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Monumentum

Tauroctony from Ottaviano Zeno

In this relief of Mithras as bull slayer, recorded in 1562 in the collection of A. Magarozzi, Cautes and Cautopates have been replaced by trees still bearing the torches.
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;…

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