Fresco scene from Mitreo of Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Fresco showing a scene of initiation into the mysteries of Mithras in the Mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere.
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The New Mithraeum
31 Dec 2020
Updated on May 2026
Minto, 369 and fig. 11; Leipoldt, fig. 43; CAH, Plates V 164a. See fig. 58.Before the standing mystagogus, dressed in white tunica with red stripes, the myste kneels down with folded hands. Here he is blindfolded as well, with a white bandage. Behind him a priest approaches dressed in a red mantle and Phrygian cap; he seems to hold a sword or staff in his hands.[This second panel] (W. 0.92 m.) shows once again the blindfolded and naked alumnus with his magister behind him. The mystes is kneeling on his right knee; his hands are tied behind his back. Pseudo-Augustine tells that the cords used…
One of Roman Italy’s most important Mithraic sanctuaries, the Mithraeum at S. Maria Capua Vetere preserves a remarkable painted cycle of initiation scenes, offering rare visual evidence for the ritual life of Roman Mithaism.
Fresco showing a mystagogus pressing down the shoulders of a kneeling myste, attended by a third figure in Phrygian cap, from the initiation sequence of the Mithraeum of Capua.