FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA
THE ROMAN CULT OF MITHRAS:
ATLAS OF SITES AND CATALOG OF
MITHRAIC EVIDENCE I
Habilitation thesis
Mgr. Aleš Chalupa, Ph.D.
Brno 2023
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Annotation
The Roman Cult of Mithras: Atlas of Sites and Catalogue of Evidence I
The first volume of this manuscript provides a complete listing of the sites where previous
research has reported the discovery of sanctuaries and iconographic and epigraphic artifacts
related to the Roman cult of Mithras, as well as maps showing the geographic location of these
sites. The finds are catalogued by Roman province and include several sites outside the eastern
borders of the Roman Empire. The geographical scope of the first volume corresponds to the
first volume of Vermaseren’s CIMRM (Maarten J. Vermaseren, Corpus Monumentorum et
Inscriptionum Religionis Mithriacae, Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff 1956), which is here
supplements with new sites and evidence discovered since its publication in 1956. For each site
with a reported presence of the Roman cult of Mithras, a brief list and description of each find
is given, with a more detailed discussion focusing on an assessment of its Mithraic character
using a four-tiered scale: confirmed Mithraic evidence; probable but not unequivocally
confirmed Mithraic evidence; possible but disputed Mithraic evidence; improbable or spurious
evidence. The manuscript is a corrected and updated English translation of a monograph already
published in Czech (Aleš Chalupa, Římský kult boha Mithry: Atlas a katalog nálezů I, Brno:
Muni Press 2023).
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Content
1. Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Structure of the individual entries and notes on the methodology...........................................................1
1.2 Geographical scope of the first volume .....................................................................................................4
1.2.1 Aegyptus, Asia Minor, Iudaea, Syria et regiones extra Imperium Romanum..........................................4
1.2.2 Africa (Creta et Cyrenaica, Africa Proconsularis, Mauretania Caesariensis et Mauretania Tingitana) ....5
1.2.3 Roma (Rome)..........................................................................................................................................5
1.2.4 Ostia........................................................................................................................................................6
1.2.5 Italia (Regiones I-VIII), Sicilia, Sardinia and Corsica .................................................................................7
1.2.6 Gallia Cisalpina et Alpes (Regio IX-XI, Alpes Maritimae, Alpes Poeninae and Alpes Cottiae) ..................7
1.2.7 Hispaniae (Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis et Lusitania) .......................................................................8
1.2.8 Britannia .................................................................................................................................................8
1.2.9 Galliae (Gallia Narbonensis, Gallia Lugdunensis, Aquitania et Belgica)...................................................9
1.3 Technical Notes and Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................9
2 Asia Minor, Syria, Iudaea, Aegyptus et regiones extra Imperium Romanum..............................................11
2.1 Aegyptus..................................................................................................................................................19
2.1.1 Monuments from Egypt, but without known circumstances of discovery............................................22
2.2 Asia ..........................................................................................................................................................23
2.3 Cilicia........................................................................................................................................................25
2.4 Galatia et Cappadocia..............................................................................................................................26
2.5 Iudaea......................................................................................................................................................30
2.6 Lycia et Pamphylia ...................................................................................................................................32
2.7 Syria.........................................................................................................................................................34
2.7.1 Monuments originating from the province of Syria, but without known circumstances of discovery..43
2.8 Regiones extra Imperium Romanum .......................................................................................................45
2.8.1 Monuments from the regiones extra imperium Romanum, but without known circumstances of
discovery........................................................................................................................................................46
3 Africa (Africa Proconsularis, Creta et Cyrenaica, Mauretania Caesariensis et Mauretania Tingitana)........47
3.1 Africa Proconsularis (et Numidia) ............................................................................................................54
3.2 Creta et Cyrenaica ...................................................................................................................................64
3.3 Mauretania Caesariensis..........................................................................................................................65
3.4 Mauretania Tingitana...............................................................................................................................68
4 Roma (Rome)..............................................................................................................................................69
4.1 Roman mithraea and finds associated with them....................................................................................83
4.2 Individual finds with known circumstances of discovery (not assigned to any mithraeum in the research)
.....................................................................................................................................................................129
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4.3 Monuments with unknown origin (but probably from Rome or kept in Rome) ....................................135
5 Ostia..........................................................................................................................................................173
5.1 Ostian mithraea and related finds .........................................................................................................180
5.2 Individual monuments or monuments with unclear circumstances of discovery..................................219
6 Italia (Regiones I-VIII), Sicilia, Sardinia et Corsica......................................................................................225
6.1 Latium et Campania (Regio I).................................................................................................................238
6.2 Apulia et Calabria (Regio II)....................................................................................................................258
6.3 Bruttium et Lucania (Regio III) ...............................................................................................................259
6.4 Samnium (Regio IV)................................................................................................................................260
6.5 Picenum (Regio V)..................................................................................................................................263
6.6 Umbria et ager Gallicus (Regio VI) .........................................................................................................264
6.7 Etruria (Regio VII)...................................................................................................................................273
6.7.1 Monuments found in Etruria, but without known circumstances of discovery..................................285
6.8 Aemilia (Regio VIII).................................................................................................................................287
6.9 Sicily.......................................................................................................................................................291
6.10 Sardinia and Corsica.............................................................................................................................294
6.11 Malta ...................................................................................................................................................296
6.12 Monuments of uncertain provenance but probably found in Italy......................................................297
7 Gallia Cisalpina et Alpes (Regiones IX-XI, Alpes Cottiae, Alpes Maritimae et Alpes Poeninae)..................301
7.1 Liguria (Regio IX)....................................................................................................................................308
7.2 Venetia et Histria (Regio X) ....................................................................................................................309
7.3 Transpadana (Regio XI) ..........................................................................................................................328
7.4 Alpes Poeninae ......................................................................................................................................335
8 Hispaniae (Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis et Lusitania) .........................................................................337
8.1 Baetica...................................................................................................................................................344
8.2 Hispania Tarraconensis..........................................................................................................................351
8.3 Lusitania.................................................................................................................................................363
9 Britannia ...................................................................................................................................................377
9.1 Monuments with unclear finding circumstances...................................................................................402
10 Galliae (Aquitania, Belgica, Gallia Lugdunensis et Gallia Narbonensis)...................................................403
10.1 Aquitania..............................................................................................................................................412
10.2 Belgica..................................................................................................................................................417
10.3 Gallia Lugdunensis ...............................................................................................................................426
10.4 Gallia Narbonesis.................................................................................................................................435
10.5 Monuments from Galliae, but with unknown circumstances of discovery..........................................444
Illustrations..................................................................................................................................................447
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Bibliography.................................................................................................................................................531
List of abbreviations.....................................................................................................................................581
List of maps..................................................................................................................................................590
List of Illustrations........................................................................................................................................591
List of epigraphic marks and conventions....................................................................................................602
Concordance between the CIMRM and Atlas..............................................................................................603
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