Evidence from Campania reflects the circulation of Mithraic cults through ports, prosperous cities and elite villa landscapes surrounding the Bay of Naples. Puteoli, Capua and neighbouring urban centres formed part of one of the most interconnected regions of the Roman Mediterranean.
Mithraic monuments of Campania
Mitreo di Santa Maria Capua Vetere
The Mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere preserves a remarkable series of frescoes depicting scenes from the initiation rites.
CIMRM 180
Fresco scene from Mitreo of Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Fresco showing a scene of initiation into the mysteries of Mithras in the Mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere.
CIMRM 188
Tauroctony from Santa Maria Capua Vetere
The main fresco of the Mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere portrays Mithras slaughtering a white bull.
CIMRM 181
A man is initiated into the Mysteries of Mithras
This is the first of several fresco scenes depicting the initiation of a new member in a mithraic community, in Capua Vetere.
CIMRM 187
Eros and Psyche
The Mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere includes a marble relief depicting a child Eros guiding Psyche through the dark.
CIMRM 186
Cautes fresco from Mitreo di Santa Maria Capua Vetere
In the Mithraeum of S. Capua Veteres, Cautes stands between two laurel trees.
CIMRM 182
Stars of the Mitreo de Santa Maria Capua Vetere
The vault of the Mithraeum in S. Capua Vetere is decorated with stars that have holes in their centers, which once held colorful glass decorations.
Fresco de Luna en el Mitreo de Santa Maria Capua Vetere
Luna riding a biga in the Mithraeum of Santa Capua Vetere.
CIMRM 184
Kneeling man from Santa Maria Capua Vetere
This scene from the frescoes of the Mitreo di Santa Maria Capua Vetere shows a kneeling, naked man surrounded by two other figures.
CIMRM 191
Prostrate figure fresco from Capua Vetere
Representation of a person lying prostrate on the ground between two other walking figures on the Mitreo of Santa Capua Vetere.
CIMRM 193
Aion fresco of Caputa Vetere
Minto has claimed that the time god Aion was painted on the corner of the north wall of the Mitreo de Santa Capua Vetere.
CIMRM 185
Initiation scene from Capua Vetere
Fresco depicting an initiation scene from the Mithraeum of Capua Vetere.
CIMRM 194
Places in Campania
Cales
Cales was an ancient city of Campania, in today's comune of Calvi Risorta in southern Italy, belonging originally to the Aurunci/Ausoni, on the Via Latina.
Capua
Capua is currently a city and comune in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
Pausilypon
Posillipo is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples.
Puteoli
Puteoli, the great commercial harbour of Roman Italy, preserves evidence of the cosmopolitan maritime environments through which Mithraic cults circulated across the Mediterranean world.
Inscriptions from Campania
Altar to Sol Invictus from Puteoli
Greek dedication to Mithras from Aenaria
References
- Maarten Jozef Vermaseren (1971) Mithriaca I. The Mithraeum at S. Maria Capua Vetere
- Ministero de la Cultura, Italia (2024) Mitreo of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, access and booking procedures
