Biography
of Statius Ursinus
- Statius Ursinus is attested as a member of a Mithraic community (syndexios).
- Attested in the late 3rd century.
- Attested in Proložac, Dalmatia in late 3rd century (TNMM 304).
TNMP 98
Statius Ursinus was a probably local worshipper of Mithras in Roman Dalmatia, known from a votive inscription on the double-sided relief discovered at Proložac Donji (TNMM 304). He dedicated the monument jointly with his father, Statius Ursus, to Mithras Invictus, the inscription explicitly identifying the two dedicants as pater et filius, “father and son”.
Their joint dedication is particularly noteworthy as evidence for the social transmission of Mithraic worship. Silnović (2024) points to Statius Ursus and Ursinus as an example of the role that familial ties, alongside professional networks, may have played in the recruitment of Mithraic worshippers in Dalmatia. She also includes both men among the adherents for whom a local origin can reasonably be supposed.
The inscription records that father and son set up the monument willingly in fulfilment of a vow (votum libentes posuerunt). Neither Ursinus’s occupation nor a Mithraic grade is known.
References
Attestations
Mithraic meal from Proložac, Croatia
TNMM 304
Mithras and Sol share a sacred meal accompanied by Cautes and Cautopates on a relief found in a cemetery from Croatia.
