Marcus Antonius Victorinus
A powerful and wealthy man, founder of a mithraeum in the city of Aquincum of which he was the mayor.
Biography
of Marcus Antonius Victorinus
- Marcus Antonius Victorinus is attested as a member of a Mithraic community (syndexios) at the Mithraeum II of Aquincum in Victorinus’s house and at the Mithraeum IV of Aquincum, with a recorded public career as Decurion, aedelis and duumvir.
- Attested in the early 3rd century.
- Attested in Aquincum, Pannonia inferior, Pannonia in 194 – 230 (TNMM 477).
- Attested in Aquincum, Pannonia inferior, Pannonia (TNMM 526 and TNMM 2559).
TNMP 92
A generous euergete, this powerful and wealthy man, the mayor of Aquincum, may have been the owner of the vast mansion that housed this mithraeum in the heart of the Roman city. He also owned a villa in Budaörs, on whose grounds other dedications have been found, including one to Mother Earth (AE 1986, 591 = AE 1995, 1273; see also the dedication to Sol AE 1962, 26).
The second Mithraeum of Aquincum was founded by Marcus Antonius Victorinus in his house in the civil part of the 2nd century Roman city of Aquincum, in Pannonia Inferior.
The size of the house and the importance of its location suggest that Marcus Antonius Victorinus was an influential person. He also dedicated a number of small altars within the same sanctuary.
Marcus Antonius Victorinus lived in Aquincum towards the end of the 2nd century and the first half of the 3rd century. His family probably came from the eastern half of the Roman Empire.
His titles include decurio, aedilis and even duumvir.
References
- Bricault; Roy (2021) Les cultes de Mithra dans l’Empire romain.
- Epigraphic Database Heidelberg. Altars to Cautes and Cautopates from Aquincum in EDH.
- Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby. Altars to Cautes and Cautopates from Aquincum in EDCS.
- István Tóth (1992) A Dacian 'Apostle' of the cult of Mithras?.
- Pablo Maurette (2005) Porphyry and Mithraism: De antro nympharum and the Controversy against the Christians.
Attestations
Altar of Victorinus to Fons Perennis
TNMM 2559
One of several dedications commissioned by the duumvir Marcus Antonius Victorinus in his Mithraeum of Aquincum, modern Budapest.
Altars to Cautes and Cautopates from Aquincum
TNMM 477
These two altars, erected by a certain Victorinus in the mithraeum he built in his house, bear inscriptions to Cautes and Cautopates.
Deo Cau/topati / M. Ant[onius] / Victori/nus / dec[urio] col[oniae] / Aq[uinci] / aedilis.
To Cautopates, Marcus Antonius Victorinus, decurion of the colony of Aquincum, aedile.
Mithraeum II of Aquincum in Victorinus’s house
TNMM 84
This temple of Mithras in Aquincum was located within the private house of the decurio Marcus Antonius Victorinus.
Mithraeum IV of Aquincum
TNMM 85
The Mithraeum of Symphorus and Marcus, in Óbuda, Budapest, has been restored to public view in 2004 and, while well presented, it has been heavily restored.
Tauroctony from Symphorus and Marcus from Aquincum
TNMM 526
This sculpture of Mithras killing the sacred bull bears an inscription that mentions the donors.
