The Archaeology of Mithraism: New Finds and Approaches to Mithras-worship 9789042943520, 9042943521

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
Archaeologies of Mithras-Worship
The reconstruction of a banquet and ritual
practices at the mithraeum of Tienen (Belgium)
New data and interpretations

Citation preview

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MITHRAISM NEW FINDS AND APPROACHES TO MITHRAS-WORSHIP Matthew M. McCarty & Mariana Egri

PEETERS

THE ARCHAEOLOGY

OF

MITHRAISM

B A B E S C H Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology Supplement 39 — 2020

BABESCH FOUNDATION Stichting Bulletin Antieke Beschaving

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MITHRAISM NEW FINDS AND APPROACHES TO MITHRAS-WORSHIP

Edited by Matthew M. McCarty & Mariana Egri

PEETERS Leuven - Paris - Bristol, CT 2020

BABESCH Supplement Series edited by

G.J. van Wijngaarden

Photo on the cover: Bull-stabbing fresco from the mithraeum at Capua. Photo: M. McCarty.

All volumes published in the BABESCH Supplements are subject to anonymous academic peer review.

© 2020 Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 153, B-3000 Leuven All rights reserved, including the right to translate or reproduce this book or parts in any form. ISBN 978-90-429-4352-0 eISBN 978-90-429-4326-1 D/2020/0602/90

CONTENTS

1

MATTHEW M. MCCARTY, MARIANA EGRI Archaeologies of Mithras-Worship

2

MARLEEN MARTENS, ANTON ERVYNCK, RICHARD GORDON The reconstruction of a banquet and ritual practices at the mithraeum of Tienen (Belgium). New data and interpretations

11

3

PENNY COOMBE, MARTIN HENIG The Inveresk Mithraic altars in context

23

4

JEAN BRODEUR Le mithraeum d’Angers (France)

35

5

REGULA ACKERMANN, ÖRNI AKERET, SABINE DESCHLER-ERB, SIMONE HÄBERLE, SARAH LO RUSSO, MARKUS PETER, CHRISTINE PÜMPIN, ANGELA SCHLUMBAUM Spotlighting leftovers. The mithraeum at Kempraten (Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland). An interdisciplinary analysis project and its initial results

47

6

FRANÇOIS WIBLÉ Quelques particularités du mithraeum de Forum Claudii Vallensium (Martigny, Suisse)

65

7

PHILIPPE CHAPON La découverte d’un mithraeum à Mariana

77

8

ATTILIO MASTROCINQUE Mithras in Tarquinia

87

9

ANNA DANILOVA The Mithras Cult and Collegia at Ostia: A Spatial Perspective

93

10

MASSIMILIANO DAVID Some New Observations about the Mithraeum of the Colored Marbles at Ostia

105

11

ALESSANDRO MELEGA The Ostian Mithraea in Late Antiquity. New Archaeological Research on the End of Mithraism

113

12

MATTHEW M. MCCARTY, MARIANA EGRI, AUREL RUSTOIU Apulum Mithraeum III and the Multiplicities of Mithraism

123

13

$1'5(($'5Ą*$1 Pottery from Apulum Mithraeum III. Preliminary results

135

14

*(25*(7$(/686,%($75,&(&,87Ą Reconstructing diet and practice in a ritual context. The case of Apulum Mithraeum III

147

15

ALEXANDRA RATZLAFF The Art and Architecture of the Caesarea Mithraeum. Reconstructing Evidence for Cult Ritual

157

1

16

LUCINDA DIRVEN, MATTHEW M. MCCARTY Rethinking the Dura-Europos Mithraeum. 'LYHUVLÀFDWLRQDQG6WDELOL]DWLRQ in a Mithraic Community

165

17

MICHAL GAWLIKOWSKI The Mithraeum at Hawarte in Syria

183

18

ARTUR KACZOR Iconography or Function? “Snake Technique” Pottery in Mithraic Cult

191

19

STEVEN HIJMANS The Place of Art in Mithraic Studies Today

195

Bibliography List of contributors

205 217

Sites discussed in the volume.

Cult niche of the Dura-Europos mithraeum at the time of excavation. Photo: courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

1

Archaeologies of Mithras-Worship 0DWWKHZ00F&DUW\0DULDQD(JUL

Few cults in the Roman Empire had as great an impact and spread as the cult of the Persianate god Mithras. Over the course of roughly a century, worshippers from Britain to Syria – in cities, villages, and on rural estates – were persuaded to join small communities that gathered in the characteristic cave-like sanctuaries and to invest in a range of events and furnishings, including the ubiquitous images of Mithras stabbing a bull. And yet despite (or perhaps because of) the wide spread and rich dossier of evidence for the cult – by 1960, Vermaseren had catalogued nearly 2,500 Mithras-related “monuments” and inscriptions, a number that has grown substantially in light of new finds still awaiting an updated corpus – recent scholarship can still claim aporia about many aspects of the cult… the “mystery” of PŗVWHULD!1 This sense of uncertainty may stem largely from the types of questions posed of the cult and the perceived object of enquiry. Most modern accounts aim primarily to reconstruct the thought-content of the cult or its particular modes of thinking: the VDYRLUSHQVHUof a “religion.” For example, in recent accounts of Mithraism (over the past thirty years), David Ulansey has claimed to uncover the underlying cosmic symbolism encoded in bull-stabbing scenes;2 Robert Turcan has focused on reconstructing the “théologie” and “idéologie” of the cult;3 Roger Beck has argued that the mithraeum mobilizes an allegorical “star talk” to ground propositional truths;4 Attilio Mastrocinque distills the central revelation of the cult as the claim that Augustus was Mithras.5 The goal is often to explain – or rather decode – what or how symbols in the cult “meant,” how they made or confirmed propositional truths. Even when eschewing terms like doctrine (still frequently accepted within accounts of Mithras-worship), the primary aim of these works is to reconstruct what and how ancient worshippers thought about the god, their own place within a wider universe, and perhaps even eschatology. Primary research questions, of course, shape and are shaped by the types of evidence interrogated. It is no wonder that there has been a focus on

symbolism, allegory, and meaning-making in Mithraic scholarship given the twin sources of evidence that form the backbone of Mithraic studies. On the one hand, the most recognizable features of the cult are its monumental remains. The iconographically rich bull-stabbing scenes contain so many elements that defy simple narrative explanation: a veritable zoo of animals that accompany and participate in the central action, cosmic motifs like personifications of Sol and Luna or zodiacal bands, secondary scenes that may point to a complex Mithras-myth. The sanctuaries themselves often follow a layout unique to the cult, with a central nave flanked by two benches and a niche opposite the entrance for these bull-stabbing scenes to be displayed. Some, like the Mithraeum of Sette Sfere in Ostia, are decorated with a complex image program of planetary deities and zodiacal signs that have encouraged symbolic readings of the space itself.6 Yet if the monumental traces of Mithras-worship have long served as one body of evidence, a range of snippets that survive in Greek and Latin texts have played an outsize role in modern imaginations of Mithraism. The majority of these are short lines in Christian polemic, aimed at ridiculing a rival cult; many, of course, were written more than a generation after the archaeological evidence for Mithras-worship disappears.7 The other main ancient literary source for the cult comes from the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry’s third-century De Antro Nympharum: a handbook designed to model how readers might allegorically approach a text like Homer’s Odyssey.8 While contemporary with much Mithras-worship, and drawing on two non-extant earlier treatises on Mithras (whose nature and content can only be guessed at), Porphyry invokes the cult of Mithras primarily as a demonstration of the universality of Platonic truths: even Persians like Zoroaster, purported inventor of Mithras-worship, came to similar conclusions.9 Neither type of text is an unproblematic window onto the cult, the thought-content of Mithras-worshippers, or the ways they might create meaning from images, spaces, and practices.

1

Yet the primacy of these texts in modern accounts is deeply embedded in Mithraic studies and the approaches they take. When Franz Cumont created the first compendium of evidence for Mithras-worship, Textes et monuments ILJXUpV UHODWLIV DX[ 0\VWqUHV GH 0LWKUD (1899), the lines related to Mithras were excerpted from their textual contexts and placed before the much more substantial catalogue of figurative material; this excerptive practice continues to promote uncritical deployment of the texts as documentary sources for Mithras-worship. Recently, a line in Porphyry – “this cave for him bore the image of the cosmos” – has even been hailed as the “gateway” for understanding the entire cult. Texts take center stage in Mithraic studies, and textual hermeneutics serve as the central tool for unlocking hidden meanings in monumental media.10 Our starting premise for this volume, and for the conference from which it grew,11 is that the cult of Mithras was largely a part of the religious ecosystem in which it developed and spread: a world where ritualized practices were central to religious life rather than secondary.12 Reduced to John Scheid’s pithy aphorism, “faire, c’est croire.”13 Even the ancient lexicon for Mithras-worship throws emphasis on GRLQJ rather than being or believing, on VDYRLUIDLUH(how-to, technical knowledge) rather than VDYRLUSHQVHU(ways of thinking). “Mithraism” as a unified way-of-thinking “-ism” only gained currency in the context of late nineteenth-century encyclopaedias of world religion; an ancient author might instead refer to the PŗV WHULD0LWKURX (the “mysteries,” glossable as something like “an operation that produced a change in the status of its object”), the WďOďWDL0LWKURX(the particular initiatory practices of a PŗVWHULD), or the VDFUD0LWKUDH(the sacred things having to do with Mithras, including rites). In Antiquity, it was Mithras-worship – not confessional “being a Mithraist”, holding particular beliefs, or embracing a particular mode of thinking – that mattered. The reasons for thinking that Mithras-worship might be different in kind from other, practice-based forms of religiosity under the Roman Empire are more historiographic than historical: Cumont grouped Mithraism with other “Oriental Cults” that were akin to, and paved the way for the triumph of, Christianity.14 This problematic grouping – now largely rejected as an Orientalist fantasy – has continued to encourage scholarship to bracket Mithraism from the ritual-oriented system of cult in the empire, and to focus attention on areas like ethics, belief, and meaning-making.15 Instead of “Mithraism” and reified thought content, the proper frame of analysis ought to be Mithras-worship, the range of practices related to

2

dealing with this named divinity. The term “Mithraism” can continue to offer us a useful shorthand for the varieties of Mithras-worship that took place across the Roman world; the focus, though, must shift from what ancient worshippers thought to what they did. Of course, practices can themselves run a wide gamut, and include everything from ritualized behaviors like sacrifice, feasting, and the deposition of materials granted special significance; to the modes of production that created monuments and artefacts used by worshippers; to acts of viewing or using such artefacts. And yet it is precisely the realm of practice, relegated to the margins of Mithraic scholarship by the abundance of symbol-rich images, that remains an understudied area. It is difficult to answer with certainty seemingly simple questions like: – What did worshippers actually do in (and around) mithraea? – How often did they do it? – Who participated in these events? – How consistent are the rites practiced in mithraea through time and space? – How do we explain observed similarities and differences? – What do these practices reveal about Mithraic communities' engagements with one another, and about religious networks in the Roman world more broadly? If we acknowledge the centrality of practice to the cult, then we also need to recognize what sorts of evidence best enable us to answer these questions: careful, contextual excavation of cult sites and analysis of full assemblages of material. Rarely have studies of Mithras-worship begun explicitly from archaeological perspectives, with one important exception. Marking the discovery and careful excavation of a mithraeum in Tienen, Marleen Martens and Guy De Boe organized a conference that focused specifically on the “small finds” from mithraea: the types of evidence with which archaeologists are accustomed to working, but which were rarely incorporated into syntheses and narratives about Mithras-worship under the empire. The present volume owes much to their pioneering work, which has shaped the practices and questions of archaeologists conducting new excavations and revisiting older ones. Yet fifteen years later, and with a host of newly discovered and excavated sites related to the worship of Mithras, it is time to revisit our knowledge of Mithras-worship, its practices, and their archaeologically-recoverable material correlates.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL ACCOUNTS OF

THE CULT:

THE PAPERS PRESENTED HERE

Each contribution to the present volume tackles a particular site, object, or class of material, often representing discoveries of the past two decades (many of which remain partially or wholly unpublished), or which have benefitted from new analysis. Simply making more of this material, and primary interpretations of the archaeological finds, available in publication represents an important step forward that will fuel ongoing discussions about the dynamics of Mithras-worship. Marleen Martens, Anton Ervynck, and Richard Gordon reassess the evidence for the Tienen (Belgium) mithraeum – a site that has become the model for archaeological approaches to the cult – updating many of the conclusions they reached over a decade ago after preliminary analysis of the assemblage. In addition to re-dating the mithraeum (to the late second/early third century CE) and the remains of a large banquet associated with its renovation (first quarter of the third century CE), the authors compare the finds assemblage with that stemming from a large funerary banquet nearby. While there were similarities stemming from the common aspects of the practices (ritualized feast), the differences are equally striking: the mithraeum banqueters each seem to have used jars with heated liquid, incense burners, and local ceramics. Penny Coombe and Martin Henig examine the newly discovered Inveresk (Scotland) mithraeum and its sculptural ensemble, with attention to the dialectic between a networked, NRLQHreligion and more personal perspectives. While the pierced technique of the altar demonstrates a close connection to the mithraea of Germany, speaking to the way pan-imperial military networks shaped the localized practices of the cult, the unique set of images and attributes of the god on the altar also hint at the way individual commissioners or communities might reconfigure the identity of the Persian god. The mithraeum at Angers (France), presented by Jean Brodeur, represents an especially rich assemblage of finds, including pottery, faunal remains, statuary, and inscriptions; it may be one of the most complete “packages” of material excavated in recent years, and allows for close examination of the social, ritual, and ideological dynamics of the worship community. Among other exciting finds, a vase commissioned from the potters at Lézoux by a worshipper from Amiens was dedicated here: evidence for the mobile networks of people and objects within the cult.

While still ongoing, the preliminary results of the work by Regula Ackermann et al. at Kempraten (Switzerland) demonstrate the possibilities of truly interdisciplinary archaeology for doing the micro-archaeology of cult practice. The work at Kempraten will serve as a paradigm for future excavations of mithraea and other cult sites. The careful, contextual analysis of finds and focus on the processes of site formation also force us to re-evaluate levels of certainty we use when discussing earlier excavations that only recorded the two-dimensional coordinates of finds; without the attention to site formation demonstrated here, our certainty about the significance of finds will always be limited. The mithraeum at Martigny (Switzerland) also represents a model excavation focused on using contextual analysis of finds to understand practices. In his new study of the site, François Wiblé offers a number of new observations about the building, its transformations through time (especially following a fire in the fourth century CE), and its unusual ritual features, including a deposit of material set below the entrance to the temenos. One of the newest discoveries is the mithraeum at Mariana, the first to be discovered on Corsica. Philippe Chapon offers the first substantial description of the site and its PRELOLHU. Most striking are the ritual deposits that dot the sanctuary complex: prior to construction of the building’s foundation, a perishable container filled with rolled lead sheets and a number of lamps were deposited on the building site (perhaps connected to the mithraeum’s foundation?); a lamp and bent sword were deposited near one of the benches; and a tile box containing another sword was set in the floor of the nave. Such finds hint at the ways Mithraic practices and classes of material might belong to common families, but vary in significant ways from site to site. Attilio Mastrocinque presents another recent discovery: a marble bull-stabbing statue recovered in Italy from the hands of WRPERUROLSubsequent excavations at Tarquinia revealed that it came from what appears to be a secondary context; still, it may originally have belonged to a private mithraeum set within an elite house, offering rare (especially outside of rural, villa sites) evidence for the cult in this domestic context. A trio of papers deal with the cult of Mithras at Ostia (Italy) from different perspectives: a reminder of the importance of the site both in terms of the quantity of Mithraic material discovered there and because individual mithraea have wider contexts within the fabric of the city. Anna Danilova exploits the possibilities of this spatial context, contrasting mithraea with FROOHJLDto show that the cult was

3

more than – or at least distinct from – these other elective associations. Massimiliano David shares exciting results from the newly discovered Mithraeum of the Colored Marbles, the last known mithraeum to remain a functioning worship space (through the early fifth century CE). The finds and layout also suggest a degree of stability in the cult and its symbols well into Late Antiquity. And Alessandro Melega demonstrates the ways new analysis using photogrammetry can help to paint a more nuanced picture of the end of Mithraism in the city, with evidence for different processes of destruction and abandonment of the sanctuaries. The next three papers deal with our own excavations of Apulum Mithraeum III (Romania), the first mithraeum to be excavated with modern techniques, documentation, and attention to non-monumental finds assemblages in a province otherwise rich with Mithraic monuments. The micro-archaeology of the site – including close analysis of the ceramics, faunal, and botanical assemblages – and especially of a foundation deposit, coupled with more traditional analysis of the epigraphic dossier, presents a high-resolution look at the multiplicities of interconnections that promoted coherence and difference within the cult. Alexandra Ratzlaff focuses her attention on synthesizing and extending her contribution to the recent, final publication of the mithraeum of Caesarea Maritima (Israel). Long hailed as one of the earliest mithraea (and thus providing an early connection to the cult in the eastern Mediterranean), new analysis demonstrates that the mithraeum must date to the late second century at earliest. Ratzlaff argues that the frescoes show scenes of initiation that largely confirm those described by Porphyry and other late antique authors, and that also find close parallels in other Mithraic scenes. Such images, including a Mithraic relief medallion imported from the Danube, she suggests, helped to transmit and normalize standard forms of cult practice: a kind of visual equivalent of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. The mithraeum of Dura-Europos (Syria) has, since its discovery, occupied a central place in studies of Mithraism given the well-preserved decorative program and eastern location close to imagined Persian homeland of Mithraism, and yet modern familiarity with the site depends on a series of (sometimes contradictory) preliminary reports. In re-evaluating the site, Lucinda Dirven and Matthew McCarty show that many of the accepted interpretations of the structural and decorative phasing can be rejected; as a result, our understanding of the sanctuary’s history and its community needs to be substantially revised.

4

Michal Gawlikowski and Artur Kaczor both examine another recently discovered mithraeum in Syria, that at Hawarte, providing new details about the finds assemblage and a new interpretation of the decoration. The site raises a number of important questions about the nature of the cult; Gawlikowski argues that the strange visual program reflects evidence for the Zoroastrian content of the cult. For his part, Kaczor analyses part of a snake-vessel found at Hawarte; he argues for an important distinction between iconography (snake-decorated pots, used in a variety of cults) and technique (special-effect snake vessels, used only in mithraea). To close the volume, Steven Hijmans tackles directly the problems associated with interpreting Mithraic art (and Roman art more broadly), recognizing its importance as a source for the cult that cannot be abandoned in favor of more archaeological analyses. The inductive approaches frequently applied to the visual evidence fail, he argues, because they presuppose an interpretive model into which that evidence is fitted. Rather, images ought to be understood as images (rather than texts), within a semantic system composed of stylistic, material, and iconographic terms. Taking this approach can reveal the ways viewers created connections and distinctions between Mithraism and other cults in the Roman Empire. While each chapter offers a valuable contribution in its own right, together, they offer new directions for thinking about the worship of Mithras in the Roman world more broadly. In particular, when these accounts of individual sites are viewed side-by-side from an archaeological perspective, they provide new perspectives on connectivity and ritual practice within the cult. UNITY, DIVERSITY, VARIABILITY: DESCRIBING PRACTICE One of the questions at the heart of Mithraic studies, this volume, and Roman cultural/religious studies more broadly, is how to model the dialogic relationship between commonalities and variations that stretch across vast distances and centuries. Mithras-worship is often treated as a series of localized instantiations of some canonical Mithraism, whose unifying principle is either the deity himself or the propositional claims/beliefs woven around his person.16 There have, of course, been recent attempts to put greater emphasis on local or micro-regional particularities, especially within the cult’s iconography17 and social structures,18 often driven by the same postcolonial privileging of heterogeneity that has fueled recent debates around “Romanization.” Still, it is often assumed that the explananda are departures from

a perceived, normative Mithraism; particular habits, traditions, mistakes, misunderstandings, and the problems of preservation are what prevent us from having a “perfect” mithraeum in the archaeological record (but allow us to draw and use diagrams of such an ideal place!).19 Yet in a world – however well connected it may have been – without instantaneous communication and little interest in developing fixed prescriptive ritual texts, commonalities demand as much explanation as differences. But before attempting explanation, we still need to understand how much of the cult actually was shared and common beyond iconographies and the name of a god. Adrych et al. have shown how the common name of “Mithras” and images linked to one another created a kind of relational network, rather than a fixed, reified god.20 If the divine persona upon which many views of the cult are predicated is fragmented, to what extent can we still speak of Mithraism or a cult of Mithras? A host of postcolonial work on Roman provincial art has demonstrated that shared images can paper over a variety of different ways they were instrumentalized and interpreted by viewers.21 Common structures and iconographies are hardly proof of unity in themselves; we would not call every prostyle, podium-raised temple erected across the Roman Empire part of a coherent cult, or every image of Jupiter crafted to echo Pheidias’ work evidence for “Jupiterism.” In light of questions about the levels of commonality or diversity within the cult (or cults?) of Mithras, practices and behaviors offer an important arena which must be interrogated. The contributions here present some surprising results. The paintings of the Caesarea mithraeum depict practices that are comparable to those seen at Capua and Rome (S. Prisca). The differences in iconography suggest that we are not seeing scenes reproduced from some copy-book or widespread schema (like the ubiquitous scenes of a sacrificant pouring libation or dropping incense on an altar that were popular on civic and personal monuments across the Roman Empire), but rather communities commissioning images of rites they knew or had participated in. Common rites in the cult of Mithras have long been assumed, and similar profiles of faunal assemblages attest a cult-specific predilection for dining on chicken, but seeing similar initiatory and dedicatory rites provides some of the first evidence for widely shared practices among communities without clear geographic or network linkages. After all, worshippers at Caesarea may have had a connection to the Danubian region, attested through the dedication of their marble plaque,

but there is no evidence of direct ties to Italy. Even if related rather than identical, initiatory rites may have had much in common across Mithraic sanctuaries.22 Other shared practices also emerge far more strongly than in past scholarship from the papers here. Apulum Mithraeum III, Dura, Tienen, and Mariana all have boxes set in the floor of their naves that contained special, structured deposits. Such deposits speak, for the first time, to a common genus of complex depositional rites, which, however, differed in their precise execution and contents.23 A common rite – presumably of foundation – was embellished in distinctive ways and elaborated by individual officiating agents. Similarly, the snake-pot from Hawarte hints at common technologies of showmanship shared among Mithraic communities, but that did not gain popularity beyond them, despite the wide spread of snake-decorated vessels; there was shared technical knowledge among Mithras-worshippers that allowed worshippers from Britain to Syria to produce recognizable rituals and effects. Marleen Martens’ work at Tienen drew important attention to the wider use of special deposits in mithraea; with techniques more heavily focused on recording find contexts of individual objects rather than simply recovering monumental remains, an even more diverse host of intentional deposits is coming to light in mithraea.24 It is time, armed with the kind of new data presented by the papers here, to re-evaluate the nature and significance of such depositional rites across mithraea. To what extent are these rites shared across communities, and to what extent are they shared with a much wider range of depositional practices current among cult-communities across the Roman world? Commemorating meals shared among a human group and the god by burying their remains in an underfloor box seems unique to some Mithras-cults; using special deposits to mark liminal spaces as at Martigny, or burying cult-implements or symbolic items as at Mariana (and other mithraea like Mundelsheim, Mainz, and Bornheim-Sechtem), or creating the “bothros” at Hawarte, seem to belong to more widespread families of ritual. Still, most depositional practices observed across the Roman Empire and just beyond its political borders are micro-regional. The predilection for burying material seems to be shared among Mithras-worshipping communities, but suggests the ways basic practices might be adapted by local ritual leaders. Outside these initiatory and depositional practices, there are, of course, other commonalities. The similarities of faunal assemblages, and the predilection for consuming chicken, have long

5

been noted; the new material from Angers, Kempraten, and Apulum fleshes out this picture. The contrast at Tienen between consumption in the Mithraic banquet, and that at a funerary banquet nearby, also confirms that such patterns are not simply part of a ritualized versus domestic division, but linked to particularly Mithraic practices. Likewise, the ceramic assemblages at these sites show clear overlaps in vessel typology that hint not only at feasting, but Mithraic modes of feasting. The practice of Mithras-worship was a particular form of social consumption; with more complete publications of full assemblages and attention to functionality/use of vessels – rather than the past focus on single, exceptional pieces – it will be possible to flesh this picture out further. FROM DESCRIPTION TO EXPLANATION: BEHAVIORS AND NETWORKS Once commonalities and departures in how material is used are observed, though, it remains to explain them. Practices – including ritualized ones – are always social.25 Behaviors are learned, supported, and reproduced within the context of groups; the social dynamics of those groups structures and is structured by practice.26 Turning the focus of Mithraic studies away from the creation of symbolic meaning and towards the consumption and use of material/visual culture in practice requires explicitly confronting the social dynamics of Mithras worship. If there was coherence or divergence in what took place in Mithraic sanctuaries (or even in thought-content), then this was the product of how individual agents interacted with one another and with objects through time and space. How do we model the social dynamics that produced and re-produced not some ideal Mithraism/mithraeum/Mithraic package, but the pattern of coherence and diversity that we can observe in the archaeological record? One path forward involves trying to understand the way different forms of social connectivity among worshippers created overlapping networks of experience and practice; this is the approach we have taken with Apulum Mithraeum III. Others have demonstrated the value of network analysis in studying Roman cults, at least for explaining their spread as a form of information-flow. 27 Rejecting geographic proximity and regional analysis (still common frames in looking at the Roman world in general and Mithras-worship in particular),28 network approaches seek to plot the ways individual “nodes” – in our case, most often groups of Mithras-worshippers – link to one another along edges. Such edges might consist of individuals in motion, like those worshippers who

6

make dedications in multiple mithraea or travel to a more distant cult place. Visualizing connections in this way lets us see the centrality, within a system, of nodes that might have particular importance thanks to being especially well-connected; one thinks of Poetovio, for example, as a key in shaping the forms of Mithras-worship throughout the Illyrian customs zone.29 Epigraphy is, of course, helpful in this regard, for it lets us trace known agents as links among groups and sites (like the “pilgrim” Cerialis at Angers, or Vitalis from Apulum, or the dossier of worshippers in northern Italy that Mastrocinque discusses). Yet even with the rich epigraphic dossier preserved on the hundreds of Mithraic dedications across the empire, whose dedicants Manfred Clauss isolated and studied nearly 30 years ago, we have nowhere near the level of resolution necessary to plot the density of interconnections present through the cult in Antiquity.30 After all, network studies emphasize the way that the addition or subtraction of a single node or even an edge can transform the shape of an entire system; missing a few links – either due to preservation/ recovery or to the nature of epigraphic practice – may result in a skewed picture of the system as a whole. Archaeology, and the studies presented here, can further augment our picture by providing a range of other edges and connectors. The sources of individual objects (like the bull-stabbing medallion from Caesarea) let us visualize networks of consumption,31 and shared techniques (the use of pierced decoration of cut-stone monuments, or the use of ELSHGDOHV at Dura) provide an image of networks of practice, while also pointing to mobile individuals creating the edges that tied together a range of mithraeum nodes into networks of practice. More work is necessary to visualize and analyze the range of Mithras-worshipping groups across the empire in such a network, as well as to understand the ways such linkages inflected the particular modes of worship practiced at a given sanctuary. An alternative path forward, equally focused on forms of connectivity, might be adjacent to the one proposed by Hijmans. Rather than understanding the archaeological remains as proxies for past behaviors that created social structures and networks, it may be worth taking the material on its own terms. After all, with the recognition of the way objects can be entangled with human actors, acquiring an agency of their own in social relationships, comes the recognition that things themselves can create the networked ties that shape a system.32 Alfred Gell famously represented Maori houses as part of a network of styles through time, demonstrating the way sites and the processes

which created them were enmeshed: shaping and shaped by their place within that system of ties.33 Such an approach, privileging networks of style or iconography both within and beyond Mithras-sanctuaries may provide a picture of the cult complementary to one focused on people as connected social actors. SPECIAL EFFECTS: SHOWMANSHIP AND CULT Archaeological analysis at a number of mithraeum sites discussed in this volume has also revealed the host of “special effects” that were deployed to create awe, wonder, and terror among worshippers during rites. Within a mithraeum, light could be manipulated in various ways: shining through the pierced decoration at Inveresk and in the monuments of Germania that Coombe and Henig discuss; perhaps channeled through a scuttle in the roof to mark time and special dates like the solstice at Caesarea; reflected off of chunks of rock crystal at Martigny. The dog-leg layout of many mithraea, represented here by Apulum Mithraeum III, that forced someone to turn a corner between the door to the outside and the nave, created an experience of seeing something new. At Tienen, and now – surprisingly – at Hawarte, pots could be heated to make ceramic snake-heads spit streams of steam and hot liquid. To this list we might add the “trick sword” from Riegel, which had a curved bend in the middle which allowed it to appear as if the sword ran through some object that it actually ran around. The way Mithras-worship might stage effects for their emotive affect has long been recognized.34 There is iconographic evidence for the use of animal masks in the dining scenes painted at Dura and carved on the Konjic relief. The Capua – and now Caesarea – frescoes show rites that emphasize the torment and low status (compared to other participants) of initiates: hazing rites for new members of the group. Textual accounts of the cult practice, however problematic, seem similarly to emphasize the emotional, terrifying stakes of participation.35 Understanding the experience of cult and participation, the lived experience of worship as a social phenomenon, is also a key part of explaining how cult practices worked in the ancient world.36 Scholars focused on cognitive approaches to the cult, and the ways that such experiences affected worshippers by creating moments and events that were seared into an individual memory, have emphasized this mode of emotional engagement and learning as one of the unique features of the cult.37

Of course, this affective, emotionally impactful dynamic was hardly confined to Mithras-worship; recent work on everything from processions to sacrifice has demonstrated the ways that Hellenistic and Roman cults – public and elective – created particular emotional states that engendered the commitment of individual worshippers to the cult and a wider group.38 The skeptical narrator of Lucian’s $OH[DQGHU claims the cult of Glykon worked via trickery and deception, including hollow speaking tubes;39 more positively, Hero of Alexandria provides designs for wonder-making devices and ways of manipulating light that could enhance religious experiences for worshippers.40 The Eleusinian Mysteries and Isiac initiation seem to have embraced means of terrifying initiates.41 Mobilizing emotion to enhance experiences of the divine was a central element of cult under the Roman Empire. What is striking about the cult of Mithras is not that it used material means to create surprise among worshippers, or even that it initiated worshippers using highly affective rites of terror; instead, the shared means of creating those affects across a vast geographic space stands out as a unique feature of the cult. Snake technique vessels seem confined to mithraea, but appear on opposite sides of the empire; the use of rock-crystal “stars” at Martigny so far only finds parallel in Apulum Mithraeum III and the probable mithraeum at Zillis; the sort of pierced decoration that allowed light to flow through a stone is connected primarily to Mithraic monuments. These are all types of material that required special commissions from their makers; they required some level of technical expertise from their commissioners, and a sense of the effects at which they were aiming.42 Perhaps, instead of thinking about the cult of Mithras in terms of an -ism religion focused around a god and thought-content, we should think about the cult in terms of these shared technologies of ritual experience, exchanged and deployed by cult experts working within a knowledge-network. Every expert need not choose the exact same technologies of wonder, but there was still a largely shared kit of options. Things like mithraeum layout and composition of bull-stabbing reliefs would be among these possibilities; perhaps we could even class non-material technologies of wonder in here, like the kind of esoteric astrological exegesis that some Mithraic experts spun around these objects and practices (or, in the case of Sette Sfere, built into the fabric of the sanctuary). Such special effects worked to engage, persuade, and awe participants in the cult; they also worked to imbue the person who deployed them with an aura of authority. This was, after all, one

7

of the main goals of craft in the ancient world, especially when such crafts pertained to the divine.43 THE “END” OF MITHRAISM: MITHRAS-WORSHIP IN LATE ANTIQUITY If the transmission and adaptation of practices and technologies through space represents one important facet of the cult, its transmission through time at both local and transregional levels is equally striking. Mithras-worship in Late Antiquity has long attracted attention, partially because of the Emperor Julian’s supposed participation in the cult and the shifting nature of the evidentiary base, from material to text. Similarly, the seemingly violent ends of many mithraea have attracted a range of interpretations, especially focused on the relationships between Christianity and Mithrasworship.44 Here, too, an archaeology of practice and process is necessary to clarify how Mithrasworship was transformed, how communities and places transformed through the fourth and fifth centuries CE. A number of the papers here deal with the ends of individual mithraea, and many of the authors (Brodeur, Melega, Wiblé) do propose Christian destruction as an explanatory frame. Even on a single site like Ostia, as Melega demonstrates, the process and nature of abandonment and reuse of individual mithraea varies significantly. The microdynamics of individual communities and processes of abandonment need to be examined more closely; Wiblé, for example, notes that before a large pit was cut in front of the cult podium and the main altar of the rebuilt sanctuary thrown into it, there was already a demolition/abandonment layer. The burial of this altar is taken to be evidence of violent destruction; but the location where it was buried (just in front of the podium) parallels the (certainly non-Christian) closure of the Inveresk mithraeum, the decommissioned monuments buried at Kempraten, and the findspot of the main altar in Apulum Mithraeum III (admittedly, little is known of its stratigraphic context, because it was discovered during the rescue excavations). Even fragmentation of material need not mean violent destruction; beyond the sites discussed here, significant sculptural parts from the London mithraeum were carefully removed and buried, while at Bornheim-Sechtem, appliqués were removed from a cult vessel and intentionally deposited.45 More work on the de-consecration, abandonment, and transformation of mithraea, with high resolution pictures of the practices that led to their end, is necessary.

8

Recently, David Walsh has demonstrated the regional diversification of Mithras-worship in Late Antiquity, driven by the changing nature of Roman society in the fourth and early fifth centuries CE; those same social changes ultimately led Mithras-worshippers to abandon the cult as it became increasingly incompatible with the new social frameworks taking shape.46 Mithras-worship dried up from within, rather than being devastated from without. The picture at Ostia painted by David and Melega, a site that Walsh largely leaves to the side, seems largely to support this model, but adds greater complexity in the differential use, abandonment, and occasional destruction of sanctuaries at a given site. After all, the Mithraeum of Colored Marbles is not only one of the last documented mithraea to be built (midlate fourth century CE), but one of the last to remain in use (first half of the fifth century CE). What may be most striking about the sanctuary, though, is the way that – aside from the especially rich material used for its decoration – both the building (constrained by its insertion into a pre-existing structure) and its assemblage (pottery, the rattle) would be almost perfectly at home two centuries earlier. The diversification of Mithras-worship that Walsh notes is undeniably a prominent feature of the cult in the fourth century; the potentially Manichaean- or Zoroastrian-tinged paintings at Hawarte would be nearly inconceivable in a mithraeum in second-century Italy (or Germany, or Dacia…). Yet while observing these differences represents an important first step, explaining their development is key. This fourth-century diversity comes primarily in pre-established mithraea, rather than in new foundations, of which there are very few from the Tetrarchy onwards. Even those mithraea that are typically claimed to be founded “late” – that is, after around the middle of the third century CE – are rather difficult to date and may have been in use considerably earlier.47 Within the papers here, Martens HWDOshow that Tienen was operating as a Mithras-worshipping community by the late second century; and Gawlikowski suggests an earlier cultic (probably Mithraic) use for the Hawarte mithraeum than that attested by the fourth-century decoration. Beyond this set, Jajce (Dalmatia) was dated to the fourth century because the majority of the numismatic assemblage fell into this period, but it includes a few second-century CE coins that might speak to earlier use.48 The “mithraeum” at St. Urban was a cave full of refuse that included a dedication to Mithras found in 1838; the handful of coins recovered belong to the fourth century CE, but do not

preclude earlier use (as a Mithras-sanctuary or otherwise).49 Thinking about levels of certainty provided by the evidence available may qualify many broader conclusions and force us to re-interpret the dynamics of Mithras-worship in the fourth century. Most of the diversity that Walsh rightly observes occurs in sanctuaries with much longer histories: the product of renovation, rebuilding, and redecoration by subsequent generations of Mithras-worshippers in a given place. Here, too, understanding the cult in terms of ritual-craft expertise controlled by experts who participated in a knowledge-network could be useful. This network seems to have been at its tightest during two or three generations, in the second-early third century CE; this was, after all, the period when the largest number of buyers were persuaded to invest in Mithraic sanctuaries and their furniture across the empire. The transfer of practices through space can operate very differently than intergenerational transfer; the former requires moving experts or media, the latter requires only participants who can reproduce (roughly) experiences they have had at an earlier point in their lives.50 As Dirven demonstrates here, over one or two generations, the worshippers who used the Dura mithraeum adapted their space and its decoration in ways that were both conservative – bound by the weight of precedent and earlier decoration – and innovative – taking the cult in new directions and choosing rather different visual assemblages. The inability of Mithras-worshippers to command significant investment in Late Antiquity, leading to the cult’s archaeological disappearance and the abandonment of sanctuaries, may have been the product of wider social changes in the empire. The observed diversification of the cult, though, may instead have been the product of looser trans-community networks and the compounded variation introduced by each subsequent executor of rites or community leader in re-performing or recreating past experience. LOOKING

ANEW AT

cult; experts and worshippers at an individual site might (but need not) weave their own tales and interpretations around material, constructing a persuasive picture that served as one means of encouraging worshippers to invest in Mithras-worship. What bound Mithras-worshippers together across the empire was not doctrine, or even the fixed personality of a deity whose name and image (but potentially little else) were shared. Instead, starting from the archaeology of the cult privileges the behaviors, social dynamics, and knowledge-networks that recursively shaped worshippers and their material world. The present volume and its range of contributions offer a new step forward in this direction. NOTES 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12

13 14 15 16

ROMAN MITHRAISM 17

In short, approaching the worship of Mithras through its material remains and the lens of practice can offer valuable new perspectives on the cult and its participants. This is an area where the documentation and publication of higher resolution data, generated by new excavation and also used to recognize the possibilities and limits of legacy data, can provide a new foundation for Mithraic studies. An archaeological view encourages movement away from reconstructing the (probably quite variable) thought-content of the

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27

E.g., Sauer 2013, 4552 (lack of knowledge about “beliefs”); Dirven 2015, 25, n. 22 (lack of knowledge about dining practices). Ulansey 1991. Turcan 2004, 10. Beck 2006. Mastrocinque 2017. Gordon 1976; Beck 2006. The texts are collected in Cumont 1899 and Geden 1925. Lamberton 1986; Struck 2004. For the problems of using Porphyry as a source for the cult, Turcan 1975. Beck 2006, 16. The conference drew together the present contributors and others in Alba Iulia (Romania), 26-28 October, 2017. The event was generously sponsored by Alba County &RXQFLO WKH FLW\ RI$OED ,XOLD WKH 0X]HXO 1DūLRQDO DO Unirii, Alba Iulia; University “1 December, 1918,” Alba ,XOLD %DEHü%RO\DL 8QLYHUVLW\ &OXM1DSRFD DQG WKH University of British Columbia. Debate over the “origins” of the cult continues; see Chalupa 2016 for a recent survey of stances. The question of origin matters less when “Mithraism” is conceived of as a fluid family of traits and practices that could be adopted and redeployed. Scheid 2005. Cumont 1929. For historiographic discussion of these categories and the problems they entail, Bonnet et al. 2006; 2009. E.g., Mastrocinque 2017; Walsh 2018, 94. Cf. also Dirven & McCarty 2014 for an alternative, as local idioms within a shared language. E.g., Sicoe 2014; Dirven 2016. Turcan 1999. E.g., Beck 2006, 103-4, creating an ideal mithraeum based on Sette Sfere. Adrych et al. 2017. E.g., Scott & Webster 2003. Pace Gordon 2018, 239. Cf. McCarty et al. 2019. Martens 2004b. Bell 1992, 67-142. Giddens 1984. Gordon 1972 makes a related argument for Mithraism itself, demonstrating how closely linked it is to the wider social structures of the Roman Empire. E.g., Collar 2013.

9

28 29 30 31 32

33 34 35 36 37 38

39 40 41 42

43 44 45

10

E.g., Walsh 2018, 17. Tóth 1977; Szabó 2015; McCarty et al. 2017. Clauss 1992. Cf. Mills et al. 2013; 2017. E.g., for the use of actor-network theory in a Mediterranean archaeological context, Knappett 2011; van Oyen 2016. Gell 1998, 251-8. Recently, Gordon 2017a. SHA, Comm. 9. Raja & Rüpke 2015; Albrecht et al. 2018. Martin 2015, focusing on Mithraism but also looking at other mystery cults. For processions, Kavoulaki 1999. For the “lived experience of religion” as a category of enquiry, that focuses on this particular dynamic, Raja & Rüpke 2015, 7. Luc., $OH[26. Bosak-Schroeder 2016. Gordon 2015. Moormann (2011) even argues that craftspeople working on such commissions must have themselves been members of the community of initiates. Wendt 2016; Gordon 2017b. Nicholson 1995; Sauer 1996; Gordon 1999; Shuddeboom 2016. Ulbert 2004; Shepherd 1998.

46 47

48

49 50

Walsh 2018. Walsh 2018, Tab. B1 is the most complete list. Datable (with high certainty) late third/fourth century mithraea include Gimmeldingen (CIMRM 1315), by consular date; Septeuil (Gaidon Bunuel 1991), by archaeological context – note, though, that the mithraeum was only in use for a generation; the mithraeum under S. Silvestro in Capite (CIMRM 399-406) is known only from its inscriptions which pertain to one elite family. Likewise, the structure at via Giovanni Lanza 128 (Griffith 1993, 67-72) was a household shrine. Walsh includes the “Phrygianum” in his list; it is almost certainly not a sanctuary designed for Mithras-worship. CIMRM 1901, followed by Walsh 2018, 112. It is not surprising to find a greater number of later objects (or objects related to the latest phase of use) at a site, after all; more specifically Mithraic, at Martigny, for example, the coin finds do cluster at the end of the building’s use, despite evidence for its much earlier construction and repair. CIMRM 1442. Cf. Barth 1987 on the problems of knowledge-transfer through time.

2

The reconstruction of a banquet and ritual practices at the mithraeum of Tienen (Belgium) New data and interpretations Marleen Martens, Anton Ervynck, Richard Gordon INTRODUCTION In 1998, the remains of a wooden building together with a number of pits containing rich find deposits were excavated in a large-scale, open-area excavation of 20 ha in the southwestern periphery of the vicus of Tienen (Belgium). Only after the examination of the small finds could the building be identified as a mithraeum. These finds provided remarkable evidence of a large-scale feast that must have been held outside the building. In 2001, a conference was organized at Tienen to compare this assemblage with those from other mithraea and to explore the contribution that purely archaeological evidence, specifically of small finds, could make to the study of the cult of Mithras and indeed other small-group cults of the Roman Empire. Besides the theoretical and methodological analysis of the potential of small-finds studies, participants at the conference focused on specific artefacts, including statuettes, special cult objects, coins, snake-decorated vessels, jewellery and bronze figurines, and objects relating to the use of incense.1 We first summarise the most important features of the find at Tienen, as originally published in 2004,2 before proceeding to a discussion of the implications of the new data. The mithraeum (fig. 2.1) was built on the southwestern outskirts of the vicus, next to a road leading to the centre of the settlement.3 A small bronze plaque was discovered on this road, with the inscription: D(eo) I(nvicto) M(ithrae) | Tullio Spuri (f. or s.) | v(otum) s(olvit) l(libens) m(erito), “To the invincible god Mithras, Tullio (son or slave of) Spurius has gladly fulfilled his vow with good cause.” Of the mithraeum itself, only the aisle of the cella, which had been dug out into the sub-soil, had survived erosion. The temple’s focal point (the cult-niche) was situated at the north-western end of the central aisle directly opposite the entrance. Here, where the bull-killing relief will have been located, a small floor, 2 x 2 m, had been constructed of square hypocaustand roof-tiles. The tiles of the platform had sunk at the centre, because they had been laid over a pit that contained a dagger, some fragments of table-

and coarse wares, and some animal bones. This deposit was evidently commemorative: a small number of select items (whose precise significance is not always clear) was buried to mark the consecration or renovation of the temple, or of some other important event, in material terms. In the middle of the central aisle, a small, roughly rectangular pit was constructed with tiles placed vertically into the floor. When excavated, it proved to be covered with a tile and filled with carbonised material. This receptacle was itself a reconstruction of an earlier one at the same spot, which likewise contained carbonised remains. It cannot be interpreted as a hearth, because neither the tiles nor the surrounding loam show traces of fire or heating. Analogous receptacles for long-term storage of post-sacrificial material within or very close to the temple have been noted in many other mithraea, such as Angers, Rudchester, Friedberg, Oberflorstadt, Heddernheim I, Dieburg, Wartberg a.d. Krems, Königshoffen, Dura-Europos, and elsewhere,4 as well as very recently in Apulum Mithraeum III.5 Two shallow gullies with a U-shaped profile were dug into the floor in the north-western area of the Tienen mithraeum. One of these ran along the base of the north-eastern podium (side-bench), the other was dug perpendicular to it, cutting through an older pit. The markedly right-angled profile of these gullies supports the assumption that they were originally lined with boards, but that the wood has not been preserved in the dry, loamy soil. They were no doubt intended to contain water. Features for managing water, both in the form of wells and of channels or gullies, are often present in mithraea, and evidently had a number of functions, both utilitarian and sacral/symbolic.6 Parallel to, but outside the SW wall of the mithraeum, a cruciform pit was found together with a group of three pits with a common upper layer. It was in this cruciform pit, which had steps leading down to the bottom, that by far the greatest quantity of material was found. Taphonomic

11

Fig. 2.2. Reference types of the most common forms of locally produced ceramics from Tienen mithraeum.

Fig. 2.1. Plan and sections of Tienen mithraeum.

Fig. 2.3. Lead-glazed krater from Tienen mithraeum.

12

examination indicates that all four pits were filled up together not long after they had been dug. They mainly contained charcoal, pottery, animal bones, some glass and metal finds, and fragments of wall plaster. The deposits were dry-sieved (5 mm) to ensure a good recovery of finds. The external pits contained a large amount of pottery (fig. 2.2): spouted jars, cooking pots, lids, plates and dishes, and black-slipped beakers (mainly imports from Trier). Three beakers, probably to be interpreted as mixing vessels, are larger than the others; one of them carries decoration and the Latin motto: propino tibi, “I drink to you.”7 Fragments of locally-produced incense burners and oil lamps in colour-coated ware imported

from the Rhineland were also found. Furthermore, a series of specially-commissioned vessels, locally made for ritual use, are original variations on known Mithraic themes. The first is a fragmentary crater in lead-glazed ware with an appliqué medallion representing a bust of Mithras or a torchbearer, with curls peeping out from beneath a Phrygian cap (fig. 2.3). Likewise from a local workshop is a lid with a clearly ritual function (fig. 2.4). It shows three figures: an appliqué snake with a cockscomb on its head, an incised wine-crater, and an appliqué lion’s head with the face of a man. Perhaps the most strikingly original of these items is a large locally-produced snake-vessel with an interior clay tube which begins at the bottom of the vessel, ascends the side wall, penetrates the wall near the rim and then curves towards the outside (fig. 2.5). Residue analysis revealed that there are no residues of fats inside the vessel, implying that it was used for wine or wine and water. 8 This vessel undoubtedly played an important role in certain ceremonial activities. This, until recently, was the only snake-vessel, of the hundreds that are known, in which the snake has a practical, as opposed to a purely symbolic, function. A second functional snake vessel has however now been found in the late-antique mithraeum of Hawarte.9 The locally produced cult-vessel suggests something of the relative prosperity and self-confidence of the worshippers of Mithras in late second to third century (but see later) Tienen.10 Finally, another large snake-vessel, this time a kantharos in Samian ware from Rheinzabern, has a lion on one handle (fig. 2.6) and a snake on the other. This in itself would not be remarkable; what is surprising is that only the handles with the snake and the lion, together with some small fragments from the foot, seem to have been selected for deposition in the pits. The remainder of the vessel is missing. The recurrent appearance of the lion-cratersnake motif on the locally produced ceramics as well as on the imported ware is an interesting feature of this finds assemblage. It has been suggested that this motif is unlikely to have one “meaning” but was a (deliberately enigmatic) motif that operated as a metonymic “trigger” for interpretations, in that it called attention visually to the complex of ideas and interpretations suggested by the bull-killing scene and linked them to the first banquet between Sol and Mithras and so to the practice of the cult. As we know, lions (or Lions) appear in many different contexts in the cult, evoking the Sun's course, Sol (as name of Mithras [deus Sol invictus Mithras] and as Mithras’ fellow banqueter), time, cosmos (lion-headed figure), season, high summer, heat, aridity, fire, consump-

tion (Santa Prisca), the rank of Lion ... ; the snake links the death of the bull to the consumption of blood/wine at the first banquet; the wine-crater makes the metaphorical link between death of the bull, its blood, and the wine drunk at the banquet explicit. It is this linking function, between the bull's death and the first banquet, that explains why the lion-crater-snake motif can appear either in the bull-killing scene or at the first banquet scene, and so can become a “floating signifier,” independent of any specific location on reliefs, as is obvious from the snake-vessel at Tienen, where the motif has been shifted wholly to the context of an actual Mithraic meal. The almost 14,000 animal remains from the pits mainly represent food remains that must have resulted from one large feast or banquet. The evaluation of the minimum number of individuals (MNI) indicates that at least 3 fish, ca. 285 chickens (all males), a number of wild birds, a hare, 10 piglets, 14 lambs and a quantity of beef were served.11 This suggests that at least 285 persons were present at the meal, a total that can be doubled if everybody restricted himself to half a chicken. The charcoal found in the pit suggests that there was at least one (large) fire on the site, hinting that the meal was cooked on or near the site. In the original publication it was suggested that one or two species attested in the pits might have had a symbolic significance, though this now seems excessively speculative (see further below).12 Since 2001, a range of new mithraea have been excavated, e.g. the mithraeum of Angers (France, 2010),13 of Kempraten (Switzerland, 2015/2016),14 of

Fig. 2.4. Lid from Tienen mithraeum.

13

Fig. 2.5. Snake-vessel from Tienen mithraeum.

Apulum Mithraeum III (Romania, 2008),15 Savaria (Hungary, 2008), Mariana (Corsica, 2016),16 or Inveresk (Scotland, 2010),17 while existing collections have been or are being (re)examined, e.g. of the mithraeum of Hawarte (Syria),18 Caesarea (Israel),19 and Zerzevan Castel (Turkey, 2017 – very speculative).20 Partly based on this new evidence, but also due to the advance in our own research, some ideas and theories proposed in 2004 can be put in a different perspective or have to be reconsidered. A NEW DATE FOR

THE RITUAL FEAST

One of the most important new discoveries is that the date of the ritual deposit from Tienen needs to be shifted at least a few decades earlier.

14

The earlier conclusion that the fill of the pits outside the mithraeum represents a single event relied upon the stratigraphy, taphonomic observations and the homogeneity of the ceramic and animal assemblages.21 The dating of the event to the third quarter of the third century, i.e. around 255-280 CE, was based upon the characteristics of the pottery finds, especially upon the presence of black-slipped beakers belonging to groups I to III in Künzl’s typology.22 In 1999, when the finds from Tienen were studied, the group of colour coated beakers from Trier, including one larger item with a white-painted barbotine decoration around the body bearing the motto we have already noted, propino tibi, was considered to be the best datable group of ceramics within the assemblage excavated. The then recent publica-

tion on the ‘Spruchbecher’ from Trier, by S. Künzl, dated the production of this type of beaker to the second half of the third century.23 Since then, however, the dating of this group and of the start of the production of this ware at Trier has been criticized. K.H. Lenz argued in his review that the methodology (“correspondence analysis”) used to date this typological group was problematic and that it would have been better to use closely-dated contexts to establish the absolute chronology. The upshot is that these colour-coated beakers can more probably be dated around 230-240 CE, or even earlier.24 The dates of the black slipped ware were re-considered as a consequence of the dating of a number of bones from the ritual pits through radiocarbon analysis. This was done as part of a project aimed at evaluating the radiocarbon reservoir-effect in freshwater biotopes in the Scheldt basin (Flanders, Belgium).25 To this end, remains of terrestrial and freshwater species deriving from archaeological contexts characterized by a short depositional history were examined, including those from Tienen. Both freshwater fish- and domestic mammal bone-samples from the ritual deposit have thus been analysed. In the context of the present contribution, the dates obtained from the domestic mammals (the fish samples

did indeed show a marked freshwater “reservoireffect,” and are thus “too old”) are significant. Collagen extraction was performed following Longin’s method.26 Radiocarbon concentrations were measured with accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS) at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (Brussels).27 Table 2.1 lists the dates obtained. Calibration, modelling and statistical analysis of the radiocarbon dates were executed with the Oxcal 4.3 program,28 using the IntCal13 curve for atmospheric data from Reimer et al.29 In the original publication,30 slightly older software and atmospheric data were used but the results do not differ significantly. First of all, it can statistically be tested whether the 14 dates obtained can reliably represent the same event. A X² test yielded the following result: df=13, T=4.2 (5% 22.4), indeed proving that there is a 95% probability that the animals sampled died at the same moment in time. This then allows combining the 14 dates into a single one, using the Oxcal combination function (R_Combine).31 This produces a date of 1841 ± 9 BP, which after calibration yields a date range of 130-224 CE, with 95.4% probability (fig. 2.7). The combined radiocarbon date for the ritual deposit is considerably older than the original archaeological interpretation of the ceramics from

Fig. 2.6. Handle with lion of the krater from Rheinzabern with lion and snake in Samian ware from Tienen mithraeum.

15

the deposit. However, the radiocarbon date matches well with the new information on the dating of the black colour-coated beakers from Trier. Based on this information, a date can now be proposed for the ritual deposit (roughly) in the first quarter of the third century CE, if we take the later peak in the probability curve of the calibrated date (fig. 2.7) as the most probable. The earlier phases of the probability curve do not match with the chronology of the black colour coated beakers from Trier and are in fact the result of a plateau in the calibration curve (fig. 2.7). This interpretation can be confirmed by the kantharos in Samian ware produced in Rheinzabern already mentioned (fig. 2.6). This vessel is sufficiently uncommon to suggest that it may have been made to order for this mithraeum or for this event.32 If so, it was probably produced not long before the event, so that its date (late second or early third century) would help to confirm the new dating of the event. The newly-proposed date does not represent the date of construction of the mithraeum. Several arguments support the hypothesis that the mithraeum was not built but renovated shortly before the feast took place. First there is the fact that two kinds of wall plaster were found together with the remains of the feast. One group of fragments consisted of pink mortar with white paint, the other of green and red painted plaster on a loam matrix. It can be assumed that the two dif-

Fig. 2.7. Calibration of the combined date for the ritual deposit at Tienen, based upon 14 radiocarbon dates (see table 2.1).

ferent plasters belonged to the walls and the lateral podia of the mithraeum. Some lumps of pure lime in the same fill could be waste from the re-plastering.33 The reconstruction of the rectangular pit in the central aisle also suggests two phases of use, though of course the reconstruction need not be contemporary with the re-plastering of the walls and podia. Unfortunately, it is not possible to estimate how long the building was in use before the renovation and the feast, but there are no traces of other renovations in the central aisle, apart from the small pit. Moreover, there are also no traces of a second building phase of the lateral podia or the structure in general, suggesting that the wooden mithraeum is

lab code

species

atomic C:N

%C

%N

14

RICH-22070

sheep (Ovis ammon f. aries)

3.0

32.1

12.5

1816

32

RICH-22071

sheep (Ovis ammon f. aries)

3.0

37.5

14.6

1819

32

RICH-22112

sheep (Ovis ammon f. aries)

3.0

31.4

12.0

1842

31

RICH-22113

sheep (Ovis ammon f. aries)

3.0

37.8

14.5

1847

31

RICH-22115

sheep (Ovis ammon f. aries)

3.1

36.2

13.8

1855

32

RICH-22072

cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus)

3.0

36.9

14.2

1842

32

RICH-22073

cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus)

3.0

37.0

14.3

1809

34

RICH-22109

cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus)

3.1

32.7

12.4

1834

32

RICH-22116

cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus)

3.2

24.6

9.0

1872

31

RICH-22117

cattle (Bos primigenius f. taurus)

3.1

37.7

14.0

1864

32

RICH-22108

pig (Sus scrofa f. domestica)

3.1

34.3

12.9

1831

31

RICH-22110

pig (Sus scrofa f. domestica)

3.1

30.5

11.5

1858

32

RICH-22111

pig (Sus scrofa f. domestica)

3.1

40.0

15.3

1835

32

RICH-22114

pig (Sus scrofa f. domestica)

3.1

29.3

11.2

1838

31

C date (BP)

14

C date XQFHUWDLQW\ֆ%3

Table 2.1. Radiocarbon dates obtained from domestic mammal bones from the ritual deposit outside the mithraeum at Tienen (after Ervynck et al. 2018).

