Altar from Rome by Mnester and Philetus
TNMM 785 ↔ CIMRM 517
Ara marmorea in domo quadam quae est a dextra vici Iudaeorum in platea vulgo di Branco paulo post palatium Cardinalis di Bologna.
Deo / invicto / Mithrae / C(aius) Lucretius Mnester / M(arcus) Aemilius Philetus / summag(istri) anni primi / M(arcus) Aemili Chrysanti / d(e) s(uo) d(onum) d(ederunt).
Left: ears; right: poppies.
A marble altar in a certain house that is to the right of the street of the Jews in the street commonly called di Branco, just beyond the palace of the Cardinal of Bologna.
The ara comes from Rome, from the house of Francesco della Porta. The inscription confirms that it was erected by two summagistri, Gaius Lucretius Mnestrer and Marcus Aemilius Philetus.
The sides of the ara are decorated with ears of wheat and pomegranates, unusual motifs that probably represent offerings. The laurel tree on the back is not an Apollonian symbol, but the designation of a rural shrine (Schraudolph 1993, 74).
The donors of the Ara are also known from other inscriptions, which allow a dating to the Antonine period (Schraudolph 1993; Vermaseren 1956, 205 ff. no. 517).
CIL VI 734
References
- Vermaseren, Maarten Jozef (1956) Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae
