Altar to Luna from Gimmeldingen

The New Mithraeum

27 Oct 2023

TNMM 711 ↔ CIMRM 1321

Altar in sandstone (H. 0.82 Br. 0.31-0.425 D. 0.175-0.24).

Deo / Lune / ..... / .... O / ..... / ..... /l(ibens) l(aetus) [m(erito)].

The fact that Luna is mentioned as a male deity should not be explained (as Sprater does) by the linguistic phenomenon that the word "moon" in German is masculine. In the Orient the moon was conceived as a male deity as well (Cumont, Astrology and Religion, New-York- London. 1912, 125f).

Finke, however, suggests, that the word deo may already have been carved in before the altar was dedicated to Luna.

References

Sprater, 4 and fig. 8; Finke in BRGK XVII, 1927,53 No. 164.

Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef (1956) Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae

Related monuments

Mithräum von Gimmeldingen

The few remains of the Mithraeum of Gimmeldingen are preserved at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate, in Speyer, Germany.

Inscription of Corax Materninius Faustinus from Gimmeldingen

The inscription was located at the base of the main Tauroctony of the Gimmeldingen Mithraeum.

Altar from Gimmeldingen by Faustinus

Corax Materninius Faustinus dedicated other monuments found in the same Mithraeum in Gimmeldingen.

Tauroctony from Gimmeldingen

This relief of Mithras killing the bull found in Gimmeldingen, Germany, lacks the usual raven.

Altar of Faustinus from Gimmeldingen

This sandstone altar was dedicated to the god Invictus by a certain Faustinus from Gimmeldingen.

Fragments of altars from Gimmeldingen

These fragmentary monuments, one with an inscription, were found in the Gimmeldingen mithraeum.