16

unlikely to have existed much longer than 20-30 years, the average life span of a timber-framed building.34 This would suggest that the mithraeum was first constructed early in the third century CE or even at the end of the second. A date in the Severan period fits well given Tienen’s location on the military supply-route to the Germaniae, which would have encouraged communication of all kinds between the two areas. Although it is true that epigraphic culture as a whole attained its widest diffusion in the Severan period, so that inscriptions alone tell us little, there is archaeological evidence for an intensification in the north-western provinces of Mithras-worship at this period, though unfortunately a detailed synthetic account is still a desideratum.35 THE CERAMICS FROM

THE

MITHRAIC BANQUET

The ceramic assemblage of the ritual deposit was studied before the conference in 2001 and its composition and characteristics provided important information regarding the number of participants, the culinary and ritual practices, and the organisation of the feast.36 Since then, all the finds from the other archaeological contexts from the excavation of the southwestern periphery of the vicus have also been studied in detail. This was done within the framework of the PhD project of the first author, comprising a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the ceramic assemblages and of the other material categories. The study showed the transformations of culinary, funerary and ritual practices in the vicus of Tienen from the 1st until the late 3rd century CE.37 Through the comparative analysis, the particular characteristics of the mithraeum deposit became clearer than ever. Most striking is that the ritual deposit contains the highest MNI of ceramic pots, and also of almost every pottery type present (jars, beakers and cups, plates and dishes, cooking pots, incense burners), and that this context is at the same time marked by the highest relative completeness of ceramics of all the archaeological features from the southwestern periphery. Of course, taphonomic factors play a role in this pattern (a primary deposit of a single event in contrast to secondary, reworked material derived from many different activities) but the observations remain relevant when the mithraeum assemblages are compared with those of another, almost contemporary primary deposit from the vicus of Tienen. One context in particular is indeed in many ways strikingly comparable to the deposit from the mithraeum: the remains of a funeral meal excavated from a tumulus burial less than 100 m

away from the mithraeum and situated along the same road. The wooden burial chamber was constructed in a shaft with a depth of 3.8 m.38 The floor of this chamber was covered with cremated bones and the remains of the funeral pyre, while an entire assemblage—of grave gifts, the body of a young woman, the corpses of a horse, four dogs and dozens of dog foetuses—was laid out on the upper platform. The remainder of the shaft above this assemblage was filled with what seems to be the leftovers of a funerary feast. From this consumption refuse 578 pieces of ceramics (MNI) were identified. The location of the assemblage on the upper platform of the funerary chamber, the high proportion of imported ware, as well as the higher average completeness of the ceramics strongly indicate that these were the remains of one or more meals held at the occasion of the funeral. Coins of Antoninus Pius (138-161 CE) and Marcus Aurelius (161-180 CE), as well as other finds, date this burial in the last quarter of the 2nd century CE, probably – at most – a few decades before the ritual deposit from the mithraeum. Clearly, the two contexts had in common that they contain the remains of single events involving large numbers of guests for whom communal dining played an important role. The richness of the data makes the comparison of these two ensembles invaluable for the understanding of the complexity of the organisation of provincial Roman banqueting rituals in this area. These contexts, together with an earlier example of a feast in the vicus of Tienen, have been briefly described in a study on the importance of communal dining in the Roman world.39 When the MNI of the ceramics is compared per functional category (Table 2.2), it is obvious that many more people must have been present at the feast of the mithraeum (MNI of the pottery: 1203) than at the funerary meal (MNI 578). The abundance of the pottery types can thus best be represented using percentages (fig. 2.8). The categories that stand out in both contexts are the beakers and cups (tumulus 32%, mithraeum 21%), plates and dishes (tumulus 21%, mithraeum 14%) and cooking pots (tumulus 19%, mithraeum 12%). The beakers and cups are by far the most important items followed by the plates and dishes, and then the cooking pots. Apart from these general characteristics, there are at least four meaningful differences between the assemblages. The first is that the number of incense burners is much higher in the case of the mithraeum (MNI 98, or 8% of the assemblage) than in the tumulus (MNI 2, or 0.3% of the assemblage) indicating the significance assigned to the burning of incense in the Mithraic context. The sheer number suggests

17

Fig. 2.8. Percentage of the identified ceramic forms in the assemblages from the tumulus (n= 578) and the mithraeum (n= 1203) at Tienen.

that many of the participants present at the Mithraic event brought an incense burner, or had one available, and subsequently offered it in the sacrificial pit. The role of incense in the worship of Mithras has been ably discussed by J. Bird.40 She has also pointed out that the fourth grade of initiation, the Lion, was associated with the use of incense and suggested that a specific type, namely the cones of Pinus pinea, may have been used in rituals associated with Mithras’ birth. Secondly, and more surprisingly, is the comparison of the number of jars, one-handled receptacles with a spout used to heat and pour liquids.41 The interpretation of their use is based upon the fact that deposits of lime, derived from frequently heating water, are often found on the inside of these jars.42 Such vessels were rarely used in the context of the funerary meal or rituals (MNI 8, or 2% of the assemblage), but their number was much higher in the case of the Mithraic event (MNI 196, or 16% of the assemblage). Jars were in fact the second most important ceramic item in this event, after the beakers and cups. The presence of numerous jars in a Mithraic context remains enigmatic. It seems as if there was one jar available for almost every person present. The use of warm liquid in the Mithraic ritual could perhaps be interpreted in the context of ritual cleaning before dining or as part of another purification ritual. A relatively high number of jars has also been identified at Apulum Mithraeum III.43 A third major difference between the funerary meal and the mithraeum is the relatively high proportion of local ceramics used in the latter (mithraeum: 81.8%, tumulus: 72.1 %, Table 2.2). The difference is especially noticeable in the categories of the table-ware and the amphorae (fig. 2.9). The plates and dishes at the table of the funerary

18

Fig. 2.9. Percentage of imports per identified ceramic form in the assemblages from the tumulus and the mithraeum at Tienen (find numbers per form, see table 2.2). Note that bottles, lamps, craters and dolia were not present in the assemblage from the tumulus.

meal were mostly imported wares (64%, representing 65 MNI Samian ware and 14 MNI colour coated ware) while only 6% of the plates and dishes of the Mithraic feast were imported (only 4 MNI Samian ware and 6 MNI colour coated ware). In the case of the beakers and cups, in the mithraeum, 64% were imports, but these were mainly black-slipped beakers from Trier, while Samian ware was completely absent. In the case of the bowls, in the mithraeum 9% were Samian ware while in the tumulus the only 6 bowls present were all Samian. A smaller proportion too of the wine amphorae from the tumulus were from the region, by comparison to those used in the Mithraic event (fig. 2.9). Twelve wine amphorae of different origins were used at the funerary feast and/or rituals: 7 amphorae from the south of Gaul, 2 amphorae from the Meuse valley, 1 amphora from Dourges and 2 flat wine amphorae from Roman Tienen. We may add 2 olive oil amphorae and 4 amphorae of unknown origin. At the mithraeum, by contrast, 10 wine amphorae were of local or regional manufacture, while 9 were imported. Of the imported amphorae only 1 was a Gauloise 4 wine amphora from the south of France; the others were Dressel 20 amphorae for olive oil. There was evidently little demand for imported wine at the Mithraic feast. The purpose of all the olive oil is another important question: it was presumably used as fuel for the oil lamps and for culinary purposes, but in this quantity it must also have had other uses – possibly for purification rituals. In general, it can be concluded that imported ware and especially Samian ware was not in demand at the Mithraic feast. Exceptions were

only made in the case of the beakers and cups from Trier. The local character of the Mithraic event is further confirmed by the higher number of local or regional wine amphorae as compared to the funerary feast, where apparently more expensive imported wine was served. These differences are no doubt due to the fact that the Mithraic group was not as well off as the organisers of the funerary feast, or deliberately wished to limit the expense. Another potentially important difference is the relatively lower proportion of cooking pots and plates in the mithraeum compared to the funerary meal (fig. 2.8). This could be explained by the fact that there is evidence (burning marks) that the chickens were prepared on an open fire (“barbecue”) implying that fewer cooking pots were needed for the preparation of this meal. The roasted birds could have been eaten with the hands, making plates and dishes less necessary. It is also worth mentioning that the diameters of the plates from the mithraeum and the tumulus are the largest of all those recorded from archaeological tumulus

contexts in the southwestern periphery of the vicus, with peaks between 26 and 36 cm.44 We might speculate that the plates were shared between several people or were just used to serve the food. The animal remains (omitting the horse and the dogs) of the funerary meal represented two juveniles, one sub-adult and one adult sheep/ goat. The pork came from an adult animal and at least two piglets. A small number of domestic fowl remains were present as well, together with skeletal elements of cattle. Roe deer, hare, woodcock and mallard were the only wild species eaten. The composition of the funerary meal does not suggest any symbolic meanings apart from ostentation or “status-representation,” and closely resembles that of other rich Roman banquets, as documented, for instance, at Roman Tongeren.45 A well-known case that provides some details of such feasts is the lex collegii of the cultores Dianae et Antinoi from Lavinium near Rome (CIL XIV 2112 = ILS 7212 = AE 2011: 203, 136 CE).46 For example, each of the four annual magistri was required to provide “good wine,” bread worth two

mithraeum

mithraeum

tumulus

mithraeum

sum

sum

%import

%import

local

samian

cc + bs

other import

local

112

-

-

-

146

-

-

-

112

146

0.0

0.0

jar

9

-

-

-

196

-

-

-

9

196

0.0

0.0

jug

21

-

-

-

37

1

-

-

21

38

0.0

2.6

lid

39

-

-

-

98

-

-

-

39

98

0.0

0.0

plate/ dish

44

65

14

-

164

4

6

-

123

174

64.2

5.7

beaker/ cup

135

20

31

-

92

-

166

-

186

258

27.4

64.3

bottle

-

-

-

-

6

-

-

-

0

6

-

0.0

amphora

3

-

-

11

10

-

-

9

14

19

78.6

47.4

mortaria

52

3

-

11

19

9

-

-

66

28

21.2

32.1

bowl

-

6

-

-

102

10

3

-

6

115

100.0

11.3

incense burner

2

-

-

-

97

1

-

-

2

98

0,0

1.0

lamp

-

-

-

-

1

-

8

-

0

9

-

88.9

crater

-

-

-

-

2

2

-

-

0

4

-

50.0

dolium

-

-

-

-

14

-

-

-

0

14

-

0.0

417

94

45

22

984

27

183

9

578

1203

27.9

18.2

cooking pot

sum

samian cc + other bs import

tumulus

Table 2.2. Inventory of the identified ceramic forms in the assemblages from the tumulus and the mithraeum at Tienen Grijpenveld. Distinction is made between local products and import types (CC + bs: colour coated and black slipped wares).

19

asses (½ HS) for all members, 4 sardines, a single place setting, warm water (for adding to the wine), and utensils. Quite apart from the relatively high entrance fee (100 HS), the monthly payments of an amphora of wine and cash (1¼ HS), and the cash distributions at birthdays and other occasions, the nice observation of hierarchy and privilege is also noteworthy, with the officers and ex-officials receiving considerably more benefits than others.47 Clearly the intentions of the organizers of the funerary feast and the Mithraic feast were completely different although in both cases the organizer(s) and the participants marked communication with the other world by sharing food, with each other and with the gods. The assemblages of items used for the Mithraic feast and for the funerary ritual reflect the ideas the heads of the cult community of Tienen, and the family of the deceased person, had about how things should look and be experienced. Clearly the organisation of such events involved considerable planning, particularly where the design of special cult objects was concerned. A FEAST FOR

A GOD, AND

“TOO

MANY” PEOPLE

The general importance of collective eating in the cult of Mithras is well-known.48 The mithraeum itself, with its lateral podia, resembles Hellenistic rooms designed for sacred banqueting. The presence of animal bones in virtually all excavated mithraea, as well as the (occasional) cooking-hearths, confirms that sacrificial meals were regularly eaten within the temples. Nevertheless, the remains at Tienen point to something rather different from this usual or regular cult-meal. First, there is the sheer scale of the event, which meant that there were far too many participants for the mithraeum itself to house. The meal must have taken place in the open air. This place of enactment in open air, outside the mithraeum, certainly contributed to the symbolic character of the meal, thus reinforcing its religious character. In addition, the destruction and deposition not only of the crockery but also of almost one hundred incense burners, as well as of the specially-commissioned objects with a clear ritual function (such as the snake vessel, the lid with the three images, and the lead-glazed crater) clearly places this event on a very different level than the periodic meals eaten by the permanent members of the group. The presence of the incense burners, the jars, and the cockerels are probably indicators that religious rules were strictly followed. Could the jars refer to the fact that purity of the diners was essential, with the washing of hands as a

20

minimum requirement, or were they simply used as kettles for hot water for the wine? In the original publication, it was suggested that the period at which the feast must have taken place could be determined by the pattern of the molar wear stages of the lower jaws of the lambs and piglets found in the pits. On this basis, it was claimed that the animals must have been slaughtered towards the end of June or the beginning of July.49 The combination of slaughter ages of 2-3 and 8-9 months for the pigs, and 3-4 months for the sheep, points to that time of the year. It should be noted that this reconstruction takes into account that pigs could have two farrowings per year, as described by the classical authors. Although it was common in Italy for boars to be set to sows in February-March, implying birth in May or June, both Varro and Pliny indeed say explicitly that many farmers caused their sows to farrow twice a year, while Nigidius Figulus mentioned piglets born around the winter solstice.50 As for sheep, although birth in October to December was preferred, Palladius remarks that lambs may be born at any season.51 In fact, the slaughter ages could also coincide towards the end of the year, but in that case it must be assumed that the lambs were born at the end of summer. Bearing traditional sheep breeding in the Low Countries in mind, this possibility is much less likely than a birth season at the end of winter. Based upon a most probable date for the banquet in June or July, and taking into account the fact that all domestic fowl eaten were males, a link was proposed between the cock announcing sunrise and the occurrence of the longest (“sunniest”) day of the year, i.e. the summer solstice, during the June-July period. However, this is only speculation and there is no real proof that the Mithras banquet at Tienen had anything to do with that astronomical event. There is also no cultural context to support the idea. Although it has been claimed that the summer solstice was of great significance in the Mithraic calendar, not a single dated votive was offered on that day; the supposed significance is merely an inference from a series of other hypotheses about the “real” reference of the bull-killing scene (currently fashionable but nevertheless highly speculative), particularly if we are supposed to assume a general “belief” or “teaching” rather than interpretations offered by individuals. For example, the one ancient interpretation of the bull-killing scene (apart from the muddles offered by Lactantius Placidus in the early 5th century), taken by Porphyry from Numenius of Apamea (mid second century), who may well himself have spoken to a worshipper of Mithras or had access to a written

source, is concerned not with the solstice but with the equinoxes, which are supposed to be “Mithras’ proper seat.”52 If there is any peculiarly ‘Mithraic’ season, it must be when the sun is in Leo, whereas the summer solstice fell, on any calculation, in Cancer. A special Mithraic interest in the sun in Leo, which need not of course have been everywhere taken up, is likewise indicated by those monuments, found mainly in Dacia but also in Italy, in which Cautes is shown holding a bull’s head and Cautopates a scorpion.53 In the case of one very interesting relief now in Bologna but of unknown provenance, the bull’s head is placed close to Cautes near a tree coming into leaf, while the scorpion is placed near Cautopates against one bearing fruits.54 These details are even clearer in the case of the “Ottaviano Zeno” relief (CIMRM 335), which was thought lost until re-discovered in the archaeological museum of the University of São Paulo in 1976.55 It was partly such monuments that prompted David Ulansey’s fantastic theory relating to Mithraic interest in the precession of the solstices, which was based on the erroneous assumption that Cautes must stand for the beginning of spring and Cautopates for the beginning of autumn (i.e. for the two equinoxes); yet the spring equinox had not been in Taurus for over 1700 years during the Principate, and likewise with Scorpio and the autumnal equinox.56 By far the easiest explanation for association of Taurus and Scorpio with the two torchbearers is that each is exactly the same distance from Leo (i.e. 90°), which would not be the case if the torchbearers were associated with Aries and Libra, the two equinoctial signs during the Principate, since Leo is the fifth sign from Aries, whereas Scorpio is only the third. Moreover, each of the sequences Taurus-Cancer and Virgo-Scorpio encompasses three zodiacal signs, i.e. an astronomical season, so that taken together these images would delimit seven signs marking the main growth and harvest/fruiting period. We must therefore allow that there are no water-tight arguments in favour of the summer solstice, so the date must be left open.57 The extensive use of incense clearly marks the banquet at Tienen as religious in inspiration.58 In the case of Mithras, the regular meals re-called, or even re-enacted in some sense, the first banquet between Mithras and Helios/Sol after the sacrifice of the bull. As is well known, there are a number of two-sided reliefs, mainly in Germania Superior, which staged a ritual movement between concentration on or celebration of the sacrifice itself to the scene of the first banquet.59 We might speculate that when the relief was

turned, the two gods were held to be present. In the case of Tienen, however, we have no particular reason to connect the regular ritual meals with the event with which we are here concerned. We must finally consider the relation of a feast with a couple of hundred guests in the open air next and the conventional assumption of a “mystery cult.” It is obvious that both in small, crowded Roman towns and in small settlements such as vici virtually every inhabitant would have known of the existence of worshippers of Mithras and, where there were temples, their location – often in rented buildings or large private houses, or, in vici in the north-western provinces, where they were normally free standing buildings, on the outskirts, where land was cheap, and so, as often as not, near the necropoleis.60 Given the small size of the temple at Tienen, therefore, it is reasonable to think that a large group of people, family and friends of the permanent or regular members, was invited to the feast.61 Since the god Mithras was in no sense secret, it makes little sense to speculate whether “outsiders” and the “insiders” viewed the event differently. Such a feast should rather be seen, like the mass disposal of the ceramics and the animal remains, as an open statement of the fact that the god belonged to the pantheon of the vicus and a recognition of the status within that community of the members of the Mithraic group. The main problem here is QRWZLWKVXFKDQRSHQVWDWHPHQWЯWKRXJKDGPLWWHGO\ZHNQRZRIQRRWKHUFRPSDUDEOHHYHQWЯDV with the claim that the worship of Mithras was a “mystery,” a claim that its frequent (if not incessant) repetition does not make more true. The worship of Mithras in the Graeco-Roman world could take many forms, depending on the interests and aims of the men who organised the groups (and those who made no attempt to join such a group). Its typical manifestation, however, was as a small-group cult. It was a handful of Christian apologists and neo-Platonists who liked to claim “it” was a “mystery,” the first because they found it easier to believe that paganism was somehow a “religion” analogous to their own, albeit devilish; the second because “mysteries” were redolent of sophistication and spirituality.62 It has been pointed out that at several sites in Germania Superior, just as Mithras might be closely associated with Mercury, so temples of Mithras seem to have become local shrines where several deities might be worshiped that on the conventional view have nothing to do with “the cult of Mithras”: the best examples are Stockstadt I and Dieburg.63 Although it is normally taken for granted that members of such small-groups did not conduct processions through the neighbour-

21

hood, that assumption rests on an argument from VLOHQFHЯWKHSXEOLFDFWLYLWLHVDVVRFLDWHGZLWKWKH group-cult of Mithras remain undocumented. It is not the least contribution of the small temple in Tienen that it should have provided such a striking case of “public relations.” WORK

AHEAD

To understand the significance of the material culture of mithraea it is of major importance to synthesize existing knowledge from material remains from the sites and to make a continuing effort to devise and update interpretive frameworks and generate new questions. Only by this means can we stimulate new methodologies to study Mithraic practices and infer meanings about motivations and experiences from the material remains. This process, however, must be considered a dynamic one whereby hypotheses are tested against new data. On the other hand, our very ability to identify the remains of rituals and draw conclusions from them is strongly determined by archaeological choices about recovery, sampling, and the way remains are studied after the excavation, choices that are all too often constrained by lack of resources and adequate infrastructure. NOTES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

22

Martens and De Boe 2004. Martens 2004a. The best recent discussion of the variety of Mithraic temples is Hensen 2017. Cf. McCarty et al., this vol. Martens 2004a, 30; Martens 2004b, 337; Ulbert et al. 2004; McCarty et al. 2017; McCarty et al. this vol. Martens 2004a, 30; cf. Gordon 1980, 25-29. Cf. already Plautus, Stich. 468: Propino tibi salutem plenis faucibus, “I drink your good health with a great quaff.” Kimpe et al. 2002. Kaczor, this volume. Gordon 2004, 8. Lentacker et al. 2003, 2004. Van Neer et al. 2010. The jackdaw might represent a raven, familiar in a Mithraic context; but what specific value there might have been in eating such a bird is not at all clear. The two large eels might represent snakes, again an important Mithraic species. But again it is hard to see the point of consuming an eel pretending it was a snake. However, the rarity of large freshwater fish at Gallo-Roman sites in Flanders might suggest a special reason for including it – rarity value, for example. Brodeur 2013; Brodeur, this volume. Ackermann et al., this volume. McCarty et al., this volume. Chapon, this volume. Hunter et al. 2016; Henig and Coombe, this volume. Gawlikowski 2007; Gawlikowski, this volume; Kaczor, this volume. Bull 1978; Bull et al. 2017; Ratzlaff, this volume.

20

http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/display. php?page=supp_Turkey_Diyarbekir_ZerzevanCastle 21 Martens 2004a, 41-3. 22 Martens 2004a, 34. 23 Künzl 1997. 24 Lenz 2004, 633. 25 Ervynck et al. 2017. 26 Longin 1971. 27 Boudin et al. 2015. 28 Bronk Ramsey 2017. 29 Reimer et al. 2013. 30 Ervynck et al. 2017. 31 Ward and Wilson 1978. 32 Thomas 2004, 204. 33 Martens 2004a, 30. 34 Perring 2002, 97. 35 For the Germaniae, see still Schwertheim 1974, 276-78; see also Spickermann 2003, 272-364 on the period of intensified Romanisation, including the worship of Mithras. 36 Martens 2004a. 37 Martens 2012. 38 Martens 2015b. 39 Martens 2015a. 40 Bird 2004, 191-9. 41 Martens 2004a, fig. 5.3. 42 Vilvorder 1995, 213-5. 43  'UąJDQWKLVYROXPH 44 Martens 2015a. 45 See Ervynck et al. 2017. 46 Cf. Bendlin 2011; also Donahue 2005. 47 See the informative discussion of the financial details by Bendlin 2011, 257-269. 48 Kane 1975; Hultgård 2004; Martens 2015a, 177. 49 Lentacker et al. 2003, 2004. 50 Varro, RR 2.4.13-14; Pliny, HN 8.77. 51 Oct.-Dec. preferred: Pliny, HN 8.72; Columella, RR 7.3.12; every season: Palladius, Agr. 8.4, specifically mentioning April. 52 Porphyry, De antro 24. 53 See the material collected by Vermaseren 1978, 25-53. 54 CIMRM 693. 55 Vermaseren 1978. The unknown commentator who wrote the key to Antonio Lafreri’s engraving of the relief (1564) recognised these items and so wrote to the first: Arbor nocturna cum scorpione, qua generationem (designare voluerunt veteres), “The tree of night with Scorpio, which (the ancients viewed as a symbol of) coming into being” and to the other: Arbor diurna cum bovis capite laborem significant, “The tree of day with a bull’s head symbolise agricultural labour.” 56 Ulansey 1991. 57 As has been remarked by Chalupa 2012, footnote 39. 58 Scheid 2005. 59 E.g. Gordon 2017a, 425-6. 60 Scheid 2001; White 2012; Hensen 2000. 61 Irrespective of whether they were allowed to enter the mithraeum: we have no idea what kinds of rules were applied here from case to case. 62 Cf. Gordon 2012, 998-1007. 63 Cf. Spickermann 2003, 335.

3

The Inveresk Mithraic altars in context Penny Coombe, Martin Henig INTRODUCTION In 2010, excavations to the east of the Roman fort at Inveresk in Scotland, by AOC Archaeology in advance of redevelopment of a cricket pavilion, unexpectedly uncovered a rectangular sunken feature, later identified as a mithraeum. The area surrounding the fort contains extensive remains of the vicus, a mansio with bath house, and temporary encampments, and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The mithraeum could only be partially excavated, but it was established that its sides were banked, probably once the setting for benches, and the original structure was made of wood (fig. 3.1). Towards the north-western end of the structure were discovered two stone altars, which had been carefully buried face down, one dedicated to Sol and the other to Mithras. The discovery was subsequently published, 1 and so, in this paper, it is proposed to summarise the findings and further to explore the significance of the altars as evidence both for sculptural innovation and production, and for religious cult in Scotland in the Antonine period. As sculptural documents, the altars can reveal much about the networks of association active within the cult of Mithras. In particular, they offer an early example of conflation with Apollo and Sol, while also demonstrating, through the design and technique of the carving, associations with military sculptors. The altars can be dated to the 140s CE thanks to the mithraeum’s association with the fort, and so comprise the earliest datable evidence for Mithraic cult in Britain, perhaps by as much as a century, and only decades later than some of the earliest mithraea from the Roman Empire (fig. 3.2).2 The fort at Inveresk was established at the same time as the Antonine Wall, c. 140–165 CE, probably acting as a supply base, and this dating was also confirmed by pottery finds. The inscriptions on the altars reveal that they were dedicated by the same person, a centurion perhaps called Gaius Cassius Flavianus, though his cognomen was heavily abbreviated on the inscriptions and there are other options for completing his name.3 He probably served in Legio XX: the particular form of the letter ‘A’ with dropped cross bar is unique in Britain to

the style of stone cutters from that legion.4 Comparisons of the iconography and style of figural ornament may also be made with other sculptural work associated with Legio XX, and this is the first aspect to be discussed further below. The altars are of considerable iconographic and artistic interest. In particular, the ‘pierced-through’ open work seen on the altar to Sol is also found on examples from elsewhere, both on Hadrian’s Wall and in Germany, though here at Inveresk we have what appears to be the earliest example recorded, emphasising the importance of movement of technique as well as iconography. The sides of the altar to Mithras are embellished with attributes of the god Apollo, and so finally, the interaction of the three deities Sol, Apollo and Mithras and the conception of the gods in the minds of worshippers in Britain and in the northwest provinces at this time will be considered. SUMMARY OF

THE ICONOGRAPHY AND EXECUTION OF

THE ALTARS

Both altars are cut from blocks of local sandstone, and each is carved on three faces. The altar to Sol (fig. 3.3) has vegetal wreaths on either side, which may have had significance in Mithraic beliefs as recorded by Tertullian,5 and can also be seen on the front of a Mithraic altar from Rudchester, Northumberland, on Hadrian’s Wall (fig. 3.4).6 On the front, the central panel features the face of the sun god, with six rays of his aureole emanating from his head. The piercedthrough technique used for these rays would ensure that a light placed in the hollowed-out niche behind would shine through the openings, illuminating the god’s headdress. The nose and mouth are also, unusually, pierced, perhaps in order to create an acoustic effect. Surrounding the head and radiate crown is a nimbus, almost circular albeit with a minor error in the carving at the lowest side. Above, in relief on the capital, the four Seasons are depicted, shown as busts of women each with relevant attributes and wearing Roman-style draped garments; while below them on this upper panel is the inscription.

23

Fig. 3.1. Plan of the Mithraeum as excavated. Drawing: copyright AOC Archaeology.

The inscription on the Mithras altar (fig. 3.5) is on the central front panel. The upper section is richly decorated with cable and foliate beading beneath curving scrolls, inhabited by small birds, probably ravens,7 which join the leafy bolsters. On one side, there is a griffin carved in relief above a patera; and on the other is a lyre, with a very realistic plectrum at a larger scale. These attributes are typically associated with Apollo.8 Some traces of red ochre and bone white pigments were found on the band of the inscription on the Sol altar. The leaf frieze of the Mithras altar yielded traces of an orange-red pigment, made from yellow and red ochres.

24

LINKS

WITH

LEGIO XX

A number of features on the altars suggest that the carvers who produced them were associated with Legio XX Valeria Victrix, placing not only the patrons but also the production of the monuments within a military, and particularly legionary, setting.9 The dipped or angled cross-bar of the ‘A’ letter forms are also seen on three distance slabs of this Legion, all of Antonine date.10 These were all found at the western end of the Antonine Wall, suggesting that stone masons trained or working in similar ways were despatched along with the

Fig. 3.2. Location of Inveresk and other sites mentioned in the text. Map: P. Coombe.

legionary vexillation as they worked to build both the Wall and the fort at Inveresk. Parallels may also be found for the decoration on the altars amongst the sculpture associated with Legio XX. For the Sol altar, the clearest comparison is with other vegetal wreaths: those seen here are smaller versions of the wreath supported by two victories which is depicted on a dedication slab of the Legion from Lanchester, Co. Durham.11 There are more connections to be made with the Mithras altar. The collection of motifs associated with Apollo on the sides of the altar should be compared with the rich assemblage of religious paraphernalia on the sides of an altar to Fortuna Redux, Aesculapius, and Salus from Chester dedicated by a legionary legate, probably in the first decade of the second century.12 Legio XX was stationed at Chester from the end of the first century for around two or three hundred years, though detachments were sent north to help construct Hadrian’s Wall and to serve in other areas. Another imposing altar, dedicated by the princeps of the legion to Jupiter Tanaris in 154 CE is

ornamented with a scroll of opposing leaves towards the top of the altar just as on the Scottish altar.13 The bolsters at the top of the Inveresk Mithras altar are of fairly standard design, but may be compared to those on the altar dedicated to the nymphs and fountains found 2km from the Chester fortress at the site of the source of its water supply, and again likely to be of Antonine date.14 A similar bolster can be seen on the altar dedicated by L. Maximius Gaetulicus, a centurion of the legion, to Apollo at Newstead, Roxburghshire in Scotland.15 These associations highlight important issues in the production of sculpture and inscriptions, and the nature of legionary workshops and process of training craftsmen. Identification of craftsmen associated with military stonework has long been problematic: were these sculptors also soldiers, or were they civilians who supplied the demand for stonework of the army? Either way, did the military provide the training, and how was this arranged? While the Inveresk altars fall short of providing conclusive answers, the similarities in the letter form of the ‘A’, and the

25

Fig. 3.3. Altar to Sol from Inveresk, front and sides. Drawing: Alan Braby, copyright AOC Archaeology.

choices of motifs and rendering of the decoration imply a fluid exchange of ideas and techniques in stone carving amongst artists working closely with particular legionary units. This, then, offers a decidedly legionary milieu for the production of the altars commissioned for the mithraeum: the sanctuary seems to exist within and is dependent on a military context. As will be seen further below, worship of Mithras in Britannia was closely associated with the army. TECHNIQUE OF

OPEN WORK

Open work, which allows illumination of certain parts of a relief by placing a light behind a pierced section and letting it shine through, is particularly popular in Mithraic sculpture.16 The interplay of light and dark was important in the god’s mysteries: it is possible that these were lit or revealed at certain times during a ceremony, bringing the sculpture ‘to life’ and lending the detail a performative as well as aesthetic function.17

26

There are several parallels for this technique, noted in the original publication of the Inveresk altars. The closest from a British mithraeum is the altar to Invictus Mithras from Carrawburgh on Hadrian’s Wall (fig. 3.6).18 This also makes use of the pierced-through technique to allow the light of a lamp placed behind to shine through some of the rays behind his head. The stone is broken, but it appears that there were originally only four emanating rays. The god wears a cloak and carries his customary whip, for urging on the horses that carry the sun chariot. Though the iconography is of Sol, this altar was dedicated to Mithras, and probably by a prefect whose name, Marcus Simplicius Simplex, suggested to Birley that he was from Germania Inferior.19 The Carrawburgh mithraeum dates from the early third century, an altar there probably dedicated between 213 and 222 CE, post-dating Inveresk by around 80 years.20 The two other examples of altars with a bust of Sol and pierced-through radiate crown for illumination come from the Rhineland: at Bingen,

another probably third-century altar of sandstone dedicated in honour of the divine house and Sol Invictus Mithras, carries seven perforated rays around the head of the god, with a niche behind for a light;21 and at Mundelsheim (fig. 3.7), an altar of the sun god is paired with a second dedicated to Luna, both found in the mithraeum.22 While the establishment of the Mundelsheim mithraeum has been dated according to pottery finds from the mid-late second century to the early third century, the surrounding settlement seems to be earlier, perhaps established in the 130s or 140s CE, as dated by dendrochronology.23 Wortmann has catalogued further examples of Mithraic sculpture and other items making use of the pierced-through technique.24 Although Gordon has highlighted this as mainly an Italian practice, many of the examples are, in fact, provincial and their distribution centres on the Rhineland.25 Two fine examples of illuminated stones, from Bonn and Ostia (in addition to that from Mundelsheim, mentioned above) exhibit a crescent moon motif. The vine leaves and probable bull also on the altar from Bonn suggest that it was intended as Mithraic, though there is some doubt here as no inscription survives and any other motifs that might have confirmed identification have broken off.26 Iron peg sockets remain, which could have secured either a glass plate over the top, or may have held a cloth used to cover and reveal the illuminated motif during rites. Remains of a glass plate were found in the niches of the altars from the Mitreo delle Sette Porte at Ostia and a rock crystal from Stockstadt mithraeum I may have served to amplify a lighting effect. Also included in Wortmann’s catalogue are altars or stones with plain square holes which may have been covered by decorated, pierced plates. One such plate of lead is known from the mithraeum at Santa Prisca in Rome, and may have achieved the same dramatic lighting effect as the cut stone.27 Less precise than illumination of single rays, open work of larger areas is seen in the relief of the egg-birth of Mithras from Housesteads (fig. 3.8), which could also have functioned with light source behind (though there is little direct evidence for this); while an open work relief of the tauroctony was found at Biljanovac, Macedonia28 and another on Sicily.29 L. Sentius Castus’s altar from Rudchester has two niches hollowed out of the stone at the rear, though neither is pierced through to the front.30 Other Mithraic sculptures from Aquincum and Romula appear to have been cut through for connecting water pipes to make a fountain, rather than for a lighting effect.31

Fig. 3.4. Altar to Mithras, dedicated by Lucius Sentius Castus, of the Sixth Legion, from Rudchester. Photo: copyright Great North Museum: Hancock and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.

27

Fig. 3.5. Altar to Mithras from Inveresk, all sides. Drawing: Alan Braby, copyright AOC Archaeology.

It is notable, however, that, aside from those from Ostia and Rome, the Mithras stones with precise pierced work, illuminating the sun or moon gods, come almost exclusively from military sites at the edge of the empire, and especially Britain and Germany.32 Those at Ostia have been dated to the mid-late second century, from the Antonine period onwards,33 and the chronology at Bonn is not secure. The Inveresk Mithraic altars therefore pre-date most of these, though there is the possibility that the Mundelsheim temple is roughly contemporary. Caution is needed because of the fragility of our dating evidence, and earlier finds may yet be discovered, but the site at Inveresk, the most northerly mithraeum recorded in the Empire, can currently be identified as the location where this important innovation in technique was first witnessed. Of course, other innovative ‘special effects’ techniques in Mithraic sculpture seem to have been developed in the Rhine-Danube region. The region was also home to some of the earliest mithraea, including those datable to the early second century CE at Mainz (Ballplatz mithraeum),

28

Carnuntum, Pons Aeni, and perhaps Nida-Heddernheim (Mithraeum I). Innovations in sculpture, designed to produce ritual effects, include the famous double-sided tauroctony reliefs from Nida-Heddernheim, which is paralleled by others at Rückingen and Dieburg, as well as in Italy.34 Such reliefs could be rotated around a central pin or peg, presumably to change the scenery at the correct moment in ritual proceedings, showing how techniques for stone carving and decoration of temples evolved to meet the needs of the cult. One might expect, therefore, a general trend of movement from east to west, with both cult and technical advances arriving in Britain from the Rhineland. This expectation is heightened by the clear availability of an agent for this movement: the Roman army. In Britain, worship of Mithras was largely a military cult:35 all mithraea in Britain have military connections, even in London where the inscriptions were of officers of Legio II Augusta, though the worshippers there might also have included civilians. Units that had been stationed in Germany were moved to Britain on

more than one occasion: those involved in the 43 CE invasion had been raised or stayed on the Rhineland immediately prior to their mobilisation. Legio XX itself had been based in Germany during most of the first half of the first century, most probably at Neuss (Novaesium), just north of Cologne, in the years before it came to Britain, where it was stationed in Gloucester (Glevum) prior to moving to its fortress at Chester (Deva) late in the first century.36 At York, two Mithraic reliefs prove that there was at least one mithraeum associated with the fortress of Legio VI Victrix, a legion that Hadrian moved to Britain from Germany; a statue base from Piercebridge, Co. Durham, dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus by a vexillation of the legion together with troops from Germany in the early third century (perhaps 217 CE) hints at con-

tinued interchange between Britain and the Rhineland, albeit at a later period than our altars.37 The network of the army could offer an opportunity for soldiers to act as agents of transmission of image and concept, as well as offering the craftsmanship required to realise images in stone, demand for sculptural output, and the transferral of cult to new areas. As mentioned above, sorting carvers into identities that include ‘military’ or ‘civilian’ is not straightforward, and an attempt perhaps distracts from the more pertinent questions of how technique was shared, how production was organised, and how supply interacted with demand. The exact circumstances of movement of the open-work technique requires further examination, and is largely beyond the scope of this current paper. However, it should be noted

Fig. 3.6. Scan of altar dedicated to Mithras by Marcus Simplicius Simplex, from Carrawburgh Mithraeum on Hadrian’s Wall, showing use of the open work technique for solar headdress of the god. Image: copyright NU Digital Heritage, Newcastle University.

29

Fig. 3.7. Open work figure of Sol, from the Mithraeum at Mundelsheim, Germany. Photo: copyright Landesmuseum Württemberg, P. Frankenstein, H. Zwietasch.

30

that such technique can be identified in both military and civilian areas. The civilian examples tend to originate in Italy, while military contexts for open work are found along the GermaniacRhaetian, and now British, limes, the former often post-dating the latter. Sculptors were artisans who were attracted to centres of patronage in Britain as elsewhere in the Empire, though at such centres whether in military centres or towns (and sometimes, as at York and at Carlisle in Britain both existed close together) distinctive schools of craftsmanship might grow up.38 Some appear to have been exclusively military. A range of sculptural types demonstrate that artistic motifs as well as cults were shared across military networks in different geographic areas, sometimes over considerable distances. Reiterrelief tombstones of auxiliary cavalry soldiers appear in the Rhineland, especially in Mainz and Bonn, in the decades before the invasion of Britain in 43 CE, and then emerge in Britain following invasion and continue up to the end of the first century.39 Collar has shown how the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus, also typically considered an ‘army’ religion, was spread across the empire by officers.40 It appears in Rome by the end of the first century, followed by North Africa, Carnuntum in the reign of Hadrian, Dacia by the 130s, arriving in Britain (without yet being seen in Germania) between 120 and 160 CE.41

the sun. In iconography, Sol and Apollo can sometimes appear in similar guises: the seated figure of Sol in the centre of the backside of the famous Dieburg relief shows him as a nude, youth-ful, Apollo-like figure.46 The raven is a shared attribute of the three deities, but the lyre and griffin are especially to be seen on representations of Apollo Grannus, such as that from Hochscheid, where is associated with that deity’s consort Sirona.47 A contemporary Antonine altar from Inveresk, now long lost, was, indeed, dedicated by a procurator, Quintus Lucius Sabinus, to Apollo Grannus.48 Another altar from the site was dedicated by the same person, but the top part is missing so we do not know to which deity it was dedicated.49 More often considered to be a patron of sacred springs, Apollo Grannus is well attested in Gaul and Germany, especially at the cult centre of Lauingen-Faimingen on the Danube and sites on the Rhine. 50 He was not, however, widely venerated in Britain: the altar to him at Inveresk is unusual evidence for the god in the province, though there are more dedications to Apollo or Apollo Maponus (‘great son’ or ‘youthful’) in northern Britain as well as a bronze patera from South Shields inscribed for Apollo Anextiomarus,

COMBINATIONS OF DEITIES AND THE EARLY CULT OF MITHRAS IN BRITAIN Finally, we will consider questions of cult. Mithraism varied in its practice and clientele from place to place, and the name of the god in various forms was used by a number of religious groups over a wide geographic area. 42 Conflation of Mithras with other deities or concepts was widespread and, indeed, a common practice.43 One of the Inveresk altars is dedicated to the sun god Sol, who was often associated with Mithras;44 the other is to Mithras himself, but the objects carved onto the sides, lyre, plectrum and griffin, are attributes of Apollo, as is the raven in the bolster. These motifs prompt us to consider how these three gods were conceived here and how they interacted with each other in the minds of worshippers: who did Gaius Cassius Flavianus actually think he was venerating? First, turning to Apollo, Statius suggests that in different places Apollo may be called different names: Titan, Osiris, or even Mithras.45 As far as can be ascertained, however, the Apolline imagery at Inveresk is highly unusual in Mithraic contexts, though Apollo was also associated with

Fig. 3.8. Relief sculpture of the egg birth of Mithras, with zodiac surround, also in open work. Photo: copyright P. Coombe.

31

Fig. 3.9. Altar to Apollo, from Whitley Castle, Cumbria, dedicated by Gaius […] of a Cohort of Nervians. Image: copyright Great North Museum: Hancock and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.

probably of Gaulish origin.51 Most of those are probably later than the altars at Inveresk (or at least they are not precisely dated), but the contemporary altar from Newstead dedicated to Apollo by L. Maximius Gaetulicus, a centurion of Legio XX, has already been mentioned as contemporary. Locally specific cults did make their way to Britain, or dedications to deities better known abroad could be made here: Peregrinus, a Treveran, dedicated an altar at Bath to Loucetius Mars and Nemetona, whose centre of worship was focused on the west bank of the middle Rhine.52

32

The relationship between Sol and Mithras is long established. In iconography, the rising of the sun at dawn and its setting in the evening are commonly figured on the tauroctony; here also we see personifications of sun and moon symbolising the passing of time and the eternity of the god, as well as Sol and Mithras sharing a banquet on several relief panels. The mithraeum at Großkrotzenburg has yielded an altar dedicated to Sol Invictus Mythras by Julius Macrinus of the Legio VIII Augusta from the end of the second or the early third century, and another at Housesteads was

dedicated to the ‘unconquerable Sol Mytras (sic), Lord of Ages’, by Litorius Pacatianus, a beneficiarius of the governor.53 These examples, amongst many others dedicated to the Invicible sun god Mithras, mirror the less usual spelling of the god’s name with a ‘y’ as seen on the Inveresk altars. As pieces of personal adornment, two gems from Antonine forts may also be relevant to the personal veneration of Sol in Antonine Scotland. One, from Newstead, portrays a standing figure of Sol with a corn-ear in front of him representing the quickening power of the Sol on the life of the earth, while the other from just north of the fort at Carzield depicts a profile bust of Sol wearing a radiate crown. They very probably belonged to officers, and in any case indicate the worship of Sol whether or not he was there linked to Mithras.54 Indeed Tacitus in his Histories tells us of soldiers of the third legion from the East, where Helios was venerated in various guises, saluting the rising sun in 69 CE.55 However, the interchangeability of iconography and names seen on the Inveresk altars and those from Carrawburgh and Bingen allows us to consider whether the gods were seen as one and the same, or as separate entities. Was this even a distinction that would have worried a devotee in second century Britannia? For some it was: the corrected building construction panel from High Rochester changes the dedication from being to Mithras and the sun god, to Mithras as sun god, the ‘et’ erased shortly after the initial carving.56 In this case, the conflation or distinction of different deities was clearly of concern to cult followers, but a general tendency in polytheistic Roman religion to eclecticism often brigaded deities together. The three deities are known together elsewhere in Britain: at Rudchester, a dedication to the ‘sun god Apollo Invincible Mithras’ was made by Aponius Rogatianus.57 The altar from Whitley Castle (Epiacum fort) in Cumbria is dedicated to Apollo, but shows complex, and debated, iconography of a Mithraic figure with Cautes and Cautopates, an image of the Sun-god with the headdress of sun rays and his chariot whip, and possibly an image of Apollo Maponus on the fourth side (fig. 3.9).58 The combination of deities, Mithras, Sol and Apollo, was clearly flexible, though we cannot know for sure how they were viewed by worshippers, individually or combined. Scholars have tended to place emphasis on Mithras in combination, but one wonders whether we could, at this early stage in Antonine Scotland, be witnessing an early form of specifically Apolline worship. At Inveresk it is possible that not only Apollo but in particular Apollo Grannus, local to

north-west Gaul and Germany, was regarded as being essentially the same deity as Mithras. CONCLUSION The two altars at Inveresk have merited further examination. The technique of open work combined with their early date in the 140s CE has shown this area of modern Scotland to be a location of innovation and technical evolution. Their complex iconography and epigraphy, combining three deities, bears testament to the flexibility of the Mithras cult, and the multivalence of conception of the deity for worshippers at this time. The context of the military and especially legionary sites and dedications offers a network through which cult and image might circulate and spread amongst the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire, especially between Britain and the Rhineland. NOTES 1

2 3 4 5

6 7

8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Hunter et al. 2016. The present authors are grateful for ongoing discussions with Dr Hunter and Dr Sauer, and their support for this publication. For the dating and social contexts of early mithraea in the provinces, see Gordon 2009. Tomlin suggests this may be because he expected to be well-known locally: Tomlin 2017, 368-9. Tomlin in Hunter et al. 2016; RIB I nos. 2197, 2198, 2199. Tertullian, De corona 15: “a wreath offered to him on the point of his sword and then placed on his head must be pushed off . . . with the words that Mithras alone is his wreath.” Philips 1977, no. 223; RIB I no. 1398. The appearance is more of a corvid, with longer tail and beak, than other common sculptural birds such as dove or eagle. Simon and Bauchhenss 1984, 363-464 passim. Note especially a relief in St Petersburg, 416 no. 380, pl. 330 depicting Apollo with lyre, griffin and raven. Sol is generally not shown with a raven (see Letta 1988, 592625). There are two exceptions: the raven depicted with facing bust on a medallion from Adony (Vetus Salina), 598, no. 59, pl. 368, and accompanying the sun god on a fresco in the mithraeum at Capua: Vermaseren 1971, 8 pl. 9. See similar arguments in McCarty and Dirven, this volume. RIB I, nos. 2197, 2198, 2199. RIB I, no,1093, pl. xiv; Henig 2000, 10–11, fig. 15. RIB I, no.445; Henig 2000, 8–9, fig. 12; Henig et al. 2004, 1–2, no. 3. RIB I, no. 452; Henig 2000, 7–8, fig. 9, no. 20; Henig et al. 2004, 8–9, no. 20. RIB I, no. 460; Henig 2000, 7–9, fig. 11, no. 20; Henig et al. 2004, 6, no. 14. RIB I, no. 2120; Keppie 1984, 17, no. 46. Schwertheim 1974, 36, no.36. See also Wortmann 1969 for discussion of pierced monuments in mithraea. Clauss 2000, 120, 125. RIB I no.1546; Coulston and Phillips 1988 no. 122.

33

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

34

Birley 1988, 178–185. RIB I, no.1544. Schwertheim 1974, 126–7, no .108b. Planck 1989, 177–183. Planck 1989, 178. Wortmann 1969, 410–23. Gordon 2009, 401 Schwertheim 1974, no. 36. Wortmann 1969, 418. Clauss 2000, 94, fig. 59. CIMRM no. 164. RIB I, no. 1398; Philips 1977, no. 223. Wortmann 1969, nos. 5a and 5i. Wortmann 1969, 410–23. White 2012, 466. Heddernheim: Schwertheim, 67-9, no. 59a; CIMRM no.1083. Rückingen: Clauss 2000, 110, fig. 71. Dieburg: CIMRM 1247; from Fiano Romano, Italy: CIMRM 641. Clauss 1992, 267–8. Pollard and Berry 2012, 99-–100. RIB III, no. 3253; Tufi 1983, nos. 22 and 23. Henig 2012, 120-4. Schleiermacher 1984. Collar 2013, 114–7. Collar 2013, 99, map 3.2. Adrych et al. 2017. See Spickermann 2007 for integration with local cults.

44

45 46 47 48 49

50 51

52 53 54 55 56 57 58

The exact relationship between Sol and Mithras is debated, and while the two are conflated on inscriptions (e.g. to Sol Invictus Mithras), in art they are shown as distinct persons: Hijmans 2009, 165-186. Statius, Theb., I.718–20. Mattern 2005, 154–6, pl. 101 no. 272; CIMRM 1247. Binsfeld et al. 1988, 7-9, nos. 12 and 13, pl. 4; for Apollo Grannus with Sirona, see no. 16. RIB I, no. 2132. RIB III, no. 3499. Tomlin remarks on this, suggesting that a special extended visit by the Procurator, perhaps to pay the garrison, or more likely to oversee construction here, would offer the occasion and time for two dedications: Tomlin 2017, 133. Sauer 2007, 35. Dedications to Apollo Maponus: RIB I, nos. 1120, 1121, 1122 at Corbridge, nos. 1120 and 1122 by legionaries of the Sixth Legion; at Ribchester, RIB I no. 583, dated to 241 CE; RIB II no. 2415.55. RIB I, no. 140. RIB I, no. 1599. Henig 2007, 95, nos 30 and 27, pl. 1. Tacitus, Hist., III, 24. RIB I, no. 1272. RIB I, no. 1397. RIB I, no. 1198.

4

Le mithraeum d’Angers (France) Jean Brodeur PRÉSENTATION En 2010, une fouille préventive conduite sous la responsabilité de l'Inrap1 a permis de mettre en évidence un ensemble cultuel voué au dieu Mithra à l’emplacement de l’ancienne clinique Saint Louis à Angers, chef-lieu du département de Maine-etLoire dans l’ouest de la France (fig. 4.1). Les premières traces mithriaques apparaissent notamment au travers d’un ex-voto gravé avant cuisson sur un vase de céramique sigillée de Lezoux de type Déchelette 72 associé à un édifice daté au dernier quart du IIe siècle. Le bâtiment a totalement été oblitéré à partir de la moitié du IIIe siècle par un second sur le même emplacement. Celui-ci présente le plan stéréotypé de ce type de sanctuaire et fonctionne jusqu’au début du Ve siècle. Les niveaux contemporains de son utilisation ont livré, outre un abondant mobilier lapidaire issu de l’architecture et du décor sculpté (statuaire, autels …), des céramiques, des objets métalliques (monnayage, armement, parures) mais aussi les reliefs des banquets qui rythmaient la liturgie mithriaque. La destruction violente et manifestement volontaire a créé un ensemble clos archéologique fossilisant les dernières pratiques cultuelles. La position très extra-muros du site l’a également préservé des pressions urbaines médiévales, modernes et même contemporaines et a donné une qualité démonstrative aux découvertes dans un état de conservation assez exceptionnel. La présence de certains éléments spécifiques offre la possibilité d’aborder plus précisément les rites célébrés à Angers. La chronologie d’activité du temple, poussée jusqu’au début du Ve siècle, s’entrechoque avec le développement du christianisme d’appréhension difficile pour la moitié nord de la Gaule. Dans son ensemble, le mithraeum d’Angers enrichit nos connaissances sur une pratique religieuse qui dépasse le cadre de la capitale de Cité où officiaient ses adeptes, et ouvre de nouvelles perspectives de recherche. CONTEXTE DE DÉCOUVERTE:

UN SECTEUR EN MARGE

DE LA VILLE

Le mithraeum est installé dans un îlot périphérique de la trame viaire bien reconnue aujourd’hui

de l’ancienne Capitale des Andécaves, Juliomagus (Angers). Il est également situé à 400 m extra-muros au sud-ouest du castrum édifié à la fin du IIIe siècle. Les premières traces du culte apparaissent dans le dernier quart du second siècle, dans un quartier alors en pleine restructuration. Selon un processus et une chronologie identiques, le long du même decumanus, à environ 350 m au sud, un îlot accueille une nécropole à inhumations. Alors qu’un premier cimetière chrétien est créé en limite de la trame viaire, cette fois à l’est, un groupe de tombes particulières se surimposent aux anciennes mais selon une toute autre organisation, toujours à l’emplacement de la nécropole urbaine initiale. Il s’agit d’individus, dont quatre possédaient une paire de fibules caractéristiques de la culture de Tcherniakov ancrée au niveau du Danube inférieur, actuelle Crimée. Ces tombes féminines ont été attribuées à celles de compagnes d’auxiliaires goths de l’armée romaine. Elles furent mises en place de la fin du IVe siècle jusqu’au tout début du Ve siècle. A ce moment, le mithraeum était encore fréquenté, entre autres par des militaires. Un dernier évènement funéraire est à signaler à moins de 100 m au sud-ouest du mithraeum. En 1867, lors de travaux de construction, l’archéologue Victor Godard-Faultrier trouve deux sarcophages dont l’une des cuves, taillée dans un bloc calcaire de récupération, est datée de la fin de l’époque romaine. Cette découverte est associée à une église paroissiale Saint-Germain aujourd’hui détruite, bâtie sur des terres appartenant à la fastueuse abbaye Saint-Aubin dont la fondation remonte à 550. Si un texte ne la mentionne qu’au début de l’époque carolingienne, le vocable, son statut, la propriété du terrain sur lequel elle est édifiée, tout augure d’une grande ancienneté. Notons que la destruction du mithraeum intervient dans la première moitié du Ve siècle et que la première réoccupation est à nouveau funéraire avec des tombes en coffrage de schiste disséminées sur l’ensemble du site, apparaissant dès le VIIe siècle jusqu’au IXe siècle. Selon toute vraisemblance, ce cimetière se rattachait à l’église Saint-Germain.

35

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Enceinte du Bas-Empire Portion attestée Portion restituée

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Nécropole Haut-Empire Nécropole Bas-Empire

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Fig 4.1. Angers. Plan de la ville. J. Brodeur et D. Pfost, Inrap.

On le voit, le premier mithraeum est donc installé dans un espace qui échappait dès lors à une dynamique proprement urbaine. Cette situation de marge s’accentue au fur et à mesure de la chronologie. PREMIÈRES TRACES MITHRIAQUES Il ne restait que très peu de traces matérielles du premier temple édifié sur le site dans le dernier quart du IIe siècle. Au milieu du IIIe siècle, ce mithraeum est détruit et remplacé par un autre bâtiment toujours selon un plan très classique, aux mêmes proportions que le précédent, tout au moins pour le spelaeum (fig. 4.2). L’installation pri-

36

mitive s’effectue en réutilisant certaines maçonneries et espaces d’une domus de la fin du Ier siècle. Un mur délimitait l’aire cultuelle, qui comprenait le spelaeum, une sorte de cour, et sans doute déjà des annexes.. La fouille a en effet bien montré qu’aucun élément “mithriaque” ne se trouvait à l’extérieur de cet espace qui était donc dédié aux diverses activités du mithraeum. Ce sont les découvertes mobilières, céramiques, inscriptions sur lapidaire et céramique, et statuaire, qui ont permis de dater aux alentours de la fin du IIe siècle l’apparition d’un culte voué à Mithra. Il s’agit notamment d’un gobelet sphérique en sigillée d’un atelier du Centre de la Gaule, probablement Lezoux, de type Déchelette 72.2

Fig. 4.2. Angers. Plan du mithraeum et environs. D. Pfost, Inrap.

Daté de la seconde moitié du IIe s. au premier tiers du IIIe s., il comporte un texte gravé avant cuisson (no. 4, au dessous).3 Un certain Genialis, citoyen de la région d’Amiens s’est donc rendu à Lezoux, s’est fait confectionner et graver à son nom ce petit vase pour l’offrir en ex voto à Mithra, au cours ou au terme d’un voyage à Iuliomagus. Cela montre comment les fidèles voyagaient entre les sanctuaires de Mithra et comment ils s'imaginaient comme une famille universelle. Par ailleurs, quatre des inscriptions sont datables entre la seconde moitié du IIe siècle (pour la plus ancienne) et la première moitié du IIIe siècle. Le luminaire, lampes et lustre à têtes de nubien, sont produits dans les ateliers de Lezoux entre 160 et 230. La tauroctonie, dont la tête du dieu nous est parvenue, avec une datation du troisième quart du second siècle figurait dans le premier état du mithraeum. Enfin, un dépôt céramique à l’extérieur du spelaeum correspondant à des reliefs de repas a pu être daté des années 160-170/180-190.

UN

SPELAEUM

“CLASSIQUE”

Comme souvent, la pièce la mieux identifiée du temple est son spelaeum (fig. 4.3), précédé d’un vestibule de 3,94 m x 2,90 m, qui constitue le second état utilisé jusqu’à la destruction. Il s’agit d’un volume rectangulaire de 10,05 m x 5,88 m intérieur, très légèrement encavé, ce qui a favorisé la conservation des vestiges. La construction se cale à l’est de l’aire dévolue au mithraeum et réutilise des maçonneries plus anciennes qui ont édicté une orientation nord-est-sud-ouest. L’accès au spelaeum s’effectuait depuis une cour, par l’ouest, dans le vestibule, doté à son tour d’une ouverture complétée d’un emmarchement donnant sur l’antre mithriaque dans son axe longitudinal. Cette dernière apparaît selon une disposition habituelle avec banquettes latérales ménageant un passage central à l’entrée sud duquel, au pied de chaque banquette, se trouvait un socle destiné aux statues des dadophores, à l’ouest Cautopates

37

Fig. 4.3. Angers. Mithraeum. Inrap.

et à l’est Cautes. A l’extrémité nord, un podium, au sol à l’origine dallé de tegulae dont il ne restait que les négatifs, équipé d’un escalier sur son angle oriental avec la banquette, accueillait un socle maçonné en forme de trapèze plaqué contre le mur de fond du spelaeum. La tauroctonie y trouvait place et dominait ainsi l'ensemble du volume. À l'ouest du podium, et à l'extrémité nord-est de la banquette occidentale, une structure quadrangulaire d' 1m carré, dont l’interprétation reste problématique,4 était comblée par des couches de démolition.5 Elle contenait des éléments du relief, notamment la tête et le cou du dieu Mithra. LA TAUROCTONIE Malgré une importante fragmentation due à une destruction organisée de l’ensemble du décor du PLWKUDHXP Я OHV QLYHDX[ GH GpPROLWLRQ FRPprennent 1232 fragments d’éléments calcaires, soit 408 kg, qui ont été répertoriés dans l'aire du PLWKUDHXPЯLOHVWSRVVLEOHGHGRQQHUO·LPDJHHW la forme de la tauroctonie d’Angers (fig. 4.4). Les éléments recueillis essentiellement devant le podium et dans une fosse maçonnée sur son bord ouest, se présentent en haut-relief ou en rondebosse.6 La composition correspond à la représentation la plus souvent adoptée: Mithra plonge un poignard dans le cou du taureau qu’il chevauche, la jambe gauche appuyée presque jusqu’à son encolure, la droite en extension le long de la panse de l’animal. Des mortaises pratiquées sur l’arrière et même l’avant des blocs permettaient de maintenir la composition sculpturale bien à la verticale, retenue par des broches de fixation en métal joignant le mur de fond du spelaeum. La statue de Mithra était elle-même composite, comme en témoignent les mortaises d’assemblage au sommet et à la base de la tête du dieu pour res-

38

pectivement la coiffer du bonnet phrygien et y placer le cou. Les mensurations de la tête, 14,4 cm du menton au sommet du front, ont permis d’estimer la hauteur de la figuration de Mithra entre 86,4 cm et 115,2 cm. Le relief de la tauroctonie pouvait mesurer 1,20 m de haut pour 1,80 m de large, soit une surface maximale de 2,16 m2, ce qui le classe parmi les grands reliefs cultuels mithriaques.7 L’ensemble était peint. Des traces de peintures ocres et rouges ont ainsi pu être observées sur la jambe qui correspondent au pantalon perse rouge de Mithra. La tête conserve également quelques infimes traces de coloration. Elle est de très belle facture et révèle une maîtrise de l’art sculptural. Au-delà de l’expression extatique du visage qui vise à faire ressortir la divinité du sujet, les traits d’un Mithra jeune adolescent sont parfaitement réalistes et finement transcrites par un artiste sculpteur sans doute influencé par la tradition hellénique. Une datation du troisième quart du IIe siècle a été avancée.8 Elle correspond au premier état du temple, qui reconstruit, a pu bénéficier d’un transfert de la statuaire principale originelle. La représentation dominait le spelaeum du haut d'un podium desservi par un escalier et était encore surélevée par le socle maçonné trapézoïdal où elle prenait place. Un morceau de claveau comportant le signe zodiacal du scorpion ainsi que des fragments de montants décorés de rinceaux indiquent que la tauroctonie, comme souvent, était mise en scène dans une alcôve. A Angers, le chien et le lion sont bien présents dans la scène centrale mais sous forme de petites statuettes individuelles façonnées dans un autre

Fig. 4.4. Angers. Fragments de tauroctonie. A: Tête de Mithras. B: Couronne solaire. C: Chien. D: Pattes de lion. E: Tête du dadophore. F: Scorpion. Photos: L. Petit, Inrap.

