Felsgeburt des Mithras

TNMM 237 ↔ CIMRM 1687

This freestanding sculpture was found in 1894 inside Mithraeum IlI at Carnuntum, the capital of the Roman province of Pannonia Superior, on the right bank of the Danube. The sanctuary's movable objects appear to have been deliberately destroyed, at least in part.

Reconstituted from scattered fragments, this statue of calcareous sandstone, probably having been located to the left of an altar at the back of the sanctuary, ilustrates the petrogenesis, the episode of the birth of Mithras. Its conically formed base is composed of irregular rocks, from which the young god emerges nude, other than the Phrygian cap he is wearing. His arms raised, it is quite likely that he originally was holding a knite and torch. A serpent wrapped around the rocky base passes behind the back of the rock-born figure; sculpted in protile, the reptile s head appears to the left of the god's one.

This image is distinguished from other representations of this type by the presence in reliet of a tree with branches framing the birth of Mithras. This last element shows that the birth of the god stimulated the return of vegetation to a ravaged earth.

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Statue in sandstone (H. 0.85 Br. 0.53 D. 0.39), found near the Mithraeum of Carnuntum III.

On a rectangular base there is a cone-shaped base from which the youthful naked Mithras is born. In the uplifted hands he probably held the torch and the dagger. There is a hole in his left hand. His right hand is lost. Around the rock a serpent is coiled, the head of which is visible on the rear side of Mithras' Phrygian cap. The god has long wavy hair. In the background, a large tree.