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Mithras in Britannia

Roman Britannia preserves one of the most strongly militarised corpora of Mithraic evidence in the western empire.

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

See all Mithraicmonuments in Britannia

Places in Britannia

 

Bremenium

Bremenium is an ancient Roman fort located at Rochester, Northumberland, England.

 

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.

 

Camboglanna

Camboglanna was a Roman fort.

 

Colenceaster

Colchester KOHL-cheh-stər is a city in Essex, 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

 

Segontium

Segontium is a Roman fort on the outskirts of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, North Wales.

 

Vercovicium / Borcovicus

Housesteads Roman Fort is the remains of an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, at Housesteads, Northumberland, England, south of Broomlee Lough.

 

Verulamium

Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain.

See all Mithraic sites in Britannia

Inscriptions from Britannia

Aion of York

Vol[usius] Iren[aeus] / Arimani v[otum] [s[olvens] l[ibens] / m[erito]] / d[ono] [ d[edit]]
Volusius Irenaeus, willingly and deservedly fulfilling his vow, gave this as a gift to Arimanes.

Altar of Carrawburgh by Antonius Proculus

Deo Inv[icto] M[ithrae] / L[ucius] Antonius / Proculus / praef[ectus] coh[ortis] I Bat[avorum] Antoninianae / v[otum] s[olvit] l[ibens] m[erito].
To the Invincible god Mithras Lucius Antonius Proculus, prefect of the First Cohort of Batavians Antoniniana, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.

Tauroctonia de Walbrook

Ulpius Silvanus / factis Arausione / emeritus leg[ionis] II aug[ustae] / votum solvit.
Ulpius Silvanus, veteran of the Legio II Augusta, recruited in Arausio, has fulfilled his vow.

Denarius depicting Mithras rock-birth of St. Albans

MIΘRAC ΩROMASDHC / ΦRHN.
Mithras Oromoasdes [Ormuzd] Phren.

Mithras-Sol Altar from the Carrawburgh

Deo ♣ invicto ♠ / Mithrae M[arcus] Sim/plicius Simplex pr[a]ef[ectus] v[otum] s[olvit] l[ibens] m[erito].
To the Invincible god Mithras Marcus Simplicius Simplex, prefect, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.

Tabula ansata of Lucius from Bremenium

Deo invicto [[et]] Soli soc[io] / sacrum. Pro salute et / incolumitate imp[eratoris] Caes[aris] / M[arci] Aureli Antonini pii felic[is] / aug[usti] L[ucius] Caecilius Optatus / trib[unus] coh[ortis] I Vardul[lorum] cum con[sa]/craneis votum de [---] / a solo ex[s]truct[un---].
Consecrated to the invincible God and to Sol, his companion, for the welfare and safety of the pious, auspicious and august Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Lucius Caecilius Optatus, tribune of the first cohort of Vardulli, with his fellow worshippers, vowed to the god to erect [this building] from the ground up.

Altar with openwork of Inveresk

Soli C[aius] Cas[sius ?] Fla[vianus ?] >.
À Sol, Caius Cas[sius ?] Fla[vianus ?], centurion.

Dionysus group marble of London

Hominibus bagis bitam.
Thou givest lift to men.

Altar of Inveresk with a griffin

Daeo [sic] / invic[to] My[thrae] / C. Cas[sius ?] / Fla[vianus ?].
To the god Mithras the Unconquered, Gaius Cassius Flavianus [set this up].

Altar of Carrawburgh by Aulus Cluentius

D[eo] in[victo] M[ithrae] s[acrum] / Aul[us] Cluentius / Habitus pra[e]f[ectus] / coh[ortis] I / Batavorum / domu Ulti/n[i]a Colon[ia] / Sept[imia] Aur[elia] L[arino] / v[otum] s[olvit] l[ibens] m[erito].
Sacred to the Invincible god Mithras: Aulus Cluentius Habitus, prefect of the First Cohort of Batavians, of the Ultinian voting-tribe, from Colonia Septimia Aurelia Larinum, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.

Inscripton of Justus from Caerleon

[Deo in]victo / [Mi]thrae / ...s Iustus / c[[enturio] leg]ionis II aug[ustae] / [l[ibens]] m[erito] f[ecit].
To the Invincible Mithras, the well-deserving, […]s Justus, […] of the Second Legion Augusta, set this up.

Altar of Castlesteads

De[o] Soli / [Invi]cto / M[ith]r[a]e M[ar]/cus Liciniu[s] / Ripanus praef[ectus] v[otum] s[olvit].
To the Invincible Sun-god Mithras, Marcus Licinius Ripanus, prefect, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.

See all Mithraicinscriptions from Britannia

References

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