Tauroctony from via di Borgo

TNMM 649 ↔ CIMRM 366 & 367

Relief of travertine (H. 0.90 Br. 1.81 D. 0.11), found along the Via di Borgo S. Agata in 1862. Museo Capitolino, Inv. No. 1204.

Mithras slaying the bull, whose tail is ending in ears. Round the bull’s body a band. The dog, the serpent and the scorpion on the usual places. Behind this scene a large tree, behind which a rocky part with the raven, starting in the direction of Mithras. Cautes (r) and Cautopates (l) in Eastern attire, not cross-legged. They hold their torches with both hands.

In the l. upper coner the dressed bust of Sol in radiate crown; one of the rays darts into the direction of the Persian god, who is looking at it. On the other comer the dressed bust of Luna with a crescent behind her shoulders.

On the upper border an inscription:

Deo sancto Mi(thrae) sacrathis d(onum) p(osuerunt) Placidus, Marcellinus leo antistes et Guntha leo.

Travertine relief (90 x 178 cm) found in 1862 in Rome (via S. Agata 2, corner of via Baccina), 3rd century CE. Currently preserved in Rome, Musei Capitolini (Centrale Montemartini deposit, inv. S1204/NCE2407).

This relief was found buried upside-down under the gate of Mr. Chiocca’s house, during some renovation works. The relief is sculpted on a long travertine slab, possibly a re-used architectural element. In the center of the scene we can recognize Mithras, dressed in his usual attire, who plunges his dagger in the shoulder of the bull while grasping the animal by the nostrils. The bull is pressed to the ground; ears sprout from its tail. Its body is wrapped in a band (dorsuale). At the usual places we can recognize the scorpion, the snake and the dog. The raven, perched on the rocky margin of the cave, flies toward Mithras. The two torchbearers flank the scene: Cautopates on the left and Cautes on the right. They are both cross-legged and they hold their torch with both hands. On the right of Cautopates, the bust of Sol is represented on top of the margin of the cave. He wears a radiate crown and one of its rays is prolonged to reach Mithras. Inside the cave, on the left of Mithras a tall palm tree is represented. On the right, the bust of Luna emerging from a crescent is represented just above Mithras’ left arm.

On the top band of the relief a dedicatory inscription was engraved:

Deo sancto I(nvicto) M(ithrae) sacrathis (!) d(onum) p(osuerunt) Placidus Marcellinus leo antis{ti}tes et Guntha leo.

To the holy unconquered Mithras (and) for the initiated devotees, Placidus Marcellinus leo and antistes and Guntha leo set up as a gift.

A relief with Mithra tauroctone, discovered in 1862, probably in via di Borgo, on the western slope of the Esquiline, where the working-class district of Suburre began, north of the imperial forums, was offered by three men, two of them Lions, for the god and those initiated into his cult. The Lion Marcellinus was also antistes.

The workmanship of the relief, the names of the dedicators and the spelling sacrathis [...] all betray the servile and modest status of these men. However, there is no way of telling whether they belonged to the same community as the Lions Placidus, Marcellinus and Guntha.

CIMRM II 367

Dessau, ILS 4210; Lugli, Fontes IV, 236 No. 242 'Reperta in angulo viarum S. Agata et Baccina.'

Lugli reads: Deo sancto i(nvicto) Mi(thrae) but there are no traces of i(nvicto). antistes read: antistites (sic).