The New Mithraeum Database

Veteran of the Legio VIII Augusta

Eques Romanus and Pater active in S. Stefano Rotondo.

Con motivo del descubrimiento de un mitreo en Mitra en Cabra, charlamos con uno de los referentes del mitraísmo, Jaime Alvar. Con él, repasamos los testimonios hasta hoy conocidos y las especificidades del culto mitraico en Hispania.

On the occasion of the discovery of a Mithraeum in Cabra, Spain, we talk to Jaime Alvar, a leading figure in the field of Mithraism. With him, we examine the testimonies known to date and the peculiarities of the cult of Mithras in Hispania.

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.

The pater Artemidorus seems to be an Augustan freedman of the Claudians, of Eastern origin.

The small Mithraic altar found at Cerro de San Albin, Merida, bears an inscription to the health of Caius Iulius.

TNMM427 – CIMRM 795

Jaime Alvar speculates that the Gran Mitreo de Mérida could have been located in this area, based on a series of materials unearthed by Mélida during the excavations of 1926 and 1927.

TNMM585

Although the site at Cerro de San Albín is not a Mithraeum, archaeologists have found several monuments related to the cult of Mithras.

TNMM29 – CIMRM 772

These fragments of a monumental tauroctony found in the Cerro de San Albín must have decorated the Gran Mitreo de Mérida, which has not yet been found.

TNMM584