Gaius Caecina Calpurnius

Gaius Caecina Calpurnius is the only free Roman citizen securely attested among the predominantly servile community of Mithraeum I at Poetovio. His name appears on the base of a marble statue representing Mithras carrying the bull (taurophoros), dedicated to the Transitus (TNMM 316; CIMRM 1494–1495).

Caecina Calpurnius therefore assumed responsibility for the Mithraeum and restored it. The precise meaning of templum redemit is significant. It has traditionally been translated as “bought back the temple”, but Van Haeperen (2024) argues that redimere may here refer rather to taking over or renewing the lease of the sanctuary. Such a transaction required the legal capacity of a free person and could not have been undertaken by a slave. This distinguishes Caecina Calpurnius from most of the individuals associated with the earliest phase of Mithraeum I, who were slaves or subordinate personnel connected with the publicum portorii Illyrici.

His nomen Caecina is of Etruscan origin. Clauss (1992) consequently regarded Caecina Calpurnius as probably Italic, while noting that the date of his dedication cannot be established more precisely. The inscription itself records neither an occupation nor an office within the Mithraic community.

The monument nevertheless indicates that Caecina Calpurnius occupied an unusually important position in the history of the sanctuary. Rather than simply making a votive offering, he took responsibility for the Mithraeum and its restoration, commemorating the act with a substantial marble image of Mithras taurophoros. The surviving evidence does not establish why the sanctuary had to be taken over or restored, nor whether Caecina Calpurnius held a formal Mithraic grade or office.