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Monumentum

Mithraeum of Kapıkaya

Mithras became the main deity worshipped in the sanctuary of Meter in Kapikaya, Turkey, in Roman times, at least until the fourth century.

The New Mithraeum

4 Mar 2022

The Meter sanctuary at Kapıkaya is located in the mountains 10 km northwest from Pergamon. At a height of over 60 m lies a grotto formed by a massive boulder which has fallen from a higher level on top of an open cavity in the rock (Conze and Garbrecht 1912: 128). In this already remarkable natural formation a spring lowed, too. Such a site was predestined for the cult of the Great Mother, goddess of the mountains and the wild nature who was said to have been born out of a stone and often was adored in the form of a rock (Hepding 1903: 118; Nohlen and Radt 1978: 70).

The rise of her cult…

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