Monuments to Mithras

Monumentum

Mithras head of Arles

This head of Italian marble, found at Arles, probably belongs to a sculpure of Mithras.

TNMM677 – CIMRM 881, 453

Monumentum

Weapons from Les Bolards

A number of metal objects and weapons have been found in the Mithraeum of Les Bolards, close to Nuits-Saint-Georges in France.

TNMM678 – CIMRM 925, 429

Monumentum

Altar of Bergamo

This altar to Deo Invicto was found during the excavation of the Monastero Delle Benedettine di Santa Grata in Bergamo, with a bronze calf’s head on top.

TNMM676 – CIMRM 710, 339

Deo invicto / l(ibens) d(e) s(uo).

Monumentum

Altar of Pisignano

This low relief on an altar of Mithras killing the bull was found in a church in Pisignano, south of Ravenna.

TNMM675 – CIMRM 692, 379

Monumentum

Tauroctony on display in Boston

This fragmentary relief depicts Mithras killing the bull in the usual manner, remarkably dressed in oriental attire.

TNMM539 – CIMRM 607, 608

Monumentum

Tauroctony in Copenhagen

This statue of Mithras as a bullkiller was bought at Rome where it might be found.

TNMM674 – CIMRM 596, 414

Monumentum

Tauroctony sculpture in the Sala dei Animali

This Mithras killing the bull belonged to the sculptor V. Pancetti before being exhibited in the Vatican Museums under Pius VI.

TNMM208 – CIMRM 548, 1145

Monumentum

Tauroctony of Chrestos

This relief of Mithras killing the bull, signed by a certain Χρῆστος, is on display in the Sala dei Animali of the Vatican Museum.

TNMM673 – CIMRM 554, 835

Χρῆστος πατὴρ καὶ Γαῦρος ἐποίησαν.

Monumentum

Tauroctony relief of Villa Borghese

This is one of the three reliefs depicting Mithras killing the bull that the Louvre Museum acquired from the Roman Villa Borghese collection.

TNMM672 – CIMRM 586, 433

Monumentum

Tauroctony relief found between Porta Portese and St Pancrace

Franz Cumont bought this relief of Mithras as a bullkiller from a dealer who claimed to have found it in a vineyard near the church of Saint Pancrace, in Rome.

TNMM671 – CIMRM 585, 387

Monumentum

Tauroctony of Villa Borghese

This is one of the three reliefs of Mithras as a bullkiller from the Villa Borghese collection that belong to the Louvre museum, now in the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

TNMM669 – CIMRM 588, 574

Monumentum

Tauroctony of via di Borgo

This relief of Mithras Tauroctonos from Rome bears the inscription of three brothers, two of them lions.

TNMM649 – CIMRM 366, 557

Deo sancto I(nvicto) M(ithrae) sacrathis (sic) d(onum) p(osuerunt) Placidus Marcellinus leo antis{ti}tes et Guntha leo.

Monumentum

Tauroctony of Aelius Maximus of Turda

This small relief of Mithras killing the bull was found in 1859 in Turda, in the Cluj region of Romania.

TNMM668 – CIMRM 1920, 598

Ael(ius) Maximus miles / leg(ionis) V Mac(edonicae) v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) p(osuit).

Monumentum

Tauroctony of Aurelios Stephanos from Sibiu

This relief of Mithras killing the bull is unique in the Apulum Mithraic repertoire because of its inscription in Greek.

TNMM667 – CIMRM 2002, 433

Αὐρήλι(ο)ς Στέφανος θεῷ Μίθρᾳ / εὐχαριστήρι(ο)ν.

Monumentum

Tauroctony of Alba Iulia with collared dog

This relief of Mithras killing the bull from Apulum, now Alba Iulia, Romania, contains several scenes from the Mithras legend.

TNMM664 – CIMRM 1972, 560

Monumentum

Tauroctony from Cluj

Several elements, such as the snake, scorpion or dog, are missing from this tauroctony relief of Cluj.

TNMM280 – CIMRM 2025, 1199

Monumentum

Tauroctony relief of Alba Iulia

The relief of Mithra slaying the bull from Apulum, Romania, has been missing until the scholar Csaba Szabó identified it in the diposit of the Arad Museum.

TNMM346 – CIMRM 1938, 646

Monumentum

Tauroctony of Pleven

This relief of Mithras killing the bull in a vaulted grotto lacks the usual scorpion pinching the bull's testicles.

TNMM662 – CIMRM 2257, 397

Monumentum

Tauroctony of Euhemerus from Alba Iulia

Several authors read the name Suaemedus instead of Euhemerus as the author of this mithraic relief from Alba Iulia, Romania.

TNMM663 – CIMRM 1975, 481

Deo invicto Mithr(a)e / Euhemerus ex voto / posuit.

Monumentum

Altar of Poreč

This stone altar found in Poreč was dedicated by two freedmen to the numen and majesty of the emperors Philip the Arab and Otacilia Severa.

TNMM660 – CIMRM 754, 477

D(eo) S(oli) i(nvicto) M(ithrae) / pro salute et / victoria s(acratissimorum) d(ominorum) n(ostrorum) / Philipporum Aug(ustorum) / et Otaciliae Severe Aug(ustae) / Charitinus I(ibertus) s(ub)proc(urat…