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Syndexios

Mercatorius Castrensis

Offered the famous Tauroctony of Osterburken to the unconquerable sun god Mithras.

  • Reconstrucción de una ceremonia mitráica en el Mitreo de Osterburken

    Reconstrucción de una ceremonia mitráica en el Mitreo de Osterburken
    Aymar 

  • Tauroctony of Osterburken

    Tauroctony of Osterburken
    Petrus Agricola 

Biography
of Mercatorius Castrensis

TNMP 37

The donor's inscription on the base of the Osterburken Tauroctony relief reveals Mercatorius Castrensis built a sanctuary on his property. Stylistic features point the relief to the first third of the 3rd century AD.

—2022 Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg

J. Kajanto, The Latin Cognomina, Helsinki, 1965, p. 208 et 312, donne une origine géographico-sociale au surnom Castrensis qui signifie « né dans un camp », c'est-à-dire « fils de militaire ». Mais il y a peu de chances que ce surnom nous renseigne sur l'origine militaire de Mercatorius. D'après M. Clauss, Cultores Milhrae, p. 118, Mercatorius Castrensis est probablement un indigène, si l'on se base sur la formation de son nom.

—Blomart (1994)

Mentions

Mithräum von Osterburken

TNMM 70

The Mithraeum of Osterburken could not be excavated bodily owing to the water of a well in the immediate neighbourhood. The monument had been covered carefully with sand.

Tauroctony of Osterburken

TNMM 176

Franz Cumont considers the bas relief of Osterburken ’the most remarkable of all the monuments of the cult of Mithras found up to now’.

D[eo] S[oli] I[nvicto] M[ithrae] M[er?]catorius Castrensis in suo cons[ituit].
To the unconquerable sun god Mithras, Mercatorius Castrensis erected (this monument) on his property.

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