Material from Germania superior reflects the strong integration of Mithraic cults within military communities, urban settlements and frontier circulation networks. The province preserves a rich body of monuments and mithraea illustrating the importance of the Rhine frontier in the western expansion of the cult.
Mithraic monuments of Germania superior
Tauroctony from Osterburken
Franz Cumont considers the bas relief of Osterburken ’the most remarkable of all the monuments of the cult of Mithras found up to now’.
CIMRM 1292
Mithréum of Strasbourg
Lors de la construction de l’église Saint-Paul en 1911, un mithraeum a été mis au jour à Königshoffen, vicus gallo-romain situé aux abords du camp légionnaire de Strasbourg-Argentorate.
CIMRM 1335
Two-sided relief of Dieburg
The relief of Dieburg shows Mithras riding a horse as main figure, surrounded by several scenes of the myth.
CIMRM 1247
Tauroctony from the Mithräum von Heddernheim
This relief is so well-known that it has been reproduced in nearly every handbook of archaeology and of history of religions.
CIMRM 1083
Tauroctony from Neuenheim
The Tauroctony relief of Neuenheim, Heidelberg, includes several scenes from the deeds of Mithras and other gods.
CIMRM 1283
Cautes and Cautopates from Mithraeum III of Heddernheim
The two companions of Mithras carry a torch and a shepherd's staff at the third Mithraeum in Frankfurt-Heddernheim, formerly Nida.
CIMRM 1119
Mithraic vessel of Mainz
The Mithraic vase from Ballplatz in Mainz depicts seven figures arranged in two narrative sequences, commonly interpreted in relation to initiation rites.
Mithräum von Dieburg
There are references to two places of worship from Dieburg, whereby the Mithraeum, discovered in 1926.
CIMRM 1246
Mithräum von Saalburg
In the 1900s a model Mithraeum was built in Saalburg in the mistaken belief that there was an original temple of Mithras in an ancient Roman building.
Feast scene with Mithras and Sol from Ladenburg
Bas-relief depicting a naked Sol leaning over his fellow Mithras while raising a drinking horn during the sacred feast.
Brothers active in Germania superior
Places in Germania superior
[Neuenheim]
Neuenheim lies in an area occupied since at least the Iron Age, with a Celtic hilltop refuge and cult site on the nearby Heiligenberg from the 5th century BC. From around 40 - 45 CE, the site developed into a Roman vicus associated with a castellum.
Aquae Mattiacae
Wiesbaden is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main.
Argentoratum
Argentoratum or Argentorate was the ancient name of Strasbourg. Its name was first mentioned in 12 BC, when it was a Roman military outpost established by Nero Claudius Drusus. The Legio VIII Augusta was stationed there from 90 AD.
Bingium
The Celts are the first known to have settled in this place, which they called Binge, meaning rift. Roman troops stationed here in the first century AD rendered the local name as Bingium in Latin.
Bodobrica
Vicus Baudobriga was a Roman settlement on the left bank of the Rhine, founded during the conquest of Gaul. Its development reflects the Rhine’s shifting role as frontier, trade route, and fortified border before Roman withdrawal.
Centum Prata
Centum Prata is the name of a Roman vicus, whose remains are located on the eastern Zürichsee lakeshore in Kempraten, a locality of the municipality Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St.
Gimmeldingen
Gimmeldingen is a village, part of the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany. Its origins, along with the village of Lobloch (which used to be connected), can be traced back to Roman settlements in 325 AD.
Groß-Gerau
Groß-Gerau is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area.
Güglingen
Güglingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.
Lopodunum
Ladenburg is a town in northwestern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The town's history goes back to the Celtic and Roman Ages, when it was called Lopodunum.
Mogontiacum
The Roman castrum Mogontiacum, the forerunner of Mainz, was founded by the Roman general Drusus around 10 BC. It was an important military town throughout the Roman period. The town of Mogontiacum grew up between the fort and the Rhine.
Nemaninga
Stockstadt am Main is a market municipality in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.
Inscriptions from Germania superior
Tauroctony from Osterburken
Two-sided relief of Dieburg
Perpetus fra/te[r] artis sutor[iae]. / Silvinus ar/tis quadratari/ae Aureli[us ---] d[ono] d[ederunt].
[Side B:] D[eo] S[oli] i[nvicto] M[ithrae] Silvestrius Sil[v]inu[s] et Silvestrius Perpetus et Silvinius Aurelius.
