Lion from Les Bolards

TNMM 374 ↔ CIMRM 921

Statue (Br. 0.55 base), which was erected near the entrance.

Statue of a lying lion. Between his forelegs a turned urn, from which water abundantly flows.

This statuette of local oolitic limestone, unique in its genre, which represents a lion lying down and holding a flowing urn between its front paws, was discovered near the entrance of the spelaeum of the Mithraeum at Les Bolards, close to statues of Cautes and Cautopates, the two torchbearers (dadophori). If the water streaming from the spring generated by Mithras is a highly symbolic element, it also functions as a ritual one. When it comes into contact with one’s hands, the water acts on the whole of the individual’s body. Erasingany trace of defilement, it creates effective conditions for healthy communication with the divine. In order to purify himself, the worshipper can use running water, as it gushes or flows from a spring, or from fountains and basins installed near the entrance to the cultic space.

The site at Les Bolards, vicus of the city of the Aedui, integrated into Gallia Lugdunensis, developed around a religious complex known and explored since the 19th century. A Mithraeum was discovered there in 1948 in the heart of the ancient settlement’s monumental religious centre. Established in the 3rd century, the Mithraeum was located to the north of the main temple, which was consecrated to Apollo or an indigenous Mars, and adjoined its walls, like an outbuilding. The spelaeum, built under a barrel vault with tworows of benches, was preceded by a pronaos equipped by a well. Built against the back of the large temple, three annex rooms completed the Mithraeum, which was rather richly fitted out. It was there that several iconographic and epigraphic elements were found. The broken statues and traces of fire indicate that it was deliberately destroyed, probably at the same time as the settlement.