Fig. 4.5. Angers. Bases des dadophores, in situ. Photo: D. Séris, Inrap.

matériau: le marbre. Elles ont pu être adjointes à la tauroctonie à l’initiative d’adeptes qui marquaient ainsi leur dévotion personnelle en complétant le corps principal commandé et financé par la communauté, ce qui peut aussi expliquer la qualité supérieure de la sculpture. Hormis ces parties anatomiques, une épaule et un avant-bras ont pu appartenir au dieu Mithra. Quelques blocs présentent des drapés, dont l'un appartient à une statue de grande dimension. Pour le taureau, un seul élément de grande taille peut en provenir, mais sans aucune certitude. On peut noter aussi un fragment de couronne solaire qui fait sans aucun doute référence à la figure du dieu soleil, toujours présent dans les mithraea.9 LES DADOPHORES La tauroctonie faisait face à l’entrée du spelaeum où campent traditionnellement les deux statues des dadophores, littéralement les porteurs de torche, Cautes qui brandit son flambeau, pour symboliser le soleil levant, à l’inverse de Cautopates qui l’oriente vers le bas, à l'image du soleil couchant. Les deux personnages, habillés comme Mithra, occupent cet emplacement, Cautopates, à de rares exceptions, étant placé à gauche de l'entrée du spelaeum en se dirigeant vers la tauroctonie. De part et d’autre du passage, ces deux personnages symboliques signifiaient l’entrée dans l’antre mithriaque, le domaine du dieu.10 A Angers, les deux porteurs de flambeaux sculptés en ronde-bosse trouvaient place sur deux embases en calcaire aux extrémités des banquettes, découvertes in situ (fig. 4.5). Un ancrage central, visible sur chacun des socles, assurait leur fixation. Une tête de l'un d’eux a été retrouvée au sol au pied de l'embase occidentale, calée entre la banquette et le bloc calcaire de support. Cette tête, de par sa situation, doit logiquement être celui de Cautopates. Coiffée du bonnet phrygien, la tête est plus grande que celle du dieu Mithra avec 16

cm sans le bonnet, ce qui permet d’envisager une hauteur de 96 cm à 128 cm pour la statue.11 Ces dimensions se rapprochent de celles constatées sur les dadophores du mithraeum de Bordeaux.12 L'une des trois mains découvertes sur le site, de très belle facture, appartient sans aucun doute à l'un d'eux.13 Les doigts finement travaillés sont repliés sur ce qui doit être l’extrémité de la torche. Si on ne peut être affirmatif pour les deux restantes, une main fermée comporte un orifice susceptible d’accueillir également une torche qui dans ce cas pouvait ne pas être factice. La tête et la main retenue paraissent avoir été réalisées avec la même exigence artistique que la tauroctonie. Ces deux représentations, peut-être considérées comme les plus figuratives du culte, ont subi la même violence destructrice. La tête a été brisée en plusieurs morceaux et rien ne subsiste de sa face qui paraît avoir été martelée pour en faire disparaître complètement les traits. L’ÉCLAIRAGE DU SPELAEUM Réplique de la grotte mithriaque originelle, le spelaeum parfois totalement enterré, est presque un endroit sombre par définition. Les objets liés à l’éclairage sont récurrents en nombre dans le mobilier des fouilles de mithraea. La lumière diffuse des lampes et lustres à huile renforçait sans doute l’atmosphère mystique du lieu avec des effets visuels sur la statuaire colorée en ronde-bosse. Une symbolique avec Mithra Sol invictus paraît induite; l’adepte accède d’ailleurs au spelaeum, domaine du dieu, en passant devant les torches des dadophores. Le lot de luminaire à Angers est ainsi riche par le nombre mais aussi la qualité des objets. On note dans ce dernier la présence exceptionnelle de 5 lampes simples à tête de nubien et d’un lustre à 15 becs aux figures identiques (fig. 4.6). Un autre

Fig. 4.6. Angers. Deux lampes à tête nubien. Photos: H. Paitier, Inrap.

39

lustre, dont on possède les trois quarts du conduit en fait également partie. Que ce soient pour les lampes simples ou pour les lustres, ces découvertes sont très rares. Maxime Mortreau14 a pu déterminer que leur fabrication se situait dans la phase 7 des ateliers de Lezoux, soit entre 160 et 230, ce qui nous renvoie au premier mithraeum. Là encore, un transfert de ce mobilier a pu s’effectuer dans la nouvelle construction. Outre la rareté de ce type d’objet, le choix de figures d’africains a sans doute une signification particulière par rapport au culte de Mithra. On connaît ainsi le rôle important que pouvaient jouer les africains dans le culte également à mystères d’Isis comme prêtres, musiciens ou danseurs. Peut-on dès lors présumer d’une fonction identique pour le mithracisme? Leur surreprésentation dans le mithraeum d’Angers par rapport au nombre infime d’exemplaires connus en dehors du Maghreb d’où semble venir le prototype va dans ce sens. Un pouvoir apotropaîque était également associé à la figure de l’Africain dans la croyance populaire antique.15 LES TRACES DE BANQUETS RITUELS16 La pratique du banquet apparaît comme le rite principal de la liturgie mithriaque. Le repas, consommé sur place, rappelait celui originel offert par Sol à Mithra pour le remercier d’avoir accompli son vœu de tuer le taureau. Mithra quitte ensuite la terre dans le char solaire, pour rejoindre le royaume des dieux. Si les textes et certaines représentations dans des mithraea nous apportent des indications sur la nature et la signification de la consommation de certains produits, l’archéologie, et c’est le cas à Angers, permet d’aborder ces agapes grâce aux reliefs de leur tenue, soient les restes fauniques et le vaisselier utilisé. Ce dernier, tout comme la composition des repas, dévoilent un certain raffinement lié à l’origine sociale de la communauté. Le spelaeum est ainsi presque comme un triclinium, une salle à manger, dont on a seulement les banquettes latérales pour accueillir les adeptes au repas rituel, face à la tauroctonie. A Angers, comme dans beaucoup d’autres mithraea, les banquettes sont étroites soit 1,46 m à l’est et 0,92 m à l’opposé. Il n’est pas impossible que la position assise, que l’on rencontre d’ailleurs dans de nombreuses représentations de “Cène” chrétienne ou non aux IIIe-IVe siècles,17 ait été préférée à celle allongée. Les mets sont préparés avec les animaux sacrifiés dans une pièce destinée à cet effet, dont la localisation est variable (apparitorium, vestibule). Cependant, le spelaeum peut également accueillir les foyers, comme c’est le cas ici. Les mystes y assurent eux-mêmes le service dans leur habit de

40

cérémonie. On reconnaît sur certains bas-reliefs, le corbeau ou le lion, affairé à cette tache. Grâce à un tamisage systématique des sédiments, plus de 80 000 fragments de restes fauniques des banquets ont ainsi été recueillis dans l’aire cultuelle et 50 000 prélevés dans l’espace du spelaeum. A l’heure actuelle, seul un échantillon de 11 000 restes a fait l’objet d’une étude. De nombreux tessons et des formes complètes de plats ou vases donnent des indications sur la consommation de produits qui ne laissent pas de traces dans le sol. Cités dans de rares textes, visibles dans des représentations d’autres mithraea, le pain, l’eau, et le vin accompagnaient les mets.18 Pour le pain, des traces rayonnantes relevées dans le fond de certains plats à Angers correspondent bien à cette découpe en part ou portion.19 On relève également la part importante de grands plats à cuire (patinae) à engobe interne rouge pompéien destinés à aller au four. De plus rares couvercles de grand et petit module leur sont associés pour la cuisson du pain ou de galettes. Les conteneurs destinés au conditionnement du vin de production régionale sont représentés par un tesson de G4 engobée blanc et de plusieurs amphorettes G4 de moyen module à engobe blanc ou brun noir et d’un fond annulaire engobé rouge de G4 ou G5. Une amphore vinaire Gauloise 4 narbonnaise en de multiples fragments mais complète atteste également de sa consommation. Par ailleurs, on compte au moins deux bouilloires à une anse archéologiquement complètes en pâte sableuse grise et claire qui servaient à faire chauffer l’eau ou le vin.20 Le service des liquides, eau et vin, était assuré par des cruches (lagonae) à engobe blanc et de plus rares en commune claire lissée, Gauloise 4 petit module, à bord en bandeau, en entonnoir, à col mouluré type Chartres 3409. Les gobelets (pocula) en céramique fine sont présents figurés par des gobelets en parois fines engobées à décor d’épingles à cheveux ou de guillochis type Lezoux 331 ou de type Lezoux 306 ornés de motifs végétaux. Des gobelets à panse globulaire lisse ou excisé Déchelette 72 en sigillée de Gaule centrale les accompagnent. Ce service est complété par de plus rares gobelets à bord droit oblique et panse carénée type Thésée Pouillé en terra nigra ou cylindroconique à pâte sableuse grise. On compte également un pot Santrot 250 à bord aplati en pâte fine grise lissée pouvant avoir joué le même rôle. Le vaisselier nous renseigne sur les plats servis dans des céramiques de qualité, très rarement mise en évidence sur les autres sites angevins de même période. Les restes fauniques recueillis sur plusieurs autres sites mithriaques montrent que

les viandes étaient cuites à la broche, ce qui explique en partie la prédominance des plats de présentation, dont un notable imité d’une forme connue dans la vaisselle métallique. A Angers, la vaisselle fine sigillée est amplement utilisée mais on trouve aussi plusieurs pots à bord déjeté rectangulaire ou en amande réalisés en pâte sableuse grise qui constituent les pots à cuire (ollae). On relève également la présence de plusieurs marmites tripodes (tripes) recouvertes ou non d’un engobe rouge ou micacé doré, destinées à faire mijoter les aliments, les pieds hauts évitant le contact direct avec les braises. Les aliments en sauce sont attestés par plusieurs mortiers (mortaria) à bord pendant à pâte claire revêtu d’un engobe ocre orangé trahissant une origine de la vallée de l’Allier. Des amphores à huile Dressel 20 et des amphores à salaisons apparaissent également. Les restes de faune collectés illustrent la qualité de l’alimentation. Sans surprise par rapport aux autres études similaires effectuées sur des sites mithriaques, il s’agit en majorité d’os de coq ou poulet rappelant l’identification solaire de Mithra, le Sol Invictus, cet animal annonçant le lever du soleil. L’autre catégorie majoritaire, porcs ou sangliers, sont des individus extrêmement

jeunes, à l’inverse de la précédente composée de sujets adultes. Un tableau, issu de l’étude de Pierre Caillat, montre la variété des espèces consommées sans que l’on puisse affirmer avec certitude, faute de démarches comparables sur d’autres sites angevins, si leur présence connote un peu plus la vocation rituelle de ces repas. Le tableau suivant en donne le détail.21 MOBILIER À VOCATION

CULTUELLE

Une zone de concentration de mobilier particulier se trouvait à l’entrée du spelaeum, près d’un socle et d’une petite vasque en grès légèrement incrustée dans le sol. L’ensemble était éparpillé au milieu dans un amas de bois carbonisés dans lequel étaient mélangés des morceaux de gobelets à boire en verre, le manche en os d’un couteau, et une clef. On en a déduit que celle-ci pouvait fermer un meuble où étaient entreposés ces autres objets. Parmi eux, on note surtout la présence d’un exceptionnel vase zoomorphe en céramique au corps de cervidé (fig. 4.7). Le travail en est soigné et le traitement très fin. La robe de l’animal est ponctuée de taches blanches et son museau, percé de trois petits trous, permettait de verser

Clinique St Louis, Angers. Occupation du mithraeum. (Banquet) DENOMINATION

NRD

%NTRD

NMI

%NMI

Sus sp.

Porc ou sanglier

2867

46,34%

119

34,90%

Ovis aries

Mouton

7

0,11%

5

1,47%

Caprinae ind.

Chèvre ou mouton

175

2,83%

19

5,57%

Bos taurus

Bœuf domestique

215

3,48%

13

3,81%

Lepus europaeus

Lièvre européen

11

0,18%

4

1,17%

Gallus gallus

Poule domestique

2700

43,64%

160

46,92%

Anser anser

Oie cendrée

51

0,82%

7

2,05%

Anas platyrhynchos

Canard colvert

25

0,40%

7

2,05%

Columba palumbus

Pigeon ramier

1

0,02%

1

0,29%

Scolopax rusticola

Bécasse des bois

7

0,11%

3

0,88%

Perdix perdix

Perdrix grise

4

0,06%

1

0,29%

Turdus viscivorus

Grive draine

2

0,03%

2

0,59%

68

1,10%

-

-

Poissons indéterminés Ostrea edulis

Huître commune

13

0,21%

-

-

Mitylus edulis

Moule commune

11

0,18%

-

-

Pecten jacobeaus

Coquille St.Jacques

4

0,06%

-

-

Tapes decussata

Palourde

26

0,42%

-

-

Table 4.1. Restes de faune provenant du mithraeum d'Angers.

41

était utilisé. Des fragments appartenant à un cratère pouvant être un brûle parfum ou à encens, dont on connaît l’usage dans les mithraea, ont également été trouvés. Une urnula est sans doute à rapprocher d’un rite de lustration. DÉPÔTS MOBILIERS

Fig. 4.7. Angers. Vase à forme cervide. Photo: Inrap.

un liquide en de fins filets, ce qui n’est pas sans faire penser à un rite de purification. Le cerf, qui chaque année voit sa ramure remplacée, apparaît couramment dans l’iconographie de diverses religions comme symbole de renouveau. Dans les représentations chrétiennes, il est ainsi la monture privilégiée des Saints. La proximité du vase avec la vasque n’est pas sans susciter d’interrogations autour d’un rite faisant intervenir l’eau. La répartition des monnaies autour du socle permet d’envisager ici un autel. La disposition similaire de monnaies, mais cette fois à l’extérieur du spelaeum, au nord-ouest, sans la présence du lapidaire, résulte d’un “effet de parois” qui conduit à voir l’existence d’un deuxième autel dans l’aire cultuelle. Il semble donc qu’avant d’accéder au spelaeum, les mystes étaient invités à pratiquer des rites particuliers qu’indique cette concentration de mobilier particulier. La fouille a également livré 24 fragments appartenant à un vase tonnelet à décor de singe tenant dans ses deux mains une flûte de pan, ou syrinx, qu’il porte à sa bouche. Ce type de vase (comme le cerf) est sans conteste cultuel. Selon Maxime Mortreau, il ne semble pas avoir fait son apparition avant le IIIe siècle, et pourrait avoir été emprunté à un autre culte de “type oriental”.22 Les dévots à Mithra utilisent également d’autres représentations divines pour honorer leur propre dieu. Elles sont présentes sous forme de statuettes, de reliefs et parfois même, un autel leur ait réservé. Mercure y est le plus fréquemment présent, comme à Angers où figure, de surcroît, Bacchus, sous la forme d’un buste d’applique en bronze, également dieu régénérateur de la nature. De même, un grand vase de type Déchelette 72 décoré de scènes mythologiques

42

Les adeptes étaient amenés à déposer différents types de mobilier en l’honneur de Mithra. Les ex voto et les monnaies sont les plus caractéristiques. Il faut bien souligner encore ici que, bien sûr, il ne nous reste qu’une infime partie de ce qui fut accueilli dans l’aire sacrée. Sur cette longue chronologie de fonctionnement, les nettoyages, le prélèvement et enfin la destruction, ne nous ont laissé que ce qui a pu échapper à ces évènements. Les supports sur lesquels se sont exprimés les adeptes sont constitués par quelques inscriptions sur calcaire ou marbre, ou plus nombreux sur céramique. Deux lieux de dépôt monétaire, comme nous l’avons vu, ont pu être identifiés. Les monnaies ont été dispersées déjà durant tout le fonctionnement mais à une échelle moindre, et densément lors de la destruction violente du mithraeum. Le lot de près de 750 monnaies qui lui est associé a été étudié de manière méticuleuse par Paul-André Besombes.23 Outre le fait d’apporter des indications sur la fréquentation “votive” des lieux par rapport aux dates d’émission, avec un pic dans les années 330-348, le lot d’Angers fait apparaître des monnaies peu fréquentes, notamment un denier de Gallien de la troisième émission (255256) dès lors festive, destinée à être distribuée lors de donativa. Le chercheur avance que deux siliques du IVe siècle sont considérées dans la deuxième moitié du siècle comme réservés à la solde de militaires, ce qui ne détonne absolument pas dans le contexte mithriaque angevin (fig. 4.8). Dans la même lignée, on note également la présence de deux fibules cruciformes en bronze, caractéristiques des fonctionnaires impériaux du IVe et Ve siècle et de pièce d’armement telles une hache d’arme et pointes de flèche germaniques. Une multitude d’anneaux en fer et bronze appartenant à une cotte de maille a également été recueillie. Cela étant, cette cotte disloquée peut aussi provenir du costume de miles. Sept inscriptions découvertes sont dédiées à Mithra; trois sont des ex-voto.24 Quatre sont gravées sur un support lapidaire soit en tuffeau, calcaire dur ou marbre, les quatre autres les plus significatives étant des graffiti sur des vases en céramique, en particulier sigillée du Centre de la Gaule, mais aussi en provenance d’Argonne ou du Poitou (céramique dite à l’éponge) qui nous sont parvenues plus ou moins fragmentées. Les

En contexte mithriaque, c’est évidemment cette seconde lecture qui s’impose. Datation: le plat est chronologiquement cohérent avec l’inscription de Pylades (seconde moitié du IIe s.).

Fig. 4.8. Angers. Histogram des monnaies provenant du secteur 1 (n=761).

textes ont été réalisés à la pointe sèche après cuisson à l’exception du seul vase de type Déchelette 72 produit à Lezoux, gravé avant enfournement. Publiées en détail, nous n’en livrons ici qu’une liste et les textes suivants: 1. Plaque de marbre blanc H. : 16 cm; l. : 13,5 cm. Hauteur des lettres : 17 mm. AVG·DEO·INVICTO MITHRAE·PYLADES FELICIS·AVG·SER AGATHANGELIANI V · S · L · M Aug(usto). Deo Invicto | Mithrae Pylades | Felicis Aug(usti) ser(vi) | Agathangeliani (servus) | v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito). “À Auguste. En l’honneur du dieu invaincu Mithra, Pylades, esclave de Felix Agathangelianus, lui-même esclave d’Auguste, s’est acquitté de son vœu de bon gré à juste titre.” Datation: seconde moitié du IIe s. 2. Dédicace incomplète sur fragment de bord intérieur de plat en céramique sigillée. Atelier du Centre de la Gaule, Lezoux, phase 4, (120-140 ap. J.-C). H. : 10 cm. Hauteur des lettres: 6 mm. Deux lectures sont possibles: 1) Si l’on pose le plat sur le fond: …]DIANI Dans le cas de cette lecture le “A” n’a pas de barrette, ce qui est étonnant pour des lettres de cette taille. Le mot est sans doute incomplet et n’a pas de caractère mithriaque. 2)

En retournant le plat: … INVICTI … dei] invicti [Mithrae “… du dieu invaincu Mithra”

3. Fragment de plaque de calcaire gris. H. : 12 cm; l. : 11 cm. Hauteur des lettres: 21 mm. G·I M I S · MA D·

Au]g(usto). I(nvicto) M[ithrae] | [ ]is Ma[ ] | d(ono) [d(edit)] “À Auguste. À Mithra invaincu, [ ]is Ma[ ] a offert par un don”. La plaque était fixée sur un objet donné en offrande à Mithra. Les initiales I et M sont fréquemment utilisées dans les dédicaces à Mithra (CIMRM 1097, 1846, 1918, 1940). Le donateur était un pérégrin dont le nom était suivi de celui de son père au génitif. Datation: seconde moitié du IIe s. ou premier tiers du IIIe s., en raison de la qualité de la gravure. Réutilisation-réemploi dans les marches du podium. 4. Gobelet sphérique de type Déchelette 72 en sigillée. Incomplet, bord manquant. La panse du vase présentant de fortes lacunes, l’inscription gravée avant cuisson est fragmentaire. Atelier du Centre de la Gaule, Lezoux, phase 7 de production (seconde moitié du IIe s. ou premier tiers du IIIe s.). H. : 7 cm. Hauteur des lettres: 6 mm. [ ]DEO[ INVIC]TO MYTRH[AE ]S GENIALIS CIVES AMBIAN[IC]VS (ou AMBIAN[IN]VS) EXVOTO D[ FRAT]RIBVS OMNI LOCO […N] AMA. L. 2: les lettres BIAN sont partiellement conservées. [ ] Deo [invic]to Mytrh[ae] | [ ]s Genialis cives Ambian[in]us (ou Ambian[ic]us) exuoto d[edit] | [frat] ribus, omni loco, [ … N]ama “Au dieu invaincu Mytrha, […]s (fils de) Genialis, citoyen ambien, a donné conformément à son vœu, pour ses frères, en tout lieu […]. Gloire!”

43

Datation: seconde moitié du IIe s. ou premier tiers du IIIe s. 5. Fragment d’un petit édicule (?) dont ne subsiste que la toiture au faîtage rainuré reposant sur quatre colonnes torsadées. Un des pans du toit comporte une inscription dont il manque la ou les premières lignes: Sur les faces, postérieure et latérale, des motifs en forme de branches de pin attestent que la largeur du champ épigraphique est complète. Tuffeau blanc très friable. H. : 5,5 cm; l. : 5 cm; p. : 4 cm. Hauteur des lettres: 6 mm. […………] ..…]EL·L[. V]OTOFELI CITERRETI TVITDEOIM

L. 4: ligature des lettres I et M. […………] | ]el(…) L[ ] | [v]oto feli|citer reti|tuit deo i(nuicto) M(ithrae) “[…………]el(…) L[…] a restauré selon son vœu avec bonheur pour le dieu invaincu Mithra.” Gravure de très mauvaise qualité. Datation: IIIe s., par la graphie ? 6. Dédicace sur col de gobelet type Raimbault VIII en céramique à l’éponge. Atelier de Civaux (Poitou), fin IIIe ou IVe s. H. : 2,5 cm; diamètre: 10 cm. Hauteur des lettres: 6 mm. [M]YTHRAE DIVIXTIA[NVS] M]ythrae Diuixtia[nus] “À Mythra, Diuixtianus a fait ce don.” Datation: fin IIIe s. ou début IVe s. 7. Dédicace sur col fragmentaire de bol Chenet 320, pour lequel le décor donne un terminus post quem de 320. Atelier de l’Est (Argonne), IVe s. Palmette en tête du texte. Hauteur des lettres: 6 mm. AVG · DE [- - -] INVIC [- - -] ENTIN

Aug(usto). De[o] inuic[to Mithrae Val]entin[us] (ou Val]entin[ianus]).

44

“À Auguste. Au dieu invaincu Mithra, de la part de Valentinus (ou Valentinianus).” Datation: IVe s. RECRUTEMENT DE LA COMMUNAUTÉ MITHRIAQUE Il est toujours difficile d’appréhender l’origine des membres d’une communauté religieuse seulement au travers de vestiges matériels et sur une chronologie finalement assez longue. Le problème est accru par la destinée du site qui a fait l’objet d’une reconstruction globale pour terminer par un anéantissement brutal qui visait à en faire disparaître les traces. Il ne nous reste malgré tout que peu de choses du mobilier que deux siècles de pratiques cultuelles mithriaques avaient conduit à accumuler dans les espaces et sur les murs du mithraeum. Néanmoins, la qualité du mobilier, de quelque nature qu’il soit, on le voit notamment pour les banquets où le vaisselier utilisé, atypique, montrent un certain raffinement dans le rituel, qui suggère un recrutement des adeptes parmi les élites de la population de la capitale de Cité. Les inscriptions laissent deviner de petits fonctionnaires impériaux civils, tel Pylades, qui sans faire figure de notables, apparaissait parmi les représentants de l’État et du pouvoir romain au sein de la population provinciale. Par ailleurs, bien que la ville ne soit pas reconnue par les textes et épigraphies comme siège d’une garnison permanente, la mise en évidence de militaria sur les sites angevins fouillés est rémanente pour toute l’Antiquité.25 De nombreux éléments présents dans le reste de l’îlot urbain en attestent également. Pour le mithraeum, les dépôts sont: monnayage caractéristique, armement (cotte de maille, hache d’arme, fers de lance), les remarquables fibules cruciformes, parures de dignitaires de l’armée romaine du Bas-Empire qui indiquent bien la fréquentation du lieu par un groupe militaire dans le courant du IIIe et durant le IVe siècle. Il faut rappeler ici la proximité immédiate de la nécropole de la gare Saint-Laud qui a fonctionné durant la même période, où ont été retrouvées des tombes de Germains orientaux qui étaient au service de l’empire.26 UNE MISE EN PERSPECTIVE: NISME-MITHRIACISME

COEXISTENCE CHRISTIA-

La destruction du mithraeum seulement dans les premières décennies du Ve siècle a conduit à se poser la question de la coexistence du christianisme et du mithriacisme à Angers. Il pouvait exister une communauté chrétienne déjà dirigée par un évêque dans les premières décennies du IVe siècle, comme celle de Tours dès 337-338.

C’est une date plus tardive qui apparaît dans les sources écrites avec l’élection de Martin en 371, futur saint Martin de Tours, où un personnage, Defensor, est nommé (Sulpice Sévère, Vie de saint Martin, 9),27 considéré comme le premier évêque d’Angers. Ni cette présence, ni l’interdiction des cultes païens par l’empereur Théodose en 392 ne semblent avoir perturbé l’existence des bâtiments du mithraeum et le dépôt de monnayage avec des émissions allant jusqu’à 402. La tolérance du culte mithriaque induite par cette chronologie peut résulter de plusieurs facteurs qui s’entrecroisent. Le pouvoir épiscopal hésite peut-être encore à contrarier dans ses convictions une élite militaire dont il a besoin d’autant que la nouvelle religion elle-même était encore en cours d’affirmation. La vie de Maurille, quatrième évêque d’Angers vers 450, dont on pense aujourd’hui qu’elle fut écrite par le moine Juste, contemporain des faits, nous montre encore un christianisme balbutiant. Le texte mentionne en effet l’intervention divine sollicitée par le saint homme pour abattre un temple à Jupiter en pleine cérémonie à Chalonnes-sur-Loire distant de seulement kilomètres d’Angers. La destruction du mithraeum et de son contenu, semble-t-il violente si l’on considère l’état d’arasement des bâtiments et la fragmentation des éléments lapidaires, statuaire et décor, peut résulter de deux attitudes distinctes mais dont l’origine serait commune. Les élites chrétiennes devenues “majoritaires“ décident de l’élimination d’un culte n’ayant plus raison d’être et en font disparaître au mieux les traces matérielles ou bien, la communauté mithriaque en difficulté de recrutement face à la montée de son concurrent direct, voyant l’essoufflement de sa croyance, y met un terme volontaire en l’éliminant de la même manière. Quoiqu’il en soit, le site abandonné ne connaît pas de réoccupation immédiate comme le montre l’absence de céramiques paléochrétienne sur l’ensemble du site.

Avec de premières traces du culte dans le dernier quart du second siècle, le plan du temple apparaît complet et son aire cultuelle a pu être déterminée. Les fragments de décors et statuaires recueillis, la nature du mobilier utilisé avec des objets uniques, les dépôts de diverses sortes (monnayage, armement, objets de parure), l’épigraphie, les reliefs des banquets, le tout nous renseigne sur les pratiques cultuelles d’une communauté, son recrutement notamment chez les militaires et ce sur une longue période qui s’étend de la fin du IIe siècle au début du Ve siècle. Face à cette chronologie, la question de la coexistence des cultes mithriaque et chrétien s’est trouvée posée pour une région de l’Empire où les sources font cruellement défaut. Enfin, si les stéréotypes du mithriacisme sont évidemment présents, plusieurs particularismes ouvrent des perspectives nouvelles à l’étude de ce culte. Pour Angers, au-delà du constat évident de la richesse du site, le travail de recherche à proprement parler reste à conduire. Un projet collectif de recherche est en cours afin d’y remédier.

CONCLUSION

5

Angers peut être qualifiée de découverte exceptionnelle à plusieurs titres. La situation géographique du temple est à l’heure actuelle avec les exemples ibériques la plus occidentale du monde romain. Son installation en périphérie du quadrillage de la capitale de Cité Juliomagus, puis très extra-muros au castrum, sa destruction volontaire dans les premières décennies du Ve siècle, ont favorisé la conservation de ce vaste ensemble clos archéologique. Ainsi, les vestiges matériels des pratiques cultuelles durant plus de deux siècles sont arrivés jusqu’à nous.

6

NOTES 1

2 3 4

7 8

9

10 11

Cet article est par ailleurs tributaire des études effectuées par les divers spécialistes suivant: Paul-André Besombes (numismatique, Service régional de l’Archéologie de Bretagne); Pierre Caillat (archéozoologie, Inrap, Auvergne); Richard Delage (céramologie / sigillée, Inrap Grand-Ouest); Maxime Mortreau (céramologie, Inrap Grand-Ouest); Yvan Maligorne (étude du lapidaire, Maître de conférence, Université de Brest); Michel Molin (épigraphie, Professeur à l’Université de Paris XIII);, Lore Petit (lapidaire et architecture mithriaque, Doctorante, Université Charles de Gaulle, Lille III). Mentionnons également l’équipe de fouille Inrap de 2010. Les données de fouille sont disponibles dans Brodeur et al. 2007; Brodeur et al. 2014a, b. Mortreau 2014. Molin et al. 2015, no. 4. Ici, la structure même n’a manifestement jamais contenu d’eau. Certains chercheurs y voient des fosses pour des jeux de lumière, voir Wiblé 2008, 153. Pour des structures similaires, interprétées comme des bassins d’eau, voir Wiblé, ce volume. Voire Maligorne et Mortreau 2014. Pour l’ensemble de ces chiffres voir Brodeur et Petit 2016.

La datation a été proposée en 2013 par Pierre-Antoine Lamy, alors doctorant à l’université de Bourgogne, où il étudie la statuaire en territoire éduen et lingon. Le soleil est généralement représenté dans un médaillon situé dans un coin supérieur de la tauroctonie. Il est également illustré dans les scènes historiées qui accompagnent parfois le tauroctone, telles que le partage du repas ou encore la montée sur le char solaire. Des statues, autels et autres types de support peuvent être dédiés à Sol dans les mithraea. Hinnells 1976. Estimation effectuée par Yvan Maligorne.

45

12

13

14 15 16 17

18

46

Les dadophores de Bordeaux sont également traités en ronde bosse mais sont brisées aux niveaux des mollets et la tête de Cautes est manquante. La hauteur conservée de Cautopates est de 1,07 m et de 1,24 m pour Cautes. Elle ne peut appartenir au dieu Mithra, puisqu'il s'agit d'une main gauche refermée sur un objet. Le dieu emploie sa main gauche pour tenir le taureau par les naseaux, et plus rarement par une corne. Il est un peu délicat de déduire à qui, de Cautes ou de Cautopates cette main appartient. Les dadophores utilisent en général leurs deux mains pour tenir le flambeau (ou, plus rarement, un autre objet), et leur position diffère d'une représentation à l'autre. Mortreau 2013. Idem note précédente. Pour une grande part, ce texte s’appuie sur Brodeur 2013. Voir à titre d’exemple la fresque de la “Fractio panis” de la catacombe de Priscille à Rome, ou les mosaïques de Carthage du IVe siècle, conservées au musée du Bardo à Tunis. Justin, Apol. 1.66; Tert. De praescr. haeret. 44.

19

20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Dans le relief de Konjic, comme le remarque Robert Turcan, on voit justement un plat avec quatre petites miches rondes marquées de deux incisions perpendiculaires. Dans le mithraeum de Santa Prisca à Rome, un membre de la communauté tient un pain divisé en six parts: Vermaseren et van Essen 1965, 154. Les incisions dans la pâte avant cuisson servaient aussi à “rompre” le pain sans couteau. La pratique de servir le vin chaud est mentionnée par Apicius dans son De Re Coquiniaria, Livre I-1, mélangé avec du miel et des épices et sous-entendu par Tacite (Ann. XIII, 16), source citée par Batigne et Desbat 1996. Brodeur 2013. Mortreau 2013. Besombes 2014. Molin et al. 2015. Mortreau 2008; Mortreau 2018. Brodeur à paraitre. “la huitième année (du règne de) Valens et de Valentinien” (Grégoire de Tours, Histoire des Francs, X, 31 éd. Arndt, p. 443, l. 21-22)

5

Spotlighting leftovers. The mithraeum at Kempraten (Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland) An interdisciplinary analysis project and its initial results Regula Ackermann, Örni Akeret, Sabine Deschler-Erb, Simone Häberle, Sarah Lo Russo, Markus Peter, Christine Pümpin, Angela Schlumbaum INTRODUCTION The Roman vicus at Kempraten was situated in the north-western part of the present-day town of Rapperswil-Jona, right on the northern shore of Lake Zurich and thus conveniently located at an intersection between various transport routes on water and on land. When it had reached its maximum size, it extended over an area of approximately 11 ha.1 The centre of the vicus was commanded by a forum in an architecture that borrowed from the Mediterranean style and with quite unusual dimensions given the size and type of the settlement (fig. 5.1).2 A temple precinct with two Gallo-Roman temples dedicated to the Goddess Magna Mater was located on the north-western edge of the settlement in today’s Seewiese area.3 The Kempraten Mithraeum was situated some 200 m west of the Seewiese temple precinct, outside the actual settlement area and very close to the shore of Lake Zurich. The area had previously been occupied by a lime kiln dating from the 2nd century CE. The mithraeum was discovered in late summer 2015 during a rescue excavation carried out in advance of a planned development. Its identification as such was confirmed not just by its typical ground-plan but also thanks to the fact that the God Mithras was mentioned in one of the inscriptions (INVICTO MITRE) and to a religious relief with a depiction of Mithras found in the building.4 The discovery was quite unexpected, since, apart from Martigny and Orbe-Boscéaz, this was only the third ceremonial building of its kind to be unearthed in Switzerland.5 Other locations, where Mithras was potentially also worshipped were the ritual cave at Zillis and, though with less certainty, two caves in close proximity to the colony town of Aventicum.6 In contrast to the regions along the Limes on the Rivers Rhine, Main and Danube, the distribution of Mithraea throughout present-day Switzerland was therefore as sparse as in the Gallic provinces.7

Despite the significant importance of the site, the Department of Archaeology was forced to fully excavate the mithraeum under rather adverse conditions during the autumn and winter months up to February 2016.8 In view of the significance of the very unusual feature, a special excavation strategy was developed in the hope of gaining as much information as possible for the analysis which would follow the fieldwork.9 One of the measures was to recover all finds, not just the pottery, coins and religious objects, but also the animal bones and archaeobiological sample material according to a systematic and detailed quarter-square-metre grid. This would allow us to carry out detailed examinations of both the vertical and horizontal stratigraphy of the site. In view of the relevance of the feature and the large number of finds and samples, the Archaeology Department of St.Gallen launched a preliminary project in summer 2016 with the aim of laying the groundwork for an assessment of the work involved in running a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis project. As part of this preliminary project, a selection of samples were processed to the point where the number of finds could be evaluated and the effort required to analyse them assessed. This involved examining the finds and samples from one quarter square metre in the central aisle, an area where the stratigraphic sequence was quite well preserved. The section not only gave an adequate impression of the amount of finds that were present and the effort that would be required to examine them, but also allowed us to make some preliminary statements on various aspects of the feature. Preliminary identification of the coin assemblage, numbering approximately 500, was also undertaken and a rough sequence of phases was established for the building. Commencement of the actual overall analysis project, which is set to run for several years, was in 2019. It will involve an interdisciplinary team

47

Fig. 5.1. Kempraten: Overall map of the vicus in the 2nd/3rd centuries AD. Sc. 1:4000. Map: KASG.

of archaeologists, archaeozoologists, geoarchaeologists, archaeobotanists, numismatists, epigraphists and art historians exploring a number of research questions. This paper presents the most important of these questions along with the basic evidence available and the lines of approach which we plan to take. However, the first step will be to describe the features and the initial results gained from the quarter square metre that has already been examined. Obviously, any results presented here are of a preliminary nature. Yet even these preliminary results point to the importance of taking a multidisciplinary approach when aiming to reconstruct the practices that would have been performed at a mithraeum. From data collection to interpretation, a detailed analysis that focuses not only on the finds but also on site-formation processes can offer a

48

deeper, more detailed understanding of what took place at a Roman mithraeum.10 CONTEXT Prior to construction of the mithraeum, the site had been used for lime production. In order to accommodate the lime kilns, an area at the foot of the slope had been paved and this paving had still been partially serviceable when the mithraeum was erected, though parts of it had been covered over with waste from the kilns and also with large-scale deposits of slope debris (fig. 5.2). Measuring approximately 8 x 10 m, the three-aisled sacred building was erected west of the lime kilns, making use of the existing topography. The rock face served as the northern terminal of the building and had been hewn back significantly.

Fig. 5.2. Kempraten: Overall map of the excavation at Zürcherstrasse 131 with the Mithraeum (phase 1), three lime kilns and their associated spoil heaps as well as the excavation perimeter. Sc. 1:250. Map: KASG.

This had created a sediment trap where the most complete sequence of layers was preserved. Because of the natural incline in the terrain, the state of preservation increasingly deteriorated towards the south so that only one layer of stones from southern wall MR6 had survived. The lack of evidence pointing to a temple entrance suggests that it was probably also located at the southern end of the building. Another detail worth mentioning was that water seeped from the rock in the middle aisle of the sacred area.11 A shallow drainage channel NPos. 945 running north to south had been hewn into the rock down the middle of the central aisle. It presumably collected the water that seeped from the rock in the northern area of the central aisle. It will have to be shown if and how long the drainage channel remained in use during the mithraeum occupation.12 Three construction phases were identified from the architectural remains of the mithraeum. Phase 1 – Construction of the mithraeum and its first phase of use The mithraeum was erected in a north-south alignment with the northern terminal of the sacred area cut into the rock (fig. 5.3, phase 1). The northern end of the building could no longer be detected during the excavation but had probably been located on a rock ledge and completely

dismantled during later construction phases. It is unknown whether and to what extent the rock face in the north, and in the area of the central aisle in particular, remained visible. Nevertheless, the orientation of the mithraeum with the ritual end of its spelaeum toward the rock face can be seen as a deliberate choice, which at least symbolically referred to the notion of a rock cavern.13 Interior divisions in the stone building were not found, which led us to interpret the entire edifice as a sacred space. An ante-chamber in some form of light construction technique may have been located to the south of the stone building, but this cannot be verified due to the poor state of preservation in that area. The sacred space itself was divided into a lower-level central aisle and reclining benches on platforms on either side.14 Two raised reclining benches measuring ap-proximately two metres in depth were located on either side of the central aisle. The eastern bench consisted of a lime-kiln spoil heap which had been truncated to create a horizontal surface and whose southern flank may have been used much like a ramp to gain access to the platform. The western bench, however, had been piled up intentionally. The side walls of both benches and their ascents were probably clad in a wood veneer over a layer of stones. Layers from the mithraeum’s first phase of use were only preserved in the central aisle and beneath

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Fig. 5.3. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Map of the individual occupation phases 1-3 of the Mithraeum. Sc. 1:200. Map: KASG.

the retaining walls of the benches from phase 2. The composition of these layers and a partially charred board suggest that at least parts of the interior were at some stage destroyed by fire. Phase 2 – Reconstruction and second phase of use The east, west and south walls, as far as they had been preserved, remained the same and the ground-plan and interior layout were largely retained (fig. 5.3, phase 2). The building was extended northwards by 0.6 m in the areas of the central aisle and eastern bench, but not in the area of the western bench. This resulted in a slightly skewed ground-plan. The northern end of the building, again, did not survive due to subsequent rebuilding. Nevertheless, the features allowed us to exclude the possibility of a stone wall in the area of the central aisle, pointing, instead, to either a wooden or timber-loam construction. The reclining benches were widened by approximately 0.3 m each and faced with walls MR3 and MR4. The cavities behind the retaining walls were filled with sediment that contained large quantities of charcoal and bone fragments, which probably dated from the mithraeum’s first phase of use. Facing wall MR3 contained spolia in the form of altar fragments from phase 1 and a sandstone altar visibly incorporated into it. In phase 2 the southern area of the building was probably

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no longer part of the spelaeum. Whilst each side of the building at the end of the benches was still raised in relation to the entrance into the sacred area, the distribution of finds bore distinct differences between the northern part of the building, which was flanked by facing walls MR3 and MR4, and the southern section of the edifice (see fig. 5.11). Further examination will hopefully reveal whether these areas were ante-chambers accessed from the south or annexes accessed from the reclining benches. There was clear evidence, for the existence of joists which supported a raised wooden floor in this phase as well. There was also evidence in phase 2 of repairs and restorations to the eastern bench facing wall MR3 and the central aisle, which allowed us to divide phase 2 into subphases 2a and 2b. Layers of use containing a lot of charcoal were found in situ both on the benches and in the central aisle. These had eventually led to the central aisle being raised to the height of the benches. During renovation work for phase 3, a pit was dug into the occupation layers. Several votive altars, a votive inscription, fragments of a sandstone cult image – a section of which was put back on display during phase 3 – and other fixtures from the temple that were no longer used in phase 3 were dumped in it. Whilst the ritualised deposition of earlier, discarded cult material at a temple site is not a practice confined to mithraea, the position of the deposit has close

parallels at Pons Aeni (Germany) and Inveresk (United Kingdom), where the altars (or fragments thereof) were buried.15 Phase 3 – Final reconstruction, use and abandonment Whilst the east, west and south walls from the previous phase were reused, the stone-built north wall MR5/7 was newly built in this phase (fig. 5.3, phase 3). However, the dispersal of the collapsed wall suggested mixed construction techniques for the entire building. A multi-layered rubble foundation, Pos. 640, was constructed north of the pit from the end of phase 2. This destroyed parts of the western bench from the earlier phases and the northern area of the central aisle. In addition, at least three intrusions for spot foundations were found south of the pit (Pos. 797, Pos. 1053, Pos. 1010). Phase 3 surface features only survived in the northern section of the mithraeum. These included Pos. 800, a presumed gravel paving in the area of the central aisle. There was no distinct evidence, however, that would have pointed to the existence of lateral reclining benches in this phase. Continued use of the building as a mithraeum was indicated by two joining fragments of a cult image bearing a larger than life-sized depiction of Mithras shown in a niche with his head in an unusual position16 and two altars (or altar fragments?) dedicated to the God, which would have been put on display on top of foundation Pos. 640 at the northern end of the central aisle. The features themselves yielded no obvious clues as to why the mithraeum was eventually abandoned. What we can state with certainty is that it did not fall victim to a violent destruction as part of some type of iconoclasm, particularly in view of the fact that neither the stone image nor the altars from phase 3 bore any signs of wilful acts of vandalism.17 Exterior areas Because the features outside of the mithraeum were clearly in a poorer state of preservation, the sequencing of the phases of use established for the interior could not be translated to the exterior areas. Overlapping pits and pavings point to several phases of use, not just in relation to the earlier activities when the lime kilns were in operation but probably also when the mithraeum was in use. A drainage channel, NPos. 285, was definitely part of the mithraeum. Cut into the rock, it ran downhill, first from west to east in the northern area of the terrain, and then southwards, having changed direction near the north-eastern corner of the building (fig. 5.3). The drainage channel

ran off both rainwater and water that gathered in a natural depression, NPos. 343, which ran downhill. It is not possible at this moment in time to ascertain whether it also acted as a boundary for the sacred precinct (temenos). DATING Because the final sequencing of the finds will be established over the course of the overall analysis, it is only possible here to make preliminary statements with regard to chronology. Analysis of the lime kilns will also be required for the dating of the first construction of the building and this is also outstanding. The most reliable chronological indications for the time being can be gleaned from some 500 coins recovered from the mithraeum.18 The coin sequence shows that the mithraeum was built no later than the late 3rd century CE. A particularly interesting observation is that the occupation layers from phase 2 contained coins that were struck in 388/403 CE, resulting in a preliminary terminus post quem of 388 CE for the third and final phase. Theodosian coinage from around 400 CE not only ends the coin sequence at the mithraeum but also marks the end of the regional and supraregional supply of newly minted small denominations.19 It is, therefore, quite possible that the mithraeum continued to exist for some time after the turn of the 5th century CE. While this is only preliminary dating, it does align the Kempraten Mithraeum with other mithraea that were built, rebuilt, or maintained during the late 3rd/4th centuries CE.20 A PILOT STUDY:

ARCHAEOBIOLOGICAL ANALYSES OF MATERIAL FROM THE CENTRAL AISLE

The finds and archaeobiological wet-sieved samples taken from a quarter square metre in the central aisle were examined as part of the preliminary project. The area for this analysis was chosen because of its complete and undisturbed stratigraphic sequence, i.e. the fact that it contained layers from as many construction phases as possible (fig. 5.10, star). The dearth of archaeological finds (only about 30 fragments of ceramic vessels) compared to the archaeobiological remains was particularly striking. That is why the following statements are limited to the archaeobotanical and archaeozoological findings. The twelve samples analysed can be attributed to phases 1 (one sample), 2a (seven samples) and 2b (four samples). At 0.004 m3 (phase 1), 0.08 m3 (phase 2) and 0.07m3 (phase 3), the sediment volumina were very small.

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Methodology Animal bones play a key role in examinations of mithraea since they are usually the most extensive category of finds, as seen, for example, at Martigny (Switzerland), Orbe-Boscéaz (Switzerland), or Tienen (Belgium).21 Moreover, animal bones can hold as much or more information about the rituals that were practised at a sanctuary than, say, the ceramic finds.22 Because the animal bones from mithraea are usually characterised by the large number of bird bones found and these are generally quite small and fragile, wet-sieving of the sediments is of crucial importance, not just with regard to the archaeobotanical analysis but also for the archaeozoological results.23 As far as one can tell from the published literature, however, this has only been achieved so far for the mithraeum at Tienen (Belgium). A new procedure for separating and analysing the bones was used for the first time at the Kempraten Mithraeum. Usually, the animal bones from all of the fractions (4 mm, 2 mm, 1 mm and 0.35 mm) had always been examined by researchers specialising in small animals (fish, smaller birds, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles), whilst the hand-retrieved bones (from domestic and wild mammals, domestic fowl and larger wild birds) went to the large animal bones specialists. This procedure had been applied, for instance, to the material from preceding excavations at Kempraten-Fluhstrasse 6-10 and Kempraten-Seewiese.24 A different procedure was chosen for the Kempraten Mithraeum because a first review of the material from the wet-sieved samples revealed that both the inorganic and organic 4 mm fraction contained numerous remains of large mammals and domestic fowl. It was obvious that these were probably smaller fragments of the same species and perhaps even the same individuals as those present in the hand-retrieved bone material. This meant that for the purposes of an overall analysis of the sacrificial animals, the bones from the 4 mm fraction would have to be combined with the handretrieved ones and it therefore made more sense for both groups, subsumed under the category of “large animal bones”, to be examined, recorded and analysed by the same person. The other archaeobiological groups of finds were “small animal bones” (from the 2 mm and smaller fractions) and the botanical remains. Botanical remains The 4 mm and 2 mm fractions from all 12 samples were examined under the stereoscopic micro-

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scope, whilst only spot-checks were carried out on the 1 mm and 0.35 mm fractions. The samples contained large amounts of charcoal, but very few charred seeds and fruits, including a Bromus fruit, three fragments of unidentified cereals (Cerealia), some pieces of hazelnut shells (Corylus avellana), a grain of barley (Hordeum distichon/vulgare), two fragments of walnut shells (Juglans regia) and a piece of a cherry stone (Prunus avium/cerasus). The samples also yielded a number of so-called charred amorphous objects. In view of the small number of cultivated plants identified one might ask whether they actually played any role in the rituals (notably burnt offerings) practised here or whether these few charred finds had found their way into the features more or less by accident and were the remains of activities or events that had taken place outside of the temple. Had large amounts of botanical remains been deposited at the mithraeum as food waste, one would expect to find at least some of them to have been charred during one of the fires, as appears to have been the case for some of the animal bones. It is possible that plant-based products used in the ritual acts were mainly or even exclusively pre-prepared outside of the temple. This might be attested to by the charred amorphous objects, which perhaps represent charred baked goods or the flesh of fruit. However, it should be borne in mind that the analysis of such remains is quite a recent phenomenon and that similar finds can also be a product of burning resin. There is no confirmed evidence of plant-based food at the mithraeum and the number of these objects is not large enough to maintain beyond doubt that they were of any great significance. Plant remains from mithraea have only rarely been examined thus far. B. Cooremans examined the archaeobotanical remains from six samples recovered from a pit beside the mithraeum at Tienen, which had been filled with the left-overs from a feast.25 They all yielded low concentrations of macrofossils, though she was able to identify some cultivated species and a few wild plants. She presumed that the remains had ended up in the feature by accident (“background noise”) and, contrary to the numerous animal remains, were not left-overs from ceremonial activities. The situation is therefore comparable to what was found at Kempraten. It is worth noting that the samples from Tienen also contained a number of charred amorphous objects. Quite a significant number of uncharred remnants of fruit came to light in the ante-chamber of the mithraeum at Linz-Donau (Austria).26 These had been preserved thanks to the wetland condi-

will therefore make an important contribution to the determination of the function and design of the mithraeum. Small animal remains

Fig. 5.4. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Traces of burning on animal remains from the 2 mm and 1 mm fractions of the sieved samples from the test square in phases 1, 2a and 2b.

tions at the site. This would not have been the case in dryland conditions such as those encountered at Kempraten. Similarly, vegetal remains from a structured deposit in the mithraeum at Apulum (Romania) suggested that plant-based offerings had played a role in the cult practised there.27 As mentioned earlier, charcoal fragments were the most numerous category of botanical remains recovered from the Kempraten Mithraeum. Most of the fragments were so small that their original purpose or use could no longer be readily ascertained. However, based on the context, the stratigraphical sequence and the physical characteristics of the wooden finds, one can attempt to gain a better understanding of their original purpose. One example here are the charcoal-rich “occupation layers”. On the basis of wood and charcoal analyses carried out at other sites, there are several possible interpretations. They were perhaps layers of insulation material intentionally introduced, as seen at the western district of Vitudurum (Switzerland), where chips of wood were used as floor insulation.28 Or perhaps they were the remains of fires, i.e. the remnants of interior fittings or construction timbers, as found at House D of the Roman villa excavated at Biberist (Switzerland).29 Or could the charcoal fragments have been brought into the mithraeum to act as a floor covering?30 Another theory worth examining is whether charcoals might be identified as the remains of pinewood spills, i.e. as sources of light, given that very few lamps were found at the Kempraten Mithraeum.31 Another question is whether a ritual use of wood, for instance of fragrant wood species such as juniper or pine, or else a more practical purpose could be identified.32 The planned analysis of the wood

As part of the analysis of the small animal remains (smaller birds, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and molluscs), a random sample of 20 ml was examined from the 2 mm fractions and one of 50 ml from the 1 mm fractions of all twelve wet-sieved samples. A few small animal remains from the 4 mm fractions were also included in the analysis. A total of 5,716 remains were examined. Of these, 1,250 (22%) were attributed to a particular group of animals, a family or species. However, the largest group of finds in all phases were non-identifiable, tiny fragments of compact or spongy bone of larger mammals. Even the identifiable remains were usually highly fragmented. In some 90% of all cases, less than a third of the original skeletal elements had survived. The different phases exhibited varying concentrations of finds. Phase 1 contained 22 remains per litre of sample material, whilst phase 2a had 97 remains per litre and phase 2b yielded 46 remains per litre. Remains with traces of charring were found in all three phases, though the proportion was highest in phase 1 (fig. 5.4). In order to ascertain whether the differences in find density and the varying proportions of burnt remains were due to the preservation conditions or whether they are indicative of the use of the sanctuary, we must await the analyses of the entire material as part of the overall post-excavation work. So far, phase 1 has not yielded enough material (identified remains n = 88) to analyse the range of animals present. The identifiable remains from phases 2a (n = 967) and 2b (n = 628) paint a similar picture with regard to the groups of animals (fig. 5.5). Whilst for the bird remains the individual species could not be identified because most bones were from the tips of the extremities, the large mammal remains, mainly teeth and foot bones, were almost exclusively from young pigs. These pig remains from the 2 mm and 1 mm fractions thus fit in well with the hand-recovered pig bones and the remains from the 4 mm fraction. Like the pigs and birds, the fish bones can probably also be interpreted as the remnants of some type of ceremonial activity. Only a small proportion of the highly fragmented fish remains could be identified more precisely, usually just at the taxonomic level of the family. Some salmonids, among them whitefish (Coregonus sp.), and cyprinids were found. Imported saltwater fish, such as the mackerel found at Kempraten-Fluhstrasse 6-10, have not yet been identified at the

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mithraeum.33 The salmonids identified were all individuals of 5 to 15 cm in length. One of the questions to explore as part of the overall analysis will be whether this represents deliberate selection of young salmonids for ritual use. Another task will be to study the growth rings on the fully preserved fish vertebrae. These hold information regarding when the fish were caught (summer or winter) and can thus provide clues with regard to the seasonal use of the mithraeum. Last but not least it is worth noting the relatively high proportion of molluscs in phases 2a and 2b. So far, small (up to c. 10 mm) species of water and land snails (e.g. Bithynia tentaculata, Discus rotundatus, Clausiliidae, Valvatidae), have been identified and classified as naturally occurring. Other tiny fragments of snail shells probably came from larger specimens, raising the question of whether they might include edible species. The remains of amphibians, reptiles and small mammals probably belonged to animals that occurred naturally at the site (“background noise”) rather than representing remnants of ritual acts, as has also been assumed to be the case at the Tienen Mithraeum.34 Large animal bones A total of 3,325 large animal bones weighing 355 g were examined as part of the preliminary project. Only 7% of these fragments were hand-retrieved with the vast majority coming from the 4 mm fraction of the wet-sieved samples. This highlights the importance of the wash-over method in the case presented here and its deep impact on the statistical results. The density of finds in the individual phases varied considerably (fig. 5.6) and gradually decreased from phase 1 to phase 2b. Judging by the test square, animals appear to have played a much greater role in the ritual acts during the earlier phases than towards the end of the sanctuary’s period of use. However, whether this was true for the whole mithraeum will not be known until the overall study has been completed. The surfaces of the vast majority of bones were well preserved. Only six bones bore traces of gnawing. The sanctuary must therefore have been permanently closed off and not accessible to carnivores. Only eight fragments were deemed to have slightly rounded-off edges, all the others were classified as sharp-edged. We may therefore conclude that the waste material was not displaced but found in situ. It will thus be possible, as part of the overall analysis, to draw conclusions concerning various zones of use within the mithraeum. It also means, however, that the animal bones from all areas of the building should be examined and that the spot checks, which will

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Fig. 5.5. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Percentages of animal groups identified in the 2 mm and 1 mm fractions of the sieved samples from phases 2a and 2b from the test square.

probably be inevitable due to the copious amounts of material, will have to be well planned. The overall average weight is just 0.1 g, which can be attributed mainly to the numerous bird bones. However, the average weight of the individual mammal species is also strikingly low, with pig bones weighing an average of 0.3 g, cattle bones 2.0 g and sheep/goat bones coming in at 1.2 g. This raises the question whether the animal bones were perhaps deliberately broken up or whether the larger fragments were simply gathered up and removed from the sanctuary. A total of 19% of the bones bore traces of burning. If viewed phase by phase, the amount of

Fig. 5.6. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Hand-retrieved/ 4mm fraction bone material from the test square: bone density (n/m3, g/m3) in the individual phases and overall.

Fig. 5.7. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Hand-retrieved/4mm fraction bone material from the test square: animal species frequency (n%) in the individual phases and overall.

scorched bones gradually increases from 15% (phase 1) to 23% (phase 2b). Most traces can be classified as charring, with just a small proportion being identified as calcined. The temperatures would therefore have for the most part been below 600°C. Further examinations will reveal whether this evidence can be linked to the making of burnt offerings, to the preparation of food or to outbreaks of fire within the building. Because all animal species were burnt to the same extent, at least some of the traces probably stemmed from one or several conflagrations that took place in the building. So far, only a small number of species have been identified amongst the animal bones (fig. 5.7). The domestic mammals predominantly include pigs (20%), a small number of sheep/ goats, only one of which was firmly identified as a sheep bone, and a few cattle bones. The vast majority of bone fragments came from birds. Because the domestic fowl have as yet been the only species that could be identified definitively, we can probably assume that the undetermined bird bones also came from this species. In the overall material, domestic fowl thus accounted

for 78%. Only one bone from a wild animal, the phalange of a wild boar, has been identified so far. This is quite remarkable, because other Mithraea, such as Martigny (Switzerland), have yielded more wild animal bones of considerable variety.35 The overall analysis will therefore need to examine whether bones of wild animals are generally absent from the Kempraten Mithraeum or whether this was just a coincidental anomaly in the test square studied. Examining the animal species in accordance with the phases reveals that no sheep/goat bones date from phase 1 but that the proportion of domestic fowl is greater in phase 1 compared to phases 2a and 2b. In contrast, the latter have yielded more pig bones and the percentage of sheep/goat bones increases from 1.5% in phase 2a to as much as 6% in phase 2b. Whether these differences can be attributed to changes in the ritual acts or whether they were as a result of taphonomic processes cannot be ascertained at this juncture. Statements can be made about the rituals performed in relation to the more abundant animal species based on the range of skeletal elements

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Fig. 5.8. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Hand-retrieved/ 4mm fraction bone material from the test square: distribution of the skeletal parts (g%) of pigs compared to a modern reference skeleton (see Deschler-Erb/Schröder 1999).

