Villa romana de Fuente Álamo

TNMM 72

The excavations carried out at the Roman villa of Fuente Álamo since 1982 have brought to light an archaeological complex that initially appears to have been a balneum, probably abandoned in the middle of the 2nd century, and rebuilt in the second half of the 3rd century into an enormous villa, albeit of a less luxurious type.

A century later, the villa was extensively renovated and room no. 10 has been interpreted as a possible mithraeum. It is very likely that this room had a different function in the past, since at some point its niches were covered over to prevent external lighting.

The room is divided into three sections, two of which correspond to the two benches of which there are no traces. Since the entire room is paved with a mosaic of black and white geometric motifs, we must assume that in this case the benches were made of wood.

In the central aisle, at a level about 15 cm lower than the sides, there are the remains of what could have been the altar, although what is now visible is a late antique hearth. The walls must have been stuccoed and show traces of fire.

The presumed mithraeum is preceded by a pronaos, the purpose of which would have been to store cult objects and serve as an ancillary room. The back wall has a well-preserved semicircular apse in which the relief or taurochthonous sculpture would have been placed.

The total absence of materials makes it difficult to attribute it to religion, but it shows the exquisite care with which the room was left empty.