Stele of Acilius Pisonianus from Milan

TNMM 650 ↔ CIMRM 706

In Ambrosianae aedis pariete.

D(eo) S(oli) i(nvicto) M(ithrae) / P. Acil(ius) Piso/nianus pater / patratus qui / hoc speleum / vii(sic!)ignis ab/sumtum com/parata area a re/publ(ica) Mediol(anensi) / pecunia sua / restituit.

A tall marble stele found in sixteenth-century Milan, set into a wall in the portal of the church of Sant'Ambrogio, bears a dedication to the restoration of a speleum destroyed by fire. While the cost of the work was borne by a certain Publius Acilius Pisonianus, pater patratus, the res publica - to be understood here in the financial sense of 'public fund' - paid for the preparatory work of rebuilding the mithraeum, but not the temple itself. The second text, which must have belonged to the same sanctuary, recalls that the site on which the temple was built was given by decree of the decurions. The mithreum in question was therefore a building for private use, built partly or wholly on public land under a concession from the decurion's order to the Mithraic community. Such a transfer of public land implies a certain visibility for the cult, if not its recognition by the municipal authorities.

The evergete who financed the restoration of the speleum had the title of pater patratus ('confirmed', 'legitimate'), which is also attested, probably in a Mithraic context, at San Juan de Isla in Asturias (CIMRM 803). Originally, this title belonged to the head of the feudal priests, who was responsible for declaring war in accordance with the rules, but also for taking the oath, as in the pact between the Romans and the Albanians (Tite Live, I, 24). It is perhaps for the latter reason that this traditional Roman title was introduced into the Roman cults of Mithras, the god of oaths, thus marking the correspondence between the social values of this Milanese community and those of the Roman people. The generous donor acts - and finances - as a patron recognised by the group he leads.