This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience.
Find out more on how we use cookies in our privacy policy.

 
Monumentum

Mithraic relief from Ostia

Relief featuring an enigmatic agricultural implement interpreted either as a scythe or an early type of plough.
 
The New Mithraeum
27 May 2026
There is some discussion about the object next to the hamatus ensis and underneath the crescent with the evening star. I followed Becatti who interprets it 'come una falce dalla lama ricurva e appuntita, che si fissa per mezzo della usuale verghetta traversale al lungo manico terminante in un pomo, e con un piolo obliquo, proprio come le moderni falci per il grano e per il fieno' and a similar interpretation is given by Margarete Bieber in AJA 60, 1956, 313: 'a scythe, used in agriculture.' But J. Le Gall in RA (S. 6) XLIX, 1957, 74 n. 1 prefers to interpret it as a primitive plough 'sans pouvoir l'affirmer…

The full article is reserved for our members.

Log in or create a free account to access the entire site.

Back to Top