Fig. 5.9. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Hand-retrieved/ 4mm fraction bone material from the test square: pig slaughter age pattern (n%).

identified. The birds or fowl are represented by fragments of the torso, wings and legs, whilst quite a considerable number of long bone and flat bone fragments remain undetermined. The complete absence of skull parts is a striking feature. Whilst these consist mainly of fragile flat bones, rib and vertebra fragments, equally fragile, were identified, so it appears more likely that the fowl were butchered off site and brought into the mithraeum minus their heads. The tips of the extremities of birds are quite poorly represented but were found amongst the remnants in the 2 mm and 1 mm fractions. In contrast, all skeletal parts of the domestic pig were found. This suggests that live animals or at least whole carcasses were brought into the mithraeum. There are, however, certain discrepancies when compared to skeletal reference values (fig. 5.8) in that skull bones are clearly overrepresented by more than 10% and the autopodium by 5%. This value is even higher when the remains from the 2 mm and 1 mm fractions are added. The stylopodium and zygopodium, however, which are generally richer in meat, are clearly underrepresented compared to a reference skeleton. This means one of two things: either many of the long bone fragments are not identifiable due to the high degree of fragmentation and are therefore concealed amongst the undetermined bones, whilst on the other hand tooth fragments are easily identified which naturally leads to increased skull bone values. In this case the results are caused by taphonomic circumstances. The other option is that the meatier parts of the animals were not consumed at the sanctuary but perhaps brought home by the worshippers or distributed to other people. Perhaps the results are due to a combination of both factors. Again, the overall examination may provide more answers to these questions.

Whilst most of the fowl had reached maturity, the pigs were very young and the vast majority (over 80%) had not reached adulthood when they were slaughtered (fig. 5.9). Roughly one third of the individuals were approximately two to six months old, whilst another third were only neonates or several weeks old. This raises the question of seasonality with regard to the ritual acts that were performed at the Kempraten Mithraeum. Since, according to written sources, we may expect two litters per year,36 the early summer and early winter are possibly when the sacrificial acts would have occurred. Analysis of the small animal remains, of the fish in particular, will perhaps provide clues in this respect. It is worth noting in this context that the individual boars’ tusks mentioned below can be viewed as artefacts having no direct link with the other pig bones, since they mostly came from adult individuals.

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OVERALL ANALYSIS:

QUESTIONS AND LINES OF

APPROACH

The initial examinations as part of the preliminary project have illustrated both the abundance of the material and the potential information that can be gleaned from it. The challenge will be to select the right material from each of the categories of finds which, unfortunately, cannot be examined in their entirety, such as the handretrieved animal bones or the archaeobiological and micromorphological samples. Nevertheless, any overall analysis, however, cannot be limited to the mithraeum but must also include the preceding lime kilns because the remains from these two very different phases of use are so closely interconnected that separate studies would not provide reliable results. The detailed analyses of the finds and features of the mithraeum and the

interdisciplinary discourse will provide information on key aspects of activities that left archaeological traces, including the site-formation processes and the history of use, variation of activity across the site, and dealing with waste. Together, these can offer a particual view on one of the main questions explored by the overall project: what exactly took place at the mithraeum? Profiling occupation layers – perspectives on how to handle a complex stratigraphy To date, (Roman) sanctuaries have rarely been examined by micromorphological means.37 In this project micromorphological methods are at the core of the analysis of the features. This involved taking oriented soil samples from stratigraphic sequences in the northern and southern areas of the central aisle, on the eastern bench and directly south of the stone building (fig. 5.10, triangles). By optically examining thin sections of the natural and anthropogenic deposits it is possible to reconstruct human activity and layer formation processes amongst other things. This allows us to make statements about floor constructions within the building, how the temple was used and what renovations took place. The thin sections can also be used to determine whether the layers (containing finds) are primary deposits which formed in situ or whether they were redeposited, secondary accumulations, i.e. fills or levelled areas. Reconstructing (different) activity zones is only possible by examining the primary deposits and by combining these observations with the results from the analysis of the archaeological and archaeobiological finds. Based on the stone-built features the stratigraphy can be macroscopically divided into at least three phases with phase 2 consisting of two subphases, 2a and 2b. Despite the fact that earlier layers containing finds were partially removed by subsequent rebuilding, it is nevertheless possible to pinpoint differences and similarities between phases and, in ideal circumstances, trace developments and continuities with regard to the cult practised at the sanctuary. Occupation layers which formed directly on top of a constructed floor through use and trampling, often contain minute particles of finds that can be seen under the microscope. They often also exhibit traces of mechanical stress (in situ fragmentation into minute splinters, evidence of rounding etc.), sediment compaction and horizontal alignment of the components. Ideally, the formation of such an occupation layer leads to consistent accumulation of several overlying occupation surfaces, provided they are not regularly removed by cleaning

the floor.38 Whilst the central aisle contained a lot of material which was visible to the naked eye, this was not a typical occupation surface, but the layers consisted of loose, charcoal-rich sediment. Based on the archaeological contexts uncovered in the central aisle and on the reclining benches, it is conceivable that the occupation layers partially accumulated beneath a raised wooden floor. This scenario would lead to an accumulation of exclusively small particles, depending on the width of the gaps between the floor boards, which would then largely be protected from being trampled. As a consequence one would not expect to see sediment compaction, at least as long as the space beneath the floorboards has not yet filled up completely. One would only expect to find traces of compaction once it has filled up and the boards lie directly on top of the occupation layer. Whilst several rows of stones, Pos. 1232, 645 and 650 (fig. 5.3), which we have interpreted as supports for wooden floors, might explain the absence of the classic ground surface levels, they do not provide any possible interpretations for the fact that the layers were so rich in charcoal. Were the char-

Fig. 5.10. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Grid for the retrieval of finds and archaeobiological and geoarchaeological samples. Sc. 1:150. Map: KASG.

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coal and micro charcoal particles created in situ or were they introduced in an already charred state? Do they attest to one or several events of fire or are they simply the remains of lighting devices or (ritual) hearths? Moreover, large parts of the excavated areas did not contain any layers of burnt rubble or evidence of structural conversions. By examining the thin sections for indications of modification by heat or for accumulations of microscopic particles of building materials, evidence of conflagrations or of rebuilding can potentially be found. Besides layer formation processes, post-sedimentary modifications can also be identified by micromorphological means, which can be very helpful when interpreting the features. Characteristic inwash, for instance, can help distinguish between an outdoor area and a covered interior space or help to identify signs which could suggest that the area was open to the elements during a phase of renovation. This is particularly important in our case with regard to the area just south of the stone building, since we presumed that this had been the location of a timber-built ante-chamber which, however, can only be postulated based on the archaeological context alone. The insight gained from the micromorphological analysis on the final abandonment and covering of the mithraeum will also be crucial, since this process has not yet been fully understood. Accumulations and depositions, or, how ritual waste is dealt with Various accumulations of sometimes rather unusual combinations of finds were discovered mainly inside the mithraeum but also, though much more poorly preserved, in the outdoor areas. An important question is which of these deposits were actively and intentionally left behind and which ones came about by chance. Furthermore, we must distinguish, even amongst the intentional depositions, between objects and deposits that were placed in a targeted manner and for ritual purposes, and fills or levelled deposits that were brought into the sanctuary for practical reasons. This chapter lists a number of observations which will require more in-depth study as part of the overall analysis but which can serve, at this juncture, to formulate certain basic thoughts on the subject of deposits. Typical examples of accumulation with coincidental combinations of finds are occupation layers that form throughout the period a building is in use. One would expect to find these in the central aisle and on top of the reclining benches. They contain only highly fragmented finds (e.g.

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bones or pottery) because bigger pieces would have been a nuisance and would either have been removed or crushed under foot. In the case of raised wooden floors, the gaps between the boards determine the size of the objects that can fall through them and accumulate in the space below. In our project it will be particularly important to examine the strata in the central aisle and the remains from the layers on top of the benches for evidence pointing to layer deposition processes. Another question to be examined is whether some of the layers in the central aisle might have been fills, i.e. deposits of material intentionally introduced between the individual construction and renovation phases. This, again, raises the question as to the origin and composition of the material, of both the minerogenic and anthropogenic components, and its potential primary location before being redeposited. This is even more important because the distribution of objects, be they deposited or embedded in levelled areas, does not (necessarily) provide information on activity zones. It is not until the sedimentological processes at play have been fully understood that we can further reflect on the ritual practices. The necessity to properly decipher overlapping processes so that they can be interpreted correctly, is clearly illustrated by the following example. A pit filled with organic material, probably consisting mainly of the remnants of ritual meals, was discovered in the south-western corner of the building. An accumulation of rather large pottery fragments was found on top of the fill. For now, it is being interpreted as a cupboard that toppled over rather than an intentional deposit. Thanks to subsidence in the underlying pit fill, the bottom layer of crockery was better preserved. The fact that similar objects were by no means treated the same is highlighted by the altar fragments. Together with other stone artefacts (such as parts of a cult image with a larger than lifesized depiction of Mithras, a fragment of a votive inscription, stone slabs), the altar fragments were deposited in a large pit in the northern section of the central aisle at the end of phase 2. This was clearly an intentional deposition of objects following specific selection criteria. The cult objects were apparently no longer required for use in ritual acts. It is not clear why they had become defunct. Whilst the most likely explanation is that they had at least in part been damaged (by the events of fire), we must also consider other possibilities. Perhaps the donors had lost their status which made it possible to remove their altars, or else there was no longer enough space in the mithraeum to house all the ritual objects. In

phases 2 and 3, altars and altar fragments were also reused as construction materials, for instance in the bench facing wall MR3 and in the north wall MR5/7. An interesting observation in this context is that as part of the conversion work between phases 1 and 2, the new front walls of the benches were freestanding, creating gaps between them and the reclining benches. These cavities were filled with sediments rich in charcoal and bone fragments. This was undoubtedly redeposited material from an earlier phase of the mithraeum. But why were the facing walls backfilled with such organic material? Was this simply for reasons of practicality because it was available on site? From a statics point of view it would not have been ideal due to its high content of organic material. Did the material perhaps have to remain inside the mithraeum for specific reasons?39 These observations allow us to examine the different ways in which ritual waste and cult objects that had lost their function were dealt with. It is interesting to see that the objects were not removed from the mithraeum after they had lost their usefulness, though it is difficult to ascertain in the case of Kempraten, whether other, similar objects were, in fact, taken out of the sanctuary, because the outdoor areas were in a much poorer state of preservation so we cannot state with any degree of certainty that the artefacts would necessarily have survived at the site until today.40 Moreover, the proximity of Lake Zurich means that we must definitely consider the possibility that objects were deposited in the lake.41 Ultimately, the question of how waste from sanctuaries was treated also raises the question of how refuse in general was disposed of during the Roman period. It will not be possible of course to answer this question if the mithraeum is explored in isolation. Only by drawing comparisons with other contexts will we be able to establish any insightful hypotheses with regard to this set of problems. The fact that not all objects from the earlier phases necessarily lost their function when renovation work was carried out is illustrated by two fragments of a sandstone cult image with a larger than life-sized depiction of Mithras, which continued to be on display in phase 3. The upper right corner as seen from the worshippers’ point of view and probably some other associated fragments42 were deposited at the end of phase 2 together with other artefacts in the large pit in the central aisle mentioned above. Apparently, the core areas of the cult image, i.e. the pieces which bore the depiction of Mithras himself, were retained and continued to be used despite the damage. They were probably placed on a newly

erected stone pedestal in the northern section of the sacred space. One task of the analysis will be to ascertain whether the image was broken in two in Antiquity or not. This feature again raises certain questions. Why was a damaged cult image still used and not replaced? Had the knowledge of how to recreate it simply been lost? After all, the conversion work for phase 3 took place very late, sometime after 388 CE. Did the worshippers no longer have the financial means to acquire a new image? Or was the original piece of such importance to the community that it had to be retained, even in its damaged state? Recognising activity zones on the basis of the horizontal distribution of finds One of the main sets of questions to be explored as part of the overall analysis revolves around the activities inside the mithraeum,43 for example whether it is possible to distinguish between different areas of activity within the building. The architecture itself with its lateral reclining benches, the fragments of vessels for both eating and drinking and the animal bones all provide clear evidence of ritual communal feasting, which was probably one of the most obvious and strongest components of Mithraism.44 It will therefore be interesting to see whether the quality and composition of the food and tableware were uniform throughout the building or whether differences can be seen between the individual places on the reclining benches. To be able to tackle such questions of horizontal stratigraphy, the finds and samples from the mithraeum interior were recorded not just as coming from a particular layer or structure but their findspots were also documented by means of a quarter-square-metre grid (fig. 5.10). In at least one quarter out of every square metre, archaeobiological samples were taken from each layer, provided the occupation layers had been preserved.45 The archaeobiological examinations presented here only concern one such quarter square metre. The overall analysis will show to what extent the results obtained there can be seen as representative of the entire mithraeum or whether there were differences between the individual areas of the sanctuary. For particular finds, including the coins, balls with incised numbers, rock crystals and boars’ tusks, the exact find spots were recorded. It would be premature at this stage of the investigation to attempt to offer definitive interpretations for the individual categories of finds since periodisation of the artefacts has not even been completed, much less the layer formation processes understood. Nevertheless, we would like to make

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a few suggestions concerning their potential functions in relation to their distribution within the mithraeum. The distribution patterns of the four categories of finds mentioned exhibit distinct differences. The crystals cluster in the central aisle south of the test trench (fig. 5.11).46 The fragments vary in size. More than 50 are quite large fragments, whilst countless others are just tiny splinters, suggesting that the crystals were worked inside the sanctuary itself.47 The question as to whether this was part of the ritual acts has not yet been fully explored. The relatively dense concentration in the centre of the sacred space, however, is remarkable and will have to be examined as part of the overall analysis. The only other mithraeum where a large number of rock crystals pointed to its importance as part of the cult was Martigny. The excavators there associated the rock crystals with some kind of lighting effect in that they might have been attached to the ceiling, thus symbolising a starry sky.48 Rock crystal, due to its provenance from rock crevices, might have had an additional symbolic meaning: in its transparent and well-proportioned appearance, it is like a perfect form of rock, which in turn is known to have been of great significance to Mithraic legend in several ways (Mithras’ birth from a rock, the water miracle, the slaying of a bull in a cave and the cave as a representation of the universe). The balls with incised numbers, on the other hand, were mainly found at the front end of the building and especially near the facing wall of the eastern bench. These ceramic balls are some 2 cm in diameter and have incised numbers. In scientific literature they are mostly associated with a lottery/draw or with oracles.49 The 34 balls found at the Kempraten Mithraeum bore incised numbers between 1 and 100. Only two numbers occurred twice.50 The relatively tight cluster of some in the northern area of the sacred space may suggest that they were stored together. It is worth noting that the Magna Mater sanctuary in the Seewiese area only 200 m away also yielded two such balls, whilst they are otherwise rarely found.51 The coins were recovered from the bench areas and particularly from the central aisle.52 It must be taken into account, however, that both benches had occupation layers of only a few centimetres in thickness, whilst the preserved layers in the central aisle were several tens of centimetres thick. The role played by the abundance of coins found at many Mithraea has been discussed in detail elsewhere and needs no further exploration here.53 The formation of the distribution of finds at the Kempraten Mithraeum cannot be

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assessed without fully understanding the layer formation. We will therefore refrain from offering a preliminary interpretation here. With regard to the distribution of coins, the southern third differs very clearly from the rest of the building, where relatively few coins were discovered (Fig. 5.11). The transition between the two areas is quite abrupt and is perfectly aligned with the southern ends of the bench facing walls of phase 2, making it difficult to explain it simply by the poorer state of preservation towards the south. The distribution, particularly of the coins but also of the rock crystals and clay balls suggests, rather, that the southern section of the building had a different function, at least in phase 2, which was the best-preserved of all the phases.54 Therefore, it probably marks the southern edge of the sacred space which cannot be clearly distinguished in the structural features. Furthermore it is clear that the three categories of artefacts were used for different purposes and in different ways, which resulted in a variety of distribution patterns. This is even clearer when studying the adult domestic pigs and wild boars’ tusks, more than 60 of which were found inside the mithraeum. Their distribution pattern is distinctly different from that of the coins, rock crystal finds and clay balls. They were found not only in the northern two thirds of the building and most notably in the central aisle but almost a quarter of all boars’ tusks came to light near the southern wall. This implies that they also had a different function and meaning compared to the other categories of small finds. What the boars’ tusks were used for will hopefully be revealed by the overall analysis. So far, there is no parallel for their large number, which suggests that they were probably a special feature of the Kempraten Mithraeum.55 OUTLOOK At the time of submitting this paper, the overall analysis of the mithraeum and the lime kilns that preceded it was about to commence.56 Thanks to the fact that the sanctuary was identified as such early on in the excavation, to the interdisciplinary approach that was chosen from the outset and to the appropriate excavation and sampling strategy, the circumstances are ideal for this complex analysis to be conducted in collaboration with various specialists. Moreover, the examinations carried out as part of the preliminary project have highlighted the potential insight that can be gained from the site. The inscriptions must also be taken into account. Their analysis will provide information about a

Fig. 5.11. Kempraten, Zürcherstrasse 131: Spatial distribution of the rock crystals, balls with incised numbers, coins and boars’ tusks. In the test trench, the find spots of only a few objects were precisely recorded. Sc. 1:150. Map: KASG.

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certain section of the religious community at Kempraten. A study of the names mentioned in the inscriptions will reveal whether the same people can also be found at other sites throughout the Roman empire – though they have not yet appeared elsewhere at Kempraten itself. Ideally it will be possible to pinpoint certain aspects with regard to their social status and places of origin whilst also gaining an understanding of the structures and way of life as part of the religious community. In order to fully appreciate the results from the interdisciplinary analysis carried out on the Kempraten Mithraeum, they must be viewed in an overall cultural and historical context. On one hand they will need to be compared with other sacred or secular features within the settlement in order to ascertain whether and to what extent the composition of finds from the mithraeum differs from those of the settlement. On the other hand we also plan to compare the assemblage from the mithraeum with the findings from other Mithraea, which will allow us to identify both local peculiarities and supra-regional practices in Mithraism. NOTES 1

2 3 4 5

6

7

8 9

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Not included in this figure are the areas between the Gallo-Roman temple district in the Seewiese area and the mithraeum (Zürcherstrasse 131). Matter 2003. – On the vicus in general see Ackermann 2013 (with further references). Koch et al. 2018; Koch forthcoming. For criteria on identifying Mithraea see for instance Hensen 2017, 385ff. Orbe-Boscéaz (Switzerland): Monnier 2001; Luginbühl et al. 2004; Monnier 2016. Martigny (Switzerland): Wiblé 2008, 146-166 (with earlier references). Zillis (Switzerland): Rageth 1994; Liver/Rageth 2001; Ebnöther et al. 2015. Aventicum/Avenches: de PuryGysel 2012, 170-177. For other evidence of the worship of Mithras in Switzerland see Lo Russo et al. 2018, 199-215, with further references. For a critical overview of Mithraea in France see Dubois 2012c, 426 and fig. 1. A summarised account of the Mithraea located along the Germanic-Danubian Limes see, e.g., Witschel 2013, 210 and fig. p. 206-207; Hensen 2013, 26 and fig. 14 (although we cannot place the majority of sites marked by A. Hensen in fig. 14 for eastern Switzerland); Dubois 2012c, 426. JbAS 99, 2016, 206f; JbAS 100, 2017, 240f.; Schindler 2016, 167f.; Schindler 2017, IVf.; Schindler 2018, IX. When the eastern exterior wall MR1 was discovered, a test trench was dug right across the building in order to ascertain the dimensions of the edifice as well as its orientation and state of preservation as quickly as possible. It was because of this test trench with its characteristic section cutting through the podia and the central aisle and the finds recovered from it that the mithraeum was identified as such. The excavation strategy could thus be adapted to fit the archaeological context.

10

See also Schatzmann 2004. Water was still seeping from the rock even during the excavation in 2015/16. 12 Water channels are quite commonly found in Mithraea, suggesting that they served more than a utilitarian purpose; they may have had greater symbolic or ritual significance. A parallel is e.g. known from Ptuj (Slovenia), where a mithraeum was found to have been constructed around a natural spring, which had been encased much like a well and the water drained out of the building by means of a covered channel; see $EUDPLþ2WKHUH[DPSOHVKDYHEHHQIRXQGLQ Mithraea at Housesteads (United Kingdom) (CIMRM 852), Colchester (United Kingdom) (CIMRM 829) and Carrawburgh (United Kingdom) (CIMRM 844; Richmond/Gillam 1951, 5f.). At Septeuil (France), a 4th century mithraeum had been constructed in an abandoned spring sanctuary with a large water basin (GaidonBunuel/Caillat 2008, 255f.). On the importance of water and springs in Mithraism in general see, e.g., Clauss 2012, 72-74 (with examples and further references). 13 The fact that the sanctuary at Kempraten was built onto a natural rock face allows us to classify it as one of the group of “rock temples […] abutting on natural rockformations” according to A. Hensen and R. Beck; see Hensen 2017, 386ff; Beck 1984b, 363, esp. fn. 18. Moreover, mithraea were very often north-south oriented; Hensen 1994, 36. 14 Some wooden boards had survived in situ. 15 At Pons Aeni (Germany), the pits were dug during the sanctuary’s period of use. Pits 1 and 2 contained, among other things, smashed fragments of altars (Garbsch 1985, 360). At Inveresk (United Kingdom) two large altars were carefully deposited face-down and covered over once the area was no longer used as a mithraeum (Hunter et al. 2016; Coombe/Henig, this vol.); on ritual depositions, especially in Mithraea, see also Martens 2004b, esp. 346-350. 16 The depiction is not a tauroctony but differs from any of the others found so far. An iconographic examination is as yet outstanding. 17 On the demise of Mithraism and an array of associated circumstances and events see, e.g., Nicholson 1995; Sauer 1996; Gordon 1999; Sauer 2004, 339f. 18 Identification of the coins has not yet been completed. For now, the information available refers to some 480 coins. 19 Peter 2016, 100. 20 For the north-western provinces see, e.g., Martigny (Switzerland) (Wiblé 2008, esp. 152), Septeuil (France) (Gaidon-Bunuel/Caillat 2008, 256), Bornheim-Sechtem (Ulbert et al. 2004, 361); for a summarised account of the discussion see Sauer 2004, 339ff. 21 Martigny (Switzerland) and Orbe-Boscéaz (Switzerland): Olive 2004. Tienen (Belgium): Lentacker et al. 2004a. 22 Deschler-Erb 2015, 126-127. 23 Jacomet 2013. 24 Fluhstrasse 6-10: Ackermann 2013; Seewiese: Koch forthcoming. 25 Cooremans 2004. 26 Werneck 1955. 27  &LXWąWKLVYRO 28 Pauli-Gabi 2002b, 52-54; Pauli-Gabi 2002a 161. 29 Schlumbaum 2006. 30 Like the early medieval insulation layer in Room F at Tumegl/Tomils (Switzerland)-Sogn Murezi, see Vandorpe & Schlumbaum 2016. 11

31 32 33 34 35 36 37

38 39

40

41

42

43 44

45

On spills see, e.g., Klein 2006, 77-87. Deforce 2004. Cf. Häberle 2013. Lentacker et al. 2004b. Olive 2004. Ervynck/Dobney 2002. McKenzie 2018 offers a current list of geoarchaeological research questions and recent research projects that deal with ritual and religion, showing the vast array of possibilities provided by the method(s) used. For preliminary results from micromorphological investigations carried out at Roman sanctuaries see Flück 2011 and Koch et al. 2018. The only Mithraeum examined by micromorphological means so far was that at Biesheim (France), where numerous overlying loam floors and very thin occupation layers were identified (Rentzel 2011). As seen, for instance, at the Biesheim Mithraeum (France) (Rentzel 2011, 249). Another option that will have to be examined is that it may have been a construction sacrifice offered as part of the renovation work. The analysis of the finds, and the joining fragments in particular, will allow us to make a better judgement on this subject. A construction of very deep pits as known from examples uncovered at Tienen (Belgium) can be excluded for Kempraten since they would have had to have been hewn into the underlying rock, which was obviously not the case. On Tienen see Martens 2004a and Martens 2012, 261-273. On the popularity of bodies of water as places of waste disposal in general but also for waste from sanctuaries in particular see Thüry 2001, 35 and 46. We must await the detailed analysis of the different fragments of stone sculpture before we can definitively state which fragments belonged to the cult image. See also Schatzmann 2004. On the importance of ritual feasting in Mithraism see Schäfer 2008, esp. 12ff.; Klöckner 2011; Hensen 2017, 389ff. Any differences concerning the horizontal stratigraphy must, however, be critically reviewed by carrying out a thorough examination of the layer formation processes, since only the accumulations that formed in situ allow us to potentially identify activity zones.

46

47

48

49

50 51

52 53 54

55

56

The grid system used in the subsequent excavation had not yet been set up when the finds from the test trench were recovered. It should be noted that no quartzite deposits exist in the locality. The crystals are most likely to have been brought to Kempraten from the Alpine region. On Martigny (Switzerland) see Wiblé 2004, 143. – Significant numbers of rock crystal splinters were also found in the ritual cave at Zillis (Switzerland), see Rageth 1994; Liver/Rageth 2001, 111; Ebnöther et al. 2015, 183. On the interpretation of clay balls with incised numbers see esp. Thoma 2004. – They should not be confused, however, with considerably larger balls made of stone, which have also been found at Mithraea and are believed to have represented the position of the sun throughout the year. For a list of similar finds see Huld-Zetsche 2008, 109-117. It remains to be seen whether the numbers that occur twice dated from different phases. Seewiese: Koch forthcoming. 27 clay balls were found at Martberg (Germany), three at Karden (Germany) and 34 at Frankfurt-Heddernheim (Germany) (Nickel 2009, 112-15). The western half of the western reclining bench was severely disturbed by the course of a modern stream. See, for instance, Sauer 1996; Sauer 2004; Wiblé 2004; Wiblé 2008, 156-8. Whilst it is not yet possible at this stage of the project to divide the finds into phases, we can say that the majority of preserved layers and thus finds date from phase 2. As yet, only individual finds of boar’s tusks have been reported, e.g. at Bornheim-Sechtem (Germany) near Bonn (Ulbert et al. 2004, 360) and at Nida-Heddernheim, Mithraeum III (Huld-Zetsche 1986, 33). The boars’ tusks that came to light at Dangstetten (Germany) were interpreted by the author as parts of horse pectorals and cannot therefore be compared to those from Kempraten; see Fingerlin 1981. The paper was submitted in spring 2018.

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6

Quelques particularités du mithraeum de Forum Claudii Vallensium (Martigny, Suisse) François Wiblé

Dans la ville de Forum Claudii Vallensium, aujourd’hui Martigny, dans le canton du Valais, on a découvert en 1993, à l’occasion de fouilles de sauvetage programmées (avant la construction d’un immeuble), un mithraeum, le premier mis au jour en Suisse, de dimensions assez considérables pour un édifice de ce type: 23.36 m de long pour une largeur hors tout de 8.95 m. Il se situe en périphérie sud de l’agglomération, dans un secteur réservé à des activités cultuelles autres que celles dévolues aux dieux du panthéon romain,1 à moins de 100 mètres au nord d’un grand complexe bipartite que nous nommons «téménos», composé d’une aire sacrée avec un temple indigène préromain et d’un relais routier (fig. 6.1). Les résultats des fouilles sont en cours d’élaboration par le soussigné. Ils feront l’objet d’une monographie à paraître dans quelques temps. Les considérations que nous présentons ci-dessous sont donc susceptibles d’être précisées, affinées, voire infirmées, mais devraient être valables dans leurs grandes lignes. Les fouilles du mithraeum n’ont pas été exhaustives, car très rapidement, on a décidé de le conserver in situ, en lieu et place des caves de l’immeuble et d’une partie de son garage souterrain, de sorte que la documentation archéologique présente quelques lacunes. Cela concerne surtout les premières phases de fréquentation du sanctuaire. L’élaboration en cours permettra néanmoins de montrer l’importance de cette trouvaille majeure de la ville romaine de Forum Claudii Vallensium. Le mithraeum de Martigny est déjà connu au travers de différents articles et textes parus depuis 19952 et par une monographie publiée en 1999, consacrée à 2091 monnaies qui y ont été découvertes lors des fouilles de 1993 à 1995.3 VOIE D’ACCÈS On accédait au mithraeum depuis le sud-est en empruntant une allée large d’un peu plus de 2 m, qu’on a pu suivre sur quelque 20 m et qui faisait un coude à angle droit à env. 13 m du bâtiment, s’élargissant jusqu’à 3 m au maximum (fig. 6.2 et fig. 6.15). Cette allée, qui fut pourvue de gravier

grossier, était délimitée par des barrières dont on a retrouvé l’implantation des montants en bois calés par des pierres ou «trous de poteaux» (fig. 6.3). Depuis le carrefour de la rue Principale et de la rue du Nymphée, l’accès au mithraeum devait donc se faire en passant au sud-est du complexe des «Thermes du Sud-ouest», par un cheminement qui n’a pas encore été reconnu (fig. 6.1). L’alignement des «trous de poteaux» bordant l’allée se situe dans l’axe de la façade sud-est du sanctuaire. Dans le prolongement de la façade nord-est de ce dernier, on a mis au jour un autre alignement de trous de poteaux et un autre encore, perpendiculaire, à env. 21 m du mithraeum. Ces alignements, avec ceux composant l’intérieur du coude de l’allée, délimitent un espace (fermé?) approximativement carré d’un peu moins de 150 m2, dont la relation avec la palissade de l’enclos sacré n’est actuellement pas déterminée (fig. 6.2). AIRE SACRÉE (TÉMÉNOS) DE MITHRA

ET SURFACE LIÉE AU CULTE

Le monument a pu être dégagé entièrement, y compris une bonne partie de ses abords, sauf au nord-ouest. On a ainsi pu constater qu’il était entouré, à un peu plus de 6 m de ses murs de façade, par une palissade repérée sur trois de ses côtés, mais il ne fait pas de doute qu’elle se développait aussi sur le quatrième. Il s’agit à n’en pas douter de la limite de l’enclos sacré – ou téménos – du sanctuaire, pour laquelle nous ne connaissons pas de parallèles. Cette palissade était apparemment constituée de planches qui, dans leur partie inférieure, était calées par des pierres ou des fragments de terre cuite, surtout de tuiles, disposées de chant (fig. 6.4). A l’extérieur de cette palissade, du côté sud-ouest, en bordure de la voie d’accès, on avait aménagé un four dans lequel devaient être cuits des aliments que l’on consommait dans l’édifice. Ce four très particulier, rectangulaire, d’env. 2.20 x 1.80 m, dont on connaît un autre exemple à Massongex/Tarnaiae dans le Bas-Valais,4 était composé d’un foyer aménagé à même le sol entouré de murets maçonnés avec une ouverture bordée de dalles au nord-

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Fig. 6.1. Plan archéologique du secteur sud de la ville romaine de Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny.

ouest (fig. 6.5). Dans le foyer étaient implantées quatre pierres dressées qui supportaient assurément une grande dalle de schiste (disparue). Au sud-ouest, un empierrement de dimensions analogues à celles du four et un socle plus petit également en pierres sèches et bordant l’accès à la chambre du four, complétaient l’installation. La surface liée au culte de Mithra devait ainsi s’étendre en dehors de l’enclos sacré délimité par la palissade, comme semblent aussi en témoigner l’aire de dispersion des rejets liés aux nettoyages périodiques du spelaeum (fig. 6.15). UN RITE DE PASSAGE? En pénétrant dans l’enclos sacré, on devait passer par-dessus une fosse «cultuelle» d’env. 1.70 x 1.10 m d’extension pour une profondeur maximum de 1.35 m cuvelée de bois, au témoignage des trous de piquets repérés au niveau de son fond (fig. 6.6),

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dont les éléments verticaux étaient calés par des pierres qui l’isolaient aussi du terrain alluvionnaire dans lequel elle avait été creusée. Des analyses sédimentologiques ont permis de mettre en évidence des remplissages différenciés, contenant des tessons, des déchets alimentaires, des coprolithes, du bois calciné, de la faune, des os branchiaux de poisson, etc. qui se sont ou ont été déposés dans un milieu humide, voire dans de l’eau stagnante, avec deux périodes principales d’arrêt sédimentaire, à 50 cm du fond et au sommet du comblement de la fosse, 70 cm plus haut. Certains indices laissent penser que ces comblements se sont effectués dans un laps de temps compris entre quelques mois et quelques années. Nous n’avons décelé aucune trace de fermeture de cette fosse qui devait être périodiquement remplie d’eau. Etait-elle périodiquement ouverte? Comme le terrain encaissant est très perméable, on doit penser que le cuvelage (formé de planches verticales?) était relativement étanche. Notons, dans le remplissage de cette fosse, la présence de deux gobelets (l’un a pu être entièrement remonté) de production régionale présentant des graffiti en grec les consacrant à Mithra.5 La plus tardive des cinq monnaies découvertes dans la fosse fournit un terminus post quem pour son comblement final: pas avant 268 après J.-C., mais ce pourrait être plus tard. Une analyse appropriée des nombreux tessons, dont plusieurs comportaient des graffiti en latin, en comparaison avec la céramique mise au jour dans d’autres secteurs du mithraeum (notamment le secteur «cuisine» aménagée dans la partie orientale du hall d’entrée ou pronaos), permettra, nous l’espérons, de préciser le rôle de cette fosse dans le cadre du rituel mithriaque. Du fait de sa position, en effet, nous excluons une fonction de simple fosse à détritus. UNE FAÇADE AVEUGLE Les murs de façade maçonnés du mithraeum, larges de 46 à 48 cm (env. un pied et demi), ne devaient être percés que de rares ouvertures. On ne peut guère citer que l’entrée du monument, sur son long côté sud-ouest et une, voire plusieurs petite(s) fenêtre(s) élevée(s), dont témoigne un angle d’embrasure en mortier retrouvé dans les décombres de la banquette sud-ouest. 6 La façade sud-est du bâtiment s’est effondrée d’un seul tenant (fig. 6.7); on a ainsi pu constater qu’elle était aveugle et que son faîte s’élevait plus de 6 m.7 Comme les murs sont élevés par assises régulières, bien repérables, de 60 cm (2 pieds), on peut en déduire que les façades étaient hautes de 8 assises au-dessus du niveau supérieur des fondations (soit 4.65 m au-dessus du terrain ambiant)

Fig. 6.2. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Plan schématique des vestiges découverts dans le secteur du mithraeum.

et que le sommet du pignon correspondait à celui de la 11e assise (1.80 m de hauteur). Le toit devait donc accuser une pente de l’ordre de 40%, soit 21.8°, ce qui est tout à fait habituel à l’époque romaine.8 Au-dessus de la 4e assise, la façade était armée d’une poutre de 25 cm d’épaisseur sur laquelle s’appuyait une sorte de poinçon vertical haut de 1 m et large de 40 cm, légèrement décalé

du côté nord-est par rapport à l’axe du monument. La raison d’être de cette armature nous échappe. UN HALL D’ENTRÉE OU PRONAOS PLURIFONCTIONNEL Le seuil de l’entrée du bâtiment, large hors tout d’env. 2 m, aménagé sur son long côté sud-ouest, à proximité de l’angle sud, probablement en bois

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Fig. 6.3. Forum Claudii Vallensium/ Martigny. L’allée d’accès au mithraeum, bordée de «trous de poteaux», vue du sud-est.

Fig. 6.4. Forum Claudii Vallensium/ Martigny. Eléments de calage d’un secteur de la palissade limitant au sud-ouest l’enclos sacré du mithraeum, vus du nord-ouest.

Fig. 6.5. Forum Claudii Vallensium/ Martigny. Le four situé en dehors de l’enclos sacré du mithraeum, vu du nord-est.

Fig. 6.6. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Mithraeum. La fosse “cultuelle” située sous l’allée, au passage de la palissade, vue du sud-ouest.

à l’origine, avait été surélevé dans un deuxième temps (fig. 6.8). L’entrée n’était donc pas axiale, comme on le constate dans la plupart des monuments de ce type.9 On pénétrait dans un vaste hall, au sol de terre battue, qu’on peut appeler pronaos, presque carré, d’env. 8 x 7.5 m, qui servait en premier lieu de vestibule permettant l’accès au spelaeum, le saint des saints du sanctuaire, par un seuil situé au milieu du mur maçonné qui séparait le hall du spelaeum. De l’entrée, on ne pouvait donc pas voir ce qui se passait dans ce dernier. Lieu de rassemblement avant de pénétrer dans le lieu saint, le hall d’entrée abritait également, le long de son mur sud-est, jusqu’à son angle est, des installations en pierres sèches, com-

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Fig. 6.7. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Le mithraeum en cours de fouilles (octobre 1993), vu du sud-est. Au premier plan, la façade sud-est tombée d’un seul tenant.

Fig. 6.9. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Les foyers dans l’angle oriental du mithraeum, vus du sud-ouest.

portant des secteurs rubéfiés témoignant de la présence de modestes foyers (fig. 6.9). Les couches cendreuses qui s’étaient répandues alentours, de même que les nombreux tessons de céramique culinaire mis au jour dans ce secteur, montrent que cet emplacement servait de cuisine pour préparer des mets consommés dans le spelaeum, en complé-

Fig. 6.8. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Plan pierre à pierre du mithraeum.

Fig. 6.10. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Mithraeum. Enduit peint du plafond du premier apparatorium représentant un lévrier courant entre deux arbres, au moment de sa découverte.

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Fig. 6.11. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Mithraeum. Caisson double mis au jour dans le second apparatorium, du nord-ouest.

ment, assurément, de ceux cuits dans le four situé à l’extérieur du monument. De telles installations ont été repérées en d’autres lieux, notamment dans le mithraeum de Septeuil, dans les Yvelines, aménagé dans un ancien nymphée semi-enterré, où le pronaos est doté d’un «gros foyer de cuisine constitué d’un soubassement de pierres et de tuiles, recouvert de chapes d’argile successives» et dont les vidanges «encombreront progressivement l’entrée principale et les abords du bassin» qui continuait d’être utilisé.10 On a également mis en évidence un foyer dans l’angle nord-ouest du «narthex» du mithraeum de Mandelieu,11 dans le pronaos du mithraeum de Biesheim-Kuheim,12 et, dans le mithraeum de Mundelsheim,13 où un empierrement de 1.20 m de côté se trouve dans une position analogue à celle des installations de Martigny. Dans l’angle ouest du pronaos, un espace d’env. 2.90 m sur 2.75 m avait été réservé dans un premier temps. On y avait aménagé ce que l’on appelle généralement un apparatorium, sorte de sacristie, qui devait s’ouvrir sur la banquette sudouest du spelaeum.14 Ses parois, du côté du hall, étaient en colombage, reposant sur une sablière basse en bois, et son sol de terrazzo. Un enduit peint recouvrait ses parois et son plafond, duquel on a conservé un panneau illustrant un lévrier courant entre deux arbres, daté par les spécialistes des années 170-180 après J.-C., voire de l’époque sévérienne au plus tard (fig. 6.10). A la suite d’un incendie, au cours de la première moitié du IVe siècle, apparemment, ce premier apparatorium fut abandonné et remplacé par un autre dans l’angle nord du hall d’entrée, aux

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murs intérieurs maçonnés, de dimensions analogues (2.30 m x 3.04 m). Cette nouvelle sacristie, aménagée au plus tôt en 351 après J.-C., s’ouvrait directement sur la banquette nord-est du spelaeum par un seuil large hors tout de 1 m, mais vraisemblablement pas du côté du pronaos. Contrairement au premier apparatorium, elle ne possédait pas de sol en terrazzo, et probablement pas de décor peint. En son centre, on a mis au jour une structure énigmatique, un caisson, bipartite dès l’origine fait de petites dalles ou fragments de terre cuite (tuiles) disposés de chant (fig. 6.11). Le remplissage des deux parties de ce caisson se compose pour l’essentiel de nombreux fragments de bois calcinés et d’os brûlés dans des matrices limoneuses et cendreuses, souvent rubéfiées, et de quelques tessons. Aménagé apparemment peu après la construction du mithraeum, ce caisson a, semble-t-il, été «utilisé», ouvert et refermé, pendant toute la durée de fréquentation du sanctuaire, car la dallette brisée de schiste fermant sa partie SW est déjà apparue dans une dépression observée lors du premier dégagement de l’apparatorium, immédiatement sous la couche de démolition de l’espace.15 UN

PASSAGE OBLIGÉ AVANT DE GAGNER SA PLACE LORS DES CÉRÉMONIES ?

L’accès au spelaeum, le saint des saints du sanctuaire (14.40 m x 8.05 m), se faisait entre les deux apparatoria, pratiquement dans l’axe du bâtiment. Le seuil en bois, dont on a retrouvé des restes calcinés, large hors tout d’env. 1.80 m, constituait la première des trois marches qui permettaient de descendre dans la nef, quelque 50 cm plus bas. Des blocs irréguliers de tuf formaient les deux autres. De part et d’autres de ces marches, le long du mur qui séparait le spelaeum du hall d’entrée, deux rampes en terre battue donnaient accès aux banquettes latérales, situées au même niveau que le hall. Leur pente était très bien marquée par la limite inférieure, oblique, des enduits qui revêtaient le mur (fig. 6.12). On peut déduire de cet aménagement particulier que les participants aux cérémonies devaient nécessairement descendre dans la nef, c’est-à-dire entrer symboliquement dans l’antre de Mithra, peut-être pour accomplir quelque rite devant le podium dominé par la représentation de la tauroctonie, avant de gagner leurs places sur les banquettes. Si tel n’avait pas été le cas, on aurait certainement aménagé un palier dans le prolongement du seuil pour permettre un accès direct aux banquettes, sans descendre dans la nef, et décalé les marches en direction du podium.

DES BANQUETTES LATÉRALES PARTICULIÈRES? De part et d’autre de la nef, large de 3.70 m et dont le sol, dans un dernier temps (pas avant 358 après J.-C.16), était en terrazzo, les banquettes n’ont pas la même largeur: celle du sud-ouest est plus large de 20 cm (env. 2.30 m, muret la bordant du côté de la nef compris) que celle du nord-est (env. 2.10 m). Cette «anomalie» se retrouve dans d’autres mithraea, à Mandelieu (Alpes Maritimes) et de Trèves (Allemagne), notamment.17 Notons que l’on retrouve ce décalage dans la position du poinçon vertical supporté par une poutre horizontale qui armait la façade sud-est du bâtiment, qui est cependant séparée du spelaeum par le hall d’entrée où les effets de ce décalage n’ont pas été observés.18 Les banquettes étaient bordées par des murets maçonnés peu fondés, larges de 40 à 50 cm, qui présentaient un parement assez régulier du côté de la nef, mais avaient été dressés contre terre de l’autre côté. Ces murets retenaient le sol des banquettes situé env. 50 cm au-dessus de celui de la nef. Dans un premier temps, la banquette sudouest n’était pas continue: un espace, d’une largeur libre de quelque 2 m avait été réservé dans son secteur nord-ouest à 5 m du mur de fond du

spelaeum. Les murs latéraux de ce local également très peu fondés, larges de 40 à 50 cm, avaient été dressés «contre terre» du côté extérieur; le niveau supérieur de leurs fondations remontait fortement vers l’extérieur pour correspondre à celui des fondations du mur sud-ouest du mithraeum. Le sol en terre battue suivait ce niveau de fondation et présentait donc une forte déclivité, ce qui rendait malaisé l’utilisation, pour l’heure inconnue, de ce local. Les murs latéraux ont été revêtus d’un simple enduit beige-rosâtre clair du côté intérieur. Une telle disposition se retrouve, dans une situation analogue par rapport au podium, dans le mithraeum de Bordeaux où la banquette «est interrompue au centre par un aménagement dont il ne subsiste que les traces au sol: deux trous et des rainures en mortier (qui) suggèrent l’existence d’une structure en bois (podium?, placard?)».19 En revanche, nous ne pensons pas que le Mithraeum III de Nida-Heddernheim20 près de Francfort présente une disposition vraiment comparable:21 la banquette gauche (en regardant l’image du culte au fond du spelaeum) se termine pour faire place à une niche qui, à notre avis, participe étroitement aux aménagements liés aux cérémonies et aux rites qui se déroulent devant la tauroctonie. On remarquera toutefois qu’à Nida-Heddernheim, un

Fig. 6.12. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Mithraeum. Le niveau original de la rampe menant à la banquette sud-ouest est clairement indiqué par le fond de l’enduit qui recouvrait le mur séparant le spelaeum du pronaos. Vue du nord-ouest.

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peu plus irrégulière, de 1.20 à 1.55 m, dans la banquette nord-est (fig. 6.13). Ce type d’aménagement était déjà connu, notamment dans le premier état du mithraeum de Londres, daté des années 240-250 après J.-C. LA NEF ET SON

SOUS-SOL

Fig. 6.13. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Mithraeum. Quelques négatifs de solives qui soutenaient le plancher de la banquette nord-est du spelaeum, vus du nord-ouest.

En elle-même, la nef ne présente pas de particularités insignes. Le sol en terrazzo, établi vers 360 après J.-C., comprend de très nombreux fragments d’installations d’hypocauste (terre cuite architecturale, mortiers de différentes composition, etc.) provenant assurément du démantèlement des Thermes du Sud-ouest tout proches. Le long des parois des banquettes, on a relevé des restes ou des négatifs de dés en maçonnerie qui supportaient des autels ou des monuments figurés comme les dadophores, par exemple. Son sol original était en terre battue et recouvrait des dépôts de fondations constitués pour l’essentiel d’ossements d’animaux consommés dans le mithraeum probablement lors de l’«inauguration» du bâtiment,24 répartis en diverses fosses creusées dans le substrat alluvionnaire naturel et dans un pot à cuire en céramique commune claire également déposé au même endroit.25 Le faciès de la céramique, peu abondante, retrouvée dans ces fosses ne semble pas se distinguer de celui des ensembles mis au jour dans le secteur des foyers du pronaos. Ces fosses et le sol en terre battue qui les recouvrait furent définitivement scellés par la pose du sol en terrazzo qui s’étendait jusqu’au podium.

encadrement de soupirail a été trouvé dans cette niche, alors qu’à Martigny, comme déjà mentionné, on a retrouvé un fragment d’angle d’embrasure en mortier dans le remblai de l’espace réservé de la banquette sud-ouest.22 A Angers, autre exemple cité comme parallèle, c’est l’extrémité de la banquette, au-delà de l’extension de la nef, qui en a été séparée par un mur; l’hypothèse d’un bassin a été émise, dont la position aurait été semblable à celle du puits que l’on a identifié dans le mithraeum de Londres.23 Dans un second temps, cet espace fut fermé par un muret maçonné du côté de la nef et remblayé; la banquette fut dès lors continue. Au cours du deuxième quart du IVe s., après son comblement, les banquettes, jusqu’alors en terre battue, fut recouvertes d’un plancher reposant sur des solives perpendiculaires à leur axe, dont les empreintes dans le niveau sous-jacent ont montré qu’elles étaient distantes d’axe en axe d’env. 1.50 m dans la banquette sud-ouest et un

Fig. 6.14. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Mithraeum. Dégagement du secteur nord-ouest du spelaeum, au niveau de la démolition inférieure. Les trois autels au moment de leur découverte en 1993. L’un a été précipité dans une fosse creusée au pied du podium, les deux autres jetés à terre et brisés. Vue prise du sud-est.

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AU FOND

DU SPELAEUM: UN PODIUM (OU THRONOS) DOMINÉ PAR UNE TAUROCTONIE PARTICULIÈRE

Le podium a été transformé et agrandi à plusieurs reprises; il est relativement mal connu, car la conservation et de la mise en valeur in situ du monument nous a imposé de garder le maximum de substance antique et donc de ne pas le démonter «scientifiquement» pour en comprendre toutes les phases de construction et de reconstruction. Il n’a donc été que superficiellement dégagé;26 de plus, il a été endommagé par le creusement d’une profonde et large fosse qui a entraîné la disparition presque totale des deux marches maçonnées qui le précédaient (fig. 6.14). Dans une phase tardive, le podium fut flanqué de deux piédroits de 70 à 80 cm de côtés, soutenant assurément en arc abritant la représentation de la tauroctonie. Contre la base de droite (pour qui regardait en direction du fond du spelaeum) étaient adossées deux marches en tuf, hautes de 27 et 25 cm, que devait gravir un officiant avant de s’adresser aux fidèles du dieu, disposition que l’on retrouve dans plusieurs autres mithraea. Le creusement de la grande fosse, à travers une première couche de démolition du sanctuaire, fut apparemment l’œuvre des premiers chrétiens qui, après une première phase d’abandon des lieux, voulurent y précipiter les trois autels en pierre qui avaient été placés devant ou sur les marches précédant le podium. Ils commencèrent à y jeter l’autel qui, dans un premier temps, avait été consacré à Jupiter à l’occasion de la réfection de son temple.27 Ce monument s’est coincé dans la partie supérieure de la fosse, de sorte que les deux autres n’y purent être précipités: ils furent alors mutilés (on s’acharna sur la mention du dieu solaire). Par chance, une petite partie de l’enduit blanchâtre qui recouvrait l’inscription à Jupiter Optimus Maximus, a été conservée: à sa surface, quelques traces rouges nous indiquent qu’on y avait peint une nouvelle inscription, assurément consacrée à Mithra.28 Ainsi est évacuée toute spéculation sur un hypothétique syncrétisme religieux dans le cadre de ce mithraeum. Cet autel, qui devait avoir été placé devant le temple principal de la ville, immédiatement au nord-est du forum, avait donc été vendu par les responsables du culte officiel à ceux du culte de la divinité orientale. Les remplois ne sont pas rares dans les mithraea; on peut citer, entre autres, un autel consacré à Hercule, réutilisé à l’envers devant le podium du mithraeum de la Maison de Diane à Ostie, face originale inscrite cachée, et pourvu d’une nouvelle inscription.29 Contrairement à ce que l’on retrouve dans la plupart des mithraea, l’image cultuelle principale

qui dominait le podium, la tauroctonie, n’était pas peinte ou sculptée sur pierre (en relief ou en ronde bosse), mais composée d’éléments en bronze disparates, de récupération, dont quelques-uns ont été retrouvés: le dadophore Cautes, la jambe droite de Cautopatès, le bonnet phrygien et le pied gauche de Mithra, le scorpion, auxquels il faut très vraisemblablement ajouter le buste d’une déesse tutélaire dont les sommets des tours de la couronne ont été appointis pour transformer l’objet en une représentation du Soleil.30 La niche qui l’abritait, comme le reste du mithraeum, était ornée d’un décor peint sur lequel nous ne reviendrons pas ici.31 L’intrados de l’arc, de même que la voûte du spelaeum était en outre garnis d’éclats de cristal de roche, créant, par réflexion de la lumière des lampes et des torches, un scintillement évoquant un ciel étoilé.32 DISPERSION DU MOBILIER Un abondant mobilier a été découvert lors des fouilles de ce sanctuaire; outre les monnaies, qui ont fait l’objet d’une monographie,33 les récipients présentant des graffiti les consacrant au dieu solaire,34 et de nombreux autres petits objets (à l’exception de la céramique35), dans ceux du colloque de Tienen/Tirlemont36, sans oublier l’étude des éclats de cristal de roche mentionnée ci-dessus. L’analyse de la répartition spatiale de ces objets est riche d’enseignements. Elle a montré que l’aire de dispersion du mobilier dépassait largement le cadre de l’enceinte sacrée du sanctuaire; nous sommes donc autorisés à intégrer toutes ces trouvailles dans l’étude du mithraeum. A côté des monnaies, en effet, on y a découvert des tessons de récipients en céramique, avec ou sans graffiti, qui collent avec d’autres découverts dans le bâtiment ou dans l’espace sacré, des éclats de cristal de roche qui ne peuvent provenir que du lieu de culte, tant ils sont rares dans les autres secteurs de la ville antique, etc. Les cartes de répartition les plus significatives sont celles des monnaies: elles nous montrent que le mithraeum était régulièrement entretenu et que tous les objets et les «détritus» qui en jonchaient les sols étaient rejetés à l’extérieur du bâtiment, voire à l’extérieur de l’enclos sacré. Ainsi, par exemple, les monnaies frappées entre 253 et 284 après J.-C. ont été trouvées en grande majorité à l’extérieur du mithraeum (fig. 6.15) alors que les plus récentes, émises entre 378 et 402 après J.-C., ont été mises au jour dans le bâtiment, à deux exceptions près (fig. 6.16). Cela permet, à notre avis, de mettre en doute une vieille théorie qui prétend que des chrétiens, ayant trouvé ces monnaies dans des troncs ou d’autres contenants, les auraient

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Fig. 6.15. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Mithraeum. Plan de répartition des monnaies frappées entre 253 et 268 (en vert) et entre 268 et 284 (en rouge).

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Fig. 6.16. Forum Claudii Vallensium/Martigny. Mithraeum. Plan de répartition des monnaies frappées entre 378 et 402.

ainsi dispersées sur le sol du bâtiment, dans un geste d’exécration ou pour ne pas être accusés de pillage.37 A Martigny, cela aurait éventuellement pu être le cas pour les monnaies de la dernière période, mais pas pour les périodes précédentes. Il s’agit au reste essentiellement de monnaies de petite valeur en bronze;38 il est possible que les pièces de plus grande valeur étaient conservés ailleurs. Le don de monnaies que l’on dispersait sur le sol des sanctuaires est habituel dans le Valais romain:39 les fouilles du temple indigène proche du mithraeum (sous la Fondation Pierre Gianadda), ont permis de mettre au jour quelque 1058 monnaies grecques (2), gauloises (126) et romaines (930), avec une concentration particulière de monnaies du IVe siècle dans la cella du sanctuaire.40 Dans la cour adventice du «fanum» I, en bordure nord de la ville, 2742 monnaies ont été mises au jour, parmi lesquelles on notera la présence de 1330 fractions de la fin du Ier siècle avant J.-C., du Ier siècle et du début du IIe siècle après J.-C, soit 71.70% des monnaies du Haut-Empire, taillées menu à la hache pour en éviter le remploi sacrilège.41 Les 1331 monnaies découvertes dans le mithraeum de Septeuil aménagé au IVe siècle dans un ancien nymphée ont été interprétées non pas comme dépôt d’offrandes, mais comme de simples pertes, car elles ont été presqu’exclusivement mises au jour à l’extérieur du sanctuaire.42 A notre avis, il s’agissait bel et

bien d’offrandes, probablement jetées dans un premier temps sur le sol du mithreaum, puis dispersées alentours, suite au nettoyage de ce sol, comme à Martigny, à la différence près que le dernier nettoyage a dû avoir lieu, à Septeuil, immédiatement avant l’abandon des lieux. NOTES 1

2

3

4 5 6 7

8

Seul un temple de type classique, probablement consacré à Jupiter Optimus Maximus, a été reconnu à l’intérieur du schéma orthonormé des insulae du centre de la ville antique. Par ordre chronologique: Wiblé 1995; Wiblé 1998; Wiblé 1999; Dubois 2001; Wiblé 2001a; Wiblé 2001b;, Olive 2004; Wiblé 2004; Dubois et Fuchs 2004; Meisser et Wiblé 2007; Wiblé 2008; Dubois 2012a; Dubois 2012b;, Dubois 2012c;, Wiblé 2012. Cole 1999. Ce chiffre comprend 36 monnaies mises au jour dans les niveaux antérieurs à la construction du mithraeum. Aux monnaies présentées dans cette publication en 1999, il faut en ajouter une demi-douzaine qui n’avaient pas été prises en compte alors. Les conclusions générales de l’étude n’en sont cependant pas affectées. Wiblé 1989. Wiblé 2012. Dubois 2012a, p. 408. Une perturbation dans cette façade effondrée, près de l’angle est du bâtiment, ne saurait, de par sa position, témoigner de la présence d’une ouverture. Voir, notamment, Nauleau 2013: les toits d’époque romaine ont généralement une pente comprise entre 17 et 23 degrés, soit entre 30 et 43% environ.

