The Mithraic evidence documented in Roman Britannia is closely associated with military environments, frontier installations and the northern limits of imperial occupation. The province preserves several well-known mithraea and inscriptions connected to soldiers and officials stationed along the frontiers of the Roman world.
Mithraic monuments of Britannia
London Mithraeum
The Mithraeum of London, also known as the Walbrook Mithraeum, was contextualised and relocated to its original site in 2016.
CIMRM 814
Mithraeum of Inveresk
The Mithraeum of Inveresk, south of Musselburgh, East Lothian, is the first found in Scotland, and the earliest securely dated example from Britain.
Mithraeum of Carrawburgh
The temple of Mithras of Carrawburgh, Brocolita, disclosed three main stages of development, the second exhibiting two reconstructions.
CIMRM 844
Mithraeum of Housesteads
The Housesteads Mithraeum is an underground temple, now burried, discovered in 1822 in a slope of the Chapel Hill, outside of the Roman Fort at the Hadrian's Wall.
CIMRM 852
Mithras rock-born from Housesteads
A naked Mithra emerges from the cosmic egg surrounded by the zodiac, as always carrying a torch and a dagger.
CIMRM 860
Aion of York
The statue of Arimanius/Ahriman was found in 1874 under the city wall of York during the construction of the railway station.
CIMRM 833
Altar of Carrawburgh by Antonius Proculus
One of the three altars to Mithras found at the Mithraeum of Carrawburgh fort.
CIMRM 845
Tauroctonia de Walbrook
The image of Mithras killing the bull, found near Walbrook, is surrounded by a Zoadiac circle.
CIMRM 810
Mithraeum of Caernarfon
The Mithraeum of Caernarfon, in Walles, was built in three phases during the 3rd century, and destroyed at the end of the 4th.
CIMRM 2374
Mithraeum of Rudchester
The Mithraeum of Rudchester was discovered in 1844 on the brow of the hill outside the roman station.
CIMRM 838
Denarius depicting Mithras rock-birth of St. Albans
The mithraic denarius of St. Albans dates from the 2nd century.
CIMRM 827
Tauroctony from York
This stone in basso relief of Mithras killing the bull was found 10 foot underground in Micklegate York in 1747.
CIMRM 835
Brothers active in Britannia
Places in Britannia
Brocolita
Brocolitia, also called Procolita or Brocolita, was an auxiliary settlement on Hadrian's Wall. This site is now known as Carrawburgh.
Burham
Burham is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in Kent, England.
Eboracum
Eboracum was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia. Two Roman emperors died in Eboracum: Septimius Severus in 211 AD, and Constantius Chlorus in 306 AD.
Isca
Isca, variously specified as Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum, was the site of a Roman legionary fortress and settlement or vicus, the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day suburban town of Caerleon, Walles.
Londinium
Londinium was the capital of Roman Britain for most of the period of Roman rule. It was originally a settlement founded around 47-50 AD in an uninhabited area.
Pons Aelius
Pons Aelius, or Newcastle Roman Fort, was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, situated on the north bank of the River Tyne close to the centre of present-day Newcastle upon Tyn
Vercovicium / Borcovicus
Housesteads Roman Fort is the remains of an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, at Housesteads, Northumberland, England, south of Broomlee Lough.
Inscriptions from Britannia
Aion of York
Altar of Carrawburgh by Antonius Proculus
Tauroctonia de Walbrook
Denarius depicting Mithras rock-birth of St. Albans
Mithras-Sol Altar from the Carrawburgh
Tabula ansata of Lucius from Bremenium
Altar with openwork of Inveresk
Dionysus group marble of London
Altar of Inveresk with a griffin
Altar of Carrawburgh by Aulus Cluentius
Inscripton of Justus from Caerleon
Altar of Castlesteads
References
- Amgueddfa Cymru (2023) Roman stone inscription (Mithras)
- Attilio Mastrocinque (2017) The Mysteries of Mithras. A different account
- Bricault; Roy (2021) Les cultes de Mithra dans l'Empire Romain
- British Librery (2021) Mithras sacrificing at the vernal equinox
- Colchester Heritage Explorer Home. Monument record MCC1518 - Roman building, Mithraeum or waterworks? in Castle Park, Colchester
- Current Archaeology (2014) Bodyguards, corpses, and cults
- Denis Anstey (2014) A Roman building at Burham
- Eberhard Sauer (1999) The End of Paganism in the North-Western Provinces of the Roman Empire. The exemple of the Mithras cult
- G.C. Boon (1960) A Temple of Mithras at Caernarvon-Segontium
- H. Mattingly (1932) A Mithraic tessera from Verulam. Numismatic Chronicle 12: 54-7
- Hunter, F, Henig, M & Sauer, E (2016) Mithras in Scotland: A Mithraeum at Inveresk (East Lothian), Britannia, vol. 46, pp. 1-50
- Jessica Bowen (2026) Ancient Roman altars found in Scotland to go on display
- José Ortiz Córdoba (2018) Reclutamiento y unidades militares en las colonias romanas de Lusitania
- Mila Navarro-Caballero (1997) Les dépenses publiques des notables des cités en Hispania Citerior sous le Haut-Empire. Revue des Études Anciennes
- Museum of London (2021) Bacchus
- Ronald F. Jessup (1956) The “temple of Mithras” at Burham. Archaeologia Cantiana. 70:168-171
- Rudchester.org (2024) Rudchester Mithraeum
- William Page (1932) The Victoria History of the County of Kent, vol. 3
- CARVED RELIEF Mithras – Museum of London
- CIMRM 827 - Denarius recut with inscription. St. Albans, Britain — Tertullian.org
- Clare Rowan. Spocking Fives and a Mithraic token. Currency defacement ancient and modern. 2015
- Historic England Research Records — Housesteads Mithraeum
- Roger Beck. Mithraism since Franz Cumont
- Statue of Arimanes







