Fresco showing a mystagogus pressing down the shoulders of a kneeling myste, attended by a third figure in Phrygian cap, from the initiation sequence of the Mithraeum of Capua.
The New Mithraeum
20 Dec 2024
Updated on May 2026
Minto, fig. 14.The mystagogus, dressed in a white tunica, presses down the shoulders of the kneeling myste so that he seems to fall forward. A third person, dressed in red attire and Phrygian cap, is walking up to him with outstretched hands.
One of Roman Italy’s most important Mithraic sanctuaries, the Mithraeum at S. Maria Capua Vetere preserves a remarkable painted cycle of initiation scenes, offering rare visual evidence for the ritual life of Roman Mithaism.