Stars of the Mitreo de Santa Maria Capua Vetere

The vault of the Mithraeum is stuccoed and decorated with stars. Each star is painted inside a circle, with eight rays, alternating in red and blue against a dark-yellow background. A very small hole is often visible in the center of each star.It is said that, at the time of its discovery, the vault was sprinkled with precious stones, which were later stolen. However, among the loose earth, we found a small circular piece of blue glass paste with a hole in the middle. This suggests that the glass decorations, possibly in various colors, were nailed into the stars.Once again, the vault symbolizes the heavens…