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Monumentum

Mitreo di San Silvestro in Capite

This Mithraic temple, also known as the Mithraeum of the Olympii, dates to the 3rd century and was rediscovered in 15th-century Rome, but it has not been preserved.
Inscription de Olympius to his grandfather.

Inscription de Olympius to his grandfather.
Les Cultes de Mithra dans l’Empire Romain

 
The New Mithraeum
27 Jan 2022
Updated on Jan 2026

TNMM 446 ↔ CIMRM 399

In the 15th century a Mithraeum was discovered on the Piazza S. Silvestro in Capite. About its construction all data fail. The altars and the bases, on which the inscriptions Nos. 400-405, are lost. One inscription (No. 406) however, has been preserved and stands on the back of a marble slab (H. 0.54 Br. 2.25). It was found in 1867 and is divided by small columns into four square and three semicircular niches, in which the seven planets must have been represented (Rome Museo Naz. Terme Inv. No. 662). The sanctuary was in use between 357-382 A.D.).

This temple was conducted by the Olympius, of senatorial rank, who exchanged the title of Pater Patrorum for at least three generations in 4th century Rome. Nonius Victor Olympus is probably the founder of the congregation, qualified in 357-362 as Pater Patrum. Father of Aurelius Victor Augentius, grandfather of Emilianus Corfo Olympius and Tamesius Augentius Olympius.

References

MMM II 196 No.9; Helbig Fuhrer II 71 No. 1274; Paribeni Terme Diocl. 139 No. 282; Vermaseren Mithrasdienst Rome 79.

Related monuments

Altar dedicated by Pater Patrum Augentius

This altar, now lost, mentions that the Pater Patrum passed on the attributes of the sacred Corax to his son.

Inscription of Olympus to his grandfather

This monument is the only one still available from the disappeared Mithraeum in Piazza S. Silvestro in Capite.

Inscription of the Olympius for a Leo

The inscription explains the transmission of the fourth Mithraic degree through the Paters of the Mitraeum of San Silvestro.

Altar to a Perses of S. Silvestro in Capite

This monument was erected on the occasion of the elevation of a member to the Mithraic grade of Perses.

 
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