Tauroctony from Aelius Hylas from Doştat

A large tauroctonic marble relief (h. 89 x l. 143 cm.), recorded in Doştat as early as 1723, in the collections of Count Teleki, but which, given the marble used and the compositional technique, must have come from Sarmizegetusa, depicts the sacrifice of the bull (which carries the dorsuale) under the usual stone vault representing the cave.

It has the most common elements of this composition: the busts of Sol and Luna in the upper corners, the raven on Mithra's floating cloak, the three animals (dog, snake and scorpion) and, in the lower corners, the dadophores with their torches (now broken)…