This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience.
Find out more on how we use cookies in our privacy policy.

 
Provincia

Mithras in Germania inferior

Germania inferior preserves a strongly militarised body of Mithraic evidence from the lower Rhine frontier of the Roman empire.

The corpus from Germania inferior is closely associated with legionary environments, frontier settlements and the commercial infrastructure of the lower Rhine. Numerous monuments and inscriptions illustrate the implantation of Mithraic cults within one of the most active military zones of the western Roman world.

Mithraic monuments of Germania inferior

 

Cultic mithraic vase of Zeughausstraße

The Mithraic vase from Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium in Germany includes Sol-Mithras between Cautes and Cautopates, as well as a serpent, a lion and seven stars.

 

Mithräum I von Köln

The Mithraeum I of Cologne is situated amid a block of buildings. It was impossible to narrowly determine its construction and lay-out.

CIMRM 1018

 

Mithräum von Dormagen

Workman digging in a field near Dormagen found a vault. Against one of the walls were found two monuments related to Mithras.

 

Mithräum II von Köln

A second Mithraeum was found in Cologne described by R. L. Grodon as of ’small importance’.

 

Inscription to Mithras by Claudius Romanius from Köln

Votive inscription dedicated to Mithras by the veteran soldier Tiberius Claudius Romanius, from the Mithraeum II Köln, 3rd century.

 

Petrogeny with a sheaf of wheat of Cologne

In this relief of the rock birth of Mithras, the child sun god holds a bundle of wheat in his left hand instead of the usual torch.

 

Tauroctony from Dormagen

The sculpture of Mithras slaying the bull found in Dormagen is exposed at Bonn Landesmuseum.

CIMRM 1012

 

Altar of Kalkar

This altar found at ancient Burginatum is the northernmost in situ Mithraic find on the continent.

 

Fragmented tauroctony of Dormagen

This second tauroctony, found in the Mithraeum of Dormagen, was consecrated by a man of Thracian origin.

CIMRM 1014

 

Altar to Semele from Cologne

This sandstone altar found in Cologne bears an inscription to the goddess Semele and her sisters.

CIMRM 1027

 

Inscription of Cimber and Exsocho from Cologne

This monument with an inscription by two individuals was found in the first mithraeum of Cologne, Germany.

CIMRM 1021

 

Head of Mithras from Cologne

This marble head of Mithras was found in the Luxemburgerstrasze in Cologne, Germany.

CIMRM 1022

See all Mithraic monuments in Germania inferior

Places in Germania inferior

 

Burginatium

Kalkar is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

 

Colonia Agrippina

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, usually just called Colonia, was the Roman settlement in the Rhineland that became the modern city of Cologne, now in Germany. It was the capital of Germania Inferior and the military headquarters of the region.

 

Durnomagus

Founded in 50 AD, Durnomagus is now part of the German town of Dormagen.

 

Vetera

Vetera was the name of the location of two successive Roman legionary camps in the province of Germania Inferior near present-day Xanten on the Lower Rhine.

Inscriptions from Germania inferior

Mithräum von Dormagen

Deo Soli i[nvicto] M[ithrae] p[ro] s[alute] i[mperatoris] Suran l[ibertus] dupl[icarius] ale Noricorum ci[vis] Trax v[otum] s[olvit] l[ibens] m[erito].
To the god Sol Invictus Mithras, for the well-being of the emperor, Suran, freedman, duplicarius of the Ala Noricorum, a Thracian citizen, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.

Inscription to Mithras by Claudius Romanius from Köln

D[eo] I[nvicto] M[ithrae] S[oli] s[ocio] / Tiberius Cl[audius] / Romaniu[s] / veteranu[s] / l[ibens] m[erito].
To the invincible sun god Mithras, ally of sol, Tiberius Claudius Romanius, veteran, willingly and deservedly.

Tauroctony from Dormagen

D[eo] S[oli] i[nvicto] imp[erio] C. Amandinius / Verus buc[inator] v[otum] l[ibens] l[aetus] m[erito].
Under the command of the Unconquered Sun God, C. Amandinius Verus, the trumpeter, willingly, gladly, and deservedly fulfils his vow.

Altar of Kalkar

D[eo] I[nvicto] I[mperatori] / Ulp[ius] [ Am[---] · [ p[ater] / s[acrorum] aes · ex ius-su · ip·sius.

Fragmented tauroctony of Dormagen

Deo Soli I[nvicto] M[ithrae] p[ro] s[alute] Th[?]urat[?]r[?][al]is Didil[ae f[ilius]] / dup[l[arius]] al[a]e Noricorum ci[vis T[h]rax v[otum] s[olvit] l[ibens] m[erito]]

Altar to Semele from Cologne

Deae Semelae et / sororibus eiius[!] / deabus ob honorem / sacri matratus / Reginia Paterna / mater nata et / facta aram po/suit / sub sacerdotal[i] / Seranio Catullo / patre.
To the goddess Semele and her sister goddesses, for the honor of the sacred office of matron, Reginia Paterna, both born a mother and made, placed this altar under the priesthood of Seranius Catullus, Pater.

Inscription of Cimber and Exsocho from Cologne

Have / Cimber es[sedarius] et / Pietas Ensocho / essed[ario] sodali / [b]ene merenti / [pos]uit. Vale.

{H}Ave / Cimber es[sedarius] et / Pietas Exsocho / essed[ario] sodali / [be]ne merenti / [pos]uit[!] val[e] // Cor[a]x.

Cor[a]x // Have / Cimber es[sedarius] et / Pietas Exsocho[!] / essed[ario] sodali / [be]ne merent[i] / [pos]uit[!] val[e].
Hail. Cimber, the charioteer, and Pietas have erected [this monument] for Exsocho, a fellow charioteer, deserving of honor. Farewell.

CIMRM 1017

Deo / invict(o) / regi pr/o bono / comun(i).
To the Unconquered God and King, for the common good.

References

Back to Top