Altar of Libella, Budapest

TNMM 403 ↔ CIMRM 1773

This altar, reworked for later use as a building block, was discovered in 1855 in Budapest at 150 Szentendrei Street, near the north ramparts of the Roman colony of Aquincum, the capital of the province of Pannonia Inferior, which was home to an important military camp (castrum). A votive text of five lines, all complete, in letters originally painted red, was inscribed on the monument's front:

Deo Arima/nio Libel/la leo / fratribus / voto dic(avit).

'To the god Arimanius, Libella, a Lion, dedicated this as promised for his brothers.'

Libella, probably a slave, held the grade of Lion (Leo), the most common in Mithraic epigraphy after that of Father (Pater). He offers this small altar in a Mithraeum, as is suggested by the verb dicare ('to dedicate'). This action is accomplished for his 'brothers' (fratres), who would either have been fellow worshippers at the same grade as Libella, or more generally members of his religious community. Lions regularly identify themselves as such in inscriptions - which reveals a specific status, if not a central one, between Father, at the top of the ladder, and Ravens, at the bottom. During Mithraic ceremonies, they ensured the purification of the space with incense and fire, or even occupied themselves with food preparation. Other Lions are also named in the epigraphy of Aquincum.

The inscription is dedicated to the god Ahriman, who was originally a demonic figure of ancient Persian mythology. According to this Eastern tradition, it is Ahriman, and not Mithras, who slaughters the bull created by the supreme god Ahura Mazda, with this killing generating the species of animals and plants. In the Roman world, Arimanius (= Ahriman) could be identified with the famous god having the head of a lion whose image is found in numerous sanctuaries of Mithras across the empire. A second dedication is addressed to him at Aquincum, where there are already five Mithraea archaeologically attested.