Tauroctony from Gérman

TNMM 795

In September 2014 in the Sofia History Museum was given a part of a relief found accidentally in the village of Gérman. The fragment had been reused as a step, turn with the image downwards.

Оnly the lower half of the plate is preserved: 0.69 m of width, maximum height of 0.42 m, 0.10 m of thickness. The relief is made of fine-grained gray-white marble, with precise details submitted.

In the center of the relief in a circular medallion with external dimension of 0.53 meters, a human figure facing right is depicted. With his left knee he pushes an animal (a bull) to the ground. The right leg is strongly strained to the back. Although the entire upper part of the figure is missing, there is no doubt that the Indo-Iranian god Mithras is represented stepped with his left foot over the bull. The god wears a tunic reaching to the knees and a chlamydia is waving around the shoulders. The garment is represented very detailed, with carefully made pleated folds. Mithras usually wears tight pants – perhaps here is the same, though it is not evident on our relief. The god is wearing boots on his feet. The bull is represented also turn right, squatting on the ground, with front legs under the body. The head is bent upward facing the god. On both sides of Mithras a straight, nude male figure is presented. The bodies are covered with chlamydia, wrapping the shoulders and falling down on the back at beautiful folds. Both figures are facing the scene in the middle of the medallion. The outer hand is placed behind the body and the inner one is lifted up (clearly by the right figure, but for the left it is not well visible). The outer leg steps firmly on the earth and the inner one – eased, slightly bent at the knee and posed behind the other. Thus, the figures look slightly inclined to Mithras and the bull. Depicted are the two torchbearers – Kautes and Kautopates – constant companions of the god. Kautes situated to the right of the relief should hold the torch up (on the missing part of the relief) and Kautopates should keep it down, but it is not clearly visible on the relief.

Under the bull the figures of a scorpion, a snake, a dog and three altars are represented. The dog is turned towards the neck of the bull. Two altars located on the left side of the medallion are in higher relief, while the left is erased. The scorpion is traditionally presented reaching for the genitals of the bull.

The medallion is circled by an embossed frame 0.04 cm of width. In the middle of the frame, into the bottom of the relief a human figure is represented, seating en face, cross-legged. He is dressed in a short hython. His left hand rests on the ground while the right one is raised up, holding a patera or is supporting the frame of the relief. The upper part of the figure is partially damaged and the features of the head could not be distinguished – it is possible to have a hat or a lion skin. Obviously Aion [sic] is presented – the god of eternity or Oceanus, who occurs sometimes on the reliefs of Mithras (Vollkommer 1992, 614, No 460).

On both sides of Aio [sic] at the bottom of the relief are depicted a female and a male figure, both inclined – respectively to the left and to the right. The female figure is naked, lightly covered with a hymathion around the lower part. The hymathion is wrapped around her at beautiful folds. The head is covered with a veil which the figure holds with her left hand. Her right hand is resting on a jar which water is pouring from. The male figure is presented in the same position. He is only wrapped in hymathion. Part of the head is slightly damaged but evident is the hair falling in waves and the beard.

On the right side of the medallion part of a bull is visible – preserved is the head as well as the right foreleg.

We could only assume that the relief was painted in bright colours (see Cumont 1899, 217; for colouring the reliefs of Mithras see Forrer 1923; Campbell 1968, 39-40; Clauss 2000, 52). Groove (3 x 1.5 cm) for attachment is located on both sides in the width of relief. Probably two similar were situated on now missing upper part of the monument.