The Mithraeum of Angers, excavated during a preventive operation and subsequently dismantled in 2010, yielded numerous objects, including coins, oil lamps, and a ceramic vessel bearing a votive inscription to the invincible god Mithras.
The Mithraic vase from Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium in Germany includes Sol-Mithras between Cautes and Cautopates, as well as a serpent, a lion and seven stars.
Fragmentary sandstone relief from Rückingen showing a male figure walking right and holding a kantharos. Traces on the chest may indicate a torques or shoulder-cape.
In these two key passages, Justin Martyr interprets Mithraic rituals and myths as demonic parodies of Christ’s incarnation, the Eucharist, and biblical revelation.
Terracotta krater from the southern part of the Friedberg Mithraeum, discovered in 1849. The vessel is decorated in relief with serpents, a scorpion and a ladder-like motif.
In Letter 107 to Laeta, Jerome combines a pastoral reflection on conversion with an account of the urban prefect Gracchus, who ordered the destruction of a Mithraic cave in Rome, listing the seven grades of initiation associated with the cult.
In these passages from his hymns and satires, Julian articulates a solar theology in which Helios governs cosmic order and time. Within this framework, Mithras appears as a personal divine guide associated with the ascent of souls.
A series of polemical passages in which a leading fourth-century Christian theologian presents the cult of Mithras as a religion defined by cruelty, bodily suffering, and shameful initiation rites.
