Key of Mithraeum III at Nida

TNMM 406 ↔ CIMRM 1115

Mithraeum Ill at Nida was discovered in 1887. During private excavations undertaken at the site without authorisation in 1890, there came to light an iron key with a bronze handle. Purchased by the magistrate Ernst Justus Haeberlin, it remained in his private collection until the city of Frankfurt acquired it in 1940. This key has a square shank and a toothed blade at a right angle. Its termination is in the form of a protome of a lion emerging from a sort of floral calyx. The lion's head is damaged. This type was quite widespread and not specifically Mithraic. However, considering the place occupied by the lion in the Mithraic visual and cultic uni- verse, it can be supposed that such a choice was not a coincidence. This door key indeed seems ideal for permitting the worshippers of Mitras to enter their own world.