Cultic mithraic vase of Zeughausstraße

This brownish vase, covered with a light ochre, was discovered in a fraqmentary state during the excavations undertaken in 1958 at 2/2a Zeughausstraße, in the northern suburbs of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, beyond the city wall. It features two curved ansae and terminates in a lip that extends into the interior with a flat rim pierced by seven holes. One of the ansae is surmounted by the figure of a reclining lion with a bushy mane. The other ansa, reconstructed, features the head of a serpent with a scaly body that undulates about the base of the neck and wraps its tail around the first ansa…