf

Supposed fragments of Tauroctony from Artashat(Artaxata)

"During excavations at Artashat in 1971, at the same site not far from a previously mentioned statue, another fragment of a marble statuette was found, representing the torso of a youth with a small animal skin and a child’s leg with a dangling heel, indicating the dynamism of the depicted figure (Plate XVIII2). Another marble fragment was discovered near the remains of a sanctuary dedicated to the sun god. It is assumed that this fragment depicts the hoof of a bull. Does this not suggest that the sanctuary once contained a statue of Mithra slaughtering a sacrificial bull?" (p. 23) https://arar.sci.am/publication/410263я

S. Obukhov cites this part from the text and comments on this find: "...Thus, G.A. Koshelenko sees in the tauroctony a reinterpretation of the late Babylonian rite of Kalu. In his opinion, the New Year’s rite, when a white bull was sacrificed - the personification of the generative forces of nature—was even more important (citing F. Thureau-Dangin and G. Widengren). It is known that the rite of taurobolium was celebrated in the mithraeum at Uruk-Varka, as evidenced by the discovery of a clay stamp depicting a tauroctony scene. Sculptural remains of a tauroctony scene were also discovered in layers dating from the first centuries AD in the ancient Armenian city of Artashat. This rite, apparently in a reinterpreted form, is described in the Armenian folk epic about David of Sassoun."

Sources:
1: Аракелян, Б. Н. - Очерки по истории искусства Древней Армении (Очерки по истории искусства Древней Армении)
1: Խաչատրյան, Ժ. Դ. - Արտաշատ II (Արտաշատ II. Անտիկ դամբարանադաշտեր (1971–1977 թթ. պեղումները))
2: Обухов, С. В. - Пантеон и царский культ в Коммагене. Эпоха Митридата I Каллиника и Антиоха I Теоса: историко-археологическое исследованиеarar.sci.amОчерки по истории искусства Древней АрменииA survey of the art of ancient Armenia from the sixth century BCE to the third century CE, bringing together archaeological evidence for sculpture, architecture…

Two marble fragments from a small statuette discovered at Artashat in 1971 and later interpreted as possible remains of a tauroctony.

We speak with Israel Campos Méndez about questions that continue to divide scholars: what links the Indo-Iranian Mithra to the deity worshipped in the Roman Empire, and what do we really know about the origins of Roman Mithraism?