Mithras in Hispania

Venus of Mérida small sculpture

The lack of attributes and its decontextualisation prevent us from attributing a specific Mithraic attribution to this small Venus pudica from Mérida.

CIMRM 785

Villa romana de Fuente Álamo

One of the rooms of the villa has been interpreted as a mithraeum, but we do not have enough evidence to confirm this.

Aion of Mérida

The Aion-Chronos of Mérida was found near the bullring of the current city, once capital of the Roman province Hispania Ulterior.

CIMRM 777

Mitreo de Cabra

The Mithraeum of Cabra is located in the Villa del Mitra, which owes its name to the discovery in 1951 of a Mithras tauroctonus in the remains of the Roman villa.

Casa del Mitreo

The name of this domus comes from the fact that some authors once associated one of its mosaics with the cult of Mithras, a connection that has since been dismissed.

Mitreo de Lugo

The exploration of an old pazo, a manor house, near the Roman wall, in Lugo, led to the discovery of a Roman domus, which existed continuously from the beginnings of the Christian Era until the Late Empire.

Lion-headed figure of Mérida

The lion-headed figure, Aion, from Mérida, wears oriental knickers fastened at the waist by a cinch strap.

CIMRM 776

Cerro de San Albín

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

CIMRM 772

Naked figure from Mérida

This sculpture may be a naked dadophorus, probably Cautopates.

CIMRM 775

Mitreo dels Munts

A possible Mithraic sanctuary attached to the luxurious Roman villa of Els Munts, near ancient Tarraco, whose interpretation remains disputed.

Mitra de Cabra

The Mithras of Cabra is the only full preserved Tauroctony sculpture found in Spain yet.

CIMRM 771

Mitreo de la Tumba del Elefante

Set in a Roman necropolis, the so-called Mithraeum of the Elephant takes its name from an elephant statue found in one of the tombs.

Baetica

Baetica occupied a prosperous and highly urbanised corner of Roman Hispania where Mithraic cults circulated through Mediterranean exchange networks.

Lusitania

Lusitania preserves one of the most important bodies of Mithraic evidence in Roman Hispania, centred above all on Augusta Emerita and its urban religious landscape.

Tarraconensis

Across Tarraconensis, Mithraic evidence appears in diverse urban, military and Mediterranean environments of Roman Hispania.

Asturica Augusta

Astorga is a municipality and city of Spain located in the central area of the province of León, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, 43 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital.

Augustobriga

Roman town founded on the site of the Celtiberian settlement of Arekorataz, beneath modern Muro de Ágreda in northern Hispania.

Aveiro

The region around modern Aveiro has yielded archaeological material linked to the western Iberian provinces.

Baetulo

The area was populated by Iberians, but the origins of Baetulo date back to the 1st century BC, when the Romans founded the city on the Rosés hill. Baetulo was famous for its vineyards, which produced wine for export throughout the Empire.

Barcino

Barcelona is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona.

Benifaió

The Roman remains of Benifaió, or Benifayó in Spanish, are located on the outskirts of the city. Of particular interest is a rustic villa inhabited between the 1st and 4th centuries according to the numismatic and ceramic remains found.

Caetobriga

Caetobriga, now Setúbal of Proto-Celtic *Caetobrix, became a Turdetani settlement which passed under Roman rule. In the time of Al-Andalus the city was known as Shaṭūbar.

Capera

Capera was a Roman town in Lusitania, today associated with Cáparra.

Emerita Augusta

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.

Igabrum

Cabra is a municipality in Córdoba province, Andalusia, Spain and the site of former bishopric Egabro.

Iluro

Ituro, now Cabrera de Mar, was an important trading town and the capital of the Laietani, an Iberian people, until Roman times.

Iria Flavia

Iria Flavia became an important settlement in northwestern Hispania and later evolved into the modern town of Padrón.