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Provincia

Mithras in Achaea

Achaea preserves some of the earliest and most culturally complex evidence for Mithraic cults in the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean.

The material documented in Achaea reflects the integration of Mithraic practices within the urban and intellectual environments of the Greek East. Major cities, long-standing religious traditions and maritime connections contributed to the circulation of cults across the province.

Mithraic monuments of Achaea

Places in Achaea

 

Andros

Palaiopoli is an ancient city on the west coast of Andros in the Cyclades Islands, Greece, and was the capital of Andros, called Andros, during the Classical period.

 

Eleusis

Elefsina or Eleusis is a suburban city and municipality in Athens metropolitan area.

 

Patras

Patras is Greece's third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, 215 km west of Athens.

 

Rhodes

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital. The island has been known as Ρόδος (Ródos) which in ancient Greek was used to describe the pomegranate, whilst in modern Greek the same word is also used to de

Inscriptions from Achaea

Intaglio of Abraxas and Mithras

AΔWNAIE ABPACAE AEHIOYW IAW CABAWΘ.
O Adonai, Abraxas, AEĒIOUŌ, IAO, Sabaoth*.
* O Adonai, great Abraxas, breath of the seven vowels, IAO, God of Hosts..

Re-used Neolithic axe-head inscribed with a Tauroctony

βακαζιχυχ
παπαφειρις
Son [or “soul”] of darkness
[Second word unkown]

Inscription by Aurelius Rufinus from Andros

Pro salute imp[eratoris] Caesari[s] / L[uci] Septimi Severi et M[arci] Aur[eli] Antonini / Aug[ustorum] et P[ubli] Septimi Gaetae Caesari[s] / M[arcus] Aur[elius] Rufinus evocatus Aug[ustorum] n[ostrorum] / sancto deo invicto speleum constituit cum / mil[itibus] pr[aetorianis] Fl[avio] Clarino Ael[io] Messio Aur[elio] Iuliano.
For the salvation of the Caesar emperors Lucius Septimius Severus and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustes and Publius Septimius Gaeta Caesar, Marcus Aurelius Rufinus, veteran [evocatus] of our emperors, to the pure invincible god, established the spelaeum, together with the praetorian soldiers Flavius Clarinus, Aelius Messius [and] Aurelius Julianus.

Tauroctony from Aigio

Soli invic/to milites/ ..... uist/ .... esarcus.
The soldiers [dedicated this] to Sol Invictus; … Vist… … Esarcus.
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