Portable tauroctony of Vienna
TNMM 724 ↔ CIMRM 1650
White marble relief (H. 0.23 Br. 0.24 D. 0.048), found in the Botanical Gardens in 1950. The Mithras-cult therefore must have been spread among the civilian population. Now Vienna (Wien), Historisches Museum, Abt. für Ur- und Frühgeschichte.
Mithras tauroktonus with serpent and dog. Cautes (r) and Cautopates (l), crosslegged. On either side of Mithras’ head the busts of Sol and Luna. Behind Sol Mithras taurophorus to the right and underneath it Mithras bull-riding; behind Luna Mithras being born from the rock with upraised hands. The border of the grotto is decorated with seven altars in a row.
Below the central scene, l. to r.:
1) Sol kneeling before Mithras who lays his r.h. upon Sol’s head. Above Sol the protome of a lion.
2) Mithras and Sol at the sacred repast in an arched niche.
3) Mithras ascending Sol’s chariot. The upper part of Sol’s body and the horses are lost.
The relief was probably painted.
References
A. Neumann, Ein Mithrasrelief aus Wien in Amtsblatt der Statt Wien 57,1952 (No. 95), 1f and fig.; A. Neumann, Die Fortschritte der Vindobonaforschung 1948 bis 1954 in Carinthia I, 146, 1956,463 and fig. 12; A. Neumann, Ausgrabungen u. Funde im Wiener Stadtgebiet 1950, Wien 1955,31 and pl. XXXI. See fig. 418 procured with courtesy of Dr. A. Neumann.
- Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef (1956) Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