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9

10

11 12 13 14

15

16

17

18

19 20 21 22

23 24

25

26

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Une entrée axiale, donnant accès à une antichambre, un pronaos ou un hall d’entrée, lorsqu’elle apparaît sur le plan de certains mithraea, est, semble-t-il, très souvent le fruit d’une restitution. Cf. McCarty et al., à paraître. Gaidon-Bunuel 1991, 52. Notons qu’à Septeuil, on a également retrouvé un foyer dans le spelaeum, à l’extrémité d’une banquette. Fixot 1990. Kern 1991. Planck 1989, 179-80. Ce passage n’a pas été repéré, car le mur maçonné séparant ce local du spelaeum a été reconstruit lorsque l’on a abandonné ce premier apparatorium au profit d’un autre, aménagé dans l’angle nord du hall d’entrée. A Bornheim-Sechtem, près de Bonn, un caisson dont le fond et les quatre parois étaient faits de tegulae a été retrouvé dans le mithraeum (1er état), mais sous le sol de la nef; il contenait des restes évidents de bois calciné et un tesson en céramique plombifère (applique représentant un serpent). Un autre caisson, taillé dans un bloc de tuf, contenant également du mobilier fragmentaire, succédera à ce premier caisson lors de l’aménagement du troisième état du sanctuaire (Ulbert 2004). Pour d’autres parallèles, voir aussi, dans ce volume, McCarty et al., ainsi que Martens et al. Deux monnaies datées respectivement de 353-358 et de 358-360 ont été retrouvées dans le niveau scellé par ce sol (Cole 1999, 87). Dubois 2012a, 403 cite, comme autres parallèles, les mithraea anglais de Rudchester et de Carrawburgh I ainsi que celui de Pfaffenhofen (Allemagne): les plans que nous avons consultés ne permettent pas, à notre avis de conclure à un tel état de fait: à Rudchester, les murs sont très irréguliers ou mal conservés et les banquettes ne sont pas de largeur constante, tandis que le premier état du mithraeum de Carrawburgh semble trop mal documenté. A Mühltal (près de Pfaffenhofen/Pons Aeni, Garbsch 1985), en Bavière, la banquette orientale pourrait avoir été une dizaine de centimètres moins large que la banquette opposée, mais, suite à des récupérations de pierres et à l’érosion, les murs étaient très mal conservés; dans la publication, il est simplement écrit que les banquettes étaient larges de 1.90 à 2.10 m, mur intérieur compris. Le seuil reliant le hall d’entrée au spelaeum, notamment, ne présente pas de décalage significatif en direction nord-est: il n’est que de 4 cm. Gaidon-Bunuel 1991, 52. Huld-Zetsche 1986, 28-9. Comme le pense Dubois 2012a, 408. On notera que, dans le mithraeum de Capua, quatre puits de lumière ont été aménagés dans la voûte surplombant la banquette gauche, également. Cf. Brodeur, dans ce volume. Pour Londres, Shepherd 1998, 70-4. L’étude de la faune de ces dépôts de fondation a fait l’objet d’un rapport de Claude Olive, mais n’a pas été présentée dans Olive 2004. Il s’agit de reliefs de repas au cours duquel (ou desquels) on a consommé notamment une poule, des porcs, des caprinés (moutons ou chèvres), un bœuf, etc. C’étaient en principe de jeunes, voire très MHXQHVDQLPDX[9RLU(O6XVLHW&LXWąGDQVFHYROXPH De tels dépôts de consécration sont déjà connus, notamment à Mundelsheim (Planck 1989, 180), où on a retrouvé plusieurs pots contenant des ossements (bœuf, coq, jeune porc). Voir aussi McCarty et al. à paraître. La restitution des différentes étapes de remaniements du podium présentées dans Dubois 2012a, 414, fig. 10,

27 28

29

30 31 32

33 34 35

36 37

38

39

40 41

42

basée en grande partie sur l’analyse des enduits peints, est susceptible d’être modifiée en fonction des résultats de l’analyse approfondie en cours. Wiblé 1998. Comme parallèle, on doit peut-être citer, dans le mithraeum de Königshofen près de Strasbourg, un autel primitivement consacré au Deus Cissonius dont le champ épigraphique (avec traces de rouge dans les lettres) a été complètement recouvert d’un nouvel enduit blanc: Forrer 1915, 50. Becatti 1954, 12-3. A Stockstadt, dans le Mithraeum I, c’est un autel dédié à Jupiter Optimus Maximus et à Juno Regina qui a été réutilisé (CIMRM 1199). Il en va de même pour un autel du mithraeum de Housesteads (CIL VII, 646 = RIB 1600 = CIMRM 863). Cette identification ne fait pas l’unanimité parmi les spécialistes. Dubois 2001; Dubois et Fuchs 2004; Dubois 2012a. Meisser et Wiblé 2007. Les éclats de cristal présentent des griffures produites par le mortier dans lequel ils étaient enchâssés. Cole 1999. Wiblé 2012. Même s’il est accessible sur l’Internet, le mémoire universitaire sur la céramique du mithraeum (Cusanelli-Bressenel 2003) ne peut pas être considéré comme une publication; l’étude de la céramique sera entièrement reprise une fois l’élaboration de toutes les données archéologiques achevée: l’attribution chronostratigraphique des différents ensemble en sera, pour certains en tout cas, affinée, voire modifiée ou corrigée. Wiblé 2004. Par exemple, pour le mithraeum de Sarrebourg/Saarburg: Forrer 1915, 103; et récemment, Clauss 2012, 162: «Die Münzen wurden von den Zerstörern des Kultraumes nicht geraubt, sondern wie die Trümmer der Statuen und Altäre und die Schalen der Kultgefässe über den ganzen Boden des Tempels zerstreut». Pour le mithraeum de Biesheim-Kunheim: Kern 1991, 64. Dans le mithraeum, la proportion de monnaies de faible valeur est beaucoup plus grande que parmi les monnaies perdues dans les ruines de la ville romaine. Ce phénomène a déjà été relevé pour le temple indigène (Wiblé 1983, 76) où, par exemple, la proportion des monnaies en argent, au Haut-Empire, constitue env. 1% du numéraire, alors que parmi les monnaies perdues dans la ville romaine, on en compte un peu plus de 9%. Les asses de la même période forment l’immense majorité des monnaies (env. 80%), les dupondii un peu plus de 5%, comme les sesterces. Dans les autres secteurs, les proportions sont respectivement d’env. 47, 18 et 22%. Ce qui n’exclut pas le dépôt, dans le mithraeum de Martigny par exemple, de lots de monnaies dans le fond d’un gobelet en céramique ou dans un contenant en matière périssable (Cole 1999, 108-110; 117-122). Wiblé 2008, 80-2; fig. 84. Wiblé 2008, 183. L’état très fragmentaire et la période de frappe de certaines de ces pièces (début du IIe siècle) interdit d’y reconnaître des monnaies «coupées» aux fins d’obtenir de la petite monnaie, comme à l’époque julio-claudienne. Au IVe siècle, les monnaies déposées dans les sanctuaires étaient de tellement faible valeur que cela ne valait probablement pas la peine de se courber pour les ramasser. On n’avait donc pas besoin de les mutiler pour en empêcher le remploi sacrilège. Sainrat 1987, 38; Foucray 1987, 40-2.

7

La découverte d’un mithraeum à Mariana Philippe Chapon LE SITE Le site de Mariana se situe en Haute Corse au sud de la ville de Bastia au cœur de la plaine orientale à environ 3 km de la mer, juste en bordure du lit du fleuve Golo qui le borde au sud. Les méandres de ce fleuve aux allures torrentielles ont évolué au cours du temps et ont balayés toute la façade sud de l’agglomération. D’après les auteurs antiques, elle aurait été fondée au début du 1er s. av. notre ère par le général Caius Marius pour les vétérans des légions qui ont en particulier vaincu les Cimbres et les Teutons dans la région d’Aix en Provence.1 On compte sur l’ile une seule autre cité: Aléria, plus au sud, prise aux grecs à l’occasion des guerres puniques au milieu du IIIe s. avant J.-C. La Corse avec la Sardaigne forme la première colonie romaine hors de la péninsule (fig. 7.1). Du passé de cette ville ne reste en élévation que la cathédrale de la Canonica construite au XIIe siècle par la république de Pise, qui occupait l’île à cette époque. Elle a été le siège du seul évêché de l’île jusqu’à son abandon au XVIe siècle. Classée monument historique par Prosper Mérimée, elle n’a été restaurée qu’au début du XXe siècle. A l’origine de la découverte archéologique, il y a le projet de contournement par le sud de l’église de la Canonica. Ce projet fait partie d’un ensemble muséographique comportant la création d’un musée et la mise en place d’un vaste parc archéologique centré sur les vestiges de la colonie romaine de Mariana s’étendant sur environ sur une dizaine d’hectares. Le site est totalement préservé de construction car une grande partie de la plaine est en zone inondable. Le chantier réalisé par l’INRAP en 2017 sur une surface de 3000 m² s’est déroulé immédiatement au sud du site archéologique fouillé dans les années 1970 par G. Moracchini-Mazel. Il comprend tout notamment les vestiges d’une basilique paléochrétienne et d’un baptistère. La fouille a été prescrite en 2016 par le Service Régional d’Archéologie de Corse. Ce chantier a permis la découverte de deux quartiers bâtis séparés par une large voie nordsud. Outre des quartiers d’habitation, la fouille a permis de révéler la présence d’un mithraeum en

limite sud de l’agglomération antique. C’est la première fois que la pratique de ce culte est attestée en Corse (fig. 7.2). Ce sanctuaire a été aménagé en bordure de l’ancien lit du fleuve Golo, derrière un haut mur de soutènement. Ce dernier sert de protection contre les crues fréquentes dues au régime torrentiel qui caractérise les précipitations dans la région. Ce mur conservé sur au moins quatre mètres de haut a été construit en coffrage par niveaux successifs car il est formé de galets noyés dans un mortier de chaux et, contrairement à un mur de moellons, il n’est pas autoporteur. Il faut attendre la prise du mortier entre chaque niveau d’une hauteur d’environ trois pieds. Cette construction pouvait correspondre à une portion du rempart sud de la ville. Une monnaie de l’empereur Galba, trouvée dans le comblement derrière le mur, nous donne le terminus post quem de 92 ap. J.-C. pour l’édification de cette structure massive. p

Bastia

Lucciana CENTRE

lo Go

Ta v ign a

no

Ajaccio

0

20 km

Fig. 7.1. Plan de situation de la cité de Mariana. Plan: P. Chapon.

77

Le mithraeum adossé au rempart est limité à l’ouest par un long mur de limite parcellaire correspondant au quadrillage des voies de l’agglomération antique. Ce dernier est également construit en coffrage et les trous de boulin sont encore visibles à la base de l’élévation. Dans les niveaux immédiatement antérieurs au sanctuaire, contre le mur de soutènement, on a pu observer un épandage dense de fragments de lampes à huile avec des éléments cassés sur place.2 Cet épandage recouvrait un dépôt composé de 130 petites plaques de plomb roulées sur elle-même, faisant penser à des tablettes de defixio. Elles mesurent 7,5 cm de long sur environ un centimètre de large dépliée (fig. 7.3). Cet amas extrêmement compact a apparemment été déposé en une fois probablement dans un contenant périssable au vu de leur concentration en forme de boule d’une dizaine de centimètres de diamètre. On connait environ 2000 exemplaires de ce type d’objets dans le monde antique et il s’agirait là d’une des plus importantes découvertes de ce genre.3 Les plaquettes d’exécration, nommées également defixio, sont répertoriées comme accessoires de rituels magiques pour procéder à des envoûtements. Il semble que celles-ci soient à considérer davantage comme un support de rituel oral plutôt qu’un support de texte. En effet, elles semblent avoir été utilisées comme « éponge à paroles »: l’objet matériel n’allant pas sans le rituel oral. Parfois, des fragments d’étoffe ou des cheveux de la personne à envouter étaient coincés dans le rouleau. Le nombre important de ces cylindres de plomb pose question, les découvertes de plaques de defixio sont en général uniques ou en quelques exemplaires, si on excepte la découverte de 130 objets à Bath en Angleterre lors des fouilles de la source sacrée et si certains sont inscrits, d’autre ne comportent aucun signe. Nous pourrions également être en présence de plombs de filet de pêche constituant ainsi un dépôt votif. Deux de ces objets ont été déroulés par le laboratoire Arc antique de Nantes et cinq autres ont été scannés par tomodensitométrie mais sans révéler d’inscriptions. Cet amas était surmonté par un gros clou très oxydé dont la fonction n’est pas élucidée. Certaines plaques de defixio étaient parfois transpercées d’un clou symbolique.4 D’ailleurs, le lien direct avec le mithraeum n’est pas non plus certain puisque le dépôt est avant la construction; néanmoins, on pourrait être en présence d’un rite de fondation. Même si les plaquettes de plombs sont inconnues dans les mithraea, les dépôts de fondation sont attestés en plusieurs sanctuaires mithraiques.

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LE MITHRAEUM Le temple lui-même est construit au-dessus de ce dépôt sur lequel est répandu un remblai de limon et de graviers épais d’une quarantaine de centimètres et venant butter contre le mur de soutènement. Il est orienté nord-sud, avec l’entrée au nord. Il y a deux pièces de dépendances au nord (fig. 7.2, ES2 et ES3), comportant une cuisine avec foyer pour les repas rituels et certainement une sorte de sacristie ou vestiaire pour les habits de cérémonie. A l’est de ces espaces se développe une vaste cour mesurant au minimum 180 m² qui devait faire partie de l’ensemble cultuel (fig. 7.2, ES26). Elle abrite un puits entouré de nombreux trous de poteaux pouvant matérialiser une superstructure. Au sud-ouest de ce complexe, le sanctuaire proprement dit (le spelaeum) adopte une forme irrégulière en forme de trapèze en grande partie à cause de l’angle entre les murs préexistants (fig. 7.2, ES1; fig. 7.4). On note également que les murs de côté ne sont pas exactement parallèles. Il mesure ainsi en longueur 11,40 m à l’ouest pour 9,50 m à l’est de dimensions internes. Quant à la largeur, elle est également variable avec 4,50 m au nord et 6,10 m au sud. Cette pièce est orientée nord-sud comme celles de Biesheim-Kunhein et Bordeaux, mais légèrement plus petite que cette dernière.5 La fouille du mithraeum, et en particulier du couloir, a été rendu délicate par la présence de la nappe phréatique, à son niveau le plus haut au moment du chantier entre novembre et mars. L’ensemble du couloir a dû être fouillé de manière décousue après pompage journalier. Le mur de terrasse formant le fond du sanctuaire est absent. Il s’est en fait effondré dans une période comprise entre l’abandon du site et le comblement du lit du Golo par les alluvions. D’après le plan du mithraeum, on pense que l’accès se faisait par le nord et que l’autel devait se situer dans la partie sud disparue, contre le mur de terrasse. Au centre du bâtiment, une longue tranchée nord-sud large de 2,60 m au nord et 3,25 m au sud est creusée dans le comblement limoneux pour créer la nef du sanctuaire. De part et d’autre sont édifiés les murets MR 1193 et 1194, les faces intérieures des banquettes, sur une longueur de huit mètres et une largeur de 0,50 m. Ils sont construits sans fondation avec un seul parement du côté interne. La construction est formée d’alternance de galets et de fragments de tuiles liés par un mortier de chaux sur une hauteur conservée de 0,50 m. Cette hauteur diminue du sud vers le nord en raison d’une certaine pente du sol conservée volontairement de l’ordre d’une quinzaine de centimètres (fig. 7.5).

Lucciana (2B)

F112451

Déviation de la RD 107

Responsable d’opération : Ph. Chapon

Ech: 1/100

Plan du secteur I / Phase 02 Topographie, photogrammétrie: M. Seguin, A. Bolo DAO : Ch. March / Relevés : Collectif INRAP

Système planimétrique: RGF93-Lambert93 Système altimétrique: NGF-IGN78

SB1270 MR1079

ES6

MR1078

61 81 88 0

ES8

ES7

MR1081 SB1216

SECTEUR 1

ES4

SB1588

61 81 86 0

MR1080

MR1083

MR1097

MR1735

TP1648

ES3

MR1217

TP1645

TP1601

MR1777

12 33 66 0

TP1643

SB1642 FS1666

TP1683 TP1674

SB1613 FY1613

SB1665

TP1672 FS1651

PI1708

apparitorium

TP1660

12 33 68 0

TP1614

ES2 MR1246

61 81 87 0

pronaos

MR1293 MR1097 ST1418

MR1193

ES26

FS1816

SB1579

MR1192 TP1424

SB1667

ES1

cour spelaeum co up e

MR1194

61 81 85 0

SB1696

TP1697

TP1695

ES26 TP1819

TP1671 TP1715

TP1818

TP1668 PT1698

MR1546

TP1714

MR1150

TP1653

12 33 67 0

MR1503

61 81 85 0

12 33 69 0

5m

12 33 68 0

0

61 81 86 0

Fig. 7.2. Plan d’ensemble des vestiges du mithraeum. Plan: P. Chapon.

79

Fig. 7.3. Ensemble des plaques de defixio. Cliché: P. Chapon.

Fig. 7.4. Le sanctuaire vu du nord. Cliché: P. Chapon.

80

NGF 4,00 m

NGF 4,00 m

Sud-ouest

1195 1181

3,00 m

MR 1504

1181

SB1188

1413 1678 1202

Nord-est

1279

1801 1206

MR 1193

TP1477 1197

1195

1413

1475 1476

1196

1677 1703

1570 1198

2,00 m

1206

MR 1546

1633

1207

3,00 m

1440 1441

1788 1202 = 1459

0

1

2m

2,00 m

Fig. 7.5. Coupe stratigraphique est-ouest au centre du sanctuaire. Dessin: P. Chapon.

Deux niches sont ménagées dans chaque banquette. Ces espaces sont larges de 0,50 m, profonds de 0,45 m, et haut de 0,40 m. Aucun aménagement de fond n’a été observé; il pouvait donc s’agir de planches disparues. Seule la niche au nord-ouest possédait un sol conservé de fragments de tegulæ. Les deux niches côté sud montrent encore un départ de voûte, grossièrement en berceau, en briques retaillées de 0,20 m de long sur 0,10 m de large liées au mortier blanc. Le sommet des voûtes est effondré sur place à l’exception des briques de côté. La niche sud-ouest contenait trois lampes à huile encore en place dont deux sont intactes et une écrasée par les briques de la voûte (fig. 7.8, 4 et 5). Ces lampes offrent une date approximative pour l’usage du mithraeum: ils sont du type Deneauve VIII B, en usage de la seconde moitié du IIe et le premier tiers du IIIe s. av. J.-C. Le sol aménagé du couloir a apparemment fait l’objet d’une récupération quasi-totale. Il a presque totalement disparu à l’exception d’une brique carrée de 0,20 m de coté conservée contre le muret près la niche sud-est (fig. 7.6). Elle est encore prise dans le mortier qui devait lier l’ensemble. Sa

surface correspond également au bourrelet inférieur des deux couches d’enduit blanchâtre qui recouvraient les parois des murets. Une monnaie de Marc Aurèle, frappée entre 145 et 180, est trouvée dans le sol de préparation du revêtement de briques du couloir, donnant un terminus post quem pour la construction du mithraeum. L’extrémité nord de ce couloir affecte une pente prononcée, inclinée au nord, pour arriver au niveau de l’arase de MR 1707 et par là au niveau de sol de l’espace 2. Il est recouvert d’une couche de fragments concassés et compactés de roche volcanique originaire d’Italie, dont sont habituellement composées les meules importées de cette région. La pierre meulière d’Orvieto possède des caractéristiques très proches de celles des fragments de Mariana. Cette ville fut, durant l’Antiquité, un centre majeur de production de meules rotatives exportées dans tout l’Empire romain.6 Ce dépôt volontaire à cet endroit en pente très limité en surface pourrait correspondre à un revêtement anti-dérapant, aidant les utilisateurs du sanctuaire descendre dans le spelaeum. Dans l’axe du couloir ont été découverts deux coffres aménagés dans le sol de cailloutis sous-

Fig. 7.6. Dernier vestige du sol du couloir. Cliché: P. Chapon.

Fig. 7.7. Le coffre au nord du couloir. Cliché: P. Chapon.

81

Fig. 7.8. Objets du culte découverts dans le mithraeum. Cliché : P. Chapon.

jacent. Au nord, on trouve au pied de la pente recouverte par l’US 15437 la structure SB 1579 mesurant à l’intérieur 0,47 m sur 0,43 m et 0,17 m de profondeur (fig. 7.7). Elle est construite avec trois assises grossières de fragments de briques recoupées en petits fragments de 0,15 m sur 0,10 m au maximum sans mortier de liaison. Ce coffre était comblé d’un sédiment stérile qui a été fouillé de façon « subaquatique » en période de crue du Golo. En effet, une « source » s’écoulait en continu du fond du coffre en contact avec la couche de galets. Plus au sud et toujours dans l’axe du couloir, se trouve le coffre SB 1767, formé de fragments de tegulæ sur champ. Il mesure 0,50 m de côté pour 0,10 m de profondeur. La couverture encore présente mais basculée est également formée d’une tegula très fragmentée. L’ensemble a probablement été en partie bouleversé par notre piétinement dans la boue avant sa mise en évidence. A l’intérieur a été découverte une épée courte sans garde (ou poignard) très oxydée et concrétionnée. Il manque manifestement la pointe (fig. 7.8, 6). Très concrétionné, cet objet a fait l’objet d’un décroutage et d’une stabilisation par le laboratoire A-Corros d’Arles.

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Ce type de dépôt rituel est connu dans plusieurs mithraea.8 Bien que la fonction de SB 1579 ne puisse pas être restituée, l’épée dans SB 1767 peut être reliée au sacrifice du taureau par Mithra ou un rite violent d’initiation. Deux épées de fer sont trouvée dans un dépôt rituel à Güglingen Mithraeum II une et une épée théâtrale utilisée pour l’initiation est trouvée à Riegel.9 Derrière les murets, de part et d’autre du couloir central ainsi constitué, un remblai de limon est déposé sur une vingtaine de centimètres d’épaisseur (US 1778 et 1801 à l’ouest et US 1677 et 1634 à l’est) en formant ainsi l’assise de deux banquettes parallèles. La couche 1677 présente un aspect mixte: surface rubéfiée ou chargée en vidange cendreuses ou charbonneuses avec la présence de nombreux éléments de petite faune dont la plupart du temps seules les mandibules sont conservées. Ces niveaux recèlent surtout une grande quantité de fragments de lampes à huile principalement le long de MR 1192. On note ainsi 96 fragments pour l’US 1677, 66 pour l’US 1634 et 119 pour les US 1778 et 1801, bien qu’en grande partie surcreusées postérieurement. Dans l’ensemble de lampes à huiles dont nous disposons, curieusement, aucun décor ne rappelle le culte de Mithra pourtant répandu alors que les représentations de dieux égyptiens comme Isis ou Anubis sont fréquentes. L’élément le plus marquant est la découverte d’un glaive d’une cinquantaine de centimètres de longueur, volontairement enterré au sud de la banquette est dans son axe, la pointe vers le nord. Son extrémité avait préalablement été volontairement repliée en forme de Z.10 Il était accompagné d’une lampe à huile entière de type Deneauve VIII parfaitement conservée (fig. 7.8, 3). Enfin, tout à fait au sud, dans l’angle entre MR 1546 et 1150 (l’angle sud-est du mithraeum), a été retrouvée une sorte de racloir enterré verticalement. Il possède une forme de hachette mais avec une soie perpendiculaire qui devait recevoir un manche en bois (fig. 7.8, 7).11 Dans la banquette ouest le long de MR 1097, la stratigraphie a été trop perturbée par des fosses postérieures et n’est conservée que de façon ponctuelle. Nous avons cependant mis au jour un stylet en bronze enfoui au Sud le long du mur ainsi qu’un certain nombre de fragments de lampes.12 Dans la partie nord, c’est une clochette en bronze qui a été découverte dans le niveau US 1485 (fig. 7.8, 1).13 A la surface du comblement de ces banquettes a été mis en évidence un niveau 1634 constitué de lits de chaux et de mortier parfaitement horizontaux mais conservés de façon ponctuelle à la surface d’une dernière couche de limon charbon-

neux 1633.14 Plus au sud, ce niveau coïncide avec la base de l’enduit recouvrant le mur MR 1192. Il semble correspondre à l’assise du revêtement des banquettes dont il ne reste rien. Il pouvait s’agir de briques plates comme dans le couloir ou bien plus vraisemblablement d’un plancher. A l’ouest, ce niveau n’est conservé que sur une toute petite surface et on ne peut rien en dire de concret. Dans la construction originale du mithraeum, il y avait une porte à l’angle sud-est du bâtiment, reliant la cour extérieure et le banc est. A un certain moment, cette porte est colmatée, sans doute très tôt dans la vie du bâtiment. En effet, l’obscurité semble être un élément primordial du déroulement des cérémonies, allant de pair avec l’usage des lampes à huile et une large porte à cet endroit semble aller à l’encontre de ce précepte. Dans l’espace de deux mètres de large entre MR 1192 et MR 1150, un muret en parement de briques est construit. Il est aménagé avec cinq assises de briques superposées côte à côte. Ces briques sont issues de pavets en terre cuite de 0,20 m de large recoupé dans leur moitié. L’intérieur de cet aménagement de même largeur que MR 1192 (0,45 m), est composé d’un bourrage de cailloux lié au mortier de chaux. L’arase de brique arrive au niveau du sol 1633. Elle repose sur une fondation de galets identique à celle de MR 1192 qui avait pu supporter un seuil disparu. Elle apparait aujourd’hui avec une pente importante due au déversement de MR 1150 qui a entrainé un glissement des terrains qu’il retenait. La fouille des zones cendreuses et de diverses fosses a livré des restes osseux qui sont au nombre de 324 fragments. Si l’on écarte les 46 % d’indéterminés, les autres témoignent de la présence de onze taxons. Le bœuf, peu représenté avec neuf ossements seulement pour cinq individus, dont une vertèbre cervicale porte une entaille située dans le foramen vertébral, près des surfaces articulaires, faite par la lame d’un couperet lors du fendage du rachis cervical, les petits ruminants et le porc dont le nombre de restes est proche, respectivement 63 et 62 fragments, constituent la base de l’alimentation carnée. Sans possibles comparaisons en termes de corpulence par rapport aux mammifères précédents, le poulet compte 33 os indiquant néanmoins une consommation fréquente compte tenu du nombre d’occurrences. Les suidés totalisent deux vestiges osseux tout comme le pika sarde. La palombe et un passereau sont illustrés par respectivement un os. Une portion de plaque pleurale de dossière de tortue a également été collectée. Elle est de grande taille et pourrait venir du squelette d’un individu appartenant à une espèce marine. Enfin, un os de poisson a été collecté.

L’ESPACE 2:

PRONAOS OU PIÈCE SERVANT DE CUISINE

Au nord du sanctuaire il y a une autre pièce, espace 2. La séparation avec le spelaeum est matérialisé par une base de cloison en galets large de 0,40 m. On peut imaginer une simple cloison en bois avec sablière basse perçée d’une porte pour l’accès au sanctuaire et à la communication entre les deux espaces. Dans l’axe de MR 1192, on constate l’édification de MR 1246 sur 6,50 m de long. Au sud-est de cette pièce, entre les extrémités de MR 1192 et 1246, subsiste un espace long de 1,20 m correspondant à la porte d’entrée. A cet emplacement, un aménagement de tegulæ à plat liées au mortier de chaux semble correspondre à l’assise d’une pierre de seuil qui aurait fait l’objet d’une récupération (SB 1418). Il faut remarquer que cette porte se trouve exactement en vis-à-vis d’une ouverture ménagée dans MR 1097, le mur ouest de l’espace. Le mur MR 1246, large de 0,50 m mesure 2,50 m de long. Il est formé à la base d’une fondation de gros galets installés dans le remblai gravillonneux US 1725 puis d’une élévation mixte galets briques conservée sur 0,20 m et liée au mortier de chaux. Il n’a été observé que sur le parement ouest et à son extrémité sud, car il est surmonté du mur postérieur MR 1101. Au niveau de la fondation, un orifice d’assainissement est réservé au travers du mur et est formé de deux imbrices accolées (SB 1508), formant ainsi une canalisation d’une dizaine de centimètres de large pour 0,05 m de haut. Le mur MR 1246 se rattache au nord sur une fondation en galets d’orientation est-ouest MR 1507 dont il ne subsiste qu’une à deux assises sur une longueur de quatre mètres. Ce vestige de mur s’appui à l’ouest sur MR 1097 et délimite ainsi l’espace 2 mesurant 4,20 m de long sur quatre mètres de large. La présence de ce mur, dont il ne reste que peu de trace, est devenue évidente au fur et à mesure de la fouille, car il matérialise une différence de niveau de l’ordre d’une trentaine de centimètres entre les espaces 2 et 3. Tout le sol de cette pièce a été légèrement surcreusé à l’aplomb des murs périphérique afin d’obtenir un sol plan correspondant au seuil 1418. Un vaste foyer probablement à usage culinaire a ensuite été aménagé et on a pu mettre en évidence une partie de son aménagement sous la forme d’alignements de briques disposées à plat, correspondant vraisemblablement à sa bordure (FY 1613). Toute la surface du sol au nord jusqu'à l’aplomb de MR 1507 est formée d’argile rubéfiée sur 0,02 m d’épaisseur mais le mur lui-même ne garde pas de trace de dégradation par le feu. Autour de ce foyer se remarque un certain nombre d’aménagements et de fosses dont certaines

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semblent correspondre à des trous de poteaux. On note ainsi TP 1614 contre MR 1097, TP 1672, TP 1674, SB 1616 le long de MR 1246 et FS 1651. L’occupation de l’espace est matérialisé par une succession de niveau superposés de terre battue et de lits charbonneux sur une vingtaine de centimètres d’épaisseur (US 1631, 1632, 1415, 1416, 1419, 1448). Ils ont livré une série de quatre monnaies de la fin du IVe s. dont le plus récent, un Aes de Valentinien III, est daté entre 375 et 383. De nombreux éléments pouvant appartenir à des briques crues ou de la construction en terre ont été mis en évidence dans les niveaux de recharge de sol. Ces niveaux les plus profonds dans la stratigraphie ont été perturbés par de profondes fosses postérieures qui brouillent la compréhension des vestiges. C’est particulièrement le cas le long de MR 1097 avec FS 1583, 1610 et 1666.

ouest (TP 1643, 1645 et 1648). Ils sont semblables, profond d’une dizaine de centimètres avec un calage formé de fragments de tuiles et de briques posés verticalement et définissent un emplacement de poteau estimé entre 0,07 et 0,10 m de côté. Vers l’est, un quatrième calage formé de galets peut être restitué avec le même entraxe. Régulièrement espacés, ils délimitent une cloison sur 2,50 m de longueur dans l'axe est-ouest. On observe également des zones d’épandage de cendres et charbons mais sans emplacement de foyer bien défini, si on excepte une concentration de galets et de terres cuites architecturales, sans organisation évidente et mêlée à de gros charbons (SB 1642). Ce niveau d’occupation a livré peu de matériel à l’exception d’une clochette en bronze de section carrée (fig. 7.8, 2). Le rôle de ces objets au sein du cérémonial n’est pas défini.

L’ESPACE 3:

LA FIN

SACRISTIE OU VESTIAIRE (VESTIARIUM)

Au nord de MR 1507 se développe l’espace 3. Il est limité à l’ouest par MR 1097, au nord par MR 1083 et à l’est par le prolongement de MR 1246. MR 1246 n’est conservé à cet endroit qu’en fondation sur deux à trois assises de galets de gros module liés à la terre. La pièce ainsi formée mesure quatre mètres de long sur 3,60 m de large. Les murs est et sud étant arasés et surmontés de structures postérieures; aucune porte n’a été identifiée de ce côté. Par contre, au nord-ouest subsiste un espace large d’1,20 m entre l’extrémité de MR 1097 et MR 1083 après l’arasement des MR 1215 et 1650. Cet espace a parfaitement pu être utilisé comme passage et a été bouché dans une étape ultérieure. Conservé sur 0,60 m d’élévation et de même largeur que MR 1097, il est formé d’assises irrégulières de galets largement noyés dans le mortier qui pourraient avoir été monté à l’aide de coffrage (SB 1588). Il repose sur les vestiges de l’angle entre MR 1650 et 1215 et du côté ouest, sur quelques éléments de tuiles des premiers bâtiments. Au sommet, trois assises de fragments de tegulae tentent de régulariser l’ensemble et sont conservés sur 1,20 m de long sur l’arase de MR 1097. Comme dans le cas de l’espace précédent, le sol semble avoir été nivelé après l’apport de remblai sédimentaire US 1757, en particulier avec l’épandage en surface de limon argileux US 1664 sur 0,05 m d’épaisseur. Sa surface damée correspond au sol d’occupation US 1641.15 Etant donné la dénivelée du terrain à cet endroit, ce sol se retrouve à environ 0,35 m plus haut que celui de l’espace 2. Les aménagements de cette pièce sont peu nombreux et comprennent pour l’essentiel une série de trous de poteaux aligné sur un axe est-

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DU SANCTUAIRE

A la fin du IVe siècle, après l’interdiction par l’empereur Théodose de tout culte païen par l’édit de 392, comme la plupart des mithraea fouillés, le bâtiment est désaffecté et pillé.16 Les sols du couloir et des banquettes sont arrachés et le couloir est comblé d’éléments de démolition et d’un vaste dépotoir domestique contenant une majorité de tessons d’amphores. Dans les comblements on a retrouvé trois fragments d’un bas-relief représentant Mithra sacrifiant le taureau. Ce bas relief qui devait mesurer une soixantaine de centimètres de côté était en marbre blanc mais a été volontairement brisé et les fragments ont subi l’action du feu et sont dégradés. Seule la partie inférieure est conservée, mais on reconnait parfaitement le corps de Mithra avec le poignard sacrificiel, le bas du corps du taureau avec les pattes arrières et les jambes de Mithra, le scorpion, le serpent et le chien ainsi que les jambes du dadophore Cautopatès. Sur le bandeau inférieur de la stèle, une dédicace a été gravée17 (fig. 7.9). Par contre, le culte de Mithra ne semble pas avoir été le seul à subir les effets de l’édit de 392, en effet dans le prolongement de l’ensemble cultuel se trouve une pièce avec une structure arasée qui pourrait correspondre à une base d’autel. Au sol, parmi le niveau de démolition a été mise au jour une inscription dédiant un monument ou un autel à une divinité féminine inconnue, probablement la victoire impériale.18 La fouille de la partie accessible du niveau de sol de cette pièce a livré 96 fragments de lampes à huile. Plusieurs autres fragments de statuaire ont également été retrouvés mais correspondent à plusieurs personnages de par leurs proportions

Fig. 7.9. Le bas-relief de la tauroctonie. Cliché: D. Glikzman.

très différentes. Parmi ceux-ci, deux visages féminins qui n’ont apparemment aucun rapport avec le culte de Mithra et un pied mesurant une dizaine de centimètres de long. Ont été trouvés également les fragments d’une jarre jetée dans le puits de la cour et dédiée à Jupiter par une inscription tracée avant cuisson.19 La destruction de ce mithraeum et plus largement de ce quartier de sanctuaires pourrait correspondre au développement de la chrétienneté en Corse et à la construction de la basilique et du baptistère de Mariana au début du Ve s., édifiés à quelques dizaines de mètres au nord. L’ensemble du sanctuaire est nivelé et en partie reconstruit au début du Ve s. avec l’édification d’un vaste four de boulanger et de ses annexes. Sur l’ancien spelaeum aplani, de nombreux fragments de meules jonchent le sol. C’est probablement à cette période que la banquette Ouest est entièrement creusée de fosses comblées d’éléments de destruction. Elles pouvaient correspondre à un alignement de dolia semi enterrés. Après un nouveau nivellement de l’espace, aux VIe et VIIe siècles un habitat sur poteaux se met en place avec de nombreux fours probablement liés à l’artisanat. L’ensemble est scellé par un épisode de recouvrement de terres noires, déjà été observé sur les sites de Quattrina à Propriano,20 et à l’espace Alban d’Ajaccio et daté des VIIe et VIIIe s.21 Il vient s’entasser contre le mur de soutènement, toujours en élévation et permet la préservation des vestiges du mithraeum.

Enfin sur ce remblai, une dernière phase d’occupation est attestée avec un vaste bâtiment de style entrepôt dont la toiture est supportée par une double rangée de piliers. CONCLUSION La découverte du mithraeum au sein de la cité antique de Mariana est la première attestation de l’existence de ce culte en Corse. La découverte de fragments de stèle en marbre représentant la tauroctonie ôte tout doute quant à la destination de ce bâtiment. Grace à un recouvrement important des vestiges, il apparait relativement bien préservé malgré un épisode de destruction et de comblement consécutif vraisemblablement à l’édit de Théodose de 392. Il comprend un ensemble complet avec deux pièces de dépendances dans le prolongement du spelaeum. Elles peuvent être interprétées comme un apparatorium et probablement un pronaos servant également de cuisine destinée à la préparation des repas rituels. Le sanctuaire n’était ni enterré ni vouté et devait posséder une toiture classique. L’ensemble donne sur une vaste cour équipée d’un puits. D’autres témoignages donnent à penser qu’il s’agissait d’un quartier dédié aux sanctuaires comme une jarre dédiée à Jupiter et une dédicace à une divinité féminine. Une telle configuration rarement attestée correspond à celle du mithraeum de Biesheim, mais la disposition des pièces est cependant différente.22 Parmi les objets liés au culte on compte deux clochettes en bronze, un poignard ou épée

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courte et trois lampes à huile qui étaient déposées dans une niche de la banquette ouest. Cet ensemble est complété par des dizaines de fragments de lampes et une épée volontairement enterrés dans les banquettes. L’abandon et la destruction de ce sanctuaire semble contemporain de l’édification de la basilique paléo-chrétienne de Mariana à quelques dizaines de mètres à la fin du IVe s. ou au début du Ve s.

18

NOTES 1 2

3 4 5

6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

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Pour l’histoire de Mariana, Corsi et Vermeulen 2015. Cet épandage compte 466 fragments pour un NMI de 32. Cet ensemble comprend des lampes de type Deneauve VA, VD, VIIA et Loeschcke X. Gager 1992. Par exemple, Gager 1992, nos. 103, 115. Le sanctuaire de Bordeaux mesure 17 m sur 9 m (Gaidon Bunuel 1991), celui de Biesheim-Kunheim 11,50 m sur 7 m (Kern 1991) et celui de Mandelieu, un des plus petits, mesure 9 m par 5 m (Fixot 1990; Fixot et al. 1983). Longepierre 2011. Ce sol a livré une monnaie de Constance II entre 348 et 361 et 25 fragments de lampes de type Deneauve VD et VIIA Voir McCarty, Egri, and Rustoiu (ce volume) pour une liste et discussion. Güglingen: Kortüm et Neth 2005. Riegel: Mayer-Reppert 2007. Voir aussi Klenner 2014. Il fait l’objet d’une stabilisation par le laboratoire LC2R de Draguignan (83). Il a fait l’objet d’une stabilisation par le laboratoire A-Corros d’Arles. Cette couche a livré 91 fragments concernant un minimum de 11 lampes de types Deneauve VA et VII. Cette dernière a fait l’objet d’une stabilisation par le laboratoire LC2R de Draguignan. Elle a livré une monnaie de Constance II datée entre 357 et 361 et 25 fragments de lampes La surface de ce niveau a livré 40 fragments de lampes à huile et un Antoninianus de Carus datée entre 282 et 283. Voir Sauer 1996, avec le scepticisme de Gordon 1999. On peut lire: MA+++[---]POSVIT. Si le MA de début de ligne est sûr, il n’en est pas de même des trois lettres suivantes, très effacées. Nous lisons, sans certitude, RIN. On pourrait donc restituer: Marin[us…] posuit. Marinus a posé (ce relief). (Interprétation: S. AgustaBoularot).

19

20 21 22

Dédicace religieuse effectuée par [---]vilius Sid[---]. Traduction (très large et interprétative) par F. Michel: (autel ou monument) Consacré à la Victoire. [---]vilius Sid[---] homme distingué (ou bien "a orné") le temple de la déesse (en admettant que la restitution puisse être templum deae) sous le règne des empereurs germaniques. Commentaire: La restitution repose sur des éléments indirects, mais peut néanmoins être proposée comme suit. L'homme nommé à la deuxième ligne a érigé un monument, ou au moins honoré une déesse par un autel. Il se nomme [Ser]vilius ou [A]vilius Sid[---]. Aucun de ces noms ne se rencontre dans l'onomastique des habitants de Mariana à cette époque. Le nom terminé par -vilius est certainement classique, mais un surnom commençant par Sid[---] sent son origine africaine. En fonction de la restitution des lignes suivantes, ce personnage peut soit avoir été personnellement honoré, soit avoir orné un monument dont l'on pourrait deviner à la ligne suivante qu'il s'agit du temple de la déesse (templ]um de[ae), mais la restitution n'est pas sûre. La dédicace pourrait avoir été faite à la Victoire impériale, qui constitue un thème récurrent durant toute la période qui va de la deuxième moitié du IIe siècle à la première moitié du IVe siècle. (Interprétation; S. Agusta-Boularot). Jarre en commune italique (terra rossa). Le diamètre du fond fait 16 cm, le diamètre maximal de la panse est de 36 cm. Le bord manque, la hauteur conservée est de 42 cm. L’objet possédait 4 anses, seuls deux des attaches inférieures sont conservées. La pâte est de couleur rouge-orange, dotée d’un important dégraissant: il est composé de sable fin, et de nodules rouges, de graines de quartz ainsi que de nodules rouges d’une taille d’environ 1mm. Il y a de plus de grosses particules volcaniques dont la taille peut dépasser les 5mm. La partie du col est distinguée par une légère carène qui porte un décor incisé. Le col est pourvu d’un décor ondé de plusieurs lignes. Sur deux de ces «lignes» nous trouvons une inscription gravée avant cuisson... [---] MITIOVI N[---]IO[---]ORTVNATA Il pourrait s’agir d’une dédicace à Juppiter, de la part d’une femme dénommée Fortunata: il faudrait restituer [---]mit Ioui N[…], etc (Interprétation: S. Agusta-Boularot). Chapon et Hernandez 2011. Istria et al. 2008. Kern 1991.

8

Mithras in Tarquinia Attilio Mastrocinque

A statue of Mithras recently discovered at Tarquinia is a new, important piece of evidence which expands the panorama of the Mithraic communities in northern Latium, Etruria, and Umbria. In this area, high quality sculptures were produced for rich buyers who were probably Patres of local congregations. The social milieu of the Mithraists in this area did not consist of officers and soldiers, customs employees or other members of the imperial administration, as it was the case in many provinces. Some monuments appear to be expensive and carefully made, so it could be supposed that at least in some cases several prominent members of the imperial elite, such as generals, procurators or governors, came back to Italy at the end of their official appointments and sought to organize local communities of Mithraists in their cities, especially if they had been initiated into this cult in the provinces where they were stationed. THE DISCOVERY OF

THE STATUE

In 2014, the Department for Protection of the Cultural Heritage of the Italian Carabinieri (Comando Carabinieri per la Protezione del Patrimonio Culturale) identified and arrested a clandestine digger who was carrying a fragmentary marble statue of Mithras in a van, ready to be sold abroad. He revealed the spot of his discovery on the plateau of Tarquinia, presently known as La Civita. Soprintendente Alfonsina Russo of the Soprintendenza Archeologica del Lazio e dell’ Etruria Meridionale entrusted Maria Gabriella Scapaticci, responsible for archaeology in this area, with the task of investigating the spot where the statue was found, at about 300 meters away from the Ara della Regina, the famous Etruscan temple, on the northern part of the plateau (figs. 8.1-3). The archaeological campaign was carried out in the same year, unearthing another part of the same marble sculpture (figs. 8.4-5), which represents the dog leaning on the knee of the bull. According to Scapaticci, the discovery of this fragment is an irrefutable proof that the tauroctony statue came from a domus of Roman Tarquinia. The

sculpture has been cleaned and restored at the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro in Rome.1 It has subsequently gone on to be displayed in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Tarquinia, with the generous support of the Fondazione Etruria Mater and the ENEL company. A few small fragments of the same statue, including the snake’s body, were handed over by the clandestine digger only after the restoration. Some other parts are still missing: the head, the hands, and one foot of the god; the left ear and the left horn of the bull; and the hind legs of the dog. The marble is white with some grey veins. The Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche carried out isotope analyses to ascertain its provenance, but the sample was too small and the result could only point towards Asia Minor without any more VSHFLÀFLQIRUPDWLRQUHJDUGLQJWKHPDUEOHTXDUU\ As a consequence, the analysis in question is rather inconclusive. The sculpture depicts Mithras about to kill the bull and accompanied by the dog, the snake, and the scorpion. Its height from the base to the neck of Mithras is 89 cm, and 90.5 cm to the bull’s head; the maximum width is 154 cm. The width of the base is 43 cm, with a thickness of 7 cm. The statue was meant to be seen from every point of

Fig. 8.1. Location of the find-spot, close to Ara della Regina.

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Fig. 8.2. Map of the 2014 – 2017 excavations. Drawing: Fiammetta Soriano.

Fig. 8.3. Orthophotograph of the archaeological area in 2017. Orhtophoto: A. Mastrocinque.

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Fig. 8.4. The statue of Mithras from Tarquinia: front view. Photo: A. Mastrocinque.

Fig. 8.5. The statue of Mithras from Tarquinia: back view. Photo: A. Mastrocinque.

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Fig. 8.6. The statue of Mithras from Tarquinia: insertion hole of the metal bolt for the bull’s ear. Photo: A. Mastrocinque.

Fig. 8.7. The statue of Mithras from Tarquinia: insertion hole of the metal bolt for Mithras’ foot. Photo: A. Mastrocinque.

view, even if the rear is less richly carved than the forepart. One horn and one ear of the bull, as well as one foot of the god, were made separately, being probably added during the initial carving of the statue, using metal bolts affixed with lead (figs. 8.6-7). The artistic level of this sculpture is similar to that of the most important Mithraic cult statues discovered in Rome and Ostia, such as CIMRM 548 (from Rome, now in the Vatican Museum; an invasively restored statue), CIMRM 584 (from Rome, the Grimani collection, now in the National Archaeological Museum in Venice), CIMRM 352 (from Rome, found on the Esquiline hill, now in the Musei Capitolini), CIMRM 592 (from Rome, now in the British Museum). The monument from Tarquinia has been dated by Maria Gabriella Scapaticci to the age of Antoninus Pius due to the use of a drill to give depth to some details, a technique which was increasingly applied in subsequent decades and especially in the third century CE.

tions, some finds and stone blocks belonging to a wall came to light in the same area where the marble dog had been discovered. None of them stood on a floor or a base, indicating that the ancient Roman floor was covered with soil during the following centuries and the statue, some stone blocks and other artifacts were displaced and subsequently covered by other layers of soil. The blocks and probably also the statue were lying over a layer belonging to the fourth century CE and therefore the displacement of the statue more likely occurred in the Middle Ages or even later. It is also improbable that the statue had been buried into a trench in recent years, because it was found together with several stone blocks and other artifacts. One could think of different materials which were cleared from a field or the nearby road some centuries ago and were deposited in this place. The large space surrounded by stone walls, which are partially still coated with white plaster, turned out not to belong to a mithraeum, because no traces of benches or Mithraic inscriptions, reliefs, objects or other specific architectural features have been found. A pit was located close to the north-eastern side and a cistern was found in the centre of the southern side of this area which was probably a courtyard of the domus. During the 2017 campaign, the lower part of a small pillar, possibly an altar, has been found close to the spot where the tauroctony statue was discovered. The fragmentary pillar or altar bears no inscription and therefore it is difficult to ascribe it to the mithraeum, even if one cannot rule out this possibility. At around ten meters away from the statue’s find-spot, a fragment of a stone pillar having a triangular cross-section came to light. It is well known that triangular stone pillars, bases and

THE 2016

AND

2017

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS

In 2014, during the archaeological excavations carried out by the Soprintendenza, nine rooms were identified in the aforementioned domus. The marble fragment representing the dog was discovered in the south-western part of a large courtyard (partially still paved with a white mosaic), on top of a layer of earth. In 2016, the soprintendente, Alfonsina Russo, entrusted the author with the task of continuing the archaeological investigations in this area, so three other campaigns have been carried out by the University of Verona in 2016 and 2017, with the aim of understanding the features of the Roman house which probably included the mithraeum.2 During these excava-

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reliefs were used in many mithraea,3 and therefore this could be perhaps another element coming from the local mithraeum. Its location is still unknown, but the structure could not have been too far from the area where these Mithraic artifacts have been discovered because such a heavy marble statue could not have been moved around easily. THE DOMUS The main features of the domus where the Mithraic statue has been found are still open to interpretation because archaeological excavations have not reached the external limits of the residence, and only one entrance has been identified so far. The floors of many rooms are relatively well preserved and testify to a rich and large domus, which also includes many pits, cisterns and one fountain. The pre-Roman phases of the house are documented by parts of pavements, architectural fragments, ceramics and other artifacts. The analysis of ceramics and other finds is still ongoing and therefore it is impossible now to propose a precise chronology. Another important phase, probably corresponding to the construction of the extant domus, can be dated to the Augustan period. The house is exceedingly large (ca. 2000 m2 were unearthed, but it seems to be larger) and includes many courtyards and cisterns. Since it is located close to the city walls, the house might have also had a public use, though no definite interpretations can be provided at this stage of research. Four stone weights have been found together with a noteworthy amount of bone artifacts. Many floors were made in the opus scutulatum (also called opus signinum) technique; two figlinae – one

showing a pattern of circles or flowers and another consisting of peltae or scales motifs were also laid. A beautiful fountain was built over an impluvium. In second–early third century CE, a mosaic was laid on the main courtyard, while many areas of the domus, including the fountain, were dismantled and leveled probably due to some structural collapse. Architectural terracotta elements dating to the 2nd century BCE were removed and thrown into the fountain, and a layer of yellow clay was laid over these areas in order to level and raise the surface of the courtyard. In the sixth century CE, the walls of the pit in the main courtyard collapsed and the surrounding area sank. Shortly afterwards, the sunken area was leveled using earth. In this Late Antique/Early Medieval phase, the cistern built near the former fountain was used as refuse pit: animal bones, broken pots, and other objects were thrown inside. For the time being, all that can be said for certain is that the tauroctony was found in a secondary context in this large house. It probably originated somewhere in the structure, and—given its date – may have been installed during the period of renovations, and subsequently moved and discarded as part of the late-antique interventions at the site. Similar mithraea, built into elite houses, are known across the Roman Empire; a parallel for a statue like this moving in Late Antiquity could even be seen in the statue from Cabra (Spain), where a statue of Mithras was re-displayed as part of a fountain in the peristyle of a house during renovations in the mid-late third century CE.4 Still, the statue provides valuable information about the social contexts of the cult of Mithras in second-third century CE Italy.

Fig. 8.8. Mithraic discoveries in northern Latium, Etruria and Umbria. Map: A. Mastrocinque, based on Bastianelli 2018 and Luciani 2016.

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MITHRAISM IN LATIUM AND ADJACENT AREAS In 1937, Franz Cumont published an overview of what was known at that time of the Mithraic cult in the Roman Regio VII of Etruria.5 Since that year, many other discoveries were made in this region (fig. 8.8), particularly in the recent decades. Mithraic finds are documented in several sites from the region in question: Veii, the territory of Capena, Fiano Romano, Caere, Sutrium, Vicus Matrini (near Sutri), Soriano nel Cimino, Ficulle (Bolsena), Volsini (a bust of Sabazius with a small Mithraic relief on the chest), Visentium, Colle Arsiccio (near the Trasimeno lake), Tarquinia, Vulci, Cosa, Rusellae, Portus Pisanus (Livorno), Camposanto in Pisa (one relief), Asciano (Siena), Arretium, Cavriglia (near Arezzo), Montalcino (Chiusi). Recently, a Mithraic vase from Guidonia and some Mithraic finds from Tivoli (Tibur) have been presented in a conference at Rome. Archaeological evidence pointing to the presence of Mithraea are also numerous in Umbria as well, at Ocriculum, Interamna Nahars, Montoro, Spoletium, Trebiae, Carsulae, and Sentinum.6 In other words, the cult of Mithras is much better represented in northern Italy than previously thought. The economic investment related to the Mithraic cult appears noteworthy in some places of southern Etruria such as Tarquinia, Vulci, and Veii. The double relief from Fiano Romano (now in the Louvre Museum: CIMRM 641) is an important monument from this perspective. The social milieu which mainly contributed to the development of Mithraic cult in many provinces was dominated by army officers and customs employees.7 However, this part of Italy was almost completely demilitarized and customs offices were a matter of provincial borders, so the primary promoters of Mithraism have to be found elsewhere. So how, then, do we explain the spread and popularity of the cult in this region, and what do expensive monuments like the Tarquinia statue add to our understanding of Mithraism in northern Italy? In this case, it is more likely that mithraea furnished with many expensive monuments were financed by prominent and rich patres.8 Among them could have been senior officers and other individuals involved in the imperial administration who had Italic origins and returned home following their discharge. Some of these people could have been initiated in the Mithraic cult, eventually becoming leaders of Mithraic communities in the provinces in which they served. Upon their return to Italy, they probably wanted to help establishing new congregations in their hometowns. In the case of Tarquinia, the space

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devoted to the cult seems to have been carved out from a very elite house as part of renovations. A similar hypothesis could also be proposed for Rome itself, and could explain the generosity of some patres who financed lavishly furnished mithraea. Along the same lines, their support for the Mithraic cult was perhaps also a means of increasing their social standing and influence among their fellow citizens, as well as in the Senate and the imperial court. During the period in question, the involvement in the Mithraic cult also implied a faithful adherence to the imperial ideology,9 and therefore the leaders provided suitable connections between a city or a community and the emperor, which were even better than the ones facilitated by the Seviri Augustales. Although ongoing work may reveal more details about the Mithraic community at Tarquinia, the excavations to date have revealed that the cult seems to have been sponsored and supported by an extremely elite homeowner in the local community. He may have become involved in the cult during service in the provinces, bringing the cult back to his Italian community. The mithraeum was probably built into his house, rather than a free-standing structure; as such, the cult was closely linked to his own status and authority at Tarquinia. NOTES 1

2

3

4 5

6 7 8

9

See http://www.icr.beniculturali.it/pagina.cfm?usz= 5&uid=73&rid=84&rim=343 (accessed 5 May, 2019); and Scapaticci 2018. On the three campaigns ssee the forthcoming volume: A. Mastrocinque/C.M. Marchetti/F. Soriano (eds), La domus del Mitreo a Tarquinia. Ricerche archeologiche dell'Università di Verona. Vol. I BAR International Series. Rome, Esquilinum: CIMRM 369; Mithraeum of the Caracalla’s baths: CIMRM 457; Mithraeum of the Circus Maximus: CIMRM 434; Ostia, Mithraeum “delle terme”: CIMRM 229; Mithraeum of Spoleto: CIMRM 676; Luco (Spain): Alvar et al. 2006, 277. Triangular relief from the Forum of Nerva: CIMRM 411; marble triangle from the Mithraeum of Santa Prisca: CIMRM 487. Triangular altars at El Munts (Spain): Alvar et al. 2006, 277. Triangular bases: Ostia, Mithraeum “delle terme”: CIMRM 229. McCarty (forthcoming). Cumont 1937. For a more recent perspective on the “eastern” cults in central Italy (Mithraic mysteries included): Rubio 1991; Luciani 2016, 18-23; Luciani 2018. For an up-dated overview: Bastianelli 2018; Fusco 2018; Luciani2018; Rubio Rivera 2018. Cumont 1913, 33-69; Merkelbach 1984, 153; Clauss 1992, 277-9; Gordon 2009. See Gordon 1972; Gordon 2001b. The percentage of soldiers among the initiates was less relevant than it had been supposed in the past: Gordon 2009. Mastrocinque 2017.

9

The Mithras Cult and Collegia at Ostia A Spatial Perspective Anna Danilova INTRODUCTION The Roman cult of Mithras, an elective cult based around individual congregations, has long been compared to various voluntary professional associations.1 This comparison is based on a range of common institutional features: both Mithraic congregations and collegia gathered for meals, both worshipped patron gods, both served to build social interconnections among members. The main difference, it has been argued, is in whether professional or cultic activities took priority; a minor distinction, given that many Mithras-worshippers in the same community also had professional ties.2 Nevertheless, no proper comparative study between Mithraic communities and professional collegia has yet been done.3 In addition, much of the scholarship on the mithraea at Ostia has treated each mithraeum in isolation and focused mostly on the iconographic interpretation of their rich decorative programs.4 Yet these sanctuaries were part of the urban fabric of the ancient city. It is worth examining this supposed congruence to test whether Mithraic groups exhibited similar social dynamics as collegia. One realm in which to do this is in their spatial dimensions. By looking at the architectural layouts of their buildings, their topographical positions, and their distribution across the city, we can unveil new aspects of the behavior of these groups and their relationship with the society. This approach is based on the assumption that there is a continuous two-way relationship between the urban spaces and the people that create and inhabit them. The people who were living and working in Ostia were influencing their environment, modifying it according to their needs and values. At the same time people themselves were affected by their physical and social surroundings.5 Ostia makes an excellent case-study to compare Mithras sanctuaries and collegia for two reasons. Firstly, it provides exceptionally rich source material. Ostia was Rome’s harbor located at the mouth of Tiber. With the growth of commerce during the second and third centuries CE, it became a large and densely occupied city. 6 Numerous mithraea and collegial buildings

appear in Ostia exactly during this period.7 The high preservation of the buildings and of the city landscape in general allows us to place Mithraic communities and collegia within the wider context of urban life. Secondly, socially Ostia was a very different environment from the settlements in the European frontier areas, where the majority of the known Mithraic shrines were scattered. Commerce was the raison d'être of this city and the inhabitants were predominantly of “commercial classes”: tradesmen, craftsmen and other professionals working with transportation of goods.8 It has been previously argued that Mithraism could perform different functions for men in several different social situations.9 It succeeded among soldiers, petty bureaucrats, and servants of elite households by offering new social forms, which, however, were shaped to confirm the social experience already familiar to them. Submission to authority and acceptance of a particular place in the hierarchy were highly encouraged. At the same time, those found worthy could hope for promotion, leading to an elevated social status and the benefits of belonging to a loyal group.10 However, these were also the values of the tradesmen who formed the professional trade collegia.11 Therefore it is not surprising that there is some overlap between Mithraic and collegial networks. It is generally accepted that at least one mithraeum, Mitreo di Fructosus, belonged to a collegium.12 In addition, the epigraphic sources demonstrate that some leaders of Mithraic communities simultaneously held high positions in professional trade collegia.13 By comparing how Mithraic associations and trade collegia expressed themselves in architectural and topographical terms, this article investigates what place these associations occupied in the urban landscape and how they interacted with Ostian society more broadly. This is especially important for the study of the Mithras cult because it creates a fuller picture of adherents’ everyday lives, lives that seems to have included roles in quite different social milieux.

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SPATIAL ORGANIZATION AT OSTIA By Roman standards, Ostia was a large city. It has been estimated that by the third century CE the population of the city was over fifty thousand people and its territory covered some 130 hectares, reaching from the southern bank of the Tiber and extending beyond the city walls to the south and the east.14 However, recent archaeological surveys revealed that the city continued also on the currently unexcavated northern bank of the river.15 Understanding the place of mithraea and scholae within this urban environment requires first examining the ways in which city space was conceived in the Roman world by looking at the two basic components of urban

H[SHULHQFHЯWKHVWUHHWDQGWKHQHLJKERUKRRGЯDV well as how mithraea related to these features. Streets as social environments Streets served as the connective tissue of Roman cities, creating an urban network that allowed people to move through the city along fixed routes as well as a hierarchy. From ancient literary sources we know that Romans conceptually divided city streets into two general categories, the via/platea and the angiportum/semita.16 A wide street with architectural elements such as porticoes, public monuments, and passage architecture was generally called a via or platea. Such streets were major traffic arteries and the scene of

Mithraeum

Building reference

Established (AD)

Building context and local/ semi-public character (L/SP)

Dimensions of the mithraeum proper

Seating capacity

Mitreo del Caseggiato di Diana

I,III,3

Second half of III century

Two vaulted rooms on the ground ÁRRURIDUHEXLOWLQVXOD/

8.00 x 6.10 m

22-28

Mitreo di Menandro

I,III,5

III century

Rooms of a private domus in an insula complex (L)

8.15 x 4.20 m

15-20

Mitreo di Fructosus

I,X,4

second half of III century

Vaulted chamber beneath sanctuary of a collegial hall (schola of stuppatores) (L)

5x6m

14-17

Mitreo delle Terme del Mitra

I,XVII,4

III century

Vaulted service corridors beneath a bath complex (L)

15.37 x 4.55 m

27-31

Mitreo Aldobrandini

II,I,2

late II century

5HFWDQJXODUHGLÀFHDEXWWLQJWKH city walls (only partially excavated – unknown character)

23.28 (est.) x 3.94 m

15-18

Mitreo presso Porta Romana

II,II,5

second half of III century

Portion of a horrea (SP)

14.96 x 5.9 m

30-38

Mitreo delle Sette Sfere

II,VIII,6

ca. 170-180 CE

Room annexed to house (Domus del Apuleio) (SP)

11.20 x 4.95 m

27-32

Mitreo delle Parete Dipinte

III,I,6

ca. 162 CE

Domestic quarters & peristyle of a house (SP)

17.75 x 4 m

21-28

Mitreo della Planta Pedis

III,XVII,2

ca. 204-211 CE

Hall with piers at the back end of a complex of buildings along Via del Serapide (L)

12 x 8.5 m

20-23

Mitreo del Palazzo Imperiale

regio III, NW part

c. 193-200 or 200-225 CE

5HFWDQJXODUKDOORͿSHULVW\OHRID large insula and bath complex (L)

16.70 x 5.35 m

33-40

Mitreo degli Animali

IV,II,11

ca. 198 CE

+DOOZLWKSLHUVRQWKHJURXQGÁRRU 16.30 x 4.50 m of a large insula (L)

15-18

Mitreo delle Sette Porte

IV,V,13

ca. 170-180 CE

Cella of a converted warehouse (horrea) adjacent to an insula (L)

7.05 x 5.80 m

22-28

Mitreo dei Serpenti

V,VI,6

second half of III century

Tabernae of a commercial building (SP)

11.97 x 5.15 m

32-28

Mitreo di Felicissimus

V,IX,1

second half of III century

Rooms of a medianum house (L)

10.35-11.10 x 4.05 m

26-33

Table 9.1. The mithraea (Modified from White 2012).

