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Monumentum

Tauroctony 593

This is the earliest sculpture of Mithras killing the bull known to date.
  • Mithras killing the bull, earliest representation known.

    Mithras killing the bull, earliest representation known.
    CIMRM

  • The Trustees of the British Museum

  • The Trustees of the British Museum

  • Earliest known Tauroctony.

    Earliest known Tauroctony.
    The Trustees of the British Museum

  • CIMRM 593

    CIMRM 593
    Vermaseren's Corpus

 
The New Mithraeum
2 May 2010
Updated on May 2026

TNMM 164 ↔ CIMRM 593 & 594

Statue of coarse grained marble (H. 0.78 Br. 1.07). At first in Rome, afterwards in the Townley Collection, nowadays British Museum.

Mithras, slaying the bull. Three ears come out from the wound, the dog and the serpent direct their heads towards them. Behind the bull, on the ground traces of the legs of a bird (probably the raven). The two torchbearers are standing behind the bull; their heads have got lost. Cautopates points his torch downwards with both hands; Cuates holds his r.h. against the bull's tail, holding a torch with his upraised l.h.

Restorations: upper part of Mithras' body from the belt, except the r. arm and the front part of the l. arm. Horns, ears and the front piece of the bull's muzzle.

Together with Prof. Bernard Ashmole I studied this monument attentively. It appears, that both torchbearers are genuine, perhaps except the l.h. of Cautes. But his r.h. and the feet of both torchbearers guarantee the exceptional position.

The inscription tells us that it was dedicated by a certain Alcimus, steward of T(iberius) Claudius Livianus. Vermaseren and Gordon believe that this Livianus was commander of the Praetorian guard in 101 AD, which would give an earliest date of 98-99 AD.

Cook 2011, nr. 19: A group of Mithras sacrificing a bull, with an inscription naming Tiberius Claudius Livianus as the owner of the slave who dedicated it.

Formerly in the collection of Cardinal Farnese in the Via Giulia in the sixteenth century. Recorded by Cittadini (1553-1627); seen by Bianchini between 1702 and 1707 (for references, see CIL VI, 30818). The statement in Bodleian Ms Add D 71, fo. 353, that it was found in the convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo between the Palatine and the Caelian in 1776 must therefore be wrong.

Bought from the sculptor Giuseppini on 21 May 1768 for 120 Scudi (TY 8/2). In TY 10/2, it is listed under ‘Marmi comprati da diversi’ with ‘from Giuseppini’ added by Townley. In TY 10/3 (fo. 6), Townley gives the name as Angellini, perhaps a slip of the memory as in other places in that transcript.

Townley seems to have been not altogether happy with the piece since it was omitted from some of the parlour catalogues. Although it was kept indoors until at least the mid-1790s (Parlour Catalogue owned by Simon Townley), Combe found it in the yard (Supplement to 1804 catalogue and TY 18/4).

CIMRM II 594

If Livianus was indeed Prefect of the Praetorian Guard than the monument dates from A.D. 102 (Durry, 340 n. 1 and cf. CIL VI 30728).

CIL VI 718

Alcimus T. Cl[audi] Liviani ser[vus] vilic[us] S[oli] M[ithrae] v[otum] s[olvit] d[onum] d[edit]
Alcimus, slave and bailiff of Tiberius Claudius Livianus, gave this as a gift to the sun-god Mithras in fulfilment of a vow.

References

Notes of Bianchini, which he made between 1702-1709; Clarac, Mus. Sculpt., IV, 25 and PI. 558A, 1191A; Ellis, Townley Gall., I, 284; Smith, Cat. Br. Mus., 87f No. 1721 and fig. 11; MMM II 228 No. 65 and fig. 99; Hinks in Bruton, Fort Manch., PI. 19; RRS I, 295, 2. See fig. 168.

Comments

Gabriel Simeoni
Remarkable monument not only because it is the first sculpted representation of the entire Mithraic tauroctony, but also because of the arrangement of certain figures, such as Cautes and Cautopates, who, even without their heads, seem to hesitate about what they are supposed to do.
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