Mitreo d’Ottaviano Zeno

TNMM 1431

The so-called Mithraeum of Ottaviano Zeno is a reconstructed mithraic sanctuary associated with a dispersed group of reliefs discovered on the Caelian Hill in Rome, probably near the modern church of Santa Maria in Domnica. Although no intact underground structure survives, the concentration of related mithraic sculptures and inscriptions found in the area strongly suggests the existence of an important urban mithraeum active during the 2nd and early 3rd centuries CE. The sanctuary is generally connected with the famous “Zeno relief”, formerly owned by the Venetian collector Ottaviano Zeno and later studied by scholars such as Zoega, Cumont and Vermaseren.

The principal monument is a refined marble tauroctony generally dated to the Hadrianic period. Vermaseren considered it the product of a Roman workshop and described it as one of the most sophisticated mithraic reliefs from the capital. The surviving central scene shows Mithras as a youthful oriental figure wearing a lightly folded tunic and Phrygian cap while sacrificing the bull. Unlike many more rigid provincial tauroctonies, the composition has an unusually theatrical and dynamic character. The dog, serpent and scorpion appear around the dying bull, while additional rare motifs include a lion and a crab positioned near the animal’s flank and genitals. The lost tail of the bull reportedly ended in ears of wheat, symbolising vegetal regeneration born from the sacrifice.

The monument is especially important for its astral and seasonal symbolism. On either side of the tauroctony appeared two trees associated with the zodiacal signs of Taurus and Scorpio, an arrangement interpreted by Cumont and later by Vermaseren as representing the cyclical opposition between spring and autumn, fertility and decline, light and darkness. Similar motifs are known from the relief of Bologna (TNMM 325) and several Dacian monuments, but the Roman examples remain among the earliest and most elaborate.

Several additional monuments found in the same Caelian area reinforce the hypothesis of a wealthy and intellectually sophisticated mithraic environment. Particularly important are the reliefs dedicated by M. Modius Agatho, which combine Mithras, Sol, Luna and the Capitoline triad with strongly cosmological inscriptions such as Caelus aeternus Jupiter.

The discovery history of the sanctuary remains imperfectly documented because the reliefs emerged during early modern excavations carried out by aristocratic Roman families, especially the Altieri and Magarozzi collections, probably during the 16th or 17th century. By the eighteenth century the reliefs were already dispersed, drawn and discussed by antiquarians.