Tauroctony sculpture of Villa Borghese

White marble statue (H. 1.25 Br. 1.33). At first in Rome, Villa Borghese, afterwards in the gardens of Fontainebleau, nowadays Paris, Louvre (cf. Inv. manuscript Louvre, No. 991).

Turre Mon. Vet. Ant. 159; Clarac Mus. Sculpt. IV 27 and Pl. 558B No. 1194; Zoega Abh. 148 No. 3; MMM II 482 No. 58bis and fig. 415; RRS I 295 5. See fig. 163.

Mithras, slaying the bull. The dog licks the blood from the wound; the serpent creeps over the ground; the scorpion at the testicles; the raven got lost together with the flying cloak. The back of the statue is roughly worked.

Restorations: Mithras’ …