Fresco ‘City of Darkness’ from Hawarte

The painting found in the inner sanctuary called City of Darkness by the excavator is so far unique in Mithraic iconography. There are seven shaggy heads visible behind a castle wall. One of these persons seems to be preparing to escape, but all of them are caught by seven light rays. Following Richard Gordon, Gawlikowski interpreted the representations as the fight of the „good” against the „bad”: the strange demon-like figures in the scenes of the antechamber and in the „City of Darkness” paintings seemed to reflect the impact of the dualism of persian religion and, according to Gordon…