Biography
of Fructus
- Fructus, a slave, may have been associated with a Mithraic community.
- Attested at Roma, Latium, Italia in 2nd – 3rd century (TNMM 463).
TNMP 67
Fructus was a slave of Pontus, known from a small marble altar dedicated to Oriens in Rome together with his son Myro (TNMM 463; CIMRM 518; CIL VI 556; ILS 4219). The dedication was made sub M. Aemilio Chrysantho magistro anni primi, under Marcus Aemilius Chrysanthus, who appears with the same title in two other inscriptions from Rome.
Clauss (1992) regarded Fructus and Myro as slaves, father and son, and suggested that Oriens probably refers here to Cautes. He interpreted Chrysanthus as having authorised the erection of the altar, while stressing that the function in which he did so remains unclear and that his title magister anni primi cannot securely be identified as a specifically Mithraic office.
The Mithraic character of the dedication is therefore not certain. Chalupa (2023) classifies the altar as a probable rather than securely identified Mithraic monument, its association with Mithraism depending principally on the recurring presence of Chrysanthus in this and two related dedications from Rome. No architectural remains establish the existence of the traditionally proposed Mithraeum near Santa Maria in Monticelli.
References
Attestations
Altar of Fructus and Myro
TNMM 463
This marble monument was dedicated in Rome by the slave Fructus and his son Myro.
