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Syndexios

Nonius Victor Olympus

Pater Patrum and Senator. He was also the patriarch of the Olympian dynasty, overseeing a Mithraic community in the centre of Rome.

Biography
of Nonius Victor Olympus

TNMP 31

Patriarch of the Olympius family, of senatorial rank, who for at least three generations watched over a Mithraic community in the 4th century Rome.

Nonius is probably the founder of the congregation, qualified in 357-362 as Pater Patrum. Father of Aurelius Victor Augentius, grandfather of Emilianus Corfo Olympius and Tamesius Augentius Olympius.

'These men held the rank of vir clarissimi, except for Aemilianus who is listed as a clarissimus puero, indicating he was only a child when he was initiated. Aemilianos also holds the unusual title of hierocoracica, which appears to be an alternative form of corax.'

—David Walsh (2018) The Cult of Mithras in Late Antiquity

Mentions

Altar to a Perses of S. Silvestro in Capite

TNMM 517

This monument was erected on the occasion of the elevation of a member to the Mithraic grade of Perses.

Datiano et Cereale cons(ulibus) / Nonius Victor Olympius v(ir) cl(arissimus) p(ater) p(atrum) [et] / Aur(elius) Victor Augentius v(ir) c(larissimus) p(ater) / tradiderunt Persica pri(die) non(as) april(es) / fel(iciter). / Consulibus s(upra) sc(riptis) tradiderunt [h]eliaca / XVI kal(endas) ma/i(as) / felic(iter).
Under the consulship of (Censorius) Datianus and (Neratius) Cerealis, Nonius Victor Olympius, clarissimo, Father of the Fathers, and Aurelius Victor Augentius, clarissimo, Father, transmitted the attributes of the Persian on the eve of the nones of April, with success. Under the aforementioned consuls, they transmitted the attributes of the Sun, on the sixteenth day before the calendas of May, with success.

Inscription of the Olympius for a Leo

TNMM 448

The inscription explains the transmission of the fourth Mithraic degree through the Paters of the Mitraeum of San Silvestro.

Constantio VIllI et Iuliano II con[s(ulibus)] / Nonius Victor Olympius v(ir) c(larissimus) p(ater) p(atrum) / et Aur(elius) Victor Augentius v(ir) [c(larissimus)] pater / tradiderunt leontica IIII idus / aug(ustas) felic(iter). / Alia tradiderunt cons(ulibus) supra s(criptis) / XVII kal(endas) oct(obres) felic(iter).
Under the Consulate of Constantius for the ninth time and Julian for the second time, Nonius Victor Olympus, clarissimo, Father of the Fathers, and Aurelius Victor Augentius, clarissimo, Father, transmitted the attributes of the Lion on the fourth day before the ides of August, with success. They transmitted others under the aforementioned consuls on the seventeenth day before the calends of October, with success.

Mitreo di S. Silvestro in Capite

TNMM 446

This Mithraic temple, aka Mithraeum of the Olympii, was discovered in the 15th century in Rome, although traces have been lost except for a few monuments with remarkable inscriptions.

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