Aion relief of Mitreo Fagan

TNMM 440 ↔ CIMRM 314 & 315

Inscription, probably found together with the Nos. 312 and 314.

C(aius) Valerius Herades pat[e]r e[t] an[tis]/tes dei iu[b]enis inconrupti So[l]is invicti Mithra[e / c]ryptam palati concessa[m] sibi a M(arco) Aurelio / ---

De Rossi supplies: Commodo Antonino Aug(usto).

White marble relief (H. 1.07 Br. 0.40 D. 0.025), found opposite to the preceding monument. Vatican, Museo Chiaramonti XIV, 3.

Standing, naked figure with lion’s head and open mouth (Aion). In his hands which he presses against his breast, he holds a key. Behind his shoulders he has two wings and two more on his hips. He is entwined by a serpent, the head and tail of which are hanging above a krater. This vessel stands between and under his feet. The statue was according to Zoega, formerly gilded, now however, it is black with traces of red on the right shoulder-wing and of violet on the knees, hands, feet and serpent. In the relief there are three little holes for fastening purposes.

This inscription comes from the excavations of the Mitreo Fagan, discovered in Ostia in 1789, between the insula of the Baths of Antoninus and the mouth of the Tiber, a place of worship that seems to have been integrated in a large private residence where the dedicatee had obtained the permission to found the sanctuary. It is engraved on a fragmentary marble plaque. The terms iuvenis and incorruptus are not found elsewhere in the Mithraic context.

This M. Aurelius could only have been an emperor because palatium was not a common house, and a private citizen called Marcus Aurelius could not allow the use of rooms in a palatium.