Monumentum
Taurcotony sculpture from Sidon
The Mithras killing the bull sculpture from Sidon, currently Lebanon.
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The New Mithraeum
4 Jul 2009
Updated on Aug 2023
TNMM 156 ↔ CIMRM 76
Mithras in Eastern attire, girded with a sheath, kills with a large dagger the bull. The dog with collar, the snake and the scorpion on the usual place.
On the bottom border an inscription:
Main inscription
Φλ. Γερόντιος, πατὴρ νόμιμος τῶν τελετῶν τοῦ θεοῦ εὐχαριστῶν αφιερωσάτω τῷ φ̕ ἔτει.
Fl. Gerontios, pater nominos of the rites of initiation of the god, in thanks I have consecrated [this statue] in the year 500
References
According to E. Will, the sculptures are dated to the year 389 A.D.; but according to the Seleucid era the Sidon sculptures are from 188 A.D. Cf. Le Roy Campbell in Berytus XI, 1954, 26 n.t. de Ridder, 59f No. 47 and PI. XX (see fig. 27).
- Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef (1956) Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
