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
Brothers active in Germania inferior
Places in Germania inferior
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.
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
Inscription to Mithras by Claudius Romanius from Köln
Tauroctony from Dormagen
Altar of Kalkar
Fragmented tauroctony of Dormagen
Altar to Semele from Cologne
Inscription of Cimber and Exsocho from Cologne
{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].
CIMRM 1017
References
- Bassir Amiri (2005) De la différenciation à l’intégration : bene tnerens dans les épitaphes des Germanies
- Bricault, Veymers, Amoroso et al. (2021) The Mystery of Mithras. Exploring the heart of a Roman cult
- David Ulansey (1991) The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries. Cosmology & Salvation in the Ancient World
- Jost Auler. Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Dormagen
- Luciano Lazzaro (1993) Esclaves et affranchis en Belgique et Germanies romaines d’après les sources épigraphiques
- Richard Gordon (1998) Viewing mithraic art : the altar from Burginatium (Kalkar), Germania Inferior
- Tertullian.org. CIMRM Supplement - Mithraeum II. Köln, Germany
- Dorow, Wilhelm
- Fiedler, F
- Stark, Karl B



