Mithraeum of Aigio

TNMM 360

The rescue excavation in the plot at 19 Sotiriou Lontou in modern Aigio has revealed a shrine to Mithras, a god of Persian origin whose cult was widely expanded in the roman empire. The underground cave was cut into the conglomerate rock of the area, and a flight of eight steps of stone slabs led to it. Its dimensions are 4.5 x 4 m, and its floor was paved with large square clay slabs.

At the western side of the cave, opposite the entrance, an apse was carved in the rock, where the cult relief or the statue of the god once stood. The shrine dates to the second half of the 2nd century-first half of the 3rd century AD, the main period of the expansion of the cult of Mithras in the roman empire.

The god’s shrine in Aigion is not the unique evidence of the existence of Mithraic communities in Achaea. In 1912 a votive relief that shows Mithras slaying a bull was found in Patras, a Roman colony and the most important harbour in western Greece. It is probable that Roman veterans and italian merchants (negotiatores) who had settled in Achaea were responsible for the expansion of the god’s cult in the area.

Future research is expected to provide us with a bulk of information on several issues concerning Mithras and his cult in western Greece.