Monumentum
Rock-birth relief from Schwadorf
Limestone relief from Schwadorf, ancient Aequinoctium in Pannonia Superior, depicting the naked Mithras being born from the rock with a serpent encircling it, flanked by torchbearers; one of the finest examples of this iconographic type from the Danubian region.
Rock-birth relief from SchwadorfCIMRM
The New Mithraeum
28 May 2026
TNMM 2352 ↔ CIMRM 1651
Relief in limestone (H. 1.35 Br. 0.55 D. 0.30), from Schwadorf. Vienna (Wien), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Inv. No. I, 277a.
Seidl in Arch KOG 1851, 216; 1853, 83; Arneth in Sb. Ak. Wien XI, 1853, 334; Sacken-Kenner, Samml., 53 No. 250a; Maionica, Felsengeburt, 37 No. XIII and Pl. II; MMM II 333f No. 231 and fig. 209; RRR II, 141, 3. See fig. 419.
Naked Mithras being born from a cylindrical rock stone against which a serpent coils upwards. The god's head and hands are lost. On either side sits a youth in Oriental dress (Cautes and Cautopates). Both hold their hands on their knees. The l. youth looks up to Mithras; the head and the r. foot of the other youth (r.) are lost as well as his r. arm and l.h.
In the base an inscription:
References
- Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef (1956) Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