[Side B:] To the invincible god Mithras, Silvestrius Silvinus, Silvestrius Perpetus and [Silvinus?] Aurelius, their nephew, fulfilled their vow willingly, gladly and deservedly. Perpetus, brother, a cobbler by trade, and Silvinus, a sculptor by trade, Aurelius [---] gave this as a gift.
Tauroctony from Strasbourg
Altar with Mithras rock-birth of Nida
V[otum] s[olvit] l[ibens] l[aetus] m[erito] / Sive Cracissiu[s]. // P[etram] genetricem.
Dedication inscription from Koenigshoffen Mithraeum
Cautes and Cautopates of Stockstadt
Votive plaque of Stockstadt
Altar to Mithras and Mars from Mainz
Inscription of Corax Materninius Faustinus from Gimmeldingen
Fanus [sic] consacrat[us] / per Potentianum / patrem co[n]s[ulibus] / Paulino et Iuliano /l[ibens] l[aetus] m[erito].
Male figure with offerings from Dieburg
Consecration for Mars Meder
Altar with Inscription to Mithras of Rottenburg
References
- A. Hensen / Archäologische Nachrichten aus Baden (1994) Das Mithräum im Vicus von Wiesloch
- Alain Blomart (1994) Mithra et Porphyre. Quand sculpture et philosophie se rejoignent
- Bricault, Veymers, Amoroso et al. (2021) The Mystery of Mithras. Exploring the heart of a Roman cult
- Bricault; Roy (2021) Les cultes de Mithra dans l'Empire Romain
- Csaba Szabó (2015) Notes on a new Cautes statue from Apulum (jud. Alba / RO)
- Elmar Schwertheim (1974) Die Denkmäler orientalischer Gottheiten im römischen Deutschland
- Eric Rebillard, Jorg Rupke (2015) Group Identity and Religious Individuality in Late Antiquity
- G. Behrens. Ein Mithräum in Bingen
- GG online (2023) Museum Groß-Gerau
- Gordon. The mithraeum in the vicus of Wiesloch, Lkr. Rhein-Neckar, Baden-Württemberg
- Hideo Ogowa (1978) Mithraic ladder symbols and the Friedberg Crater
- I. Huld-Zetsche (1994) NIDA - Eine römische Stadt in Frankfurt am Main (Aalen) 126 Ill. 92
- Ines Siemers-Klenner (2020) Archäologie des Mithraskultes. Architektur und Kultpraxis am Beispiel der Tempel von Güglingen, Kreis Heilbronn
- Kb. Wd. Z. Ges. K. (1897) Ein drittes Mithraeum in Friedberg
- Lobdengau Museum (2025) Sol-Mithras-Relief aus Lopodunum
- M. Mattern (2005) Römische Steindenkmäler aus Hessen südlich des Mains sowie vom bayerischen Teil des Mainlimes
- Main Limes Museums (2022) Mithraeum I Stockstadt
- Main Limes Museums (2022) Mithraeum II Stockstadt
- Marc Heilig / Acheographe. Le mithraeum de Riegel
- Musées de la ville de Strasbourg (2020) Lieu de culte dédié à Mithra
- Nina Willburger (2021) Mithras relief, Fellbach
- P. Herz (1978) Permittente Primulo patre, Journal of Mithraic Studies, II(2), p. 184-188
- Reinhold Merkelbach (1994) Mithras. Ein persisch-römischer Mysterienkult
- Roger Beck (2000) Ritual, Myth, Doctrine, and Initiation in the Mysteries of Mithras: New Evidence from a Cult Vessel
- Roger Pearse (2016) CIMRM Supplement - Mithraeum. Ballplatz, Mainz, Germany
- Sarah Lo Russo (2018) The Mithraeum at Kempraten (CH) – Preliminary Results from a New Discovery in 2015/16
- Ubi erat Lupa. Kultrelief eines Mithräums
- W. Schleiermacher (1928) Das zweite Mithreum in Stockstadt a. Main, Germania 12
- Walter Joachim (2000) Ein römisches Mithräum mit römischen und alamannischen Siedlungsresten in Güglingen, Kreis Heilbronn
- museum-digital (2021) Votivstein für Mithras
- Dieburger Mithräum - Museum Schloss Fechenbach
- Mithraic vessel from Ballplatz
- Mithräum-Grabung abgeschlossen
- Relief mit Leo — Arachne











