Alejandro Jiménez Hernández

I am an archaeologist specializing in Building Archaeology and Roman show buildings. I have researched the Mithraic nature of the Elephant Tomb in the Roman Necropolis of Carmona (Seville, Spain).us.academia.edualejandro.jimenez.hernandez's website

Arguments for interpreting the Tomb of the Elephant as a Mithraeum based on architectural archaeology, digital surveying and archaeoastronomy.

Study of the Tomb of the Elephant in the Roman Necropolis of Carmona, exploring possible links between its original design, sunlight, and celestial alignments during equinoxes and solstices, and its relationship to the Mithraic cult.

An essential article for understanding the archaeoastronomical orientation of the Hawarte Mithraeum, which links it to the Elephant Tomb in Carmon:
Gawlikowski, Michal, Krzysztof Jakubiak, Wieslaw Malkowski, y Arkadiusz Soltysiak. «A ray of light for Mithras». En Un impaziente desiderio di scorrere il mondo. Studi in onore di Antonio Invernizzi per il suo settantesimo compleanno. Monografie di Mesopotamia, XIV. Le Lettere, 2011.

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.

A review of the Tomb of the Elephant at the Roman Necropolis of Carmona (Sevilla), based on the principles of Building Archaeology and Archaeoastronomy, suggests that the monument underwent several phases of use and may have been conceived as a mithraeum.

Jiménez Hernández, Alejandro, y Inmaculada Carrasco Gómez. La Tumba del Elefante de la Necrópolis Romana de Carmona. Una revisión necesaria desde la Arqueología de la Arquitectura y la Arqueoastronomía. Archivo Español de Arqueología 85 (2012): 119-39.

Jiménez Hernández, Alejandro, y Inmaculada Carrasco Gómez. Arqueoastronomía y mitraísmo. El mitreo de la Tumba del Elefante de la necrópolis romana de Carmona (Sevilla, España). En Il Cielo in Terra ovvero della giusta distanza. XIV Convegno della Società italiana di Archeoastronomia (SIA), editado por Valentina Girotto y Guido Rosada, 63-76. Padova: Padova University Press, 2015.