Syndexios
Absalmos
Αβσάλμος
Of Semitic origin, Absalmos has dedicated a tauroctonic relief to Mithras in ancient Syria.
Tauractony with several mythical scenes at the Israel Museum.Carole Raddato (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Biography
of Absalmos
- Absalmos is attested as a member of a Mithraic community (syndexios).
- Attested in the 3rd century.
- Attested in Ad Enum, Noricum in 3rd century (TNMM 128).
TNMP 138
The name Absalmos, derived from the Aramaic ‘b(d)šlm’ ‘servant of Shalman’, is only found in Dura, Palmyra, Hatra, Edessa, and the mid-Euphrates in general, and is a further confirmation, alongside the Duran iconographic parallels, of the relief’s Syrian provenance. We may assume that Absalmos was the current Father of the community. De Jong suggests a date between late II and late III cent. AD: it is not possible to be more specific.
References
- Richard Lindsay Gordon (2013) A new Mithraic relief in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
- The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Relief inscribed in Greek depicting the god Mithra slaying a bull.
Attestations
Tauroctony from Absalmos
TNMM 128
The relief depict several unusual scenes from Mithras’s myth.
ἐκ τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ ̕Αβσάλμου.
Because of the things [received] from the God, in the time of Absalmos.
