Monumentum
Mithraic slab from the catacombs of Vibia
This inscription was commissioned by a family of priests of the invincible god Mithras.
Mithraic inscription from the catacombs of VibiaEDR (CC BY-SA)
The New Mithraeum
6 Sep 2023
Updated on May 2026
TNMM 601
Excavations in the catacombs of Vibia, along the Via Appia, have confirmed that polytheists and Christians shared the same hypogeums in the 4th century. Among them, inscriptions painted in two arcosolia mention sacerdotes of Mithras belonging to the same family, a father and a son, also qualified by this title alone.
Main inscription
D[is] [M[anibus]]. / Sanct[a]e adquae peraenni [sic] bon[a]e me/moriae viris Aurelii[s] Faustiniano patri / et Castricio fratri, sacerdotibus dii [sic] Solis / Invicti Mit[h]rae. [H]eredes aeorum [sic] prosecuti sunt e[t] / b[onae] m[emoriae] Clodiae Celerianae matri f[ecerunt].
To the gods manes. To the pure and perennial good memory, to the men Aurelius Faustinianus, [their] father, and Aurelius Castricius, [their] brother, priests of the invincible god Sol Mithras. Their heirs accompany them; and in memory of Clodia Celeriana, [their] mother, [they] have made.
References
Bull. Comm. Arch. Rom. 82 1970-1971 p. 78 nr. 24 (A. Ferrua) - AE 1975. Riv. Arch. Crist. 47 1971 pp. 43-45 con foto (A. Ferrua) - AE 1975. AE 1975 54. HD006826 (F. Feraudi). Cfr. Miscellanea (Tituli 2) Roma 1980 p. 177 nr. 97a (R. Mancini)
