Tauroctony from Sisak

TNMM 784 ↔ CIMRM 1475

Four pieces of an open-work relief in white marble (H. 0.37 Br. 0.28 D. 0.018).

Found in Sisak. Zagreb, Arch. Mus. (Inv. No. 32).

Mithras as a bullkiller in a circle of corn-ears. The r. foot and the head of the god are lost as well as the hind legs and the tail of the bull. There are still visible remnants of the snake, of the scorpion and of the dog (fore-legs). The raven and a part of the god’s flying cloak are lost. Under the crown there are five scenes, four of which in arched vault. From l. to r.:

1. Mithras walking up to Sol, who kneels before him. Mithras holds a curved object, probably a bow over Sol’s head. Above this scene a lying lion to the r.
2. Mithras with the bull on his shoulders.
3. Mithras riding the bull which he holds by the horns.
4. Mithras and Sol at the sacred repast. Mithras probably has a drinking horn in his r.h.; Sol holds an indistinguishable object (loaf?).
5. Sol with a nimbus around his head, standing in a biga, helps Mithras ascending it. Before the heads of the two horses a head in beard and in long hairs with uplifted r.h. (Saturnus-Caelus).
6. Above the preceding figure and separated from it by a horizontal band there is a half-naked reclining woman (Tellus). Only the central part of the arched border above the scene of Mithras is preserved.
7. In the centre there are seven altars placed together. Above them Jupiter on a throne with a sceptre in his l.h., putting his r.h. on a large altar. On his r. naked Mercurius with a caduceus in his l.h. and with a marsupium in his r.h. On Jupiter’s l. there is Mars in helmet and cuirass. In his r.h. he holds a spear and with his l.h. he rests upon a shield.
8. Mithras’ rockbirth. The god is naked and in Phrygian cap; in his raised hands a knife (l.h.) and a torch (r.h.).
9. On the extreme r. a fragment of a person in beard and long hair. He holds his r.h. downwards. He probably is reclining (Saturnus or Oceanus).
10. Beside Mercury the front part of a bull standing in a small house.
11. Behind it the bull in a boat.
12. Under this scene a person in Oriental dress kneeling down before a rock in order to drink the water flowing down from it. He holds his hands at his mouth (Mithras after the water-miracle).