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Name of the building (the names given at the time of exFDYDWLRQGRQRWDOZD\VUHÁHFWWKH true nature of the buildings)

Collegium

SiteReference

Date

Location

Caseggiato dei Triclini

fabri tignuarii (the builders)

I, XII, 1

c. 120 CE

Eastern Decumanus/ Forum

Aula e Tempio dei Mensores

mensores frumentarii (the grain measurers)

I, XIX, 1-3 c. 112 CE

Via della Foce

Tempio Collegiale and Mitreo di Fructosus

stuppatores (tow-makers)

I, X, 4

222-235 CE

Via del Pomerio/Via del Tempio Rotondo

Schola del Traiano

probably navicularii (the shipowners)

IV, V, 15

138-161 CE

Western Decumanus

Tempio dei Fabri Navales

fabri navales (the ship-carpenters)

III, II, 1-2

161-192 CE

Western Decumanus

Sede degli Augustales

unknown

V, VII, 1-2 138-180 CE

Eastern Decumanus

Tempio Collegiale

fabri tinguarii (the builders)

V, XI, 1

End of the II century

Eastern Decumanus

Domus di Marte

unknown

III, II, 5

c. 127 CE

Western Decumanus

Caseggiato dei Lottatori

unknown

V,III,1

c. 117-138 CE

Via della Fortuna Annonaria/Via

Caseggiato di Bacco e Arianna

unknown

III,XVII,5

c. 117-138 CE

Via del Serapide

Serapeum

unknown

III,XVII,4

c. 123-126 CE

Via del Serapide

Domus del Serapeo

unknown

III,XVII,3

c. 117-138 CE

Via del Serapide

Table 9.2. The collegial buildings.

urban activities like religious processions and triumphal parades. They were the place where people went to be seen and establish their social identity.17 In addition, they were filled with commercial activity and lined with shops. In topographical terms, the streets that fit this description led directly to city gates and/or the forum; they allowed passage to the most important nodes within the urban fabric. 18 At Ostia the main thoroughfares included the Eastern and Western Decumanus and Via Della Foce. The Via del Pomerio, Via degli Aurighi, and Via della Fortuna Annonnaria, were less prestigious, but still quite public and monumentalized. Secondary streets were classified as semita or angiportum, and were suited for less visible activities. Roman authors describe activities taking place in these streets as those which people did not wish, or expect, to be observed.19 Topographically, these streets did not integrate into the street network very well; they tended to break it up. They had fewer intersections and did not lead to city gates or the Forum, making them more difficult to navigate. They also had a greater distance between doorways and less activity.20

Neighborhoods Roman neighborhoods, vici, are hard to define in spatial and social terms. Spatially, they are diffuse entities focused on an identifiable center or core but with outer limits that are fuzzy and subject to debate.21 The term vicus itself is quite ambiguous, which leads to a variety of interpretations of what a neighborhood is. In smaller settlements, it could have comprised a group of buildings along either side of a street. However, it has been argued that in more complex urban systems such as Rome vici might have consisted of several blocks. Vici were centered on compita, crossroad shrines dedicated to the neighborhood Lares. While several such shrines are known from Rome and Pompeii, at Ostia only one certain compitum is preserved: a round marble altar on a small square at the intersection of Via di Diana and Via dei Lari.22 Socially, Roman neighborhoods were very close-knit communities where everyone knew each other, since most of the population worked in their immediate neighborhood, and used the same shops and water basins.23 Besides, the comparative studies of other pre-modern cities suggest that urban residents typically lived their

95

Fig. 9.1. The distribution of mithraea and collegial buildings in Ostia. Modified from Calza et.al. 1953.

lives within an area much smaller than the entire city. 24 This seems to be confirmed also from Roman literary sources.25 Depending on their social status and occupation, the individuals at Ostia were in higher or lesser degree tied to their local neighborhood. A transportation professional would be constantly on the move between Ostia and Rome, while a craftsman might stay within the area of his occupation and would have there-

96

fore limited contact with the city. It seems even more so because in the Roman city there was often little separation between workplace and home; many people resided in (or adjacent to) the spaces where they conducted business. All of this must have contributed to formation of neighborhoods as small, “gated” communities. Situating mithraea and scholae in relation to the urban features discussed above can reveal their

social aspects. For example, in his study examining the topography of Mithras cult in Rome, Jonas Bjørnebye observed that the small mithraea were generally located in the middle of neighborhoods, further away from main thoroughfares or traffic nodes.26 These “neighborhood” mithraea were often only accessible after threading one’s way through the network of backstreets, which required topographic knowledge of a local. Such

mithraea seem to have functioned on the micro level, contributing to social cohesion within the Mithraic community and linking it closely to the cohesion of the immediate neighborhood.27 The larger mithraea in Rome, on the other hand, are most often located near important traffic nodes or crossroads, or on the easily accessible locations. These large, “semi-public” mithraea appeared to be suited for larger and more transient groups,

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and seem to have functioned on a macro level.28 Do these correlations between mithraeum size and the social dynamics of the community also apply in Ostia? And how did the spatial behavior of Mithras cult differ from that of professional trade collegia? MITHRAS-CULT AT OSTIA With 16 known mithraea and at least two other shrines of “Mithraic” layout, Ostia represents the largest concentration of archaeological remains for the cult of Mithras from a single city. The 14 mithraea whose locations can be pinpointed and that functioned in Ostia during the second and the third centuries CE will be analyzed here (Tab. 9.1).29 Because the Mithras-cult seems to have appeared at Ostia from around the 160s CE, when the urban development of the city was already well underway, the symbolic “caves” were often installed in pre-existing buildings of various types, including apartment blocks (insulae), private houses, bath complexes, warehouses (horrea), and collegial halls. Lacking exterior decoration or space for the public’s religious participation, each mithraeum essentially was an inside without an outside.30 The focus was clearly on the interior of the shrine. At Ostia the interiors were rather expensive, compared to the most mithraea in the provinces. They were decorated with fresco paintings, black and white mosaics, beautiful marble reliefs and statues. The even distribution of mithraea across the city fabric (fig. 9.1) seems to suggest that the number of mithraea grew with the number of worshippers.31 However, judging by the size of the shrines, the groups remained quite small. The maximum seating capacity of mithraea can be calculated by allocating one person for each 50cm of side podium, giving an approximate size of the group which could simultaneously use the mithraeum. At Ostia, this calculation gives an average of 35 attendees per mithraeum and around 500 adherents for all known mithraea active at Ostia in the second and third centuries CE.32 This number could be lower if not all the seats were necessarily occupied at each gathering, or higher if mithraea were used in turns by groups that were larger than what seating capacity suggests. Despite the even distribution of mithraea across Ostia, their topographical characteristics show some significant variations that seem to confirm Bjørnebye’s model. Several seem clearly to fall in the “semi-public” category. The Mitreo presso Porta Romana is one of the largest mithraea in Ostia, with a seating capacity for 30–38 people, and is located right next to the Porta Romana. The mithraeum was accessed through a

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small shrine (the Sacello at II,II,4) that opened onto a side street connected to the Piazzale della Vittoria. This square seems to be where carriages arriving down the Via Ostiensis from Rome were stationed. It would thus have been a very busy and trafficked spot, full of people and transport. The Mitreo presso Porta Romana combines proximity and easy access from this busy location with a discrete entrance path. The Mitreo dei Serpenti, located in the tabernae of a commercial building lying at the corner of Eastern Decumanus and Via del Sole might have been “semi-public” because of its size and proximity to the crowded Decumanus. It was a rather large shrine, seating 28–38 people, and was established in the second half of the third century CE. It could have been accessed from Eastern Decumanus through the Caseggiato V,VI,7, a building consisting of shops opening to the Decumanus, back rooms of which were adjacent to the mithraeum. Two other mithraea are candidates for being “semi-public” given their locations. The Mitreo delle Pareti Dipinte was installed in the domestic quarters and peristyle of a private house. The entrance to this house lies at the intersection of two of the main thoroughfares – the Western Decumanus and Via della Foce. Its seating capacity was only 21–28 people, but it is also the earliest known Mithraic shrine at Ostia. It was built ca. 162 CE, and the number of adherents to the cult might have been still quite low at that time. Finally, another early and relatively small mithraeum, Mitreo delle Sette Sfere (ca 170–180 CE, seating 28–32 people), could have been accessed from the busy public spaces. It is located behind the Quattro Tempietti (four small temples) and could have been accessed from such high profile public spaces as the Eastern Decumanus or Piazzale delle Corporazioni by crossing the small square in front of the four temples. The rest of the mithraea at Ostia seem to have a more local orientation, in some cases challenging Bjørnebye’s definition of the “neighborhood mithraea” as those not “located in insulae, thermae and other more public structures.”33 Insulae represent small areas of frequent face-to-face interaction, so at Ostia they are effectively one of the neighborhood types. Furthermore, not all the thermae are equally public. The Terme di Mitra or the Terme della Trinacria are not nearly as public as the Terme di Foro or the Terme dei Cisiarii near the Porta Romana. They are located close to the main thoroughfares, but do not utilize the public street fronts and therefore are spatially oriented towards their neighborhoods. Such baths can be even called “neighborhood” or “semi-public” baths. The Mitreo delle Terme del Mitra is

located in a small bath complex that is not oriented towards the public domain. It might have been utilized by the community living and/or working in that neighborhood as a venue for social cohesion.34 Many of the Ostian mithraea have even clearer neighborhood orientations. The Mitreo della Planta Pedis is located in the neighborhood of Via del Serapide. This neighborhood is a trapezoid-shaped urban zone, which was constructed as one building project during the Hadrianic period. It is clearly segregated from the public domain of the busy thoroughfare of Via della Foce. The mithraeum was installed in a pre-existing Hadrianic hall around 204–211 CE. It is located at the far end of this neighborhood (fig. 9.2). The Mitreo di Felicissimus, famous for the depiction of the seven Mihtraic grades, had a very secluded location on the ground floor of a medianum house, far from the main thoroughfares. The Mitreo degli Animali occupied a hall with piers on the ground floor of a large insula complex and was entered from its inner courtyard, implying more restricted and local access. Two other mithraea have a more unusual spatial relationship that disturbs the otherwise strikingly even distribution of Mithraic shrines across Ostia, and that complicates this picture.35 The Mitreo di Menandro was installed in the rooms of a private domus in an insula complex. Back-toback with it lies the Mitreo del Caseggiato di Diana. In fact, the Caseggiato di Diana and the Mitreo di Menandro form a “cross” shape with two rooms containing bread ovens. Their proximity has led to suggestions that the communities using these shrines were based not upon residency (they would be redundant in the same area), but on other grounds such as a common profession.36 It has been suggested that the Mitreo di Menandro might have served the inhabitants of the insula-neighborhood, while the Mitreo del Caseggiato di Diana might have served for the gatherings of the bakery workers functioning in the same building block.37 There is one mithraeum that certainly served a professional community, but these professionals seem to have lived and worked in the neighborhood, blurring the lines between residential and professional social networks. The Mitreo di Fructosus, the smallest of the Ostian mithraea, was located in a vaulted chamber beneath the unfinished temple of a collegial hall of stuppatores, the tow-makers. This location suggests a relationship with the collegium. It is also adjacent to the workshops along Vico del Pino where tow was produced.38 The street was closed off from both sides to be used for their work activities, producing an enclave for this community of professionals.

There is no reason to believe that these tow-makers had habitations elsewhere. As discussed above, at Ostia there was no clear separation between the working and living space. Their living quarters were probably located in the rooms above the workshops. Some of the Ostian mithraea currently lie in unexcavated areas, and it is not possible to analyse their spatial environment. The Mitreo del Palazzo Imperiale lies in an unexcavated area near the Tiber and therefore its character can be judged only from the building in which it was installed. Despite the traditional name, the Palazzo Imperiale is a large insula with a bath complex. Therefore, the mithraeum might have belonged to the “neighborhood” of the insula. Mitreo delle Sette Porte (fig. 9.1 - no. 12; IV.5.13) was located within a small first century horrea (IV.5.12). During the Hadrianic and Antonine periods, considerable building activity took place around the horrea, which resulted in it becoming a part of interconnected building environment including a cortile and garden (Cortile del Dionysio, IV.5.9) to the east and a double hall to the south (IV.5.14).39 The character of this complex is not clear, but the mithraeum had a secluded position burrowed deep inside this structure that seems to correspond to the position of a locally oriented mithraeum. Finally, the topographical context of Mitreo Aldobrandini is unknown, apart from the fact that it was located quite close to the Tiber abutting the inner side of the city wall. The movement and visibility of the Mithraic communities This distribution, with some mithraea positioned near major public arteries and others tucked away in smaller neighborhoods suggests two patterns of movement for the users of the sanctuaries.40 The first pattern is the localized movement within a neighborhood where individuals worked and lived, where they would meet in a local cult space. Such localized, but somewhat regular, movement of a group of perhaps 25 to 40 people would have been a noticeable occurrence in a small community such as a neighborhood. A different pattern was formed around the mithraea that can be classified as “semi-public”. In these cases, the movement of adherents would take them to public locations where they would be more visible, but the area would also have much more traffic in general. These variations in movement patterns could be explained by the variations in the degree of mobility among the Mithras cult adherents. For example, stuppatores, the tow-makers, by the

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Fig. 9.2. Caseggiato di Bacco e Arianna (III,XVII,5), 2 Serapeum (III,XVII,4), Domus del Serapeo (III,XVII,3), 4 - Caseggiato del Mitreo della Planta Pedis (III,XVII,2). Modified from Calza et al. 1953.

nature of their occupation, were tied to their neighborhood. By contrast, the cisiarii (the coachmen) or ferrymen could find themselves in Ostia or Rome at different times and needed their mithraea to be located near the main thoroughfares. THE SCHOLAE

AND TEMPLES OF

OSTIAN COLLEGIA

Collegia owned house properties of various types, but most important for their group image were their gathering halls (scholae) and temples of patron gods of their trades, which served as meeting places for the members. Gatherings provided tradesmen with ambience for socializing and economic collaboration. Collegial activities were manifold: convivial, religious, and funerary activities are known through the epigraphic material. But what was typical for all these types of gatherings was their public character: collegial activities were not meant for the eyes of the members only, but were performed in the context of the city.41 At Ostia, the absolute majority of the buildings associated with collegia were constructed during the second century CE.42 However the identification of the collegial scholae is rather problematic;

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the diverse ground plans of the scholae (fig. 9.1) demonstrate that there was no single architectural standard for these buildings, meaning that they cannot be recognized on form alone. Only a few collegial buildings are identified with certainty (Tab. 9.2) thanks to marble inscriptions found in situ: the Caseggiato dei Triclini (I,XII,1) and the Tempio Collegiale (V,XI,1) belonged to the collegium of the builders; the Tempio Collegiale and the Mitreo di Fructosus (I,X,4) to the towmakers; the Schola del Traiano (IV,V,15) is interpreted now as the schola of shipowners; the Tempio dei Fabri Navales (III,II,1-2) belonged to the collegium of shipbuilders.43 Other buildings have indirect evidence of being used for collegial gatherings. The Serapeum was identified by epigraphy and iconography as the temple of the god Serapis, an Egyptian deity, but the temple itself may have formed part of a collegial complex. In the second century CE it was connected with the Domus del Serapeo to the south and the Caseggiato di Bacco e Arianna to the north, offering prestigious spaces for gatherings and dining (fig. 9.2). Unlike most of the main public temples, the Serapeum is not located along one of the main streets, but is the central building in an inward-oriented urban complex, suggesting that this complex should be interpreted as a unit. Epigraphic evidence tells the temple was built at the expense of Caltilius P[….].44 Probably he was a member of an Alexandrian immigrant family.45 Simon Keay suggests that the merchants involved in the Alexandrian grain trade brought the Serapis cult to Ostia, in the context of the diversion of the Alexandrian grain fleet from Puteoli to Ostia.46 It can be speculated that the complex of the buildings around the temple of Serapis and the neighborhood along the Via del Serapide could have belonged to the merchants involved in Egyptian grain trade. The location among the grain horrea near the harbor seems suitable for this collegium. The Aula e Tempio dei Mensores, the collegial seat of grain measurers located along Via della Foce, also has an integrated temple. This building was identified due to the mosaic depicting the grain measurers. Their temple may have been dedicated to Ceres Augusta, because there is an inscription mentioning Cn. Sentius Felix, where he is called patronus mensorum frumentariorum Cereris Augustae.47 The layout and location of buildings can also reveal their function as scholae. Recent spatial studies on different categories of Ostian buildings and their characteristics have introduced new methods and approaches that are helpful in establishing preferred architectural features of

scholae and their preferred location.48 According to the spatial criteria, including characteristic layout, topographical location and suitable interior, the following buildings can tentatively be identified as scholae: the Domus di Marte, the Caseggiato dei Lottatori, and the Sede degli Augustales. Unfortunately, it is not known which collegia may have used them for gatherings. When the Sede degli Augustales was excavated in the 1930s, it produced statues thought to depict members of the imperial family alongside an inscribed dedication for a statue of a sevir augustalis. This led to identification of the building as the collegial seat of priests of the imperial cult, an identification which has rarely been questioned.49 More recent examination, though, suggests that the statues and inscriptions belonged to domestic or funerary contexts, and the traces of post-antique lime kilns next to the building mean that scavenged marble objects were taken there and stored to be transformed into lime.50 Although the identification with the augustales can thus be rejected, the spatial characteristics of the building reflect its use as a schola for an unknown collegium. As can be seen from the map (fig. 9.1), the scholae are distributed all over Ostia; there is no clustering. Certain areas, however, seem to be almost lacking any scholae: in the area between the Decumanus and the Tiber, only the Aula e Tempio dei Mensores is currently securely identified as a schola. It is unknown whether it could be explained by unsuitable character of this part of the city, or the bad state of preservation of the buildings along the Tiber that do not allow establishing their functions. For the rest of the scholae, the locations seem to have been chosen for their public visibility or their proximity to the professional groups that the scholae served. The most prominent scholae are found along the city’s main thoroughfares: the western Decumanus, the eastern Decumanus, and Via Della Foce. Such locations have been interpreted as “alluding to status and striving for association with the public buildings of the forum area.”51 The Caseggiato dei Triclini, the schola of the builders, is located right next to the Forum, where the value of the land property must have been very high, indicating the wealth and high status of the collegium. In addition to the schola this collegium had a temple, the Tempio Collegiale, also located along the Decumanus Maximus, but in another public spot: in front of the theater and near the Piazzale delle Corporazioni (the square where many collegia had their stationes). This certainly demonstrates the importance of this collegium at Ostia. The Schola di Traiano had a very prominent position

Fig. 9.3. Rooms 1-5 along the Vico del Tempio Rotondo belong to the workshop of stuppatores. The building marked with grey is the schola of the corpus stuppatorum (Tempio Collegiale I,X,4). Room 6 is the mithraeum of Fructosus. Modified from Calza et.al. 1953.

facing the eastern Decumanus. This was a highprofile “via” leading from the Porta Marina into the city center, lined with numerous shops and bars which demonstrate that this street was a desired setting for commercial activities. On the other side of the city we find the so-called Sede degli Augustali, which has an even more prestigious location along the Decumanus on its stretch between the Porta Romana and the Forum, which was the most integrated street in Ostia.52 This is the widest street in Ostia, but deep wheel-ruts on the Decumanus stop before the theatre, which means that the stretch of the Decumanus between the theatre and Forum was closed for wheel-traffic.53 Therefore this street must have been the main promenade of the city as well as the place for public processions. The “Sede degli Augustali” was well-placed to take advantage of this highly-visible public space. Smaller scholae, such as the Caseggiato dei Lottatori, which belonged to an unknown association,

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are located along the secondary thoroughfares, where less activity was taking place. However, they tried to compensate it by being as visible and integrated into the street network as possible, taking advantage of their corner positions at the intersection of the streets. The realities of available urban space and available finances might have limited the choice of location, but the desirability of being at visible nodes was shared even by such smaller scholae. The location of some other scholae appears to be dictated by the proximity to their professional field.54 Such scholae include the Aula e Tempio dei Mensores, located next to the horrea and the harbor; the Tempio Collegiale and Mitreo di Fructosus, adjacent to the tow-producing workshops along Vico del Pino; and probably the Serapeum complex, located in the area where many large grain horrea were found, even if the complex is set on a smaller side-street. In addition to relatively visible locations, these scholae draw attention to their presence and prestige with a monumentality that goes beyond that of private buildings. Monumental entrances, colonnaded porticoes, and temples all alluded to the architecture of public spaces, helping to enhance the status of the group. The Schola di Traiano, Schola degli Augustales, and Caseggiato dei Triclini are among the largest and most monumental buildings in the city and they certainly seem to have been the most prominent scholae in Ostia. This visibility, position along key avenues, and exterior monumentality all stand in contrast to the majority of mithraea in Ostia; nevertheless, the schola of the stuppatores (Tempio Collegiale e Mitreo di Fructosus) offers a unique example of how these distinctions might be blurred. The collegium chose to have a mithraeum as the main shrine of their schola. The schola itself was in a very visible position at the corner of a busy street leading from the city center to the southern gate. In addition, the association had a stall at Piazzale delle Corporazione. In that way they were very noticeable and open to the contact with the people. The mithraeum, though, was installed in the basement of their unfinished temple. And despite being located in the center of the schola, the entrance to the mithraeum was placed in such a way that it was not visible from the street. It looks like it was used exclusively by the community of the stuppatores and was entered from the side of the Vicolo del Pino where they worked. In this way, the collegium adapted the building to serve their needs in keeping a public profile of their association and at the same time could hold more secluded Mithraic gatherings (fig. 9.3).

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CONCLUSIONS This article has explored the architectural and topographical characteristics of trade collegia and Mithraic cult associations at Ostia and their role in the life of the city during the second and third century CE. Both trade collegia and Mithras cult associations were associations belonging to the same stratum of Ostian tradesmen, but the differences in the raison d’être of these associations seem to have led them to develop quite opposite characters of spatial expression: public for collegia and more secluded for Mithraic communities. The results of the spatial analysis of the collegial buildings make it quite clear that they were oriented towards the public domain and even used the language of the monumental public architecture to show their importance. By contrast, the topographical locations of mithraea reveal that they were shielded from the public domain, even if their gatherings could not have been unnoticed by the locals. The character of the mithraea at Ostia was versatile; local and “semi-public” mithraea could be distinguished based on their openness to major thoroughfares. The local mithraea seem to have served for social cohesion by neighborhood or professional communities. The “semi-public” mithraea, on the other hand, were located near the main thoroughfares or public spaces and might have served the groups that were more mobile.55 Much of the cultic and professional life of the Roman Empire centered around the accumulation and deployment of social capital in a visible, public manner.56 This is certainly true of the collegia and their temples. Yet Mithraic associations seem to have operated differently, minimizing this aspect of their institutional presence in neighborhoods. They were not “secret,” but neither were they aimed at performing prestige for wider audiences. There is greater room to develop distinctions between forms of elective association in the Roman world, and spatial analysis offers one means to do so. Beyond Mithraic studies, juxtaposing these two types of voluntary associations shows the variety of the social constructs used by the Ostian tradesmen and creates a fuller picture of their life. NOTES * I would like to express my thanks to Matthew M. McCarty, whose contribution in the form of sound advice and textual emendation has substantially improved the quality of this article, and to Simon Malmberg for his supervision of the Master’s thesis upon which this article is based. 1 Beck 1992, 1996; Swerdlow 1991.

2 3 4

5 6

7

8

9 10 11 12 13

Merkelbach 1984, Clauss 1992, Gordon, 1972. Griffith 2010: 70 Good examples of the results of such interpretations are Clauss (2000:62-101), Gordon (1976), Floriani Squarciapino (1962:37-59). While there have been fewer studies that placed Mithras cult in the context of urban landscape of Ostia: J. Schreiber (1967) analyzed the relationships between Ostian mithraea and their surroundings, J. T. Bakker (1994) and L.M. White (1990 and 2012) focused on the construction phases of the immediate surroundings and on chronological development of Ostian mithraea. More recently, Jonas Bjørnebye (2015), while discussing the topographical positions of the mithraea in Rome and movement of the Mithraic communities, made some brief observations about the mithraea in Ostia. A master’s thesis by Iskander Sonnemans explored the place of the cult in the urban landscape of Ostia by applying spatial syntax to the buildings containing mithraea. Knox and Pinch 2010, Soja 1980. Calza 1953; Meiggs 1973; Hermansen 1981; Bakker 1994. More recent works cover the topics of social transformation and urban change at Ostia in Late Antiquity: Gering 2004; Boin 2013; Danner 2017. For Mithraic cult at Ostia, see Becatti 1954; Bakker 1994; White 2012. For the Ostian collegia, see Hermansen 1981, 55–90; Bollmann 1998; Sakaguchi 2010; Stöger 2011b; Rohde 2012, forthcoming. On defining professional associations and collegia in general, Verboven 2011; Liu 2013. “Commercial classes” here means the broad social stratum of non-elite individuals that drew their sustenance from commerce and work within the harbor infrastructure. The problematics of the social identification of these people has attracted some scholarly attention during the last years. Mayer (2012) argues for the existence of a Roman middle class, characterized by shared economic standing and class-specific set of values. Verboven has suggested in his articles (e.g., 2007, 2011) that there was in fact a Roman “business class.” There are those who try to avoid the term “class”, but stress the importance of this social stratum for the urban life: “…it was people who spent their days in shops and workshops who made up the social core of Roman urban neighbourhoods, while elites played out their role rather more in the background” (Flohr & Wilson 2016, 1). The fact remains that in such environments as port cities, people involved in commerce, particularly at its upper levels, would have had a substantial income and elevated status. Gordon 1972, 112. Gordon 1972, Beck 1992. Verboven 2011; Liu 2009, 162-71. Hermansen 1982, Clauss 1992, 35. See Clauss 1992, 32-42; CIMRM 221/2 = AE 1899, 205 = D 4265; CIMRM 223. An inscription associated with the Mitreo del Caseggiato di Diana mentions two Marci Caerellii: Hieronimus and [---]us, both priests of Mithras. This may be the same Cerell(ius) Ieronim(us) mentioned in an inscription from 198 CE as a member of the fabri tignuarii (CIMRM 233 = AE 1924, 119; CIMRM 234/5 = D 4213). A bronze tablet from the Mitreo Aldobrandini was dedicated to Sextus Pompeius Maximus by his fellow priests; he was a high priest of Mithras, “father of fathers,” and the president of the collegium of master ferrymen (CIMRM 275). Finally, a marble basin from the Mitreo della Planta Pedis was

14 15 16 17

18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29

30 31 32 33 34

dedicated by M. Umbilius Criton, probably a freedman and patron of the corpus lenunculariorum tabulariorum auxiliariorum ostiensium; Criton was possibly involved in the business of these boatmen. White 2012, 436. Martin et al. 2002. Kaiser 2011b, 36. Kaiser (2011b, 38-39) gives several examples of how via/ platea was used in the Roman literature to indicate activities that occurred in the open, including a passage from Cicero referring to the actions of the corrupt governor of Syracuse, who returned money for a bribe publicly, or by via, but later extracted it again secretly, by a semita (Cic. Verr. 2.56.22). On the dynamics of social interaction on the streets, see also Hartnett 2017, 76-112. Kaiser 2011a, 129. In addition to the passage from Cicero cited above, Kaiser (2011b, 39-43) mentions such activities as hiding of an abandoned baby (Plaut. Cist. 123-124), the caching of weapons in preparation for an uprising (Cic. Mil. 24.64), and attempted murder (Suet. Galb. 10.5). These uses in the literature suggest that the people did not expect to be observed on semitae/angiporta and that these streets did not play a role in social display. Angiporta seem to be described as especially private/secretive environment, while semitae were used for commercial activities, but happening in a more spontaneous manner than on viae. Kaiser 2011a, 128. Lott 2013, 178. Bakker 1994, 118-133. Malmberg 2009, 68. Smith 2010, 137. Dyson and Prior 1995, 246. Bjørnebye 2015, 225–236. Bjørnebye 2015, 229. Bjørnebye 2015, 228–9. The mithraeum of the Terme di Caracalla was located on the Via Appia close to the Porta Capena; the mithraeum at the Castra Peregrinorum on the Caelian hill was located on the southern side of the intersection of several streets at the Porta Caelimontana; the mithraeum in the Crypta Balbi complex was located in a much frequented, highly visible location, though not near any city gates or major traffic nodes. Most of the known mithraea were discovered during the extensive excavations of the 1930s. The last mithraeum to be found, the Mitreo dei Marmi Colorati (David 2014; this volume), belongs to a later period and therefore is not discussed here. Another mithraeum excluded here is the Mitreo del Palazzo Imperiale II (also called Mitreo Fagan), probably lying in an unexcavated part of the Palazzo Imperiale. It was discovered sometime in the 1800s and its location is now lost. The Sabazeo (V,XII,3) and Sacello delle Tre Navate ,,,,,  Я WKH WZR VDQFWXDULHV ZLWK 0LWKUDLF OD\RXW and dating to the third century CE, are also excluded because they lack clear Mithraic references. Beck 1992, 5. Becatti 1954, 133. Bakker 1994, 115. Bjørnebye 2015, 232. Bathing was a popular recreational activity that promoted social cohesion within the local communities. People gathered in close proximity, however they did not do so in a spirit of equality across class lines: the

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35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

differing ways in which the bathers interacted with each other ensured that everyone knew his place (Fagan 1999). Normally bathing hours fell during the early to mid-afternoon (Nielsen 1993:1, 135–138), and bathing often preceded the main evening meal. Therefore, the location of the mithraeum in the baths complex might have been convenient for the locals. Meiggs (1973, 404) discussed the bathhouses of Ostia in the context of the recreation facilities that were available in the city. There may also have been two shrines in the Palazzo Imperiale: Becatti 1954, 133; Bakker 1994, 114. Bjørnebye 2015, 232; Bakker 1994, 204. Bakker 1994, 205; White 2012, 459. Hermansen 1982, 121–6. White 2012, 145-146. Bjørnebye 2015, 235. Liu 2009, 276. Stöger 2011b, 229. Caseggiato dei Triclini and Tempio Collegiale: Hermansen 1981, 62, 64. Tempio Collegiale and Mitreo di Fructosus: Hermansen 1981, 61; 1982, 121–6; Schola di Traiano: Sakaguchi 2010, 1–10; Rohde forthcoming. Tempio dei Fabri Navales: Hermansen 1981, 63.

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44 45

46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

Degrassi, Inscript. Italiae XIII 1 (Roma 1947) His family member, Caltilia, left a dedication to Isis Bubastis, where she styled herself as Bubastiaca (CIL XIV.21=ILS 4373=p.248, n. 534). Keay 2010, 15–6. Hermansen 1981, 66. Stöger 2011a; 2011b; Kaiser 2011a, 2011b. Calza 1941, 196–215; Meiggs 1973, 220–1; Hermansen 1981, 62. Laird 2000, 43–84. Stöger 2011a, 234; cf. also Bollmann 1998, 195–9. Stöger 2011b, 231. Bakker 2006. Stöger 2011b, 251–2. As seems to have been the case in Rome: Bjørnebye 2015. Cf. Gordon 2001b; 2017.

10

Some New Observations about the Mithraeum of the Colored Marbles at Ostia Massimiliano David INTRODUCTION

The greatest number of mithraea found in an urban setting comes from Ostia. This case, thanks to the numerous discoveries made over several centuries, allows us to analyze the importance of the Mithraic phenomenon on a single site between the age of Antoninus Pious and the age of Constantine. In the town, which in the third century covered an area of 130 hectares and had a population calculated between 40,000 and 60,000 inhabitants, at least 15 mithraea are known. The cult, popular among the different social levels, grew up to the beginning of the fifth century.1 The only systematic and analytical study of the mithraea of Ostia remains that of Giovanni Becatti, published in 1954 in a series devoted to the excavations of the town.2 The Ostia Marina Project has been undertaken since 2007 by the University of Bologna and is aimed at investigating the suburban neighborhood located between the sea and the late-republican walls of ancient Ostia.3 In this area, we focused especially on insula IV, ix, which is delimited by the famous Edificio con opus sectile (explored by Giovanni Becatti), the via della Marciana, the via di Cartilio Poplicola and by the fence of the archaeological park (fig. 10.1). The site is still hill-shaped and has been conventionally divided into two sectors (the western one, called A, and the eastern, called B). It served as an useful observation point for the knowledge of the stratigraphic sequence of the ancient city from the late republican age up to the eighteenth century. This area was already partially excavated in the 1940s and again in the 1970s, but fortunately it almost completely escaped the large-scale excavations of E42, the Universal Exhibition of Rome interrupted by of the outbreak of World War II. During the investigations of the Ostia Marina Project, the Silenus Baths (IV, ix, 7)4 – built after 130 CE – and the Building of Two Staircases (IV, ix, 6)5 – certainly built in 134 CE or soon after – have been partially unearthed. The late Hadrianic period was effectively characterized by an extensive plan of new constructions: the Building of Two Staircases was built along the via della Marciana. Important renovations actually affected this building during

the Severan age: on the ground floor, commercial shops took the place of a meeting space, probably a thermopolium. Perhaps as a result of these works, in the open space of the courtyard a rectangular (or more precisely a trapezoidal) building in opus listatum mixtum was built in the mid third century. The new building exploited in part some of the pre-existing constructions. So the Caupona of the God Pan (IV, ix, 5) was constructed.6 THE CAUPONA OF

THE

GOD PAN (figs. 10.2-10.3)

The Caupona – a tavern with a kitchen and a pantry – was organized around a wide rectangular hall (room no. 3), flanked to the west, south and east sides by secondary, variously divided rooms. Access from the road was allowed by a large passage leading in room no. 5. There was also the opportunity to enter the building from the south, by a sort of narrow alley (no. 9), through a wide threshold. The northern sector of the building, built using pre-existing structures in opus reticulatum, was perhaps only reserved for the property. A small quadrangular entrance from the street gave access, through a staircase, to an apsed basement. The unusual form of the space and its underground setting suggest that it may have been a Mithraic spelaeum. The floor of the Caupona was entirely covered by a monochrome mosaic, originally extending over the entire surface of the hall. The mosaic was framed by wide black bands that closely followed the perimeter of the walls and seem designed to accommodate furniture. In the southeast corner, the frame in black tesserae bordered an articulated U-shaped bar counter for food preparation and beverage service that looked out partly on the street. The position of the bar counter is visible now only by the decoration of the pavement. A basin with fountain served by a fistula was placed in the southern part of the great hall. The fistula was carefully bounded by the mosaic tesserae. The many restorations that took place in antiquity testify to the long life of the floor.7 Through two wide openings, those who walked on the via della Marciana could enter from room no. 5 and through the main hall, room no. 3. The pave-

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Fig. 10.1. General plan of ancient Ostia and plan of insula IV, ix. Plan: Ostia Marina Project.

ment is preserved for about half of the original length and consists of a black-and-white mosaic, articulated in a large rectangular field (with a figured central square) flanked by a rectangular panel, of which only a very small fragment remains. The rectangular field has a decoration consisting of a series of kantharoi arranged at the corners within almond-shaped frames, and a complex weaving of vines with grapes (in reticular structure), vine leaves, and tendrils. The kantharoi are preserved in full only on the south side; the base of the third kantharos is preserved on the opposite side. Above these are birds with flowers and plants symbolizing the seasons (a duck for the winter and a little parrot for the spring). Inside the half-preserved central field stands the god Pan in a particular – though controversial – pose with the arms tied behind his back; this emblem is what gave the name to the building. The god, horned and hairy with a small swaying tail and goat legs, seems to be taking the first steps of a dance, knees bent and arms drawn up at his sides. On the right are preserved the hand, the arm (almost entirely lost) and a wing of Eros,

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extending to Pan the palm of victory. The scene setting is markedly Dionysiac. When expressed in extended form, the competition usually takes place under the eyes of Bacchus and Ariadne and of a Silenus acting as a judge-referee (agonothetes).

Fig. 10.2. View of ongoing excavation of building IV, ix, 5. Photo: S. De Togni.

Fig. 10. 3a. Caupona of god Pan, general plan. Fig. 10.3b. Mithraeum of colored marbles, general plan. Drawings: S. De Togni.

Fig. 10.4. Mithraeum of colored marbles, room no. 1. Laser-scanning: D. Abate, ENEA.

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Fig. 10.5. Mithraeum of colored marbles, room no. 3, mithraic graffito on the West wall. Photo: M. David.

In the main room, a small bronze of Venus (2nd–3rd century CE) was found, of the type called “Venus with the apple”, quite common in small Roman sculpture; a small bronze of Amor was probably part of the same group. Another object that can be related to the activities held on this site is a bone handle, probably of a small knife, decorated with a dog about to jump. Another knife handle has been discovered, but without any particular decoration. Many game dice and coins came from the excavation of the building, attesting the leisure activities that accompanied the food and drink. THE MITHRAEUM As mentioned above, ancient Ostia is perhaps the city that best represents the widespread presence of Mithraism in Roman Empire society. So far, some fifteen Mithraic cult places have been discovered, dating between the second and the third centuries CE, a period leading up to the growth of Christianity in the city and across the empire. During the last quarter of the fourth century CE, the district outside the Porta Marina changed totally and became one of those sordid places (sordentes loci recorded by an interesting inscription)8 where prestigious buildings – such as the Terme della Marciana9 or the Edificio con opus sectile10 – stood side by side with obscure workshops and remote meeting places. In this period, Ostia began a slow and inexorable process of decline and, within about three centuries, it became a ghost town. Radical alterations in this period clearly testify to a change of use of the entire building occupied by the Caupona of the God Pan (fig. 10.3a). The building was reorganized and renovated. Although the earlier mosaics were left in place, the walls were entirely redecorated with painted plaster imitating marble veneer (fig. 10.3b). Many of the graffiti on the walls are related to the cult of Mithras, which suggest that the entirety of the building was occupied by worshippers of the god. On a wall was carved an interesting Mithraic graffito

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with an invocation to Mithras and Kronos by a certain Concordius: Inv(icto) D(eo) (arrow) M(ithrae) (bow with arrow) D(eo) M(agno) Krono (fig. 10.5). On the south wall of the same room, other Mithraic monograms are preserved.11 The presence of graffiti and the proportions of this hall push to suppose the use as initiatory room (not so different from the hall recently found at Mariana in Corsica). The wall painting here appears as a late evolution of the decorative schemes observable in Rome, such as the Roman houses under the Basilica of Saints John and Paul on the Celian hill. In one (room n. 8) of the rooms (apparatoria?), the painted socle presents the iconographic theme of tridents, from which vivid spirals branch, alternating with arrows. This may be a possible reference to the trinitarian concept of the divine nature of Mithras, the archer-god often worshipped in conjunction with the dadophori (sometimes themselves shown with bow-and-arrow), Cautes and Cautopates. On the north side of the Caupona, the rectangular apsed room (7,20 x 3 m) was raised up to 70 cm and used as spelaeum (fig. 10.4).12 The room was equipped with a ritual well with a marble wellcurb, an earth planting-bed maybe for a sacred plant in the north-east corner, and a low bench raised from the floor about 20 cm (4 x 1,35 m) to support a long bench for banquets.13 At the bottom of the apse, a niche probably housed a piece of furniture (perhaps a throne for the pater). On the back wall of the niche a molded shelf in white marble could have supported a cultic relief, now lost. The long and narrow hall, as required by the Mithraic architectural tradition, presents peculiar characteristics that clearly differ from the other mithraea in the city, such as being at the ground floor (at Ostia only the mithraeum of the Mithras Baths is underground), and other elements: first for the small size, then by the presence of a single podium. It should be added that, among the mithraea identified at Ostia, this is the only one found in a suburban area. In the absence of clear comparanda from this late period, it is unclear how many of these differences can be attributed to the changing face of Mithraism in late antiquity and how many to the particular dynamics of this suburban Mithraic sect. If nothing else, perhaps we can recognize a diversification of the cult and its spaces when compared to iterations of the High Empire. Such a diversification can also be recognized in the unusual layout and decorative program of the Hawarte mithraeum.14 Despite the small size, the hall is characterized by a colored marble pavement that gives the mithraeum its name as the Mithraeum of the

Colored Marbles (fig. 10.4).15 It is a marble pavement in geometrical pattern, very special and particular (this type has comparisons in other contexts – like Casa Bellezza in Rome, dated to the beginning of the fifth century CE, or more probably after 410). Each element is carefully made with the juxtaposition of reused irregular marble fragments, about 1200 pieces in total. It is a simple geometric weft formed by marble crustae in giallo antico, africano, greco scritto, cipollino, pavonazzetto, rosso antico, breccia di Sciro, serpentino, portasanta, breccia corallina, Proconnesian, bardiglio, and obviously white marbles. Among the more common types of marble, besides the white one, are the cipollino and the Proconnesian. Although all the pieces are clearly reused, only a limited percentage present macroscopic and unambiguous traces of the previous function. In two points of the surface, small cuttings suggest the presence of an altar. In front of the niche, two round depressions for small vertical posts may have limited access to the rear of the sanctuary from the center aisle. Another, single round depression at the end of the bench serves a less clear function, but must have supported a vertical post. Perhaps this was a piece of permanent furniture like a lamp-stand or a base for a statue.

The center of the hall is also marked by a kind of solea leading up to the left side of the niche. The use of such prestigious materials in this space, especially when the other floors of the building were left with their original pavements, speaks to the importance of this room within the complex, and highlights its role as the central space for the cult activities. The walls are painted in a manner akin to the other fourth-century rooms, in imitation of marble. The socle was decorated with a grey background intended to imitate the appearance of a speckled marble (moucheté type); above the socle, the large white partitions are divided by black bands edged in red imitating pilasters. THE RITUAL WELL (fig. 10.7) The stratified contents of the well in the mithraeum offer not only a chronology for the sanctuary’s use, but evidence for the types of activities that took place there. The deposit was excavated in 2017, and is composed of four different layers. The most recent one was composed of stones without ceramics (full of rough and shapeless stones), and may be related to the end of the mithraeum’s use.

Fig. 10.6. Mithraeum of colored marbles, reconstruction. Drawing: G. Albertini.

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extensive and show how the form was spread throughout the Mediterranean, mainly between the third and fifth centuries CE (for example, in Sicily, Corsica and Gallia). The third group consists of larger containers: two of these are characterized by a rim very similar of the second group, but with a much larger diameter. Another two jugs with different characteristics to all the others were found in the same context. In layer 5089, which dates the final phase of use of the building, 9 amphorae from various parts of the Mediterranean have been identified (fig. 10.8). African containers Keay 35B, two of Italic production (Naxos amphorae from the strait of Messina), and Kapitän II from the eastern Mediterranean. From the same context come five large commonware containers (one of these is probably an African production) and 3 small rims of bottles. These materials suggest that the mithraeum was in use until the first half of the fifth century CE, making it the last known, functioning mithraeum at Ostia and one of the last in the entire Roman world. Fig. 10.7. Mithraeum of colored marbles, room no. 1, section of the ritual well. Drawing: S. De Togni.

In layer 5090 there were ceramic fragments belonging only to table/storage wares (37 examples can be dated from the third to the fourth century). Eight pottery elements are almost completely reconstructed and for another six it was possible to reconstruct more than 70% of their original profile. The remaining 22 elements are fragmented rims. It is possible to make three different groups: the most conspicuous group consists of large jugs with a rim with outer flattened edge, thin walls and a large handle. These jugs have a more or less uniform covering in darker slip. The type has a full set of comparisons, mainly concentrated in Ostia (Terme del Nuotatore and Basilica of Pianabella) and Rome, all dated to late antiquity (mainly between the third and fourth centuries CE). Archaeometric analyses conducted on similar forms found at Ostia recognize this production as “local/Tyrrhenian”. Significant are the fragments found in central Tyrrhenian Italy (Luni), Sardinia (necropoli Rizzu) and along the northern of the Mediterranean (Ravenna), which would be evidence of trade or imitation phenomena. The second group consists of bottles with a slightly enlarged rim at the upper limit and in some cases internally recessed. This group of containers is characterized by a very high typological stability. This tendency to standardization, together with the search of simple, practical and essential form, are distinctive features of lateRoman productions. Comparisons are rather

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OTHER FINDS Among the objects found during the excavation, particularly remarkable is a metal appliqué depicting an “Isiac crown” and an ivory handle of a musical instrument (perhaps a sistrum) found in room no. 5. It is decorated with meander and peltae, and could form part of a ritual object. In the Mithraeum of Felicissimus at Ostia, on the mosaic floor representing each grade of Mithraic initiation by its attributes, the trappings of the fourth grade – Leo – include such a sistrum. The presence of these objects here suggests not only the blurring of boundaries between the cults of Isis and Mithras, but also perhaps that – in spite of the changes in layout of the mithraeum space – many of the symbols used by Mithras-worshippers stayed constant in late antiquity. PROBLEMS OF

CHRONOLOGY

On the base of the archaeological materials of the ritual well, layers 5089 and 5090 seem to reflect the two main phases of life of the building. Its religious transformation can be located in the fourth century CE and its end in the first decades of the fifth century CE. Although the chronological question is obviously conditioned by the final results of our excavations, it is certain that the building was quickly closed and dismantled, perhaps due to the intervention of local authorities. Then it collapsed, maybe in consequence of the earthquake of 442–443.

Fig. 10.8. Mithraeum of Colored Marbles, ritual well, archaeological materials from US 5089. Drawing: M.S. Graziano.

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Later, at the time when the entire city was dead, like many other buildings in the neighborhood outside Porta Marina, the mithraeum was systematically scavenged by robbers who, occasionally since the eleventh century (but in organized forms only by the fifteenth century), established, organized and equipped workshops for the recovery of raw materials such as marble and metals. Since the fifteenth century, these materials also fueled the market of antiquities.

NOTES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

CONCLUSIONS

10 11

In short, the Mithraeum of the Colored Marbles offers a new picture of the vitality of Mithraism in Late Antiquity. Few new mithraea were established in the third quarter of the fourth century or later – the only other attested example comes from an inscription in Rome – and few show signs of use or repair into the fifth century.16 The Mithraeum of the Colored Marbles can truly transform our view of the cult, the ways that it continued to operate in recognizable forms, and its “end” in Late Antiquity.

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12 13 14 15 16

Clauss 1992, 32–42; van Haeperen 2013, 151–166. Becatti 1954; Floriani Squarciapino 1962; Laeuchli 1967; Bakker 1994. David et al. 2009; David et al. 2014; David et al. 2017; David 2018b. David 2013. Turci et al. 2017. David 2014. David et al. 2016. CIL XIV, 4721 = AE 1914, 159. Romano 2007, 13-20. Arena Taddei and Carruba 2006. Melega, this vol. Abate and David 2015, 1-7. David 2014; David et al. 2016; David 2016. Gawlikowski, this vol. David 2017; David 2018a; David et al. 2018. CIL 6.754; cf. Walsh 2017, 45, 49.

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The Ostian Mithraea in Late Antiquity New Archaeological Research on the End of Mithraism Alessandro Melega OSTIAN MITHRAISM IN LATE ANTIQUITY

For many years, the city of Ostia has offered an extraordinary range of case studies on Mithraism. In 1954, Giovanni Becatti presented in one monograph all the mithraea known at that time, creating the first major synthesis.1 Over the years, research about the final stages of the life of Mithraism, perhaps suffocated by the spread of Christianity, has drawn less attention.2 Instead, focus has been primarily pointed on the early development of Mithraism at Ostia in the second century, and on the decorative programs of individual mithraea in a synchronic manner.3 The complex relationship between Mithraism and Christianity, and the nature of Mithraism’s “end”, is particularly evident in Ostia. Over the last decade the subject has been dealt with Massimiliano David, who has also examined, through a first analysis of the archive data, the three Ostian mithraea for which Giovanni Becatti had already speculated a violent end.4 Michael White has also updated Becatti’s work with a new synthesis in 2012, focusing on the dating, distribution, and spatial configuration of the Ostian mithraea. He attempted to highlight local patterns and diachronic developments, and to offer new perspectives on the changing character of Mithraism at Ostia. Raffaella Marchesini has also recently examined Ostian Mithraism through the site’s epigraphic dossier.5 Still, a new look at the last phases of the Ostian mithraea can offer new insights onto the cult’s status in Late Antiquity. Using digital documentation methods alongside traditional archaeological analysis, it is possible to re-examine the building history of mithraea excavated earlier in the twentieth century.6 We created new, more accurate plans of the mithraea using total stations and used photogrammetry to create three-dimensional models of them; through these methods it is possible to analyze more closely the relative chronology of building interventions to the wall structures, pavements, and wall frescoes. THE STUDY OF

THE

MITHRAIC MONOGRAMS IN OSTIA

As can be seen from Massimiliano David’s chapter, the recent discovery of the so-called Mithraeum of Colored Marbles, carried out by the Ostia

Marina Project of the University of Bologna, gave a new impulse to the study of Ostian Mithraism.7 The building has offered both new material and a chance to revisit old finds. In particular, the analysis of the fresco decoration, in its Mithraic phase, has revealed some graffiti interpretable as Mithraic monograms. These symbols, already highlighted by Becatti at the end of his corpus of the Ostian mithraea, are a set of alphabetical signs through which Mithraism, like many other cults, gained some public visibility. Of these particular symbols Ostia has returned numerous examples.8 These symbols always refer to the name of deity, but, unlike the relatively standard chi-ro for the name of Christ, these occur in varied forms. This feature is likely to be attributed to the various ways of writing the name itself, attested by the inscriptions with a variety of phonetic spellings: Mithra, Mitrha, Mithras, Mythra, Mitra, Mytra, Methra.9 On the frescoed south wall of the central hall of the Mithraeum of Colored Marbles, the graffiti appear as the letter A enclosing the letters M and Y. Previously two other types of Mithraic monograms were found in Ostia. The first and simplest one has the first three letters of the name Mithra ligatured, with the T and the I inserted at the junctions of the oblique lines of the letter M; this monogram was found as an abbreviation of the god’s name in two inscriptions, coming respectively from the Mithraeum of Fructosus and from the Aldobrandini Mithraeum.10 A second monogram at Ostia is more complicated: always using the letter M as the main element, on the left of the latter and connected to it stands the letter T, in connection with which we find the letter R; in the triangular spaces created below the letter M we find two isolated letters, I and S, respectively left and right. This particular monogram was found for the first time by Dante Vaglieri in 1913 during the excavations along the Decumanus, at the Via dei Molini, on a marble slab in secondary context.11 More recently, the publication of the Forum Baths in the Scavi di Ostia series mentions three attestations of this symbol in the marble floor of the

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Fig. 11.1. The types of Mithraic monograms attested at Ostia: top, epistyle from the Mithraeum of Fructosus (drawing: A. Melega; photo: A. Melega after F. Marini); below left, Mithraeum of the Colored Marbles (drawing: A. Melega; photo: M. David); below right, the marble slab founded by Dante Vaglieri. Drawing and photo: A. Melega.

rectangular tepidarium of the complex, a reconstruction dated to the 3rd century CE (fig. 11.1).12 These examples, along with those from the Mithraeum of Colored Marbles, offer a third century terminus post quem for the monograms. An even later date – from the late third century CE onwards – becomes more probable in the context of the increasing use of monograms in Roman society.13 The early public evidence of the numerous cults of the Imperial Age and late antique Roman society appears at the time of the reforms enacted by Diocletian and the other Tetrarchs. In these historical circumstances, the religious expression becomes an essential part of the political communication, and as politics needs religion, so every religion needs a public manifestation. In this crucial phase of transition from a private to a public religion, Christianity was inspired by alphabetical combinations according to Greek literary tradition, while these Mithraic monograms speak to the vitality of the cult of Mithras in Late Antique Ostia, and perhaps even to the Persian deity being

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invoked more regularly and publicly outside the borders of mithraea themselves. THE LATEST MITHRAISM AT OSTIA: SOME CASE STUDIES Now we proceed with the analysis of some Ostian mithraea, focusing mainly on the location and construction techniques and continuing with the reflections on their final stages of life and on any acts of violence found. The Aldobrandini Mithraeum is located in a strategic position for activities connected with the Tiber River. The only known part of this mithraeum is the spelaeum, built in a room leaning on the Republican city walls of Ostia, near the tower next to the ancient meander of the Tiber. Discovered and excavated in 1923 for about half of its length, due to its proximity to the foundations of Villa Aldobrandini, it is now visible only in its northern portion.14 The 17th-century chapel of the villa encroaches on the mithraeum, but it has never been explored. The spelaeum has two lateral wall

structures in opus testaceum, probably pre-existing the installation of the mithraeum; the eastern wall abutted a section of the Republican wall built in opus quasi reticulatum, while the western one was set on a previous wall in opus reticulatum. The northern side of the spelaeum is closed by the outer masonry of the Republican tower, built in large, squared tufa blocks. New investigations allow us to read the structures and suggest a new interpretation of the architectural sequence: a first phase, perhaps belonging to Antonine age, and a second one, which can be dated to the age of Caracalla. The latter seems to show a functional transformation of the internal space and a significant change in the structure of the sacred area, in particular of the altar, now no longer accessible from the front, where a marble slab was set, but by side steps. The room has a marble pavement of re-used polychrome slabs, in which a square with simple geometric pattern is placed centrally in front of the altar (it is now very fragmentary). 15 This square was likely to have a significant liturgical

value, perhaps connected to the position of the priest during the rite (fig. 11.2).16 The building was probably used until the first years of the 4th century CE: from archival data, between December 26 and 29 of 1923, it appears that archaeologists found a dolium with a cinerary amphora alongside the altar, at a higher level than the floor levels of the mithraeum.17 These elements suggest a funerary re-purposing of the area during the last centuries of life of the town. During recent investigations, it has been possible to recover stone elements – long considered missing – that belonged to the decorative and functional apparatus of the building. The Mithraeum of the Snakes was so called by few wall plaster fragments preserved in the south-eastern corner of the spelaeum with two snakes framing a genius figure, perhaps residues kept in use from a previous lararium. The mithraeum was found in one of the most interior rooms of a tenement with tabernae, located in a residential district south of the Decumanus.18 The complex, probably built in the 1st century CE during

Fig. 11.2. Aldobrandini Mithraeum: top, plan of the spelaeum (author, E. Rossetti); lower left, orthophoto of the spelaeum (author, E. Rossetti); lower right, plans of the hypothetical two phases of the spelaeum (author, M. David).

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Fig. 11.3. Mithraeum of the Snakes: left, phase plan of the spelaeum; right, ortophoto of the lateral walls of the spelaeum. Images: author.

the reconstruction of an area hosting warehouses since the Republican age, underwent several renovations over the centuries, making analysis of spelaeum structures difficult. The long east side has a more southern section in opus mixtum, bro-

Fig. 11.4. Mithraeum of Felicissimus: phase plan of the spelaeum with the ortophoto of the mosaic floor. Plan: author.

