White marble tauroctony from Heddernheim

TNMM 1494 ↔ CIMRM 1084

Relief in white marble (H. 0.20 Br. 0.19 D. 0.012) in five fragments.

Habel, Mithrastempel, 180, 2 and Pl. IV, 8; Lajard, Rech., 180 and Pl. CIV, 3; MMM II 366g and fig. 250; Cohausen, Führer Wiesb., 85 No. 46; Esp. Rec. Germ., 93 No. 137 and fig.; Le Roy Campbell in Berytus XI, 1954, 50 No. 228.

Vaulted relief with Mithras as a bullkiller. Dog, serpent and scorpion, no raven. Standing Cautes (r) with bow in his r.h.; Phrygian cap of Cautopates only partly visible.

In the upper corners the busts of Sol (l) and of Luna (r); between them Mithras' rockbirth, the god holds a torch in his upraised r.h. and in his l.h. a knife.

Underneath the principal scene, separated by a horizontal border: 1) Lion standing on its hindlegs looking back at a kneeling scene. 2) Mithras and Sol at the sacred repast. 3) Sol in a car with one horse; behind him Mithras prepares to ascend it.