Mithras in Lusitania — The New Mithraeum

The corpus from Lusitania is dominated by the exceptional material documented in Augusta Emerita, one of the principal centres of Mithraic activity in the Iberian Peninsula. Additional evidence from other urban contexts illustrates the integration of Mithraic cults within the administrative, commercial and social networks of western Roman Hispania.

Mithraic monuments of Lusitania

See all Mithraic monuments in Lusitania

People attested in Lusitania

Quintio
(155)

Marcus Valerius Secundus
(155)

Gaius Accius Hedychrus
(155)

Gaius Camilius Superatus
(2nd half of 2nd century)

Hector Corneliorum
(2nd century)

Tiberius Claudius Artemidorus

Gaius Curius Avitus
(2nd – 3rd century)

Gaius Iulius
(2nd half of 2nd century)

Places in Lusitania

Caetobriga

Caetobriga, now Setúbal of Proto-Celtic *Caetobrix, became a Turdetani settlement which passed under Roman rule. In the time of Al-Andalus the city was known as Shaṭūbar.

Capera

Capera was a Roman town in Lusitania, today associated with Cáparra.

Emerita Augusta

Emerita Augusta was founded in 25 BC by order of the Emperor Augustus to protect a pass and a bridge over the Guadiana River. The city became the capital of the province of Lusitania and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire.

Olisipo

Olisipo was the Roman city corresponding to modern Lisbon.

Inscriptions from Lusitania

Mercury of Mérida

Ann[o] col[oniae] CLXXX / invicto deo Mithrae / sacr[um] / G[aius] Accius Hedychrus / Pater / a[nimo] [libente] plosuit].

In the colony's 180th year. Consecrated to the invincible god Mithras. Gaius Accius Hedychrus, Father, willingly deposited this.

Oceaunus of Mérida

G[aius] Acc[ius] Hedychrus / p[ater] patrum

Gaius Accius Hedychrus pater patrum

Altar of Merida consecrated by Marcus Valerius Secundus

Ann[o] Col[oniae] CLXXX / aram genesis / Inuicti Mithrae / M[arcus] Val[erius] Secundus / fr[umentarius] Leg[ionis] VII Gem[inae] dono / ponendam merito curauit / G[aio] Accio Hedychro patre.

In the year 180 of the Colony, Marcus Valerius Secundus, frumentarius of the Legion VII Gemina, took care of placing the altar of the birth of the Invictus Mithras, as a due offering, being pater Gaius Accius Hedychrus.