The Mithraic evidence from Achaea reflects the integration of the cult within the urban and intellectual environments of the Greek East. The material documented in the region illustrates the circulation of Mithraic practices through major urban centres connected to trade, mobility and long-standing religious traditions rooted in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.
Mithraic monuments of Achaea
Intaglio of Abraxas and Mithras
Gnostic amulet found in the ancient Agora of Athens, depicting Abraxas on one side and a Mithraic inscription on the other.
Mithraeum of Eleusis
A Mithraeum has been identified in Eleusis where the last Hierophant form thespia had the rank of Father in the Mithraic Mysteries.
CIMRM 2349
Mithraeum of Aigio
The underground cave which served as temple was cut into the conglomerate rock of the area, and a flight of eight steps of stone slabs led to it.
Tauroctony from Aigio
The Tauroctony of Patras was found years before the temple over which the relief of Mithras sacrificing the bull was supposed to preside.
CIMRM 2351
Inscription by Aurelius Rufinus from Andros
This inscription reveals the existence of a Mithraeum on the island of Andros, Greece, which has not yet been found.
CIMRM 2350
Re-used Neolithic axe-head inscribed with a Tauroctony
According to Christopher A. Faraone, the axe-head from Argos belong to a category of thunderstones reused as amulets.
Intaglio of Mithras Tauroctonus at the Walters Art Museum
This ancient carnelian intaglio mounted in gold depicts Mithras slaying the bull surrounded by his companions Cautes and Cautopates.
CIMRM 2367
Mithraeum of Andros
An inscription by a certain Aurelius Rufinus reveals the existence of a Mithraeum on the island of Andros, but it has not yet been found.
Brothers attested in Achaea
Provinces of Achaea
Achaea
Achaea preserves some of the earliest and most culturally complex evidence for Mithraic cults in the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean.
Places in Achaea
Andros
Palaiopoli is an ancient city on the west coast of Andros in the Cyclades Islands, Greece, and was the capital of Andros, called Andros, during the Classical period.
Patras
Patras is Greece's third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, 215 km west of Athens.
Rhodes
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital. The island has been known as Ρόδος (Ródos) which in ancient Greek was used to describe the pomegranate, whilst in modern Greek the same word is also used to de
Inscriptions from Achaea
Intaglio of Abraxas and Mithras
* O Adonai, great Abraxas, breath of the seven vowels, IAO, God of Hosts..
Tauroctony from Aigio
Inscription by Aurelius Rufinus from Andros
Re-used Neolithic axe-head inscribed with a Tauroctony
παπαφειρις
[Second word unkown]
References
- Diamandis Triandaphyllos (2008) Nouveau relief rupestre de Mithra Tauroctone dans la région de Xanthi
- E. Kolia (2006) The Cult of Mithras in Aigion, L’Acaia e l’Italia Meridionale
- Ephorate of Antiquities of West Attica. Αρχαιολογικός Χώρος Ελευσίνας — Μιθραίο
- George Wicker Elderkin (1933) A Gnostic amulet
- The Walters Art Museum (2022) Intaglio of a Mithraic Sacrifice
- Christopher A. Faraone (2014). Inscribed Greek Thunderstones as House- and Body-Amulets in Roman Imperial Times
