My pleasure, Levin. I can’t offer much advice on moving unless you’re heading to Europe, but perhaps some of our American members can guide you. Glad you found us too. Vale.
Salve Levin. A great place to start is https://www.mithraeum.eu/book/the-roman-cult-of-mithras_1990 by Manfred Clauss. Also, if you can find it, https://www.mithraeum.eu/news/the-mystery-of-mithras-exploring-the-heart-of-a-roman-cult exhibition catalogue is excellent, very up to date and full of articles by top scholars. For symbolism and ritual, Attilio Mastrocinque has a couple of excellent books. And if you read French and are interested in ancient philosophy (as I can tell from your book selection pic), https://www.mithraeum.eu/book/mithras-platonicus_1975 by Robert Turcan is well worth it. Curious to see which one catches your attention!
Strange! I am not in Rome, but I would expect it to be open every day, even more in the summer! Anyhow, here are their opening hours: https://turismoroma.it/es/node/43919
Update! Found a new post-classical monument, this one from the French Renaissance: https://www.mithraeum.eu/monument/771.
And from now on, all post-classical monuments will be available here: https://www.mithraeum.eu/quaere.php?tag=postclassical
Beautiful and unexpected piece, Pattie. Thanks for sharing. Do you have any more information about it besides the brief description on the British Museum page? CIMRM maybe?
Dear Joachim: To my knowledge, perhaps not the dative lionis, but the word leo is often found in the Mithraic context, as you may know. If this is of interest to you, I think the best way to find it in this database is to look for people who have been identified as leo because of an inscription. Here is the link: https://www.mithraeum.eu/persons.php?gra=4. Hope it helps!
Indeed, Stephen. The catalogue is highly recommendable for all audiences, academic, professional and the simply curious. By the way, some of its articles can be found on this very site thanks to the generous support of the publisher, the Musée Royal Mariemont.
This bronze arm, with stars and a swastika, was once thought to be part of a Mithras statuette but has since been dismissed as unrelated to the Mithras cult.
This fragment of a sculpture depicting the birth of Mithras from a rock, intertwined with a chaotic mass of serpent coils, was discovered in Aquileia, Italy.
The Mithraeum of Visentium, near Capodimonte in Viterbo, was carved grotto-style into a tuff cliff overlooking the waters of Lake Bolsena, just a few dozen metres away.
"The remaining figure on this monument, Herakles, was previously misidentified as Apollo on this remarkable black basalt tablet from Samsat, known in Roman times as Samosata.
This dedicatory inscription by a pater of Mithras, found in Cilicia, aligns with Plutarch’s account of Cilician pirates performing foreign sacrifices and secret rites of Mithras.
This second relief depicting a phallus from Tiddis, Algeria, has been positioned alongside its counterpart atop pillars that greet visitors to the Mithras shrine.
This plaque, located on the western staircase of the Palace of Darius, mentions the god Mithra together with Ahura Mazda as protectors of King Artaxerxes III Ochus.
