Tauroctony sculpture of Villa Borghese

TNMM 670 ↔ CIMRM 587

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).

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’ head and neck, r. arm, l. shoulder and fingers of the l.h.; the bull’s muzzle, r. horn (l. horn is lacking), l. foreleg and tail; the foremost part of the base with the dog’s body (now lost).