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Marble funerary plaque erected by Lucius Septimius Archelaus, a Pater and priest of Mithras, for himself, his wife, and their freedmen and descendants.
hello, what does symbolize this huge spher with a crown over? I believe resurrection of the soul . In the relief dated around 250 AD from the Tor Cervara in Rome, (bomb site excavated in 1964) Sun god carries a globe or ball in his left hand. Idem Santo Stefano Rotondo slab. A sacred ball or spher. ?? D.P.
hello Dominique PERSOONS This sphere with a single circle is quite unusual in Mithraic iconography, at least as far as I know. I've seen it surrounded by two circles, which some authors associate with the precession of the equinoxes and the intersection of the celestial equator with the zodiac. In this case, the resurrection of the soul could be an explanation, could you develop it?
Dear Jorge, on two slabs from the Baths of Diocletian, the one from Santo Stefano Rotondo and the one from Tor Cervara , I fond the sun carried a spherical thing in his left hand, like a ball. Those two were exactly in the axis of the sun. it is possible that Cautes and Cautopates were soul carriers, so the soul could either ascend or descend. So the ascended soul joined the sun. It is no coincidence that the sphere is here near Cautes with sun (or Pater) crown: a crowned soul ?
I did not express myself well. I think that this golbe or ball is the soul but also of Plato's Anima Mundi. It is not the horoscope but the universal soul, which is also found in every follower of Mithras
I think we were talking about two types of globes: you were mentioning the small spheres carried by certain figures, including Mithras himself, while I was thinking of these large globes that might represent the universe, often surrounded by two perpendicular circles. In any case, large or small, they are all labelled with the word globus: https://www.mithraeum.eu/quaere.php?tag=globus. Let me know if you find any monuments that are not marked, so I can add them.
I see the Platonic Chiasmus on this fresco from Pompei. I think Mithras and Sol Apollo have nothing to see with earth, which is the work of Atlas. They carry the Platonic Universe. The Soul of the World (big) or the individual soul (small). ??
