Mithra’s statue from Boztepe Hill

A text from an eulogy on St. Eugen of Trapezos (1) composed by Constantinus, son of Lucites, tells how the saint, at the time of Diocletian, with two companions, destroyed a Mithras-statue, which stood on the mountain of Boz-Tepe. In the Middle Ages (2) this mountain was still called Μιθρίος βουνός and the hagiographer states that on the very spot where the Mithras-altar stood i.e. on the top of the mountain, a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist was built.
Recent studies have revealed, that the place of the sanctuary must have been near the ruins of this church and not on…