Monumentum
Mithras petrogenitus of the Esquilino
The relief of Mithras being born from the rock of the Esquiline shows the young god naked, as usual, with a torch and a dagger in his hands.
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The New Mithraeum
12 Jan 2022
Updated on May 2026
TNMM 381 ↔ CIMRM 353
Square marble relief (H. 0.29 Br. 0.29 D. 0.03). Palazzo Conservatori, Inv. No. 2327. Probably 4th cent. A.D.
Mithras’ birth from the rock; visible from the knees. The youthful god is in Phrygian cap; a knife in his upraised r.h.; a flaming torch in the I.h.
References
Visconti, l.c., 211 and PI. XXI, 2; Lanciani, o.c., 167; Maionica, Felsengeburt, No. IV; MMM II 203 No. 18 and fig. 28; Roscher, Myth. Lex., s.v. Mithras, 3046 and fig. 4; RRRIII, 1956; Gressmann, Or. Rel., 154 fig. 58. See fig. 100.
- Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef (1956) Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
