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Hello, I love this slab. Here, Cautes is carrying a torch with a figure on it, climbing towards the sky. This is extraordinary. The bas-relief found in the Basilica of Santo Rotondo on the Caelian Hill in Rome shows the Sun holding a small ball or round stone in his left hand which evokes a soul. This would be the image of the resurrection, the path of the soul that ascends to the Sun (Cautès). This image is found on the bas-relief of Tor Cervara in Rome, also kept in the Museum of the Baths of Diocletian. Here too, the Sun carries a round ball in his left hand. Here on your relief, it is a child. This resembles the iconography of the Middle Ages where the soul was represented as a child coming out of the mouth. In the background, the Berlin bull (Neues Museum in Berlin, 2nd century AD.) has its mouth open and is letting out a tongue which could be a soul, as mythology suggests (Gasquet, 1899). So, can we consider this child as the soul carried by Cautès, and coming out of the bull's.
I live in Sarrebourg, where the famous mithraeum was found by the Germans in 1890. In the 3d century, the city was bigger than... today, with 5 massive towers .
No, I think it's not fun, but really superstition. The Romans all wore amulets, often with a phallus and a hand, even children wore them.
In the mithraeum there could be talismans.
the Romans were very superstitious. they feared the 'evil eye', the jealousy of other people. We find this in Muslim countries with the hand of Fatima, the middle finger protects from the evil eye. The middle finger is the phallic finger (expression 'fuck of... this expression comes directly from the Romans). The Phallus protected from the evil eye. Also the snake, the scorpion, the raven but also the fork, the snail, the cat etc.. as we can see on the mosaic of Antioch 'KAI SU'. Of course, this a particular meaning to the dog and the snake under the bull of Mithras...
medical doctor. Hypnotherapist. medieval art interpretation. Mithras mystery
I live in Sarrebourg (France) where a marvelous mithraeum was discovered in 1890.
Je suis professeure de lettres classiques.
Student of ancient Greece, Rome and their contemporaries. Specializing in polychromatic art and digital restoration.
Thank you Wolf. In the end I emailed the museum and they confirmed that no advance booking was needed. Really looking forward to seeing the exhibition.
I think there is no need of booking in advance. Just come to Frankfurt an feel happy
Wolfgang Janecke.
The so-called Elephant Tomb was not a tomb. The data that support its character as a mithraeum derive from its formal characteristics: A room divided into three parts, presided by a chapel, subway, with a water fountain. These are characteristics that formally define a mithraeum. In addition, it has a window that directs the sun's rays into the center of the chamber at the equinoxes three hours after sunrise. In spring, at that time, Taurus would emerge over the horizon. This same configuration is observed in Hawarte whose window allowed the sun's rays to point to the altar during the winter solstice, two hours before sunset. At that time, Taurus emerged over the horizon.
One cannot call a proposal extravagant just because one does not know the basic principles of archaeoastronomy or building archaeology.
Archaeologist and tour guide.
Researcher in history of ancient North Africa. I am interested to the Eastern cults (Anatolian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iranian) which were propagated in this area.
