This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience.
Find out more on how we use cookies in our privacy policy.

 
Monumentum

Fresco ‘City of Darkness’ from Hawarte

The City of Darkness unique fresco from the Mithraeum of Hawarte shows the tightest links between the western and eastern worship of Mithras in Roman Syria.
  • The City of Darkness fresco of the Hawarte Mithraeum

    The City of Darkness fresco of the Hawarte Mithraeum
    Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology 

  • The City of Darkness fresco of the Hawarte Mithraeum

    The City of Darkness fresco of the Hawarte Mithraeum
    Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology 

 
The New Mithraeum
21 Aug 2021
Updated on Nov 2023

The full article is reserved for our members.

Log in or create a free account to access the entire site.

The painting found in the inner sanctuary called City of Darkness by the excavator is so far unique in Mithraic iconography. There are seven shaggy heads visible behind a castle wall. One of these persons seems to be preparing to escape, but all of them are caught by seven light rays. Following Richard Gordon, Gawlikowski interpreted the representations as the fight of the „good” against the „bad”: the strange demon-like figures in the scenes of the antechamber and in the „City of Darkness” paintings seemed to reflect the impact of the dualism of persian religion and, according to

Related monuments

Mithraeum of Hawarti

The Mithraeum of Hauarte or Hawarte, which preserves colourful frescoes, it's the latest know and used.

Mithras triumphant over the Sun

Fresco du Mithraeum de Hawarte, Syria, depicts Mithras' victory over the Sun.

Fresco of a knight and a black figure from the Hawarte Mithraeum.

This painting depicts an Iranian knight holding in a chain a black naked figure with two heads.

Mithras rock-birth fresco of Hawarte

In one of Hawarte's frescoes, the rock birth of Mithras is preceded by Zeus and followed by the young Persian god suspended from a cypress tree.