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ken and reshaped, backward towards east for about 40 cm, in opus testaceum, and, after about 2 m in height, in opus listatum. The western wall includes a pillar in tuff blocks and another one rebuilt with bricks, both connected with structures in opus reticulatum (fig. 11.3). In addition to this, the paved floor and the few parts required for the Mithraic adaptation of the space – that is, a tuff closing of the opening on the south side and two brick walls with central access on the entrance (north) side – make the change of use difficult to date: Giovanni Becatti puts it in the middle of the 3rd century CE, without excluding a later dating; Michael White prefers to set the mithraeum at the end of the same century.19 In addition to the spelaeum, other rooms probably related to the cultic functions of the mithraeum include a quadrangular access vestibule and probably also the great rectangular room adjacent to the vestibule itself on the north side. The lack of archaeological documentation does not allow us to make concrete assertions about the last phases of the building. It is interesting to note the presence of a large circular lime kiln that entirely occupied the adjacent room to the east of the spelaeum. The kiln was made of low lime, tuff, bricks and other reused elements; despite the difficulty of dating the lime kilns, in Ostia they appear well before the medieval and early modern robbery activities of the 11th to the 18th century.20 The lime kiln suggests a re-use and repurposing of the space in the medieval period. It can thus be assumed that the building was still in use, although in precarious conditions, between the

Fig. 11.5. Mithraeum of Fructosus: top left, plan of the building (Becatti 1954, 23, fig. 4); top right, the southwest corner of the spelaeum (author); below, south wall section (Becatti 1954, 25, fig. 5).

late 6th and 7th century, although the mithraeum had already been abandoned. The Mithraeum of Felicissimus takes the name of the dedicant written on the well-known mosaic floor of the spelaeum showing the seven initiatory grades of Mithraism.21 The analysis of the masonry structures and the stylistic examination of the mosaic led Giovanni Becatti to suggest a dating to the second half of the 3rd century CE, a chronology also confirmed by Michael White, 22 who has advanced the hypothesis that the mithraeum was built into a Hadrianic medianum house that was also renovated in the first half of the third century.23 Examining the masonry does not rule out a slightly later dating, towards the end of the century. Of the two long sides of the spelaeum, the northern one was made by closing two of the three previous openings, with opus listatum, while the southern one, probably earlier, is in opus testaceum. Pre-existing are also the structures in opus mixtum of the east and west sides; along the latter, an original opening onto the road was closed with opus listatum, when the mithraeum was installed (fig. 11.4). It can be assumed that at least

two of the rooms adjacent to the spelaeum, or maybe all, were used for religious functions. Regarding the decline of the mithraeum, the bibliography and the recent analysis have not found evident signs of destruction, so it is possible to conjecture a natural and gradual abandonment, which could be dated around the end of the 4th century CE, inevitably followed by robbery activities, similarly to how this systematically happened for the entire city of Ostia. To these, more than destructive actions, we can attribute the partial lack of floor mosaic and the total lack of cultic furnishings in the rear area of the spelaeum when the mithraeum was excavated. Violent actions have instead caused the end of the Mithraeum of Fructosus.24 Built into the cellar of a small temple belonging to a guild seat south of the Decumanus, at the corner of the Via del Pomerio and the Round Temple, the construction of the mithraeum was funded by the patron of the guild, the Fructosus remembered in two marble fragments of an inscription nearby.25 The temple cellar offer interesting ideas about the construction of the mithraeum: the analysis of the wall structures and of the cross vault suggest that

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Fig. 11.6a. Mithraeum of the Terme di Mitra: three orthophotographic views of the sculptural group of the tauroctonous Mithras, with the indication of the fractures. Images: author.

the guild temple had never been completed. In any case, the mithraeum was installed in the lower floor of the temple without any special structure modifications, except in the vault. The brickwork perimeter walls show the traces of a narrower and lower vault than the current one; the spaces between the narrower arch and the final arch were thus filled in opus listatum, while they were only stuccoed on the east side (fig. 11.5).26 In addition to the spelaeum, it can be assumed that several rooms belonging to the guild seat, including the large courtyard and the rooms opened on it, the kitchen and various service rooms, were used by the Mithraic congregation.27 Archival data show the presence of layers related to post-abandonment phases: on September 3, 1938, it was mentioned that the spelaeum was completely filled with fire-blackened bricks as the result of the collapse of the vault and walls above, probably blackened and reddened by fire.28 These data led Giovanni Becatti to suppose that the mithraeum had been plundered and destroyed by fire. It should also be remembered that a small statue of Cautes was found mutilated, the aforementioned inscription reduced to fragments, and the cultic image totally absent.29 The early investigation methods require caution when re-analyzing their results, but in this case, the probability of an intentional and violent destruction seems high. The installation of a mithraeum in the Baths of Mithras is fixed by scholars in the second half of the

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2nd century CE, albeit with some uncertainty, based on a brick stamp in the vault of the spelaeum.30 The east and west long sides are both part of a pre-existing underground service corridor for the baths, located along the west side of the complex and below a mosaic-paved corridor. Both structures are in opus testaceum, including the barrel vault reinforcement arc and the two side doors on which it is set. The installation of the mithraeum involved the construction of two structures in opus listatum, to form respectively the north access door and the southern rear wall; in the latter, a small opening led to a rear room, used for religious functions, maybe a sort of sacristy. It is also conceivable that the large, square-shaped room, adjacent on the east to the hall and connected to it, was used in the same way. The spelaeum is entirely paved in bipedals: one of them with a stamp dated to the Diocletianic period offers a terminus post quem for the dating of the floor, but this is perhaps a restoration of the original pavement.31 At the bottom of the spelaeum was the sculptural group, in Pentelic marble, of Mithras stabbing the bull, settled on a masonry base placed diagonally. The god, dressed in a short exomis, is portrayed in a very special and unconventional pose: that is, in the act immediately preceding the knife entering the bull, on whose breast the artist's signature is engraved (Kriton Athenaios epoiei).32 The statue was discovered without some parts, which were found in the adjacent sewer. Some of

these fragments (the head and arms of the god, the bull's head) show signs of intentional damage, and raise the possibility of violent actions perpetrated against the sculptural group. The bull's head shows a regular fracture, probably created by a saw, while the head and arms of Mithras, respectively in the neck and the shoulders, have been targeted at certain points with a pointed tool, until it was fully detached from the torso (fig. 11.6a-b). It should also be noted that the statue was still found on its base; the missing parts were instead removed and thrown into the sewer.33 This was targeted destruction that left much of the site and its furniture intact, also raising the possibility that such targeted (rather than general) violence could escape archaeological detection in other mithraea. It is also necessary to remember the presence of a Christian worship place located on the upper floor of the baths, established between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century CE, if not later; of this complex are currently visible the large apse, built in opus listatum, on the north wall of the baths, and a smaller apse, in opus testaceum, placed in the center of the hall. Today, many years after the discovery, the interpretation of these restored structures is difficult: it was a small presbytery, originally bordered by a balustrade, whose two marble jambs, characterized by the presence of Christian monograms with letters Ӷ DQG ۙ ZHUH IRXQG LQ WKH DGMDFHQW QRUWKHDVW room.34 It is most likely that the violent actions in the mithraeum were followed by the installation of the Christian site. The archive data, though detailed, do not provide any further information.

Fig. 11.6b. Mithraeum of the Terme di Mitra: plan of the spelaeum. Plan: author.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPARISON WITH ROME: BARBERINI MITHRAEUM

THE

Of great importance for research is the constant approach and comparison of the Ostian examples with the mithraea known in Rome. As part of my project, I have produced new plans and a photogrammetric model of the Barberini Mithraeum that offer a counterpoint to the examples at Ostia. Discovered in 1936 through excavations carried out in the area between Via delle Quattro Fontane and Via San Nicola di Tolentino, for the construction of Villa Savorgnan di Brazzà, the spelaeum is now visible by accessing from a building adjacent to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, located in Palazzo Barberini.35 The mithraeum was installed towards the end of the 2nd century CE, set in a room that seems to have formed part of the cryptoporticus of a domus dated to the middle of the previous century. This cryptoporticus was probably formed by a larger central room, flanked by two tighter, identical spaces. The original structures were made in opus

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Fig. 11.7. Barberini Mithraeum: top, plan of the spelaeum; below, orthophoto of the painted rear wall. Images: author.

testaceum on the long walls, while the southern rear wall seems to have been simple caementicium without any facing, perhaps a part of a foundation. When the space was turned into a mithraeum at the end of the 2nd century CE, four brick pillars were added to reinforce the vault, as was the cultic niche, all made in opus testaceum and abutting the rear wall. The hall is entirely plastered, but the rear wall is painted with the most classic Mithraic subjects: at the center of the scene, framed by the niche, lies the bull-stabbing Mithras. The god, with a Phrygian cap, wears a green tunica, the anxyrides and a red mantle, on the interior of which are represented seven stars (seven other stars are visible in the background). There are canonical animals such as the dog, snake, scor-

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pion, and crow. On both sides of the scene are the two torchbearers, also with Persian dress. Above this scene are two painted arches, respectively formed by the twelve zodiac signs; we can also see a naked central figure, placed on the globe, and seven altars alternating with trees (perhaps cypresses). At the top, at the corners, are the busts of Sol and Luna, while at the sides of the scene there are ten little scenes of Mithraic mythology (fig. 11.7).36 The absence of any trace of destructive activities, together with the excellent state of conservation of the Mithraic fresco, suggest that, unlike other Roman mithraea, victims of evident violence, this spelaeum was likely abandoned gradually, perhaps at the beginning of the 5th century CE.37

CONCLUSIONS According to what has been said, it can be seen that research on the last stages of life of the Ostian mithraea, mostly excavated during the great works organized for the Esposizione Universale di Roma (E42), cannot be separated from the analysis of the data archives, themselves unfortunately very often incomplete and coming from an excavation method that has deprived us of important information. Despite this, the collected data, together with new analysis of the buildings, allow us to better understand how the Mithraic cult in Ostia survived for a long time, even cohabiting, not always peacefully, with early Christianity. Not only did worship of Mithras continue late at Ostia, but it may even have acquired a greater presence outside mithraea through the use of Mithraic monograms. At the same time, the end of individual mithraea seems to have come in very different ways. Some were gradually abandoned; others targeted for symbolic violence; others destroyed entirely. Even within one city, there was not one “end” of Mithraism in Late Antiquity, but rather a range of different, localized dynamics. The continuation and conclusion of the research, through the analysis of the remaining mithraea and the study of the known Mithraic inscriptions from Ostia, will surely add further reflections about the fate of the Mithraic communities.

11 12 13 14

15 16

17 18

19 20 21

22 23 24

25 26 27 28

29 30

NOTES 1 2

3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10

Becatti 1954. For Christianity and the end of Mithraism, Sauer 1996, although challenged by Gordon 1999 (following Nicholson 1995). See also Shuddeboom 2016. Most recently, Moorman 2011; White 2012. See also Danilova, this volume. The mithraea of Fructosus, of the Terme del Mitra, and delle Pareti Dipinte; see David 2006. See Marchesini 2013. This research was conducted as part of my doctoral dissertation at Sapienza Università di Roma, under the direction of professor Massimiliano David. See David 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018a, 2018b; David/Melega 2018; David et al. 2016, 2018. Becatti 1954, 139. See the epigraphic index in Vermaseren 1956, 347–8. For the mithraeum of Fructosus see CIL XIV, 257 and CIL XIV, 614; for the Aldobrandini Mithraeum see CIL XIV, 403.

31 32 33

34 35

36 37

CIL XIV, 5286; see also Vaglieri 1913, 215 n. 19. Cicerchia/Marinucci 1992, 168 n. C6-C8. Garipzanov 2015, 5–9. Calza 1924; see also Becatti 1954, 39-43; CIMRM 232237; Floriani Squarciapino 1962, 41–3; Romizzi 2005, 278 n. 17. Guidobaldi 1985, 183 fig. 4, 218–220. A similar connection between pavement and rituals seems to be in the Mithraeum of the Circus Maximus; see, e.g., Tavolieri/Ciafardoni 2010; Romizzi 2005, 279 n. 32. Soprintendenza Archeologica di Ostia, Archivio Storico, Vol. 20, 1923, 159. Becatti 1954, 101–104, 125-128; see also CIMRM 294–5; Floriani Squarciapino 1962, 51–2, 68–9; Pavolini 2006, 222–224; Romizzi 2005, 279 n. 28. About the frescoes, see also Van Essen 1956–58, 176; Bianchi 1998, 124. Becatti 1954, 104; White 2012, 443. See Lenzi 1998, 258 n. 8. Becatti 1954, 105–12; see also Vermaseren 1956, 140–41 n. 299; Floriani Squarciapino 1962, 52–4; Pavolini 2006, 228-231; Romizzi 2005, 279 n. 31. About the mosaic pavement, see also Becatti 1961, 140–41 n. 299; Cumont 1945, 417. Becatti 1954, 112; White 2012, 443, 445. White 2012, 443. Becatti 1954, 21–8; see also Vermaseren CIMRM 226228; Floriani Squarciapino 1962, 40; Pavolini 2006, 196; Romizzi 2005, 279 n. 29. See CIL XIV, 257 and CIL XIV, 614; see also Hermansen 1982. Becatti 1954, 22-24. White 2012, 442, 476-7. Soprintendenza Archeologica di Ostia, Archivio Storico, Vol. 24, 1938-39, 44–5, 55-57; see also David 2006, 396. Becatti 1954, 28. CIL XV, 367; see also Becatti 1954, 30. On the mithraeum in general: Becatti 1954, 29–38; see also CIMRM 229-231; Floriani Squarciapino 1962, 40–1; Pavolini 2006, 125-127; Romizzi 2005, 278 n. 15. CIL XV, 1569a; see also Steinby 1977, 1104.II. Becatti 1954, 33-38; see also Becatti 1957; Valeri 2004; Paris/Valeri 2016. Soprintendenza Archeologica di Ostia, Archivio Storico, Vol. 27, 1938-42, 102-104; Becatti 1954, 32; see also David 2006, 396–7. Becatti 1954, 32-33; see also Pavolini 2006, 126. Annibaldi/Gatti 1943-45; see also Lugli 1938, 320; Vermaseren 1956, 168-170 n. 389-395; Coarelli 1979, 72 n. 17; Calzini Gysens 1996; Romizzi 2005, 278 n. 23; Moormann 2011, 164; Schuddeboom 2016, 237-238. For an accurate description of the fresco see CIMRM 390. See Schuddeboom 2016, 238.

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12

Apulum Mithraeum III and the Multiplicities of Mithraism Matthew M. McCarty, Mariana Egri, Aurel Rustoiu

Apulum Mithraeum III is one of the first mithraea to be excavated in Roman Dacia – a province which has produced a vast quantity of Mithraic material – and the very first to be excavated and recorded with modern techniques.1 The mithraeum also represents one of the earliest attestations of Mithras-worship in Dacia. Yet in addition to filling major archaeological lacunae, the site also offers the opportunity to reflect on the dialogic dynamics between shared features within a widespread cult and their localized, particularized instantiations at a given site. The archaeological and epigraphic evidence from the mithraeum suggests the ways that – even at the moment of their foundation – Mithraic communities could participate in multiple networks and communities of Mithraic practice. Indeed, instead of a monolithic “Mithraism” or tessellated “cults of Mithras,” we might recognize the ways different forms of social and ritual interconnections create unique and hybrid ways of worshipping this Persianate god. EXCAVATING APULUM MITHRAEUM III In 2008, a landowner in Alba Iulia (Romania) decided to build a hotel on his house-and-garden property at 16 Bulevardul 1 Decembrie 1918, located about 200m southwest of the 18th-century Vauban fort that serves as the hub of the city’s tourism industry. Before work began, the Muzeul 1DŏLRQDO DO 8QLULL$OED ,XOLD H[FDYDWHG D VHULHV of test-pits in the garden. The first three revealed no evidence of substantial ancient or medieval remains, save a medieval well and a single medieval burial. The fourth trench, however, came down upon stone foundations; it was expanded to expose most of the foundations of a building with a central nave and two side aisles, as well as three stone monuments inscribed in Latin, all related to the worship of Mithras.2 The layout and inscriptions secured identification of the structure as a mithraeum. Plans to develop the site were put on hold, and the building – roughly two thirds of which had been exposed to nearly the complete depth of the foundations – was reburied. In 2013, the authors

began a four-year research and training excavation – the Apulum Mithraeum III Project – that returned to the site with the aim of documenting the material exposed in 2008 and expanding the excavation area in the hopes of reconstructing the practices that took place in and around the mithraeum through the micro-archaeology of cult and of understanding the site’s relation to the urban development of Apulum. Brief interim reports of our work have been published following every season, and a final report volume is planned. Still, even preliminary assessment of the material studied so far can shed important new light on Mithraism at Apulum and across the Roman Empire. THE CULT OF MITHRAS IN APULUM AND DACIA Monuments related to the worship of Mithras have been known in Apulum since the eighteenth century, mostly as stray finds. Reliefs and inscribed altars or statue bases were discovered in both ancient settlements at Apulum: the canabae that grew up around the fort of the Legio XIII Gemina and that became a municipium in the Severan period; as well as the larger, generally richer civilian settlement a few kilometers to the south WKDW WRRN DGYDQWDJH RI SUR[LPLW\ WR WKH 0XUHü River to develop thriving industries and that became a colonia in the Severan period (fig. 12.1).3 Of course, none of these discovered monuments have an archaeological find context besides the occasional geographic indication within the modern topography of the city. Only one set of finds represents a dense concentration of Mithraic material, discovered in 1930 on the property of Stefan or Ioan Oancea near the Bulevardul ÍQFRURQąULL4 Of course, the finds from the site included non-Mithraic statuary as well; instead of a mithraeum, this may have been a collection of material gathered for reuse during the Late Antique or medieval period.5 Other pieces seem to have wandered far from their original location in the early modern period; for example, two bull-stabbing reliefs whose provenance is listed DV 9LQŏX GH -RV DERXW NP VRXWKZHVW RI$SX-

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in the entire province of Dacia.8 Recognizing the site’s importance, the Apulum Mithraeum III Project focused on fully excavating the building and as much of the surrounding area as possible in order to reconstruct the sanctuary’s history of use and as many of archaeologically detectable practices that took place in and around the building as possible through a focus on contextualizing the full range of collectible artifacts and ecofacts. POST-ROMAN DAMAGE

Fig. 12.1. Map of main settlement areas of Apulum. Drawing: authors, after Diaconescu 2004: 107, fig. 413.

lum) were probably moved there to decorate a manor house.6 With so few details, it is impossible to say how many Mithraic sanctuaries originally operated in the settlements of Apulum; some have even estimated at least six mithraea.7 Given the lack of finds in primary context and their post-Roman movements, though, it is safer to use the minimum number of mithraea, which – prior to the discovery of Mithraeum III – was two: a collection of material from the colonia and a second collection from the area of the municipium. Mithraeum III thus represents the first securely located and excavated mithraeum in Apulum; it is also the first to be fully excavated and recorded

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8QGHUVWDQGLQJ WKH PLWKUDHXP SKDVH RI WKH VLWH was complicated by the extensive post-Roman interventions that took place there: interventions that left few of the original occupation and use contexts preserved for the project to excavate in 2013. Apart from the rescue excavations, which worked vertically to clear the site and removed a number of undocumented archaeological contexts, the mithraeum suffered extensive damage and plundering in the medieval period. The mithraeum building seems to have collapsed in the late third or fourth century CE, but its ruins hosted a tenth-century semi-sunken house of a kind common across medieval Tranyslvania (fig. 12.2).9 The builders cut through the southwest corner of the mithraeum; the house’s main hearth reuses a range of Roman materials, including part of a column drum and several squared blocks (fig. 12.3). The mithraeum itself might have been partially cleared of its collapsed roof tiles, and portions of the stone foundation robbed out; several conspicuous gaps exist in the foundation as a testament to this plundering. In addition, the stone furnishings of the Roman mithraeum were discovered in secondary position: three small statue bases had been broken into smaller pieces (presumably for reuse), while the much larger main altar had been tipped forward and had portions of its back roughly hacked off. At the southeast corner of the mithraeum, natural geological instability created a transverse slump – essentially a sinkhole – into which a portion of the foundation fell (figs. 12.2, 12.4); this pit in the landscape was used as a general rubbish tip by the local community from the medieval period through the early eighteenth century, when the entire site was covered by up to 55cm of spoil excavated to create the moat of the nearby, eighteenth-century Austrian fort. As a result of these depredations, a small portion of the dirt floor of the Roman mithraeum’s nave was the only Roman occupation or use surface discovered within the building. Given these site-formation processes, less can be said about the practice of cult at the site than originally

Fig. 12.2. Aerial photograph of Apulum Mithraeum III. Photo: Apulum Mithraeum III Project.

hoped; still, a few less disturbed archaeological contexts and individual finds provide important information on the ways that Mithraeum III participated in a range of communities of practice. THE STRUCTURE The layout and phasing of Mithraeum III can largely be reconstructed based on surviving evidence (fig. 12.5). It is clear that the structure itself uses its layout and materials to create particular experiences for visitors; this was a cult place designed to maximize the phenomenological impact of the space. The building was basically oriented east-west, following the orientation of the neighborhood in which it was built; Roman-period houses excavated 300m to the north, under the Kinetic Fountain, follow a similar orientation. The land sat on the edge of the later municipium; it seems to have been a marginal plot that was not as densely built up as the area to the north. Prior to construction of the mithraeum, only a few postholes – some creating a small shed – and a rubbish pit were discovered in the excavated area. The contents of the rubbish pit, though, provide a terminus post quem for construction of the mithraeum. The finds include many fragments of Lezoux ware and some Pannonian thin-walled cups and glazed vessels, which together offer a terminus post quem of c. 150–170 CE. This dating makes Mithraeum

III one of the earliest datable attestations of Mithras-worship in the province.10 Before construction, a substantial leveling layer containing fragments of earlier Roman debris was spread across the site. Slot trenches were cut into this layer, and the trenches were filled with a mix of rubble, some reused cut stones, and mortar. These foundations extended more than 30cm above the surface of the leveling layer as water-resistant dwarf walls; the full walls of the mithraeum were almost certainly built of

Fig. 12.3. Oven in medieval house, reusing Roman stone elements (Context 1196). Photo: Apulum Mithraeum III Project (Matthew McCarty).

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Fig. 12.4. Collapsed southeast corner of mithraeum (Context 1275). Photo: Apulum Mithraeum III Project (Matthew McCarty).

some form of mud with timber framing. The pitched roof was covered with ceramic tiles. Although the entrance does not survive, an 80cm-wide gap in the foundation at the northeast

corner suggests that a sill may have been robbed from that location (fig. 12.5, A). Visitors would thus enter the mithraeum from the north side; the 2008 excavations, however, went below Roman ground-level in this area, so the arrangements outside the entrance could not be reconstructed. The entrance opened into a small antechamber. A light foundation of mortared rubble subdivided the antechamber, creating a second space to the south (fig. 12.5, B). This room division appears to be part of renovation of the structure, for the foundation’s base sits several centimeters higher than those of the exterior wall foundations, and the dividing wall is not bonded to the main foundations. Parallels from other mithraea suggest that this smaller space was a kind of storage closet. For example, in the antechamber of the mithraeum at Riegel, a wooden cupboard seems to have stored a variety of cult ceramics, while the antechambers at Martigny and Bieshiem seem to have small “closets” set on light foundations.11 Entering the main room of the sanctuary required a visitor to turn right after coming in the main door. Such dog-legged entrances prevented an axial view through the sanctuary from the exterior of the temple, perhaps creating a sense of surprise or revelation for the sanctuary’s users

Fig. 12.5. Plan, Apulum Mithraeum III. Plan: Apulum Mithraeum III Project.

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Fig. 12.6. Foundations and dwarf wall inside nave showing large rocks visible to cult participants. Photo: Apulum Mithraeum III Project (Matthew McCarty).

when they turned the corner into the nave. Such a layout finds parallels in the Capua mithraeum, with its long entrance hall that forces a visitor to turn a corner before entering the main nave. Other mithraea similarly reject visual axes in their layout.12 From the outset, the space is meant to create a sense of surprise, to manipulate the senses of visitors.13 Once turning the corner to enter the nave, the exposed foundations of the two lateral benches created an artificial cave-like feeling. The rubble external foundations of the building were made from medium-sized stones of various shapes and kinds; those used for the benches, however, were more uniform in color, larger, and more rectangular, though unworked (fig. 12.6). Although a lost plaster finish cannot be excluded, it seems more probable that the rocky surfaces of the benches were left exposed to provide a spelaeum-like atmosphere. A rectangular gap in the middle of the wall of the north bench, 67cm wide, may indicate that there was once a unique feature there, later robbed out (fig. 12.5, C). The rest of the bench wall is otherwise in good condition, suggesting targeted (rather than random) robbing or damage. It is possible that there may originally have been an inset

niche and/or decorated relief here. A number of other mithraea include such embellishments in one, if not both, benches – and more usually in the bench to the visitor's right.14 Modern interpretations of mithraeum space have suggested that such features were part of the symbolical microcosm created by Mithraic sanctuaries.15 The north and south benches flanking the aisle for visitors to recline and dine were also absolutely typical for mithraea. Each was between 1.6 and 1.7m wide and 7.4m long. Allowing for 0.50.6m per reclining diner – the numbers used to calculate capacity of the Ostian mithraea – this would have allowed between 25 and 30 simultaneous users.16 This fits exactly with the size of most of the mithraea at Ostia, and implies that, when Mithraic sanctuaries were first planned and laid out, their commissioners anticipated communities and events of a certain, shared size.17 This medium-sized group dynamic appears not only in the physical layout of sanctuaries, but can also be seen in the albums of Mithraic community members at Virunum; when one set of sanctuary users grew beyond the sanctuary’s capacity, they split into two groups with a new sanctuary founded to accommodate the overflow of worshippers.18 At

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Fig. 12.7. Statue base tipped by collapse of mithraeum superstructure, with original floor surface preserved below. Photo: Apulum Mithraeum III Project (Matthew McCarty).

the moment of inception, though, there were common expectations about how large a group of sanctuary users might grow shared by most Mithraic communities across the empire. At the opposite (west) end of the nave, a mortar step leads up to the cult niche, extending outward from the western wall of the nave (fig. 12.5, D). Imprints from robbed-out rectangular pavers – presumably of stone – suggest the level of the first step. The floor level of the niche was thus raised above that of the nave, creating a distinct space of high status. Presumably, an image of Mithras slaying the bull was displayed here; given the lack of foundation for an especially heavy piece, it was probably a relief of the type common in Apulum and shared by most of the extant bull-stabbing reliefs discovered as stray finds across the settlements.19 Although the floor was removed, chunks of mortar in the medieval fill around the niche and white marble tesserae also discovered in these disturbed layers may

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suggest that the niche was paved with a mosiac. These changes in height and paving worked to create a hierarchy of space, emphasizing the niche (and presumed cult relief) as the focal point and most prestigious part of the shrine. The west of the nave also seems to have included the bulk of the semi-fixed furnishings in the space. One small statue-base, whose front (epigraphic) face had been roughly cut off, was found standing along the right (north) side of the nave, tipped forward slightly, presumably by the building’s collapse (fig. 12.7). It sat on the ancient dirt floor, offering the only untouched evidence for the floorlevel of the nave. Its dimensions and moldings match a second, fragmentary base discovered in the medieval fill of the nave; that base bore an inscribed dedication to Cautopates.20 It seems most likely that the base with its inscription removed was the base for a statue of Cautes, the other Mithraic torchbearer. The position of the Cautes base allows the Cautopates base to be reconstructed along the opposite side of the nave; this arrangement with Cautes to the right and Cautopates to the left is common, especially in mithraea of the Rhine-Danube.21 In other words, the arrangement of the torchbearers reflects a shared koine. Other stone monuments also decorated the nave. The main altar was found tipped forward at the west end in the middle of the nave. How it tipped forward is unclear: whether as part of the building’s collapse, as part of the medieval quarrying, or as part of a ritualized “decommissioning” of the sanctuary akin to that attested at Inveresk is unclear, given that the altar was excavated during the rescue campaign of 2008.22 There was also a third statue base dedicated to Transitus Dei found in the medieval fill of the nave. Where this originally stood is not clear; presumably it was displayed somewhere along the aisle of the nave. In short, the layout and arrangement of semipermanent furnishings of Apulum Mithraeum III reflect many of the common dynamics of the cult across the empire. Others – like the use of the rough stone bench faces – demonstrate the ways that the cult prized shared effects (lack of an axial view, the ambiance of a cave) but used a range of more localized means to achieve that impact. Experiences might be largely shared across the empire; the craft by which these were achieved differed.23 Despite having few undisturbed archaeological contexts related to the use of the mithraeum, two features of the sanctuary allow more to be said about the variety of networks in which the founders and users of the sanctuary participated: the epigraphic dossier from the sanctuary and an underfloor foundation deposit.

THE WORSHIPPERS OF APULUM MITHRAEUM III Three of the stone furnishings of the sanctuary preserve their dedicatory inscriptions; all three were dedicated by the same man, Vitalis, and allow the social milieux of the worship community to be identified.24 The three inscriptions read: Altar A: Soli | Invicto | Mitrhae | pro salut(e) | P(ublii) Ael(ii) Ma|ri flam(inis) col(oniae) | Vitalis ark(arius) | v(otum) l(ibens) s(olvit) “To Sol Invictus Mithras, for the wellbeing of Publius Aelius Marius, flamen of the colony, Vitalis the treasurer freely fulfilled his vow.” Base B: Transi|to dei | sacr[u]m | Vital[i]s | g( ) s( ) v(otum) s(olvit) “Sacred to the Transit of the God. Vitalis g( ) s( ) fulfilled his vow.” Base C: Cauto|pati sacrum | Vitalis | [ar]k(arius) g( ) s( ) | [v(otum)] s(olvit) “Sacred to Cautopates. Vitalis the treasurer g( ) s( ) fulfilled his vow.” Although interpretation of the abbreviated g s remains elusive, the rest is clear. Because he paid for all of the attested stone furnishings of the mithraeum, it is most likely that this Vitalis can be recognized as the founder – or at least the bankroller – of the mithraeum and its contents. Given his single name, Vitalis was likely a slave; he also identified himself as an ar(k=c)arius (treasurer). While arcarii are attested in a number of institutions from city administrations to public baths, Vitalis was most probably a treasurer for the Publicum Portorium Illyrici, the customs system that encompassed Illyricum, the Pannoniae, the Moesiae, and Dacia.25 Although Apulum did not sit directly on the border of this zone, the city was one of the two main administrative headquarters for the province, and another inscription from Apulum suggests that a portorium office was based in the area around the castrum rather than in the colonia to the south: in other words, close to Mithraeum III.26 The high levels of involvement of customs personnel – especially those of the Portorium Illyrici – in the cult of Mithras has long been recognized.27 A second index suggests that Vitalis learned how to worship Mithras in this portorium milieu. In addition to the altar and statues of Cautes and Cautopates, Vitalis also erected a statue to (and perhaps of) Transitus Dei. This type of dedication to personified myth-moments happens almost

exclusively in communities of worshippers connected to the portorium.28 In making an unusual dedication to Transitus, Vitalis replicates a cult practice that he must have learned while based in another portorium office. Finally, the main altar, with its dedication for the wellbeing of Publius Aelius Marius, gives further evidence for the social milieu of the community using Apulum Mithraeum III, and may even hint at the way one individual could connect a number of Mithraic communities across the province, serving as an important social node. Marius is presented in the Mithraeum III inscription as a flamen of the colonia; which colonia is not specified, although it is most likely a local reference to the Colonia Aurelia Apulensis. Marius’ wealth and social status are thus clear: well-connected enough to be awarded this office, rich enough to fund its activities and make whatever euergetic outlays earned him the role, and with the added social capital and prestige generated by holding such a priesthood. One of the sources of Marius’ wealth was his role as a conductor of the imperially-owned saltproducing and pasture lands within the province. Four inscriptions from across Dacia record him holding this role.29 Because only three other such conductores are attested, their precise job is debated; although some have suggested that the conductores were engaged in the management of resourceextraction and bringing products to market, it is more probable – as seems to be the case with most conductores – that they were primarily concerned with collecting taxes from imperial properties.30 That Vitalis dedicated the main altar of the sanctuary for Marius’ wellbeing is unusual, insofar as the two do not seem to have had the kind of clear relationship that generates such votive inscriptions. The dedication certainly reflects the differential status of the two men; lower status figures are always the ones who undertake such vows for higher-status figures, and so it is not surprising that a slave (however wealthy) dedicates for a flamen. Yet normally, such dedications are made by the slaves, freedmen, or clients to their masters/patrons: the relationship between the figures involved is direct, rather than general. Although both the portorium system and conductores were involved in taxation, these seem to have been run entirely separately. There is no overlap of personnel, and little geographic overlap; the Portorium Illyrici seems to be run from Poetovio (Pannonia), while Marius seems to have been based in Dacia (and perhaps, though not necessarily, at Apulum).31 There is thus no reason to see the relationship between Vitalis and Marius as a professional or familial one; so how, then,

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were they involved with one another closely enough for Vitalis to dedicate on Marius’ behalf? The answer seems to be that their relationship was related to the worship of Mithras, with Marius serving as a high-status node linking a number of mithraeum communities. The other surviving epigraphic attestations of Marius’ activity are, like Vitalis’ dedication, votive inscriptions for his wellbeing made by lower-status individuals: in most cases, members of his familia or his agents involved in his business as conductor. Many are also directly related to the cult of Mithras. For example, a member of Marius’ familia, a slave-agent named $WWLFXVSUREDEO\GHGLFDWHGWR0LWKUDVDW'RPQHüWL a site close to the salt-mines where Marius extracted taxes.32 At Micia, Publius Aelius Euphorus, whose name suggests that he was Marius’ freedman and agent, set up an altar to Silvanus Domesticus for the health of Marius.33 This same Euphorus also built a new temple to Mithras in the town.34 In these two cases – unlike that of Vitalis – the dedicants had a direct, proximate relationship with Marius as his (former) slaves. Yet a third dedication to Mithras for Marius’ health, this time from Tibiscum, was made by a slave without such a clear tie to the conductor. There Hermadio, a slave with a Greek name, set up an altar to Sol Invictus N(umini or Nabarzes) Mithras.35 Tibiscum sits far from the salt-mining regions of the province; it is unlikely that Hermadio was directly related to this industry. Instead, he gives his position in the dedication: actor Turran(ii) Dii. Hermadio was the slave-agent of Turranius Dius, member of a family with several business interests across the province. As was the case with Vitalis, Hermadio’s connection to Marius does not appear to be professional. Clauss suggests that the connection here might be familial, through marriage: a freedman makes a dedication at Tibiscum to Liber Pater for the health of M. Turranius Dius and Flavia Aelia Nice, the latter of whom Clauss assumes to be Marius’ female relative based on the shared nomen.36 Given the frequent appearance of this nomen in second century Dacia, however, this assumption is tenuous at best. The lack of a directly observable relationship between the familiae of the Turranii and Marius does not rule out that such a relationship existed. Indeed, in the provincial society of late-secondcentury Dacia, elite families frequently interacted, intermarried, and functioned as a mobster-like cabal. 37 Still, when coupled with the Vitalis inscription from Apulum Mithraeum III, where this relationship between dedicant and honoree is similarly unclear, it becomes more probable that both Heramdio and Vitalis were less directly connected to Marius than the others; perhaps,

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given that in both cases this relationship enters the epigraphic record in the context of Mithraic cult, these inscriptions provide evidence that the relationship existed within this Mithraic sphere. If the design of Apulum Mithraeum III sets the spatial dimension of the community within a shared koine of Mithraic groups across the empire, the epigraphic dossier from the site thus shows the different types of relationships and networks of practice in which a single Mithraic worshipper and his community might participate. Vitalis, the sanctuary’s probable commissioner, learned how to worship Mithras thanks to his position as a customs agent, perhaps even at the portorium headquarters in Poetovio, where personnel cycled in and out. Yet Vitalis also had a relationship with Publius Aelius Marius, a figure who seems to have occupied a central role in the cult of Mithras across Dacia. The community was linked both to the particular social milieu of the province, with its elite Mithraic patron Marius, and to the wider web of Mithras-worshipping portorium personnel across the Danubian zone. The most intact Romanperiod archaeological context at the site, though, suggests that the worshippers of Mithraeum III also participated in a much wider network. A FOUNDATIONAL DEPOSIT In the middle of the nave, a small box made of tiles containing an archaeologically rich fill was one of the few contexts relatively untouched in the medieval and modern periods (fig. 12.5, E). The contents of the box represent the remains of a complex rite, and its position under the floor suggest a one-time, commemorative foundation deposit. When set against parallel deposits from other mithraea, this rite can be seen to reflect a widespread community of practice and of ritual expertise, shared among a number of Mithraic communities across the empire. The box contained a charcoal-rich fill with a variety of ecofacts (fig. 12.8): unburned animal bones, burned animal bones, and carbonized seeds, analyzed by Georgeta El-Susi and Beatrice &LXWą38 The ash and carbonization-calcination of the material suggests that the contents of the box were burned prior to the deposition; the fact that the tiles show no signs of burning demonstrates that this burning happened elsewhere, and that the box material was curated before being placed there. Based on the fact that the material formed a single archaeological context (although with some disturbance on top from post-antique activity, including the burrowing of two intrusive mice whose skeletons were found within), the

deposit seems to represent a single event. This is an intentional, structured, ritual deposit. The vast majority of the burned seeds belonged to weeds associated with cereal cultivation (Convolvulus arvensis, Galium aparine, Raphanus raphanistrum). They may represent agricultural waste used as kindling; they may be a side-product of burned grain offerings; or they may represent burned flowers.39 The fruit seeds – grape and sloe – probably represent the burned offering of these fruits, one cultivated, the other gathered; such fruit offerings are common in Roman ritual contexts of all kinds.40 The bone assemblage demonstrates a similar process of curation, although not all of the bones show signs of burning. Of the non-intrusive bones or fragments in the box, almost all that can be identified belong either to adult chickens (Gallus dom., 14) or to pig (Sus s. dom., 15). The MNI represented includes 3 piglets (aged around 2 months), 2 pigs (aged 8-10 and 14-16 months), and 3 chickens.41 Almost all of the chicken bones come from the meaty portions of the ancient bird (thigh, wing, drumstick); they were expertly butchered, and portions selected, before being offered. At least 3 chicken thighs and 4 wings were exposed to direct flame but at a low temperature, consistent with offering at a small altar (rather than cremation on a high-temperature pyre). However, 4 wings, 1 thigh, and 1 drumstick show no signs of direct flame, but were probably stewed. This suggests that the meat portions underwent two processes: some was burned as an offering, some may simply have been table waste. The same is true of the piglet bones. Two bones – a metapodial (from the foot) and femur (from the leg) were burned; five – a parietal and canine (from the head), 2 ribs, and a humerus (from the leg) were unburned. This suggests that the piglets underwent a different process prior to being offered; instead of being butchered with the meatiest portions selected for offering/consumption, the entire piglet made its way into the sanctuary, perhaps cooked, offered and/or consumed whole. The Mithraeum III deposit thus seems to represent the curation of two distinct sets of remains: burned offerings and unburned offerings of both animal and vegetal material, but mostly foodstuffs. The unburned portions seem to represent table waste; indeed, the faunal assemblage appears quite similar to those from other mithraea which have been interpreted as the waste from ritualized meals.42 The fact that the burned and unburned materials are so similar suggests that the burned bits came from a similar milieu: a meal. Most probably what we are seeing is a

Fig. 12.8. Tile box in nave containing a foundational deposit. Photo: Apulum Mithraeum III Project (Matthew McCarty).

communal event in which the god participated as a diner, with his portion burned; the “logic” of feeding gods by burning offerings was well established in antiquity.43 The scraps from the meal consumed by human participants were collected alongside the god’s altar-scraps. The deposit thus represents the curated remains of a meal shared between the god and his worshippers; the position of the deposit provides the occasion for this meal. Although little of the floor surface survives, its level in the nave can be reconstructed at 242.40-242.46m ASL on the basis of the plaster scatter around the in situ altar and the mortar imprint for pavers below the step up to the cult niche. As preserved, the highest edge of the tiles extended up to 242.35m ASL, or 5-11cm lower than the reconstructed floor level of the mithraeum. Even if another tile had originally covered the top of the box, adding an extra 4-5cm of thickness, this would be below the dirt floor of the nave. Comparable deposits in mithraea, discussed below, similarly sat at or below floor level. Set underneath the floor of the mithraeum, this deposit must have been put in place before the floor was completed, rendering it hidden from view and implying that the meal whose remains were included took place before the building was complete. In other words, this was a foundational, or inaugural, deposit for the sanctuary; it also clearly commemorated a meal that celebrated that inauguration. The fact that, even based on the

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Fig. 12.9. Mithraea with similar foundation deposits. Map: Matthew McCarty, using base map licensed from esri/USNGS.

selection of material included in the box, this meal seems to have involved over 30kg of meat, implies that this was an event for a substantial group. A community created through feasting was central to the group who inaugurated Mithraeum III. If the Mithraeum III deposit focused on commemorating the local community, this type of inaugural deposit set in a box at or under the nave floor finds parallels in mithraea across the empire (fig. 12.9). At Dura-Europos, a tile box was set into the floor, just in front of the main altar, of a mithraeum founded around 169 CE; the box contained ash and “small” (probably bird) bones.44 At Krefeld, a small box made of stone slabs (no contents recorded) was set at floor level towards one end of the wooden mithraeum.45 At Tienen, a tile box filled with ash collected elsewhere was set at or under floor level.46 At OrbeBoscéaz, a late 2nd or early 3rd century mithraeum had a wood box set in the center of its nave; the box contained fragments of two cups as well as a mix of burned and unburned chicken and piglet

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bones, certainly curated banquet remains.47 At Mainz, a tile box sat in the center of the nave, and contained a cookpot and possibly also meal remains.48 Most recently, the newly discovered mithraeum at Mariana has a brick-built box set under the floor of its nave; the heavy rains and high water table at the time rescue excavations were being conducted at the site meant that the contents were not isolated and analysed.49 From a later period, the Phase IIA mithraeum in London, built c. 280 CE, included a box in the center of the nave of Floor 3 that contained “dark soil;” no further details are recorded.50 At BornheimSechtem, the two detectable phases of the mithraeum each include a box under the nave containing ash, bone, and small finds.51 Similarly, at Carrawburgh, each time the mithraeum was rebuilt through the third century, a new underfloor deposit was placed in a box.52 The practice of placing organic remains – sometimes certainly curated banquet refuse – in a box under the floor of a mithraeum’s nave was thus shared among these communities.

This shared practice of founding a mithraeum with a meal, and then curating the remains of that meal in a permanent, commemorative box under the nave’s floor, speaks to a network of shared practice that stretched across the empire. It is some of the first and clearest evidence for common complex ritual practice within the cult. But it is equally striking that this inaugural rite and its commemoration did not happen at every mithraeum. At most sites, given that excavators rarely go below floor level (especially when floors are made of materials other than packed earth), the presence of inaugural boxes cannot be ruled out; this is especially true for the mithraea of Rome and Ostia – a striking lacuna in the distribution map – given that many have mosaic floors. Yet in some cases, excavations can allow certainty about the absence of these boxes. Most strikingly, given that Vitalis learned how to practice Mithraism within the portorium system, such deposits do not seem to have been made at portorium-related mithraea. Only two have been excavated: Poetovio Mithraeum I and the mithraeum at Ad Enum. In both cases, excavators went below the level of the floor; in neither case did the mithraeum possess a commemorative box, even if the Ad Enum mithraeum did have a substantial favissa.538QOLNHDPLWKUDHXP·V size and layout, this foundation rite was not shared among all (or most) Mithraic communities; instead, it was practiced by a distinct subset of worship communities. In other words, at Apulum Mithraeum III, we see a foundational ritual distinct from any practiced within the network of mithraea founded and used primarily by portorium personnel. While the portorium milieu shaped Vitalis’ expectations and dedicatory practices, a different network of ritual practice (and presumably practitioners) also contributed to the ritual life of the mithraeum.

pate in a wholly regional or provincial version of the cult, even if, in Dacia, a number of Mithraic communities seem to share a link to and through a figure like Publius Aelius Marius, generating certain commonalities across Dacia. Similarly, single communities did not participate in one network based on the social and professional milieu of its worshippers, even if Vitalis replicated the practice of dedicating to Transitus Dei that he presumably learned from becoming a Mithras-worshipper within the portorium system. And finally, a given community did not solely participate in practices that are attested across the empire but only in some mithraea, like the foundation rites seen at Apulum Mithraeum III. Rather, it is in the overlap of these various social networks and communities of practice that localized, unique strains of Mithras-worship were created and elaborated. The variety of linkages in which a community like that of Mithraeum III participated generated a hybrid form of cult. By recognizing the multiplicities of interconnections, practices, and individual contributions by figures like Vitalis, we can begin to disentangle the dynamics between commonality and uniqueness, between standardization and variety, that characterize the worship of Mithras in the Roman Empire. NOTES 1 2 3

4

THE MULTIPLICITIES OF MITHRAISM Apulum Mithraeum III is not only the first excavated mithraeum in Dacia, shedding light on the practice of the cult within a province that has produced numerous Mithraic monuments (though not their use contexts) but also an illustration of the multiple, overlapping communities and networks of practice and worshippers that shaped localized instantiations of the cult. A single Mithraic community did not participate in a wholly shared version of the cult, even if many elements of the sanctuary’s design reflect common expectations about the size and nature of Mithraic groups and the layout follows shared principles. Nor did a single community partici-

5 6

7

On Mithraism in Dacia, Carbó García 2010. For the inscriptions, Egri et al. 2018. Civic history of Apulum: Diaconescu & Piso 1993; Piso 2001, xx-xxi. For the archaeology of the settlements, Diaconescu 2004. Daicoviciu (1937–40) 308 is the only mention of a more precise location: “auf dem Burgplateau bei dem KröQXQJVZHJ>WKDWLV%XOHYDUGXOÍQFRURQąULL@µ+RZHYHU he relied on information given to him by Virgil Cucuiu, a teacher at the nearby highschool (he did not see the site or finds himself); the fact that he records a different first name for the farmer than Christescu draws both of their accounts into question. Vermaseren (CIMRM II, 277) recounts his unsuccessful expedition to locate the Oancea property. For the finds, see Christescu 1927–32; Daicoviciu 1937–40, 308–309; CIMRM 1953–67. Piso (2001: pl. 3, 30) places the mithraeum near the corner RI %XOHYDUGXO ÍQFRURQąULL DQG 6WUDGD ,]YRUXOXL ZKLOH Szabó (2016) places the mithraeum further south, at the EDVH RI %XOHYDUGXO ÍQFRURQąULL 7KH ´%XUJSODWHDXµ description may suggest a point further up the plateau, probably beyond the modern Strada Apulum. For the other material, Daicoviciu 1937-40, 309. CIMRM 2000-2001. Both were allegedly pulled out of WKH 0XUHü 5LYHU LQ  DOWKRXJK WKH ODFN RI ZDWHU wear on both suggests that this provenance is dubious; in any case, they have long been assumed to have come from Apulum. Cumont (1896) 251, Rusu-Pescaru & Alicu (2000) 137-8; Carbó García (2010) 131 suggest 4 mithraea; Szabó

133

8

9 10

11 12

13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

(2015) 410 suggests 5-6 mithraea. The minimum number of mithraea is used here. In 1882-3, Pal Király discovered a mithraeum at Sarmizegetusa (Király 1887a, b), but only excavated the cult-niche and published basic notes; the precise location of this sanctuary remains unknown today, and may sit under the modern village. In 1888, a small Mithraeum consisting of a single room was excavated in Decea (Pintilie 1999-2000, Rusu-Pescaru & Alicu 2000, 78). An allegedly underground room with votive LQVFULSWLRQVWR0LWKUDVGLVFRYHUHGDW6OąYHQL LQ  may also have been a mithraeum, though few details are recorded (Pintilie 1999-2000, 233). For type and plan, Vizauer 2008, 19-80. The earliest Mithraic dedication from Dacia has a terminus post quem of 168; a second monument is datable to 178–180: Sicoe 2014, 111–24. Schatzmann 2004, 13–5. For example, the exterior entrance of the mithraeum in the Casa di Diana at Ostia has the exterior door set offaxis (CIMRM 216). The Ostian Mitreo delle Parete Dipinte (CIMRM 264); the Ostian Mitreo degli Animali (CIMRM 278); the Mithraeum of the Baths of Caracalla (CIMRM 457); and Martigny (Wiblé, this vol.) also require turning a corner. In other cases, despite the possibility of having an axial entrance, the door to the outside opens onto one side of the nave, similarly preventing a Durchblick. For the location and visibility of mithraea, cf. Danilova, this vol. Examples of niches on the right side include: BornKHLP6HFKWHP8OEHUW 'XUD0F&DUW\ 'LUYHQ this vol.); Martigny (Wiblé, this vol.); Rudchester (CIMRM 838). Examples with niches in both benches include: Bordeaux (Gaidon Bunuel 1991); Mariana (Chapon, this vol.); Capua (CIMRM 180). E.g., Beck 2006. We are using the numbers proposed in White 2012. Cf. McCarty & Dirven, this vol. Piccottini 1994. For the types, Sicoe 2014; Dirven & McCarty 2014; McCarty et al. 2017. For the inscriptions, Egri et al. 2018; McCarty et al. 2017. Hinnells (1976) notes this arrangement in reliefs. This is also true in all mithraea from the Rhine-Danube where statue bases for the torchbearers are preserved in situ: Stockstadt (CIMRM 1163–4); Poetovio I (CIMRM 1498, 1504); Aquincum II (CIMRM 1751–2); Carrawburgh (Richmond & Gillam 1951, 32). Inveresk: Hunter et al. 2016; Coombe & Henig, this vol. Cf. Kaczor, this vol. For the inscriptions and their social contexts, Egri et al. 2018; McCarty et al. 2017. Dobó 1940; De Laet 1949. Piso & Moga 1998. E.g., Beskow 1980; Clauss 1992, 297-299. Szabó 2015 explicitly explores this dynamic at Apulum. McCarty et al. 2017. AE 2013.1281 (Porolissum); IDR III.3.119 (Micia); IDR III.1.145 (Tibiscum); ILD 'RPQHüWL  E.g., Benea (2007); Szabó (2015) and Mihailescu-Bîrliba (2016) see the conductores as possibly involved in exploitation and trade in salt. Ørsted (1985) 341-2; Wollmann (1996) 30-31; Piso (2004-5) see them as involved in tax collection from subordinate lease-holders. Hirt (2010) 236 suggests that conductores in other mineralextracting fields primarily collected the vectigalia; Brunt

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(1990) 399-402 likewise sees conductores primarily as tax collectors, although he leaves open the possibility that they might engage in other aspects of resource processing and marketing. 31 Admittedly, de Laet (1949) has argued that at the time of the Marcomannic Wars, the responsibility for collecting customs duties shifted from private publicans to the hands of imperial procurators, given the disappearance of attested conductores from the epigraphic record. Still, such a reorganization would probably have put the major administration of the portorium in Dacia at 8OSLD7UDLDQD6DUPL]HJHWXVDWKHVHDWRIWKHSURYLQFLDO procurator, rather than at Apulum. This supposed transition in organization has recently been doubted: Brunt 1990, 414-20; Kritzinger 2015. A few figures, part of a pan-provincial elite, held civic offices outside their supposed home-towns in Dacia: for example, IDR III.2.217, 455, IDR III.3.159, IDR III.5.14 (multiple flaminates), 596. 32 ILD 804 = AE 2008.1157. Different readings have been proposed; Gostar (1966) 175-6 for Terrae Matri. Benea (2007) offers an idiosyncratic reading as I O M et M(inervae). Rusu (1956) argues for I[ovi] O[ptimo] M[aximo] et I(nvicto) M(ithrae); Clauss (1992, 198) accepts this reading, as does Sicoe (2014) 144, no. 15. $QRWKHUGHGLFDWLRQWR-XSLWHUDQG0LWKUDVZDVIRXQG DW 'RüWDW IDR III.2.306), providing a parallel for the reading accepted here. 33 IDR III.3.119. 34 IDR III.3.49. 35 IDR ,,, 7yWK   IROORZHG E\ -LWąUHO  2005) and Szábo (2015), has argued that this Hermadio was an “apostle” of Mithras, playing a key role in creating and disseminating a particularly Danubian strain of Mithraism. 36 Clauss 1992, 206; 2001, 40. 37 Egri 2007. 38  &I(O6XVLDQG&LXWąWKLVYRO 39 Robinson 2002, 97, suggests that Silene gallica seeds in Pompeian offering deposits might represent burned flowers. 40 Robinson 2002; Zach 2002; Reed et al. 2018. 41 It should be noted that no beef bones were found, although this does not preclude the presence of beef; beef is more commonly cooked and consumed off the bone, unlike pig and chicken: Lauwerier 1993, 79. 42 Lentacker et al. 2003; Olive 2004. For Mithraic dining, Kane 1975; Hultgård 2004; Griffith 2010. 43 E.g., Beard et al. 1998, 35–6. 44 Pearson 1939, 70. Cf. McCarty & Dirven, this vol. 45 Reichmann 1997. 46 Martens 2012, 262–4. 47 Martin-Pruvot 2000, 32, 110; Monnier 2016, 286. 48 Huld-Zetsche 2008, 3, 81–2. 49 Chapon, this vol. 50 Shepherd 1998, 75. 51  8OEHUW:XOIPHLHU8OEHUWHWDO 52 Richmond & Gillam 1951, 7-8. Although the excavators relate two of the deposits to the same phase, it seems more probable that their “bunker” belongs to Phase I, and their “hearth” to Phase IIA based on the differences in level and relation to the floors seen in their pl. 2B. 53 Poetovio: Gurlitt 1899; 1900. Ad Enum: Garbsch 1985, 360-4.

13

Pottery from Apulum Mithraeum III Preliminary results $QGUHHD'UąJDQ

The article discusses preliminary results of the analysis of pottery discovered during the excavations carried out in Apulum Mithraeum III.1 One of our research objectives has been to understand the activities related to the cult of Mithras by including finds other than the written and iconographic evidence, otherwise extensively discussed in Mithraic studies. Ceramics are central to this analysis, given both the quantities of pottery discovered and the role that ceramic objects played in a range of activities. In particular, we posed three research questions through the ceramic assemblages. First, did the use of the area change with the building of the stone-foundation mithraeum? Second, to what extent can we reconstruct the activities that took place across the site from the ceramic assemblage? And third, can we identify different patterns of activities in different areas of the site on the basis of ceramic finds? Because the analysis of the ceramic material is still ongoing, some aspects of the ceramic finds are left out in this article. I will focus instead on those elements which reflect the activities taking place in and around the mithraeum. The premise is that pottery is a relatively direct representation of these activities and, as such, illustrates the behaviour of its users within the cult place, implicitly providing the framework for understanding the mithraeum within the community. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND In 2008, the projected construction of a hotel in a central area of Alba Iulia prompted the first archaeological excavations on the site of what was soon identified as the third mithraeum discovered within the limits of the Roman site Apulum. The initial research, conducted by a team of archaeologists from the Museum of Alba Iulia, reached the Roman layers in the main nave of the mithraeum, as well as the upper layers outside the mithraeum. These modern interventions affected two contexts, 1101 and 1126, the areas around the mithraeum, and excavated below occupation and use levels within most of the building’s nave.

The nature of the archaeological research changed in 2013 when the investigations resumed as a systematic effort and the resulting finds were recorded in more detail. Between 2013 and 2016, the entire area of the mithraeum and the surrounding annexes and surfaces were manually excavated. The distinct methodology of the archaeological research in these two phases created a data gap between the ceramic finds from 2008 and those discovered between 2013 and 2016. Although we have access to the finds of the initial campaign, the analysis of the pottery has proven somehow more complicated and requires more time and adaptation to the different documentation manner. A viable framework for a comparative analysis based on vessel count that includes also the finds excavated in 2008 could not be established. Therefore, in this preliminary phase, the analysis of the pottery finds focuses only on those artefacts discovered during the 2013-2016 archaeological excavations. The Apulum Mithraeum III Project produced an abundant amount of pottery. The vessels came from 61 contexts, among which five are postRoman. The latter contexts contained a relatively small number (188) of Roman pottery fragments. They have been connected with a post-depositional use that postdates the mithraeum and, except for several finds of cultic importance, have been excluded from the current analysis. The pottery finds were quantified based on the minimum number of individuals (MNI). We are well aware of the significant influence of personal interpretation on the output of this method. However, several reasons stand behind our choice of method. First, the number of fragments (6037) proved to be manageable in terms of efficiency and accuracy. Second, the variations in brokenness/completeness influenced by fabric, firing, thickness, etc. and post-depositional patterns have created a disproportionate number of undistinguishable body fragments (3959, 65.5%) compared to rims (1664, 27.5%) and/or bases (545, 9%) that can be identified. The estimated vessel equivalent (EVE) count based on diameters of rims and bottoms or vessel weight would

135

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have left out most of the pottery finds. Plus, the variety of contexts corresponding to diverse formation processes is expected to have significantly interfered with the proportional representation of rims and bottoms among the fragments. The EVE is even more difficult to apply, given that there are not sufficient full vessels on site that would allow the definition of representative weights for particular types.2 Setting aside the fragments discovered in postRoman and medieval contexts, a total of 5697 fragments have been attributed to 2430 individual vessels, with a general brokenness coefficient of 2.3. The low completeness of the vessels considered, a high fragmentation degree is indicated. The vast majority of the pottery finds were discovered outside the mithraeum: the result of postantique interventions and site-formation processes, including the 2008 excavations. Around 47% of the finds are associated with only three areas: the north-eastern surface outside the mithraeum (context no. 1101=1126); a structure located to the east of the mithraeum, whose pottery and faunal assemblages suggest that it may have been

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a kitchen (context nos. 1271, 1276 and 1283); and a rubbish pit predating the mithraeum, discovered under the antechamber and the wall separating it from the main nave (context nos. 1127 and 1172). Quite surprisingly, the context no. 1101=1126 produced the greatest amount of material, despite being partially touched by the archaeological excavations of 2008 (ILJ). The fragmentation coefficient in these contexts corresponds roughly to the general pattern (NE outside surface: 2.27; presumed kitchen: 2.58), but the vessels found in the pre-mithraeum pit were characterized by an overall higher completeness degree (2.62). GENERAL REMARKS ON

THE PRESENCE OF THE MAIN FUNCTIONAL CATEGORIES

In this article, the classification of the pottery finds focuses on the activities taking place in the cult-related environment. Several main categories have been defined based on their more likely use in various activities. The range of identified forms corresponds to the most common general categories of the Roman provincial pottery (ILJ ).

