The Mithraic evidence documented in Roman Hispania reflects a western and comparatively less densely attested expression of the cult than those known from the Rhine-Danube frontier provinces. The material is concentrated primarily in urban environments, with Augusta Emerita standing out as the principal centre of Mithraic activity in the Iberian Peninsula. Additional evidence from Baetica, Tarraconensis and Lusitania illustrates the circulation of religious practices through administrative, commercial and Mediterranean networks linking Hispania to wider currents of the Roman world.
Mithraic monuments of Hispania
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
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.
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
Mitreo dels Munts
A possible Mithraic sanctuary attached to the luxurious Roman villa of Els Munts, near ancient Tarraco, whose interpretation remains disputed.
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.
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 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.
Tauroctony from Santo Domingo de Silos
Mithras slaying the bull appears as the sign of Capricorn in a zodiacal sequence on the Pórtico del Cordero of the Abbey de Santo Domingo de Silos, Burgos, Spain.
Mitra de Cabra
The Mithras of Cabra is the only full preserved Tauroctony sculpture found in Spain yet.
CIMRM 771
Mercury of Mérida
The statue of Mercury in Merida bears a dedication from the Roman Pater of a community in the city in 155.
CIMRM 780
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.
Mitreo de Cabrera de Mar
The Roman villa of Can Molodell had a sanctuary that has been related to the cult of Mithras.
Brothers attested in Hispania
Provinces of Hispania
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.
Places in 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.
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.
Inscriptions from Hispania
Mercury of Mérida
Altar of Merida consecrated by Marcus Valerius Secundus
Cautopates from Casa del Mitreo of Mérida
Δημήτριος ἐποίει
Demetros made it.
Lápida mitráica de San Juan de la Isla
Signaculum of Caius Valerius Avitus
Oceaunus of Mérida
Ara of the Mithraeum of Lugo
Altar of Benifayó
Altar by Hector Corneliorum of Mérida
Altar of Gaius Iulius from Mérida
Altar by Caius Aemilius Superaius of Merida
Inscription of Tarragona
References
- Jaime Alvar Ezquerra (1981) El culto de Mitra en Hispania
- Jaime Alvar Ezquerra (2006) The mithraeum at Lugo (Lucus Augusti) and its connection with Legio VII Gemina
- Manfred Clauss (1992) Cultores Mithrae. Die Anhangerschaft Des Mithras-Kultes
- El culto de Mitra en Hispania
- Římský kult boha Mithry. Atlas lokalit a katalog nálezů I
