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Monumentum

Head of Sol / Helios intarsio from Sant Prisca

The intarsium of Sol found in the Mithraeum of Santa Prisca is composed of several varieties of marble.
Head of Sol from Santa Prisca

Head of Sol from Santa Prisca
Jebulon 

 
The New Mithraeum
12 Jan 2022
Updated on Jan 2022

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A short distance behind the little steps leading to the bench near door N an extremely beautiful head in intarsio was found (pp. 69f). The head (H. 0.33 m.) lay face downwards with the hair to the south of it near a vase Z 18 (Pl. XXXV, 3-4); the greater part was still intact, though some small pieces were scattered when it was thrown down onto the podium. In spite of a careful search some minor fragments were not found and seem to be lost. It is not clear where the marble head was attached; it does not seem to have belonged to the centre of the niche in Y, as it became clear when cleaning

Related monuments

Mitreo di Santa Prisca

The Mithraeum of Santa Prisca houses remarkable frescoes showing the initiates in procession.

Fresco of procession of grades at Santa Prisca

Procession of figures dressed in different ways with inscriptions calling them by the seven grades of the Mithraic initiation cult.

Fresco of lions at Santa Prisca

The inscription is above a procession of men carrying animals, bread, a crater and other objects that appear to be in preparation for a feast.

Oceanus-Saturn of Santa Prisca

The fragmented tauroctony of the Mitreo di Santa Prisca rests on the naked figure of a bearded man, probably Ocean or Saturn.

 

Tauroctony of Santa Prisca

Even if only a few fragments remain, it is very likely that the main niche of the Mitreo di Santa Prisca contained the usual representation of Mithras killing the bull.

Cautes of the mitreo di Santa Prisca

The marble statue of Cautes, found in the Mithraeum of Santa Prisca, was originally a Mercury.