The mithraeum at Lugo (Lucus Augusti) and its connection with Legio VII Gemina
This seminal study by Celso Rodríguez and Jaime Alvar presents the excavation and interpretation of the Mithraeum of Lucus Augusti (modern Lugo), one of the most important Mithraic discoveries in Roman Hispania. The authors reconstruct the history of a sanctuary established within a wealthy urban domus during the early third century CE and demonstrate that it remained in use well beyond the destruction of the house around AD 260, surviving as an active cult centre until at least the mid-fourth century. The article provides the first detailed architectural analysis of the building, discusses its unusual relationship with a private residence, and examines the archaeological evidence recovered during excavation.
Particular attention is devoted to the altar dedicated by the centurion Gaius Victorius Victorinus of the Legio VII Gemina Antoniniana Pia Felix, a monument that securely dates the sanctuary to the Severan period and offers rare evidence for the connection between the Roman army and the cult of Mitra in the Iberian Peninsula. Rodríguez and Alvar argue that the Lucus mithraeum may have originated as the personal sanctuary of the commander of the local statio, while also exploring broader questions concerning the military diffusion of Mithraism, the role of the Legio VII Gemina, and the development of Mithraic communities in north-western Hispania. The article remains a fundamental reference for the study of Roman religion in Galicia and for the history of Mithraism in Hispania.
