Submission scene from Barberini

The New Mithraeum

25 May 2021

Updated on May 2026

TNMM 283

CIMRM 390

Mithras, dressed in a white tunic with long sleeves, red anaxyrides and red cloak, lays with his l.h. a crown on the head of Sol, who is knelt down before him and who raises his both hands up to him. Above Sol’s head Mithras holds with his r.h. a brown object (club?; cap?).

References

Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef (1956) Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae

Comments

Stephen Chappell

OK, I'm very confused about Jozef's description of this 'submission' scene. The standing person - perhaps Mithras or one of his priests - is not pressing his left hand against his breast. His left hand seems to be on or next to the head of the supplicant, and his right arms is stretched out, and that hand is holding something like a sistrum (?). The supplicant does not appear to have an ivy-covered head. Is he describing another Mithraeum scene?