Evidence from Numidia illustrates the spread of Mithraic practices through military mobility, provincial administration and communication routes linking inland North Africa to the Mediterranean coast. The province preserves material associated with both frontier and urban environments.
Mithraic monuments of Numidia
Mithraeum of Skikda
Many of the inscriptions and sculptures of the site were kept in a museum which has been destroyed.
CIMRM 121
Mithraeum of Lambaesis
The Mithraeum of Tazoult / Lambèse is one of the best preserved Mithras’s temples in Africa.
Mithraeum of Tiddis
The Mithraeum was housed in a cave. The vault is almost dome-shaped and in front of the cave there is enough space for a possible adjacent temple.
CIMRM 162
Phallus relief from the Mithraeum of Tiddis
The phallus from Tiddis, Algeria, has been represented as a cock.
Mithraeum of Cirta
An inscription mentioning a speleum decorated by Publilius Ceionius suggests the location of a mithraeum in Cirta, the capital of Numidia.
CIMRM 129
Altar from Lambaesis by Florus
This altar, found in Tazoult تازولت, Algeria, was dedicated to the god Sol Mithras by a certain Florus.
Aion of Skikda
The lion-headed figure from Rusicade, now Skikda, holds a key in both hands and features a pine cone beside his feet.
CIMRM 125
Mithraic rock and vase from Rusicade
Both objects have a snake winding itself around them.
CIMRM 127
Inscriptions of Valerius Maximianus at Lambaesis
These twin inscriptions found in the Mithraeum of Tazoult were dedicated by the legate Marcus Valerius Maximianus.
CIMRM 137
Altar from Lambaesis by Celsianus
This altar found in Lambèse, now Tazoult, Algeria, bears the inscription of a certain Celsianus for the health of two men to the god Sol Unconquered Mithras.
Inscription of Aphrodisius
This inscription by a certain Aphrodisius was found under the old city hall of Algiers.
CIMRM 151
Brothers active in Numidia
Places in Numidia
Cuicul
Roman colonial city of Numidia, later known as Djémila, renowned for its exceptionally well-preserved late antique urban remains.
Cirta
Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantina, Algeria.
Diana Veteranorum
Diana Veteranorum, today a village called Ain Zana, was an ancient Roman-Berber city in Algeria.
Icosium
Icosium was a Berber city that was part of Numidia which became an important Roman colony and an early medieval bishopric in the casbah area of actual Algiers.
Lambaesis
Lambaesis, Lambaisis or Lambaesa, is a Roman archaeological site in Algeria, 11 km southeast of Batna and 27 km west of Timgad, located next to the modern village of Tazoult.
Madauros
Madauros was a Roman-Berber city in Numidia, in present-day Algeria, renowned in antiquity as an important intellectual and educational centre of Roman North Africa.
Tiddis
Tiddis was a Roman city that depended on Cirta and a bishopric as Tiddi, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see. It was located on the territory of the current commune of Bni Hamden in the Constantine Province of eastern Algeria.
Inscriptions from Numidia
Mithraeum of Tiddis
Mithraeum of Cirta
A cave with signs and ornaments, dedicated by Publilius Ceionius Caecina Albinus, a man of eminent standing.
Altar from Lambaesis by Florus
Inscriptions of Valerius Maximianus at Lambaesis
Altar from Lambaesis by Celsianus
Inscription of Aphrodisius
Altar from Ain-Zana
pe/regrinorum / votum solvit.
Slab with inscription by Publilius Ceionius of Cirta
Altar from Lambaesis by Aurelius Sabinus
Inscription by Decimus from Lambaesis
Cultores Inscription from Tiddis
References
- AA. VV. (1975) Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies
- Bricault; Roy (2021) Les cultes de Mithra dans l'Empire Romain
- Lucien Jacquot (1908) La caverne miraculeuse de Sidi-bou-Yahia et le culte de Mithra
- Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius (431) Saturnaliorum Libri Septem
- Marcel Le Glay (1968) A la recherche d'Icosium
- Marcel Le Glay (1954) Le Mithraeum de Lambèse
- Nicholas Vivan (2022) Il culto mitraico: attestazioni e diffusione nel territorio della Numidia
- Ulrich Gehn (2024) Inscription recording restoration of Mithraic cave with statues. Cirta (Numidia). 364-367
- Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (2024) M(arcus) Aurelius Decimus
- RUSICADA (Skikda) Algeria – The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites






