Monumentum
Tauroctony from the Mithräum von Heddernheim
This relief is so well-known that it has been reproduced in nearly every handbook of archaeology and of history of religions.
The New Mithraeum
7 May 2010
Updated on Nov 2024
The full article is reserved for our members.
Log in or create a free account to access the entire site.
The relief is sculpted on two sides and it is revolving because it has a pivot at the top and a socket at the bottom.AThe front has the usual scene of Mithras as the bullkiller in a grotto. The bull’s tail ends in three corn-ears. The raven sits on the god’s flying cloak; the dog with a collar leaps up against the bull and the scorpion grasps its genitals. Underneath the bull is an amphora or krater with two handles with a serpent coiling against it. To its right is a lion with menacing head. Cautes (r) with uplifted torch



