Tauroctony from Ottaviano Zeno

TNMM 125 ↔ CIMRM 335

This curious monument excavated in the 16th century on the site of a Roman mithraeum near the church of S. Maria in Domnica, not far from S. Stefano Rotondo, where another spelaeum was excavated in 1973. This is a high-relief example of Mithras Tauroctonus between two trees with a raised torch next to the head of an ox and a lowered torch next to a scorpion. Opposite a crab, another scorpion attacks the bull’s genitals. The ancient drawings show the scene under a kind of sculpted lintel where, between the chariots of the Sun and the Moon, there are seven lighted altars accompanied by swords in their sheaths; to the left of the fourth and last altar (from the right) there are two human figures tied up in the coils of a snake. The same ancient drawings show two superimposed reliefs representing Cautes and Cautopates to the left of the tauroctony.

It was recorded in 1562 in the collection of A. Magarozzi (in whose vineyard it was discovered "sul Monte Celio presso à Santo Stefano"), and was shortly afterwards in the possession of Ottaviano Zeno, when A. Lafréri included a drawing of it in his Speculum Romanae magnificentiae. The same drawing can be found in the Berlin Codex Pighianus (Pighius was in Rome from 1549 to 1557). The reproductions of the 17th and 18th centuries were based on this first drawing, which they republished with increasingly serious inaccuracies. In 1815, J. G. Eichhorn (whose commentary is remarkably thorough for its time) attributed the reliefs to the Borghese collection.

Marble relief, formerly in the house of Ottavio Zeno near the Theatre of Pompeius.

Mithras slaying the bull, whose tail is ending in two ears. The god wears a broad belt around his chest and he carries the dagger-sheath at his side. The dog with collar near the wound; a serpent creeps over the ground; the scorpion grasps the genitals; a lion lies on the ground; the raven is perched above Mithras’ flying cloak. On either side of this scene a tree is represented. Behind the bull a fruitbearing tree. A scorpion is creeping up against it; at the foot of the trunk a torch is sticking in the ground. At the other side a tree with heavy foliage, at which an upraised torch as well as a bull’s head are attached.

On the upper rim of the relief seven burning altars alternate with six daggers in holders. In the centre of it stands a naked figure with two wings on the shoulders (Aion). With his upraised l.h. he holds a staff, entwined four times by a serpent. On the left side next to the altars a similar figure is standing, but without wings and staff.

In the left corner a representation of Sol in radiate crown. He stands in a quadriga with rearing horses. In the r. corner stands Luna, bending forward in a biga, which is in descending direction. Behind the goddess’ head a crescent.

Colini, Storia Celio, likes to identify "a Mithras-relief and two small marble tablets with torchbearers", with our monument. Aldrovandi, Le Statue di Roma, describes this relief as following: "una tavola marmorea dove di mezzo rilievo è un huomo che amazza un toro et un cane morde il toro, un serpe li punge un ginocchio, uno scorpione i testicoli; sono poi a piè di un albero uno scorpione, una face, e la testa di un toro; dalla parte di dietro è una colomba, di sopra è il sole e la luna con molti altri vaghi ornamenti; è una delle belle sculpture in marmo che in tutta Roma si vegga".

The relief is said to have been "in casa di Ascanio Magarozzi presso Torre de Conti" and to originate from "sua vigna sul monte Celio presso a S. Stefano".

The description by Aldrovandi does indeed show a striking resemblance with the monument of Ottavio Zeno, who therefore must have possessed it later on. We believe that Colini’s identification is correct and this supplies us at the same time with some data about the "due tavolette marmoree" with the representation of the torchbearers, about whom Aldrovandi speaks and of whom we see the representations next to the drawings of this Mithras-relief. They have come from the Caelius and were also in the possession of Ascanio Magarozzi.

We believe to have found these reliefs again in the Louvre Museum, where they had been walled into a base of a statue of Pan (Inv. No. 287). When they were fixed, is not exactly known, but they were in the Louvre at the time of Clarac (Mus. Sculpt., II Pl. 184 No. 506; cf. Zoega, Abh., 148 No. 12; MMM II 482 No. 58ter and figs. 416-417). By the kind permission of Pierre Devambez, keeper of the Louvre, we had a photograph of the two torchbearers made in the same formation in which they are represented on the drawings. They are two marble reliefs (H. 0.33-0.35 Br. 0.18-0.20 D.0.06-0.08) with the torchbearers in Eastern attire and cross-legged. They hold the torch with both hands. Froehner, Sculpt. du Louvre, No. 431 identifies them already with the left part of the relief of Ottavio Zeno and the photograph confirms this.

The height of the relief with Mithras slaying the bull must have been 0.68; all the monuments together might have belonged to one and the same Mithraeum.