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The vessels have been further classified according to their probable primary use in functional categories illustrating specific activities, namely cooking and food preparation (cookware and utilitarian ware), drinking and eating (tableware), storage (dolia), transportation (amphorae), and cult (cult-related vessels) (ILJ ). Apart from the general shape, other elements, such as the fabric quality, the surface treatment, or the presence of burning traces have also been considered.3

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made of semi-fine fabrics, apart from those having the aforementioned shape, others that bear burning traces have also been associated with food preparation. The dishes made of fine coated fabrics, including the terra sigillata forms produced in northern Italic, Gallic or other provincial workshops, have been generally defined as tableware. The dishes linked to the preparation of food represent 3% of the total number of vessels (ILJ ) and 15% of the cookware (ILJ). The same criteria have been applied to the functional classification of the bowls (ILJ$). They amount to 3% of the total number of vessels (ILJ), and 15% of the cookware (ILJ). It is a well-known fact that the Pompeian Red platters were used together with lids for baking and roasting. At the same time, many jars, deep bowls or shallow dishes have particular rims with steps or grooves designed to accommodate the lids. Because they are expected to have formed )LJ )RUPDOFDWHJRULHVRIFRRNZDUHIURPWKH0LWKUDHXP ,,,VLWH

&RRNZDUHDQGXWLOLWDULDQZDUH The cookware includes some jars, shallow dishes, deep bowls, their lids, and two caccabi. In total, 377 (16%) vessels fall into the category of cookware (ILJ). By far, jars form the largest group (ILJ$), representing 9% of all pottery (ILJ) and 67% of the vessels dedicated to cooking and food preparation (ILJ). Eleven jars made of a fine fabric are not included here. The absence of secondary burning on all but two of these fineware jars, in contrast with the remaining jars that show traces of contact with fire in 73.27% of the cases, suggests a distinct function of the fine jars. The high percentage of jars recalls their frequency at the mithraeum of Tienen.4 A number of dishes can also be associated with food preparation based on the shape, the presence of burning traces, and the fabric quality. For certain shapes, such as the imported Pompeian Red platters and their local imitations, the association with food preparation is clearly indicated by archaeological evidence showing them in use.5 Other quite similar dishes with a flat base and more or less vertical walls, many of them made from coarse fabric, must have had a similar function. The post-depositional pattern of these vessels produced a higher completeness degree, allowing for the shape to be easily recognised (ILJ %). In general, coarse dishes have all been con- )LJ $6HOHFWLYHLOOXVWUDWLRQRIFRRNLQJERZOVGLVFRYH sidered in the category of cookware. Around 70% UHGLQ0LWKUDHXP,,,%6HOHFWLYHLOOXVWUDWLRQRIWDEOHZDUH show traces of contact with fire. Among the dishes ERZOVGLVFRYHUHGLQ0LWKUDHXP,,,

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pairs with at least some of the jars, bowls or dishes, the lids have been counted separately, without influencing the proportional representation of cookware. They amount to 7% of the total number of MNI (ILJ). The utilitarian ware involved in the preparation of food is represented by only six mortaria. Four of them are concentrated in the pre-mithraeum pit and one has been found in the presumed kitchen (ILJ). The proportional representation of the abovedefined group across various contexts related to the cult area indicates a higher percentage of cookware and mortaria in the pre-mithraeum pit (19%) and in the southern outside surface (20%). In the presumed kitchen (14%) and the area next to it, the north-eastern outside surface of the mithraeum (14%), the cookware corresponds to the overall percentage. In the apse, the cookware represents only 8%. However, given the particularly high amount of undetermined fragments recorded in the apse (78%; compare to 64% in the presumed kitchen, 61% in the north-eastern outside surface, 53% in the southern outside surface and 46% in the pre-mithraeum pit), the significance of any proportional representations is rather questionable. In general, the jars predominate, at around 60-70% of the cooking vessels. There are also clear differences across the site: jars represent 75% of the cookware in the north-eastern outside surface, but only 47% in the presumed kitchen and its annexes. This suggests that the jars may have been used and discarded across the mithraeum space rather than in the kitchen area. The shallow dishes and deep bowls taken together represent a

third of the cookware. The relation between the number of bowls and that of dishes appears inversely proportional. It is not excluded that the varying amount of dishes indicates different preparation processes, or even different functions of the cookware dishes. Compared to the occurrence of bowls, the low percentage of dishes in the premithraeum pit (13% vs. 24%) is striking. Another pattern can be recognised in the number of lids. In the majority of the contexts they represent around half of the cookware, but for the pre-mithraeum pit, where the number of lids (61) equals roughly that of the cooking vessels (75), thus suggesting the possibility that they were thrown in together. The diameters of the lids actually correspond largely to those of the cookware discovered in the pit (ILJ), also supporting this hypothesis.6 In other words, the pre-mithraeum pit represents a very different depositional and disposal practice than that witnessed in other contexts across the site. 7DEOHZDUH The tableware is equally important among the pottery finds, representing 15% of the total number (ILJ ). The serving of beverages has been associated with the beakers, the cups and the kantharoi (for individual use), as well as the flagons and the pitchers (for communal use).7 Expectedly, vessels of individual use dominate the group, particularly the beakers and kantharoi (ILJ ). The fine jars, at least some of them, could

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have had the same use. The beakers amount to 38% of the tableware (ILJ ЯLIWKHILQHZDUH MDUVDUHLQFOXGHGЯDQGRIWKHWRWDOQXPEHURI vessels (ILJ). This value contrasts with a very small number of cups (11 MNI).8 Food was usually served in, and eaten from, dishes and bowls (ILJ%). Tableware dishes and bowls have been identified based on the criteria enumerated above. In total, they represent 44% of the tableware (ILJ) and 6% of the total number of vessels (ILJ ). However, a significant presence of dishes and bowls is observed only in the pre-mithraeum pit (27 MNI) and the north-eastern outside surface (41 MNI). Overall, the bowls are more numerous than the dishes (ILJ), but the proportional representation varies within each context. The preponderance of bowls is particularly striking in the north-eastern outside surface (80%). During the archaeological research, one particular find was recovered in a medieval pit that

postdates the Roman sanctuary. The fragment clearly belongs to a ceramic imitation of a metal vessel with a decorated, horizontal strap handle (ILJ %). Often, such handles related to metal vessel forms are interchangeably identified as belonging to paterae, Griffschalen, or casseroles; yet correctly identifying the vessel to which it belonged is key for understanding the function of the piece. Paterae were shallow bowls without handles, often used in cult contexts. Griffschalen were shallow bowls with a horizontal cylindrical handle ended in a zoomorphic representation; they tended to be part of a hand-washing set. The functions of the casserole, a deep bowl with horizontal strap handles, are still disputed but a role in the wine service is most likely.9 The fragment from Mithraeum III belongs to a deep bowl with a decorated horizontal strap handle, resembling the shape of a metal casserole. Ceramic imitations of the aforementioned metal vessels from Dacia

140

have been uniformly described as paterae with a cylindrical or strap handle, mainly due to the difficulty to identify the often uncharacteristic fragments of these vessels.10 The variant with decorated strap handles (type II) is more frequent (46 out of the total number of 61 finds). Almost half from Dacia come from Apulum (14 finds) and the QHDUE\ SRWWHU\ SURGXFWLRQ FHQWUH DW 0LFąVDVD  finds), where the discovery of moulds also indicates the production of such vessels.11 The part of the decoration still visible on the handle from Mithraeum III has no exact regional parallels. However, similar ornamentation is present on another vessel from the Colonia Apulensis. The handle displays a similar geometric pattern combined with a grapevine motif. Otherwise, several finds from Apulum and a mould discovered at 0LFąVDVDVXJJHVWWKHH[LVWHQFHRIORFDOGHFRUDWLYH preferences, which were sometimes combined, such as on the handle from the mithraeum.12 In this case, although the piece was found in a secondary context, it almost certainly relates to the use of the mithraeum, and suggests that similar vessels could be used in a range of ritualized acts. $PSKRUDH A total number of 50 amphorae were identified in the area of the mithraeum, representing 2% of all pottery (ILJ). Seven fragments are typologically undetermined and the identification of another three is uncertain. Most of the amphorae have been discovered in the presumed kitchen (10), the pre-mithraeum pit (9), the north-eastern outside surface (8) and in the apse (6). The vast majority of the recovered amphorae (33) belong to the Zeest 90/Dressel 24 similis variant D type (ILJ ). According to some tituli picti identified on amphorae of this type discovered at Rome-Monte Testaccio and Romula (Dacia), these amphorae transported Aegean olive oil. The distribution networks reached as far as Italy, as indicated by a number of fragments discarded at Monte Testaccio, but the main market targeted military sites from the Danubian provinces and the Pontic sites, where traditional connections with the Aegean largely continued under Roman administration.13 A recent study analysed the tituli picti identified on Dressel 24 similis amphorae discovered at Apulum, with three of them mentioning the name of the Legion XIII Gemina stationed at Apulum, pointing to the functioning of the military supply network bringing Aegean olive oil to Dacia. The existence of this supply network seems to have influenced the civilian consumption in the urban environment.14 This could also be the case in Pannonia, where

similar amphorae were found mainly in military sites on the northern and eastern frontier, while some even crossed into Barbaricum, reaching Sarmatian settlements.15 The considerable volume of this amphora suggests an important demand for olive oil within the mithraeum area. The oil was needed for various activities, such as the preparation of food and illumination with lamps. In this context, it has to be noted that 158 ceramic lamps have been recovered from in and around the mithraeum.16 Three Zeest 90/Dressel 24 similis amphorae have been found in the presumed kitchen and four in the pre-mithraeum pit. The highest concentration is in the north-eastern outside surface (8), which may suggest that they were not primarily used in cooking and food preparation. Only one amphora, identified as belonging to the Beltran IIA/Pélichet 46 type, indicates the use of fish sauce originating from Baetica.17 This container has been found in the presumed kitchen, where the content was used for food seasoning. The chronology of the Beltran IIA amphorae places this find in the last production phase which ended, according to the latest-dated finds from Augst, in ca. 150 CE.18 The earliest occurrence in Dacia is connected with the presence of the Legion IV Flavia Felix at Sarmizegetusa Regia.19 The connection with the military supply system is also suggested by the early finds from Pannonia.20 Imported wine is poorly represented among the amphora finds. Only two Rhodian and one Dressel 2-4 amphorae certainly contained wine. Two Forlimpopoli amphorae likely transported wine from the Adriatic coast.21 The content transported in Kapitän II amphorae is still uncertain, but wine is favoured. The latter type was produced somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean beginning with the end of the 2nd century CE. The

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141

amphora from the mithraeum site was discovered in the north-western outside surface; this could suggest a dating similar to the first phase of the mithraeum.22 &XOWUHODWHGZDUH The pottery used in cult-related activities is difficult to define outside its specific context, but there are some forms which, based on iconographic and epigraphic evidence, are likely to have had cultic functions. Among them, incense burners are a common occurrence in Roman cult places. On a painting from the Santa Prisca mithraeum in Rome, members of the fourth-grade initiation, the Lions, are depicted in a procession as carriers of offerings, including three craters. An inscription at the bottom of the painting describes the Lions offering incense. In the image, the craters are apparently used to burn incense.23 The archaeological excavations in Mithraeum III produced a total number of 39 incense burners/ turibula, including six finds which were found in secondary position in early medieval contexts. In general, they are characterised by a large variety of forms (ILJ $). Altogether, they represent a very small percentage of the pottery finds (1%) (ILJ). Quite surprisingly, the turibula are not particularly associated with the cult area of the mithraeum, being absent from the apse. Instead, they are concentrated in the north-eastern outside surface, where a large amount of other categories of finds is concentrated. A cult-related function is also suggested by the snake motif identified on two fragmentary vessels, most likely craters. In one case only some of the applied snake decoration was recovered, unfortunately from the northern profile of the site, so its relation to the cult activities is rather circumstantial. The second fragment provides more information about the vessel, which can also be connected with the active cult area of the mithraeum (ILJ %) because it comes from the cult niche. Despite its fragmentary state, enough of the vessel’s shape and the applied snake are recognisable. The vessel can be reconstructed as a crater with the handles decorated with applied snakes. The rim is wide and horizontal. The head of the snake, continuing from the body that normally decorates the handle, rests over the rim facing the crater’s mouth. The vessels with applied snake motifs have been linked to cult activities, owing not only to the powerful symbolism of the snake in several cults, particularly associated with chtonic rituals, but also to their cultic and funerary contexts of discovery,24 although domestic contexts in which they were found are also

142

known. In the latter cases, a connection with the private household cult has been suggested. 25 Archaeological evidence associates the presence of vessels with applied snake motifs with the cult places of several deities, including Mithras, Sabazios and Liber Pater, but also Mercury and other divinities.26 Although a higher concentration of finds is apparent in the Danubian and northern Alpine provinces, a recent example from the mithraeum at Hawarte, Syria, illustrates the eastern-most use of these vessels.27 The Dacian finds are not strictly linked to Mithras, being also found in connection with other cults, for example in sanctuaries dedicated to Liber Pater at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, Apulum and Porolissum, the temple of Aesculapius and Hygeia at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, and the temple of Jupiter, Terra Mater, MerFXU\ DQG +HUFXOHV DW 3RWDLVVD$W %DUERũL /LEHU Pater, Libera and Pan are also depicted on the vessel. One such vessel has been found in a grave DW/HFKLQūDGH0XUHũ$QDVVRFLDWLRQZLWKGRPHVtic cult has been suggested in the case of another vessel discovered in a house in the Colonia Apulensis.28 The two finds from Mithraeum III are the first to be identified in a Mithraic cult place in Dacia. Generally, the snake decorations applied to this type of vessels show a great variety. In our case, the head of the snake is highly stylized. The vessel form concurs with the observed popularity of craters as support for this type of decoration in Dacia. The general shape of the vessel resembles in fact other similar craters discovered on various sites from Dacia, five of which are from Apulum.29 THE PRE-MITHRAEUM PIT Another objective of this article is to discuss the use of the mithraeum site prior to the building of the sanctuary. This requires a closer look at the pre-mithraeum rubbish pit located under the antechamber and the wall separating the nave and the antechamber. The pit clearly predates the mithraeum stratigraphically, but also contains a high number of artefacts likely used somewhere in the same area. The context (no. 1127) and the subsequent layers of the same cut (1172) were already identified in the first season of the Apulum Mithraeum III Project. The feature has both the aspect and composition of a rubbish pit. The recovered pottery includes many local provincial forms, but also imported vessels. More than a third of all glazed pottery vessels have been found in this context. Among them, a group of four individuals is characterized by a fine fabric, fired in a reducing atmosphere, and coated with an olive-green or dark-green glaze. The ves-

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sels are decorated with scales in relief or rouletting strips. They include two beakers (ILJ%), one cup and one imitation of a Drag. 24/25 bowl (ILJ%). Another group of two fragmentary vessels made of the same fine fabric, but with an oxidized firing, and coated with a light-brown and respectively dark-brown glaze has also been identified. Lastly, two beakers show individual characteristics. Both fabrics are fine. One beaker with a cut-glass decoration was fired in a reducing atmosphere and was coated with a darkgreen glaze. The second beaker, decorated with scales in relief, was fired in an oxidizing atmosphere and coated with an olive-green glaze. The glazed vessels discovered in the pre-mithraeum pit largely correspond to those previously discovered at Apulum.30 Their provenance is difficult to determine though, particularly because of the multitude of production places, including several provincial workshops. One of these workshops was located not far from Apulum, at Ampelum.31

The pit also contained some imported terra sigillata ware and local variants produced at ApuOXPRUQHDUE\DW0LFąVDVDILJ). In general, the number of imported terra sigillata vessels discovered on the entire site is quite small. They include 12 Central Gaulish products, of which 3 were found in post-Roman contexts and another 3 during the 2008 excavation, and 11 Eastern Gaulish/Germania Superior products, of which 2 were found in post-Roman contexts and 7 during the 2008 excavation. A third (4 MNI) of all Central Gaulish terra sigillata vessels come from the rubbish pit, whereas the Eastern Gaulish ones are absent. Two forms have been identified, the Drag. 33 cup and the Drag. 37 bowl. There are also a significant number of local terra sigillata vessels (33 MNI) across the entire site. The pre-mithraeum pit included a fifth of these finds (6 MNI). Central Gaulish production suffered a decline beginning in the second half of the 2nd century CE.32 In Britain, one result of this process is the cessation of Central Gallic imports in the last decade of the 2nd century in favour of the Eastern Gaulish/Germania Superior terra sigillata.33 The end of the period of prosperous production is also observed in most of the Eastern Gaulish workshops in around 160 CE.34 At the same time, the decline of the workshops functioning in the territory of modern France contrasts with the socalled ‘miracle de Rheinzabern,’ related to the increasingly dominant position of this production centre from the second half of the 2nd century to early 3rd century CE.35 Furthermore, the middle of the 2nd century coincides with the beginning of

143

likely that the finds from the pit are the result of probably more than one event (based on its stratigraphy) at which food and beverage were served.37 It cannot be said for certain that these events were ritual, but the possibility cannot be excluded. CONCLUDING

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the local terra sigillata production in Dacia, espeFLDOO\ DW QHDUE\ 0LFąVDVD ZKLFK SUHVXPDEO\ largely satisfied the local demand, to the detriment of imported terra sigillata. The Severan period in Dacia brought about the inversion of the ratio between the Central Gaulish products and those from Germania Superior, particularly from Rheizabern.36 All considered, the formation of the pre-mithraeum rubbish pit can be dated to the mid to early second half of the 2nd century CE, providing a WHUPLQXV SRVW TXHP for the construction of the mithraeum. Comparing the pottery from the pre-mithraeum pit to the later areas of use associated with the structure suggests that in terms of food preparation and consumption, the differences are not significant, but a major distinction concerns the cult-related activities illustrated by cult-related ware (ILJ). The absence of incense burners/ turibula could indicate a lesser role of cult practices on the site prior to the sanctuary, yet it could also reflect the formation process of the pit. Several elements may indicate the organised character of the deposition of vessels in the pit. First, the correspondence between the number of cookware vessels and lids hints at the possibility that they were thrown in together. Second, a general higher level of completeness of the vessels has been observed in the pit. Third, the concentration of imported pottery and local variants belonging to particular categories of fine tableware (terra sigillata, glazed and thin-walled beakers) highlights the dining-related activities. All considered, it is

144

REMARKS

One question put forward in the beginning of this article refers to the identification of areas dedicated to particular activities on site. Although there are several variations in the proportional distribution of functional and formal ceramic categories across the contexts associated with the mithraeum area, their relevance is difficult to evaluate in view of the distinct formation processes involved. The north-eastern outside surface produced the largest amount of pottery finds. The identified functional categories represent the entire array of activities linked to food preparation and consumption, from supply (amphorae; 1%) to preparation (cookware, mortaria; 13%) to dining (tableware; 18%) (ILJ). The interpretation of these patterns depends on the nature of the surface: a discard area, the result of levelling/construction activity, or an active area of preparation/consumption? The absence of any kind of built structures that could accommodate these activities, or of a more-or-less stratigraphic cut that could delimitate a rubbish tip, hints towards the second possibility. In this case, the provenance of the material is important. The concentration of 30% of all incense burners/turibula on this surface places these activities against a cultrelated background, which means the pottery must have been brought over from the mithraeum area. The relative sterility of the mithUDHXP LQWHULRU Я SDUWLDOO\ WKH UHVXOW RI WKH  H[FDYDWLRQV DQG PHGLHYDO LQWHUYHQWLRQV Я PD\ also hint at the space being cleaned out and material scattered outside. Either way, it is likely that the surface mirrors to a certain degree the ritualized activities taking place in the mithraeum. The considerable amount of cookware in the mithraeum area suggests that the vessels may have been brought in together with their contents from a nearby place. The initial observations made during the archaeological research pointed towards a structure located to the east of the mithraeum as a possible kitchen. However, the results of the analysis of the finds from the contexts associated with this structure (see above: Cookware) are not conclusive, possibly also because only a small part of the structure was investigated due to the site’s limits. The discovery of a fish-sauce amphora and a mortarium

could suggest that food was perhaps processed and seasoned in this place. To sum up, only the cult room to the west side of the mithraeum can be specifically linked with the practice of the Mithraic cult, due to the presence of the crater decorated with applied snakes. Even so, the pottery discovered in Apulum Mithraeum III is similar to what was recorded in other mithraea38 or cult places, such as the Liber Pater sanctuary in the Colonia Apulensis.39 In general, aside from the cult-related ware, all other ceramic categories resemble those from domestic pottery assemblages. It is only the context of the mithraeum that charges the identified activities with a cult-related meaning. Evidence from the mithraeum at Tienen suggests the social role of the cult, as a means of providing the context for social cohesion among the participants.40 From this perspective, the mithraeum itself must be seen as a space that gathered together a group of people for common purpose, and ultimately created a community that was enacted by the participation in shared activities. In this sense, the pottery finds from Apulum Mithraeum III could be interpreted as the materialization of these activities. NOTES 1

2

3

4 5

6

7

8

McCarty et al., this vol. I would like to express my gratitude towards Mariana Egri, who coordinated the processing and interpretation of the pottery finds from the Mithraeum III at Apulum and guided me throughout the elaboration of this article. The quantification of pottery vessels is an important aspect of the pottery analysis and has been discussed by various publications, each presenting pro- and counterarguments on MNI and EVE. A comparative description of various quantification methods is developed in Orton and Tyers 1990. The functional categories follow in general the model proposed in Peña 1997, 20-21; Florent and Deru 2012. The two models have been adapted to our particular case by adding the cult-related vessels. Martens et al., this vol. At Pompeii, Pompeian Red platters still contained charred bread. The presence of a secondary burning on these vessels further suggests their involvement in cooking. Traces of cuts on the bottom of these platters indicate that the contents were shared directly from the vessel, thus opening the possibility that they were also used for serving food (Goudineau 1970; Podavitte 2014, 125). Cf. Brodeur, this vol. for an example of a dish used in this manner. A similar conclusion has been reached, albeit in a different context, for a pit located outside the mithraeum at Tienen: Martens 2004, 32, fig. 6. Some of these vessels must be regarded as general liquid containers. At least at some point, they could have had other practical uses, unrelated with the serving of beverages (hand-washing, etc). This could be compensated for by the numerous fragments of glass vessels that we have found during the

9

10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23

24 25 26 27 28



29

  31  30 32 33 34 35

36 37

38 39 40



excavation (362 MNI). A specialist report about the glass finds from the Mithraeum III by S. Panczel is in progress. A useful discussion on the terminological inconsistency in describing the metal and ceramic recipients of this W\SHLQ5XVXDQGPRUHUHFHQWO\0XVWDūą 2017, 20-21. Rusu 2007, 325-328. Rusu 1997; Höpken 2004, 245, Kat. 56-57. Rusu 1997, 333. The general characteristics and chronological evolution RIWKHVHDPSKRUDHKDYHEHHQGLVFXVVHGLQ2SDLū while recent discoveries connect the production of WKHVH DPSKRUDH ZLWK WKH FHQWUDO$HJHDQ DUHD 2SDLū and Tsaravopoulos 2011). Egri et al. forthcoming. Hárshegyi 2008. A specialist report about the lamps from the Mithraeum ,,,E\'3HWUXŏLVLQSURJUHVV Bertoldi 2012, 53. Martin-Kilcher 1994, 400-401. Andreica 2018. Hárshegyi 2010. Aldini 1978; Aldini 1999; Bertoldi 2012, 112. The earliest contexts that include Kapitän II amphorae are from the end of the 2nd century CE, but the use of this type of amphorae has been mostly dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. They were distributed mainly in the eastern Mediterranean, the Danubian and Pontic regions, rarely reaching the western provinces (Schimmer 2009, 66). In Dacia, Kapitän II amphorae have been discovered mainly on military sites (Negru et al. 2003). For the importance of incense burning in the cult of Mithras and the use of particular craters as incense burners, see Bird 2004. Alexandrescu 2007. Schmid 1991, 68. Schmid 1991, 65-68; Gassner 2004; Höpken 2004, 244. Kaczor, this vol. %ROLQGHū+|SNHQ.DW$OH[andrescu 2007. %ROLQGHū+|SNHQ.DW %ROLQGHūILJILJ /LSRYDQ%ąOXūą Vertet 1986. Bird 1993. Lutz 1986. The study of terra sigillata finds, including the identification of their origin, is ongoing, so the final conclusions will be included in the upcoming monograph. 5XVX%ROLQGHū The pit has one main fill (context 1127). A second fill (1172) has been documented close to the bottom, with only 37 vessels mixed with larger quantities of ash, charcoal and animal bones. Twenty vessels have been identified typologically, including nine jars, one cooking bowl, six lids, two beakers, one pitcher and one amphora. Overall, they do not change the proportional representation of the pottery categories in the pit. Martens 2004; Martens et al. this vol. Luginbühl et al. 2004, Tab. 1. Höpken 2004. Martens 2004.

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14

Reconstructing diet and practice in a ritual context The case of Apulum Mithraeum III *HRUJHWD(O6XVL%HDWULFH&LXWą INTRODUCTION The four-year systematic archaeological investigation of the Mithraeum III at Apulum (Alba Iulia, Romania)1 recovered a significant number of faunal and plant remains from a variety of preparation, consumption and refuse contexts. Several of these contexts seem to be directly related to a series of cult-related practices, so the analysis of these remains could shed light on certain aspects related to the manner in which food was incorporated into these practices. The present article will only discuss the patterns identified in some of these contexts – the “courtyard”, the cult room (apse), and the foundational deposit from the nave – though some other relevant contexts will also be mentioned briefly.2 From the methodological viewpoint, it has to be noted that the plant remains recovered from the mithraeum and its surroundings were mostly preserved due to charring. Accordingly, their identification has often been hindered by the fact that the external morphological characteristics of the individuals were affected by external factors like burning or soil conditions. On the other hand, animal bones seem to be better preserved. THE “COURTYARD” A total number of 1519 faunal remains were collected from the immediate surroundings of the mithraeum, in the occupation and levelling layers surrounding the building. This area may have included waste discarded from the building itself; although no trace of enclosure was found, this area will be referred to as the “courtyard.” Statistically, the largest percentage (88.22%) belongs to mammals, followed by bird remains (10.83%), and fish and molluscs (0.2%), while the many rodents identified there were left aside because they were deemed intrusive based on taphonomy. In the case of 225 bone fragments, the species could not be identified precisely. Among the identified species, pigs dominate with 53.52%, followed by cattle with 17.14%, ovicaprines with 13.22%, birds with 11.97%, equines with 1.33%, and game with 1.56% (tab. 14.1).

In the case of pigs, the analysis indicates the presence of at least 62 individuals, representing 41.61% of the total number of animals identified in the “courtyard” assemblage. The age profile of the pig bone assemblage (fig. 14.1) is shown in a trimodal histogram, indicating that pigs were slaughtered at three distinct ages, around 2-3 months, 8-10 months and 18-24 months. Still, the majority of them (43.55%) were slaughtered at under one year old, indicating a preference for piglet meat. The skeletal analysis points to the prevalence of spine parts (39.62%) and meaty parts of the limbs (23.68%) (tab. 14.2). The height at the withers was estimated using four astragalus bones, resulting in four individuals with a height of 69.4 cm, 72.1 cm, 73 cm and 77.5 cm respectively. The taphonomic analysis identified five bones displaying burnt spots, while a proximal radius and an acetabular bone show signs of gnawing. Eight bones have cut marks resulting from carcass processing: one distal humerus, two femur bones with traces on both epiphyses (fig. 14.2b), two shoulder blades with cuts on their neck (fig. 14.3c), two metapodial bones and a proximal radius. In the case of cattle, at least 14 individuals were identified, representing 9.41% of the total number of animals. The frequency of main skeletal categories is quite uniform (tab. 14.2), while the slaughter age varies significantly (tab 14.3). Still, the juvenile/subadult/adult ratio of 7.14/28.58/64.29% seems to suggest the selection for slaughtering of adult/mature cattle, probably for economic reasons. In one case the height at the withers of 115.17 cm was estimated for an individual based on a metacarpal with a GL of 191 mm; the slenderness index of 16.75 indicates a female. Among the taphonomic features can be included two metapodial bones with burnt spots, and a distal metacarpus and an ulna gnawed on the fusing ends. Cut marks were observed on ribs, metapodials and the upper rim of a mandible (fig. 14.3b). The skeletal remains of ovicaprines belong to at least 29 individuals (19.46%), of which five are surely goats and eight sheep. Still, the substantial

147

TAXON

NISP

%

MNI

%

Sus s. domesticus

684

53.52

62

41.61

Ovis/Capra

169

13.22

29

19.46

Bos taurus

219

17.14

14

9.41

Equus caballus

17

1.33

4

2.69

Asinus domesticus

2

0.16

2

1.34

Canis familiaris

4

0.31

2

1.34

Lepus sp.

7

0.54

3

2.01

Sus. s. ferrus

2

0.16

2

1.34

Cervus elaphus

4

0.31

2

1.34

Vulpes vulpes

5

0.39

2

1.34

Ursus arctos

2

0.16

1

0.67

Gallus domesticus

153

11.97

19

12.75

Anser domesticus

5

0.39

3

2.01

Anas platyrhynchos

1

0.09

1

0.67

Columba sp.

4

0.31

3

2.01

Determined

1,278

100

149

100

Aves sp.

2

Pisces

2

Unio sp.

1

Splinters

225

Rodentia

11

Total sample

1,519

Table 14.1: Faunal assemblage recovered from levelling, use, and destruction layers in the courtyard around the mithraeum.

number of recovered teeth could suggest a higher MNI. As NISP, the ovicaprines are surpassed by cattle. The skeletal analysis indicates a prevalence of meaty parts though skull bones are also well represented (tab. 14.2). Regarding the slaughter age, it is worth noting the large number of lambs and also that of mature individuals, while ovicaprines 2-4 years old are poorly represented, perhaps because this was the prime age for breeding (tab. 14.4). Cut marks were observed on a radius shaft (fig. 14.3d), on the lateral side of a proximal metacarpal and on a distal tibia. At least four equines were identified, representing 2.69% of the total number of animals. Among them, one did not reach maturity, according to a humerus proximal which was not fused. In the case of one individual, a height at the withers of 142.34 cm was identified, based on a metatarsal

148

Fig. 14.1. Estimated age of pigs in different areas of the mithraeum.

with a length of 267 mm.3 The shaft damage did not allow an evaluation of the shaft index, but the metapodial suggests a tall specimen. Its size is exceeding the average height of the horses from Tác-Gorsium (139.07 cm),4 but it is matching the lower limit of the Roman horses’ height, since individuals having a height of 145-155 cm were identified, for example, in Pannonia.5 The assemblage also provided two articulated phalanges (I, II) from another animal; the proximal phalanx has a length of 90 mm, relative to a shaft index of 40, which is suggesting a horse with slender features. Both phalanges have outgrowths on the plantar side, which must have had repercussions on the animal's gait. Among the equine teeth is a molar/premolar with well-defined donkey characteristics: the buccal fold does not penetrate between metastylid and metaconid, and the lingual fold is V-shaped.6 The tooth has the dimensions of 25.5 x 15.5 mm and belongs to a specimen which was

COURTYARD BONES

Pig

Sheep

Cattle Horse

Neurocranium/ 29 ossa corni

6

11

Viscerocr.

37

5

5

Dentes sup.

10

17

10

1

Mandibula

42

12

16

1

Dentes inf.

21

15

8

2

Atlas

2

Axis

2

Vertebrae

17

Dog

Deer

Hare

1 1

1 6

Sacrum

19

1

1

Costae

250

23

36

Scapula

19

1

4

Humerus

41

14

8

1

Radius

18

14

10

1

Ulna

11

Pelvis

9

4

5

Femur

28

2

9

Tibia

21

13

9

Fibula

3

Talus

4

2

Calcaneus

8

3

1

3 1 1

4

1 5

1

13

2

10

6

1

1

13

6

2

1

6

3

1

Carpalia Metacarpus.

1

Metatarsus

6

Tarsalia

10

Ph 1

26

3

17

1

Ph 2

27

3

3

2

Ph 3

14

Metapodalia

29

3

5

Total

684

169

219

1

1

2 19

4

4

7

Table 14.2: Anatomical bone distribution in the courtyard.

Context

0-1.5 y

1.5-2 y

2-3 y

3-4 y

Cult room

2

1

1

1

Courtyard

1

2

2

4-6.5 y

6.5-9 y

9.5-11 y

1

3

5

Total 6

1

14

Table 14.3: Slaughter age of cattle from different areas of mithraeum.

149

Fig. 14.3. Cut marks showing evidence of butchery.

Cult room

Courtyard Altar box

1

3

3(1O) 3 (2O)

1

3 (1C+2O)

2 (1C+1O)

3 (1C)

1 (C)

Total

>4-6 y

2 (1C)

1 (O)

7 (1C+1O)

7 (1C+3O) 29

1 (O)

Table 14.4: Slaughter age of ovicaprine from different areas of mithraeum (O-Ovis; C-Capra).

150

2-4 years

18-24 m

16-18 m

8-12 m

6-8 m

4-6 m

2-4 m

0-2 months

Context

not older than 6-7 years, given the proportion between the measurements.7 Another lower tooth was assigned to a mule, based on the buccal fold deeply penetrating between metastylid and metaconid and the lingual fold having a deep V-shape.8 A distal radius fragment with the dimensions of 60 x 33 mm might also come from a mule, given the lower metric data. Lastly, four recovered bones belong to two dogs, one being 6-8 month old (with the proximal phalanx just fused)9 and one being a mature individual. From wild species, twenty bones were identified, representing 1.56% of the total number. They come from hare, red deer, wild boar, fox and brown

12-16 m

Fig. 14.2. Cut marks showing evidence of butchery.

bear. Three ribs, a mandible, a shoulder blade, an acetabulum and a phalanx belong to three adult hares. Three metapodials and one radius belong to two adult red deer. A proximal femur and a distal radius come from two boars. It has to be mentioned that hare, wild boar, and red deer were commonly hunted during Roman times, their meat being particularly prized.10 On the other hand, a couple of bear metacarpals could more likely come from a pelt, perhaps used as furnishing. There are also five fox bones (three jaws, a radius and a calcaneus) presumably belonging to two individuals. The chicken remains belong to at least 19 individuals representing 12.75% of the total number. The skeletal analysis indicates a prevalence of meaty parts (wings, breast and legs) (tab. 14.5; fig. 14.4) though their better preservation could

8

1

Fig. 14.5. Chicken bones recovered from the foundational deposit in the nave.

Gallus

Courtyard

Neurocranium

1

Vertebrae

7

Costae

16

Coracoid

16

Sternum

1

Cult room Altar box 1

1

Furcula

Fig. 14.4. Percentage of various portions of chicken found in different areas of the mithraeum.

also be influenced by particular soil conditions.11 The tarsometatarsal bones suggest the presence of at least eight females and four males. Of the 19 individuals, five were young birds (26.32%) and 14 were adults (73.68%). Aside from chicken, five goose bones coming from wings and legs belong to two adult individuals, whereas one distal femur could belong to a duck. Four carpometacarpal bones were assigned to pigeon/ringdove (Columba sp.) individuals. Lastly, two fragments of egg shell were also collected.

Scapula

2

1

1

Humerus

19

1

1

Radius

5

3

Ulna

15

Carpalia

4

Carpometacarpus

4

Ph1

4

2 1 2

Ph2

2 1

Sinsacrum

5

1

Femur

13

2

4

Tibiotarsus

28

1

1

Tarsometatarsus

13

2

Table 14.5: Anatomical distribution of the chicken bones.

151

Species

Below altar box

Within altar box

Sus s. dom.

8

Bos taurus

2

Ovis/Capra

3

Total altar box NISP

%

MNI

%

7

15

41.67

5

50

2

4

11.11

1

10

3

8.33

1

10

14

14

38.89

3

30

23

36

100

10

100

Splinters

12

12

Unio sp.

1

1

Helix sp.

2

2

Rodentia sp.

2

2

40

53

Gallus domesticus Identified total

13

Total

13

9.09

Table 14.6: Anatomical bone distribution in the altar box/foundation deposit.

THE CULT ROOM (APSE) While rescue excavations in 2008 removed occupation or destruction layers from much of the PIG Part

Courtyard

Cult room

Altar box

Head

20.32

30.65

33.33

Shoulder, hock

13.01

15.32

13.33

Ham, hock

10.67

20.97

13.33

Back, ribs

39.62

12.9

33.33

Feet

16.38

20.16

6.68

SHEEP/GOAT Head

32.54

27.78

Shoulder, hock

17.16

19.44

Ham, hock

14.2

13.89

Back, ribs

17.16

2.78

Feet

18.94

36.11 CATTLE

Head

22.52

14.13

Shoulder, hock

11.71

14.13

Ham, hock

13.51

13.04

Back, ribs

26.13

22.83

Feet

26.13

35.87

Table 14.7: Frequency of body parts in different areas of the mithraeum.

152

building, the raised niche at the west end of the building was not excavated until the Apulum Mithraeum III Project’s final season in 2016. There, an assemblage of faunal remains was excavated from the disturbed use and destruction layers that looks much different than the material excavated from the outside of the building. Statistically, the faunal assemblage recovered from the cult room consists of mammals (94.55%), birds (3.55%), and molluscs (0.47%), aside from several intrusive rodent bones which were not included and 141 bone fragments which could not be determined. Among the identified species, pigs rank first with a percentage of 45.59%, followed by cattle with 33.1%, small ruminants with 13.23%, birds with 5.15%, horse with 1.1%, and game with 1.84%. In the case of pigs, the analysis indicates the presence of 21 individuals representing 51.22% of the total number. The slaughter age ratio points to the prevalence of immature individuals among the recovered bones (ÀJ). In the case of one individual, a waist of 77.5 cm was estimated on the basis of a talus having the length of 42 mm. The skeletal analysis reveals a preponderance of bones coming from meaty parts, though skull bones are also well represented, which could suggest that whole piglets were sometimes cooked and consumed. The recovered cattle bones belong to at least six animals representing 14.63% of the total. The slaughter age ratio confirms the already observed preference for beef meat coming from immature/ sub-adult animals (tab. 14.3). The skeletal analysis shows a prevalence of bones coming from meaty parts though the percentage of feet bones is also quite significant.

Fig. 14.6. Carbonized seeds recovered from the foundational deposit in the nave.

Among the remains of small ruminants were identified at least two goats, three sheep and three undetermined ovicaprine. The slaughter age ratio also highlights the prevalence of younger specimens selected for consumption. The assemblage largely consists of distal parts of the legs (36.11%) and proximal parts of the limbs (33.33%), while skull bones represent 27.78% and spine bones only 2.8% (fig. 14.7). One proximal sheep metacarpal exhibits cut marks on its epiphysis, resulting from carcass processing. The assemblage also includes a fragment of the second metapodial and two teeth belonging to a horse. Wild species are represented by one radius of a roe deer, one scapula of a hare and three boar bones (one talus, one lower tusk and one distal humerus bone). The hare scapula has fine cuts on its collum scapulae resulting from carcass processing. As previously mentioned, the meat of all three species was consumed in Roman times. Bones belonging to at least three adult chickens were identified among the remains from the cult room. A distal fragment of the tibiotarsus bears cut marks on the condyles, resulting from the splitting of the joint during processing. Half of the bones come from wings, 28.57% from legs, 14.3% from shanks and 7.14% from heads (tab. 14.5, fig. 14.4). FOUNDATIONAL DEPOSIT FROM

river clam shell, as well as rodent bones and snails which are intrusive species (tab. 14.6, fig. 14.5). The pig bones belong to five individuals, of whom three were aged 1-2 months, one was 8-10 months old and another was 14-16 months old. They account for 41.67% of the total number of animals. The skeletal analysis indicates that elements from all body parts were identified meaning that whole piglets were cooked and consumed, while in the case of older pigs, mainly the meaty parts were selected (tab. 14.7). This is also confirmed by the fact that only a couple of the piglet bones (a metapodial and a femur) were burned, perhaps as part of an offering, while all others were unburned. The number of cattle bones is very small (two ribs from the tile box, and a talus and metatarsal from underneath), representing 11.11% of the No crt

1

Vitis vinifera

2

No. of charred seeds

Common name

2

grape vine

Prunus spinosa

1 stone

blackthorn

3

Galium aparine

16

cleavers

4

Convolvulus arvensis

24

field bindweed

5

Cf. Raphanus raphanistrum

1 silicae

Total

44 seeds

THE NAVE

The small foundational deposit which was discovered under the floor in the nave contained 40 burned and unburned animal bones, as well as carbonized plant remains.12 The faunal remains include chicken, pig and cattle bones, and one

Latin name

wild radish

Table 14.8: Charred seeds from foundational deposit.

153

TAXON

COURTYARD PERCENTAGE

CULT ROOM (APSE) PERCENTAGE

FOUNDATION BOX PERCENTAGE

MAMMAL

88.22%

94.55%

61.11%

Pig

53.52%

45.59%

41.67%

Ovicaprine

13.22%

13.23%

8.33%

Cattle

17.14%

33.1%

11.11%

Other

2.89%

1.94%

-

BIRD

10.83%

3.55%

38.89%

0.2%

0.47%

0.03%

FISH & MOLLUSC

Table 14.9: Percentage of taxa by NISP in faunal assemblage by area of mithraeum. Age class (months)

Live weight

Yield*

MNI

Total (kg)**

Total per taxon

%

128

88.28

Altar box Pig Sheep

0-6 m

20

0.8

3

48

6-24 m

50

0.8

2

80

12-24 m

25

0.5

1

12,5

12,5

8.62

3

4,5

4,5

3.1

145

100

920

45.66

95,5

4.96

900

44.66

95

4.71

4.5

0.01

2015

100

Hen

1,5

Total Cult room Pig

0-6 m

20

0.8

5

80

6-24 m

50

0.8

11

440

>24 m

100

0.8

5

400

0-6 l

10

0.6

1

6

6-12 m

22

0.5

1

11

12-24 m

25

0.5

5

62.5

>24 m

32

0.5

1

16

6-24 m

250

0.5

3

375

>24 m

350

0.5

3

525

Boar

adult

100

0.8

1

80

Roe deer

adult

30

0.5

1

15

Hen

adult

1.5

3

4.5

Sheep

Cattle

Total

Table 14.10: Meat weight estimation based on bones from the altar box and cult room (* Butchery gross yield; **Meat and offal weight; cf. von den Driesch 1976).

total number, perhaps belonging to one individual. The same can be said about the few sheep bones (also found under the tile box) which belonged to an 18-24 months old individual, representing 8.33% of the total number. Bones belonging to three chickens were also recovered from this assemblage, representing

154

38.89% of the total number, but the skeletal analysis (tab. 14.5, fig. 14.4) shows the prevalence of meaty parts (thighs, wings, and drumsticks). There are no elements indicating the presence of whole chickens, so the birds were more likely processed elsewhere and only some parts were brought into the sanctuary. All chicken bones

come from adult specimens, but their sex could not be precisely identified. It has to be noted that bones from at least three chicken thighs and four wings were exposed to direct flame but at a low temperature, while other bones coming from at least four wings, one thigh and one drumstick show no signs of burning. This could suggest that the chicken meat portions underwent two processes: some were burned as an offering and others may have been stewed as part of a meal. The foundational deposit also provided an interesting set of macro-botanical remains which were all carbonized (tab. 14.8; fig. 14.6). The vast majority of the burned seeds belonged to weeds associated with cereal cultivation (Convolvulus arvensis, Galium aparine, Raphanus raphanistrum) though the young leaves of the latter were sometimes consumed raw or cooked, while the seeds were sometimes either ground and used as a mustard substitute or pressed to obtain edible oil.13 As weeds, they may represent agricultural waste used as kindling, a side-product of burned grain offerings, or even burned flowers.14 The few fruit seeds (grape and sloe) probably represent the burned offering of these fruits, one cultivated, the other gathered; such fruit offerings are common in Roman ritual contexts of all kinds.15 DISCUSSION One useful starting point could be the estimated amount of meat consumed in two different contexts that seem to be directly related to cult activities – the cult room to the west of the building and the foundational deposit from the nave (tab. 14.9). In the case of the cult room, the analysis of faunal remains highlights a high percentage of pig bones, though the percentage of cattle bones is also significant. In fact, the estimated amount of meat and offal provided by the identified species (ca. 2015 kg) points to a somewhat different image of their consumption (tab. 14.10).16 Thus the percentage of pork and beef meat is roughly equal, dominating the assemblage, whereas that of ovicaprine, game and chicken meat is very low. It is also worth mentioning that some 5.85% of the total number of faunal remains consists of burned bones, perhaps due to their inclusion in ritual offerings. In the case of the foundational deposit from the cult room, cattle bones were excluded from the estimation due to the very small number of finds. Thus a total of 145 kg of meat and offal was estimated, of which 128 kg (88.28%) came from pork, 12.5 kg (8.62%) from ovicaprine and 4.5 kg (3.1%) from chicken. It has to be noted that in this case pork meat, and especially piglet, predominate.

This is significant because it demonstrates the scale of the banquet whose remains were collected and deposited in the box. Even though the deposit seems rather small in itself, it represents a large-scale event that would have produced enough edible meat to feed several hundred participants. The foundation banquet was not a private, small-group affair, but rather a large feast for a broad community, comparable in scale to the event attested at Tienen.17 Regarding the slaughter season of the animals identified in this context, it seems that the aforementioned three piglets were more likely slaughtered in April-May (the spring farrowing) or October-November (the autumn farrowing). The pig aged 8-10 month could have been slaughtered either in the spring (if born in autumn), or at the end of the year. As for the pig slaughtered at 14-16 months old, this means April-June/July (the spring farrowing) or October-December/ January (autumn farrowing). Unfortunately, a single sheep was identified; its age does not suggest too much. It is well-known that the age-related information is less secure for assessing the seasonal exploitation of pigs, though some consistent data have also been published.18 For example, in the mithraeum at Tienen, the slaughter season was established by associating the slaughter age of pigs with that of sheep,19 starting from the idea that in traditional breeding practice the pigs may have two farrowings per year, in March-April and late summer-early autumn, if they were wellfed. It seems that at Tienen the pigs were slaughtered around 2-3 months and 8-10 months old. Roman and Medieval written sources also confirm the two farrowings of pig during the spring and late summer-early autumn.20 On the other hand, the analysis of bones belonging to the young animals from the mithraeum at Aquincum indicates that they were probably slaughtered and consumed either in August-September or December-January.21 In the case of Apulum Mithraeum III, it was already shown that five pigs (of which four were suckling pigs) from the cult room were slaughtered at 0-4 months old and one lamb at around four months old. Furthermore, the graph in fig. 14.1 shows a discontinuous curve with peaks indicating different slaughter ages possibly related to some form of seasonal exploitation. On the other hand, the much larger sample recovered from the “courtyard” includes ten pigs slaughtered at 0-4 months old and nine ovicaprine slaughtered at less than 6 months old (six individuals were less than 4 months old). This pattern confirms the existence of an important slaughter-

155

ing season before early summer. By extrapolation, the five young pigs from the cult room and the three from the foundational deposit could have belonged to the spring farrowing. Another important slaughter age at between 8-10 months old is also observed in the courtyard sample. It can be presumed that these pigs were slaughtered in the late spring-early summer (if an autumn farrowing). If these animals would have been born in spring and slaughtered in October-December/ January, then there would have been more ovicaprine slaughtered at 8-10/12 months old. Only two out of 29 individuals were identified in the “courtyard” sample and none in the cult room. This pattern could suggest an important slaughtering season during the warm season. CONCLUSIONS Although the entire botanical and faunal assemblage recovered from Apulum Mithraeum III is not very large (2,771 skeletal elements), compared to what was found in Tienen (14,000 bones), Martigny (70,000) or Künzing (over 27,000), it offers additional arguments on the role of certain animals in Mithraic cult practices. The patterns identified through the analysis of finds from the foundational deposit largely resemble those observed in other Mithraic contexts, notably the prevalence of pig and chicken bones, though there are also some variations within other contexts. Young and sub-adult pigs and ovicaprine were predominantly slaughtered, and there was a significant preference for whole piglets. Pig slaughter age profiles adjusted with that of ovicaprine could link some of the cult activities in which food was consumed with the beginning of the summer or early autumn. In the case of chicken, adult specimens predominate, more likely because in general chickens grow very quickly; they reach sexual maturity in about half a year. Nevertheless, the meat was still delicate and tasty even in the case of adult birds.22 The skeletal analysis points to a higher frequency of certain parts (thighs, wings, and drumsticks) suggesting that carcass processing and cooking took place in another location; the meals in the mithraeum structure itself involved pre-butchered animals that

156

were provided for the occasion or brought “potluck.” Cattle carcasses were also more likely processed elsewhere and only some good-quality beef cuts were delivered and cooked. It has to be also noted that the recovered bones have few cut marks, which is suggesting that the animal carcasses were processed by professional butchers; the quality of butchery on the Roman-period remains from the site stands in stark contrast to that of the post-Roman periods attested. The foundational deposit from the nave provides an illustrative assemblage of faunal and botanical remains which more likely resulted from a cult-related event.23 Some of these remains were burned, probably during some ritual offering to Mithras, while others are more likely food waste from a communal meal. This combination of burned and unburned food remains, which were carefully buried together under the nave’s floor, point to a communal event in which the participants shared a meal with the god, his portion being burned on the altar.

NOTES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

McCarty et al., this volume. A comprehensive analysis of all faunal and botanical remains from the mithraeum will be published. May 1985, 375. Bökönyi 1984, 61. Bökönyi 1974, 263. Baxter 1998, 9-10. Levine 1982, 233-250. Levine 1982, 233-250. Amorosi 1989. MacKinnon 2014, 208. Gál 2005, 307. McCarty et al. in this volume. Hedrick 1972, 549-550. Robinson 2002, 97, suggests that Silene gallica seeds in Pompeian offering deposits might represent burned flowers. Robinson 2002; Zach 2002; Reed et al. 2018. Estimations cf. von den Driesch 1976. Cf. Martens et al., this vol. Lauwerier 1983, 483-488; Ervynck 1997, 67-79; Ervynck, Dobney 2002, 7-22. Lentacker et al. 2004, 84. Ervynck 1997, 71. Vörös 1991, 132. von den Driesch and Pöllath 2000, 150. McCarty et al., this volume.

15

The Art and Architecture of the Caesarea Mithraeum Reconstructing Evidence for Cult Ritual Alexandra Ratzlaff

Situated along the central Levantine coast, Herod the Great’s city of Caesarea Maritima stood as a Roman beacon on the Judean shore (fig. 15.1). Mithraism was one of an array of cults identified within the city. The cult complex is, to date, the only mithraeum excavated within the modern borders of Israel. The discovery and excavation of the mithraeum under the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima (JECM) began in the summer of 1971, with excavations conducted in 1973 and 1974. In the area south of the Herodian harbor along the seaside, several large sand dunes designated as Field C included twenty vaults that seem originally to have formed part of a warehouse complex; the northernmost Vault 1 contained the mithraeum.1

an east-west line of the middle of the vault, effectively dividing the podium into two equal parts. The only cultic furniture on the eastern end of the vault left in situ after abandonment of the mithraeum is a small altar (0.60 m x 0.60 m x 0.22m) constructed of two hewn stone blocks, placed in front of the podium and in the center between the northern and southern benches. At approximately 2.6 m from west of the eastern wall, an arched stone doorway leads to Vault 2, where deposits of lamps contemporaneous with the use of the mithraeum were found near the doorway

THE ARCHITECTURE The former horreum vault, measuring 4.94 m high, 4.95 m wide, with an original length of 31.30 m, provided an ideal setting to establish the local cult using a pre-existing space (fig. 15.2). The cave-like qualities of the horreum created the requisite ambiance sought after for Mithraic ritual. According to deposits of coins and pottery found on the building’s subfloor, a terminus post quem for the overhaul of the vault occurred no later than the late 2nd century CE. This late date stands in contrast to the earlier published suggestion that the mithraeum was one of the earliest in the eastern Mediterranean (and one of the earliest in the empire), and thus a gateway for the cult’s diffusion.2 Additions and modifications to the warehouse structure were relatively minimal. To facilitate the participation of members in the cult meals, benches measuring 1.60 m wide, 0.40 m high and 10.40 m in length, were constructed against the northern and southern walls. In an effort to possibly delineate a sacred space at the eastern end of the building, a podium measuring 1.10 m wide and 0.40 m high was built against the eastern wall, abutting the eastern ends of the side benches. A low wall (1.05 m long, 0.32 m wide and 0.32 m high) was further added along

Fig. 15.1. Plan of the JCM excavation areas at Caesare. Plan: courtesy of the JCM archive.

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Fig. 15.2. Internal Plan of Vault I. Plan: courtesy of the JCM archive.

(fig. 15.3). This doorway may have been utilized during cult rituals such as the sacred meals, with Vault 2 serving as a kitchen or storage area to prepare and serve the meals. Further renovations in the transition from horreum to mithraeum included the addition of two apertures cut into the top of the vault. The western aperture is located 14.60 m from the eastern wall of the vault on the east-west center line of the vault. The eastern aperture (0.45 m x 0.45 m) had been cut into the vault ceiling off-center (0.33m) to the south. The fact that the eastern scuttle was cut into the ceiling of the vault off-center was noted and the suggestion was made that this had been done to conform to the angle of the sun and thereby admit a stronger and more direct shaft of light into the area beneath (fig. 15.4). Excavators noted that the shaft of light from the eastern scuttle gets nearer the altar each day as it progressed from west to east in late June. Whether or not the phenomenon of the Mithraic altar being illuminated by the shaft of light at mid-day at the time of the summer solstice (as seems to be the case) was part of the planning of those who adapted Vault I as a

mithraeum is still being investigated through the analysis of the building above the mithraeum. The entirety of the mithraeum interior was plastered, including the walls, ceiling, floors, and furniture. Fragments of blue paint were found on the ceiling of the vault, possibly to create the illusion of the night sky. A similar convention is employed in other mithraea, including the mithraeum of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, where the vaulted ceiling was painted with red, green, and yellow six-pointed stars, mimicking the night sky.3 In addition to the construction of the apertures, a series of 19 small rectilinear (0.07 m x 0.04 m) recessed holes 0.03 m deep were cut into the wall and ceiling, equidistant from one another in a north-south line across the span of the vault, at 4.50 m from the eastern wall of the vault. The holes began on either side of the vault at 2.34 m above the floor of the mithraeum. They may have been used in connection with a representation of the lunar-solar cycle in which each stave would somehow be associated with a given lunar year. Robert Bull, the mithraeum’s primary excavator, posited that the holes had been used to hang a fan-shaped structure, or a splay, of wooden staves

Fig. 15.3. Longitudinal section of Vault. Drawing: courtesy of the JCM archive.

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Fig. 15.4. Mithraeum interior with light from the eastern aperture illuminating the small altar. Photo: courtesy of the JCM archive.

joined at a central focal point, with each stave being approximately 2.5 m long, which is the radius of the ceiling. Bull further theorized that the splay may have served as a radiate sun image illuminated from the eastern aperture, or alternatively as an area divider within the cult space. Evidence for use contemporaneous with the building’s incarnation as a mithraeum is confirmed by the plaster which covered the walls of the mithraeum, stopping at the edge of the holes and leaving them uncovered. Additionally, an in situ fragment of wood protrudes from one of the holes with plaster covering the outside of the hole and surrounding the wood piece.

sea water, exposure following abandonment and possible destruction in the 5th century CE (perhaps due to anti-pagan sentiments) all potentially contributed to the poor preservation of the wall paintings. Fortunately, Bull acknowledged the risk of exposure to the elements during the initial excavation and took photographs using a variety of exposures available at the time in 1974. The photographs were processed using digital color filtration by Robert Bobek, so new details and vivid colors became visible in the fragmentary painted panels (fig. 15.5).

THE WALL PAINTING Despite the full plastering of the walls of the mithraeum’s interior, only a small section of painting was preserved along the eastern end of the sanctuary’s southern wall. The preserved section of painting measures approximately 2.20 m long and 0.50 m high, being 2.10 m above the bench along the southern wall. The building’s location immediately adjacent to the corrosive

Fig. 15.5. Caesarea Mithraeum wall painting (color enhanced). Photo: courtesy of the JCM archive.

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The section of wall painting can be divided into three panels separated by cypress trees, each depicting two individuals in different scenes. The painting is framed by a blue indistinct form along the bottom; a stylized vine or other vegetation painted in green surrounds the upper part of the scene. In one series of color filtrations, sections of the background appear to be a light blue color. Panel A begins closest to the cult niche on the easternmost end of the southern wall. The person on the left is walking or running towards the right, with his hands extended forward holding a loaf of bread in front of him. The second person is kneeling while grasping a rooster with both hands and holding it closer to his chest. Panel B is the largest but only two people are still represented. Person 3 is moving or leaning forward extending a spear, torch, or another narrow and elongated object in front of him with both hands. These two individuals wear relatively similar clothing consisting of blue anaxyrides (leggings), shirtsleeves with a cape or tunic, and some with a Phrygian cap. Person 4 kneels on both knees with his open hands outstretched towards Person 3. The position of his body leaning forward slightly off his calves with arms down and in front of him alludes to a gesture of “receiving” with palms up and hands open. Above and to the right of Person 4 is a gold or yellow colored vessel, likely a krater. In the foreground, slightly behind Person 4 there is another unidentified object painted in green, blue, and red. In Panel C, two people stand on either side of a large amphora or altar. The person on the left (Person 5) is wearing Mithras’s traditional attire. Person 6, standing on the right, is outlined in red with only traces of a red cape and a radiate crown with four points and the yellow aura around his head, distinguishing the figure as Sol. Mithras and Sol interlock their right hands over a vessel with flames, or fruit, rising up toward the pair. Mithras holds in his left hand a dagger with the blade pointed upward while he grasps Sol’s hand with his right. Sol’s left hand is held by his side, perhaps also holding a downward pointing dagger. Interpretation of the painted panels reflects elements of Mithraic ritual: a procession in Panel A, a “Fire Test” scene in Panel B, and a “Blood Pact” scene in Panel C. In Panel A, the participants in the procession carry objects used in the cult’s ritual practices, loaves of bread and a rooster. The kneeling position of Person 2 may indicate he has reached his destination and is offering his goods up as gifts. Frescoes from the Santa Prisca mithraeum also show a youth carrying a rooster in his hands as he proceeds forward in the Procession of the Lions.4 In the same scene, other partici-

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pants in the procession carry a krater, loaves, and dishes of bread. These were common Mithraic offerings, suggesting the scene here alludes to similar rites and practices. The composition of Panel B is based on its similarities to other depictions of members engaged in the “Fire Test,” a rite of passage possibly associated with the initiation into the grade of Leo, if we trust the later Christian sources.5 In Panel B, Person 3 extends forward what appears to be either a torch to emblematically burn, or a ladle (simpulum) to pour honey over the hands and tongue.6 The thickness of the object in his hand and the lack of any visible fire at the end of the object support the likelihood that it is a ladle for honey rather than a torch. A long metal or wooden ladle was commonly used among Roman priests to pour liquid as part of rituals. The kneeling mystes is ready to accept the test as he extends his body forward to receive the object from the mystagogus. The wall paintings from the mithraeum at Santa Maria in Capua Vetere are the closest general parallel for the scene in Panel B at Caesarea, but there are subtle differences in the details of the two scenes, even if they reflect the same “Fire Test” or similar ritual.7 At Capua, Panel 2 (right bench) shows an initiate kneeling in front of a mystagogus who wields an object in front of him, as at Caesarea. The mystes takes on the guise of a captive with his hands bound and kneeling on one knee. In imperial art, captives are often shown in this position of submission. Panel 3 at Capua also has numerous details in common with the Caesarea Panel B; the only significant difference is the use of fire instead of honey for purification.8 At Capua, the torches are positioned below the hands so that the upwardburning fire would offer purification to the hands. However, the position of the purification device is different in Caesarea, where the ladle is positioned considerably above the outstretched hands of the mystes as he prepares to have something poured down onto his hands. This subtle detail may be significant enough to help differentiate the grade to which the rituals allude or at least narrow down the possibilities. While a fire test may have been used in rituals for other grades, the only reference we have to honey being used in purification was as part of the initiation into the grade of Leo. Caesarea Panel C’s “Blood Pact” scene incorporates iconography of both cultic rites and events in the life of Mithras. It is impossible to establish whether the scene depicts Mithras and Sol or a mystes and a Pater. However, the identity of the individuals is not vital to the scene, since the initiate and Pater reenact the event from the

life of Mithras, and the line between lived rituals and mythic precedents was often blurred in the cult.9 Thus the symbolic meaning of the event remains the same. The inclusion of this scene amongst the other images depicted indicates that the “Blood Pact” was part of this specific ceremony, a conclusion to the rites sealing the transition of the mystes with a sacred oath to the god/cult father. Numerous mithraea include this scene in their artistic programs. In the mithraeum of San Marino, we find a comparable scene in which

Mithras and Sol stand on either side of a small altar bearing fruit. The orientation of the two individuals is the reverse of the scene from Caesarea. At San Marino, Sol stands to the left of the altar while Mithras presides on the right.10 However, the characteristic elements of their dress and composition are the same in both mithraea. Another comparison comes from the mithraeum in the garden of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, where one of the panels flanking the tauroctony depicts a cylindrical altar with Sol on the left and Mithras on the right, both holding scepters.11

Fig. 15.6. Medallion found in the Caesarea Mithraeum. Photo: courtesy of the JCM archive.

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The trio of paintings at Caesarea thus represents an initiation or other cultic ritual. Unfortunately, there are no dipinti associated with the fresco naming the mystes or the specifics of the rites shown. The subject matter does help to unify the three scenes in their relationship to a specific grade; the best candidate is that of Leo. The three aspects of the ritual include an abbreviated version of the “Procession of Lions” in the first panel, a ritual known from Mithraic iconography and historical sources. In the next scene the initiate is put through the “Fire Test,” reaffirming the fiery nature of the Leo. The rites conclude with the “Blood Pact” between Mithras and Sol. Historical and archaeological evidence suggests that initiation rites were also completed with a final act of fidelity in which the initiate clasps his right hand with that of the Pater as a pledge of his alliance, both in his life and the hereafter. The inclusion of this sacred “Blood Pact” as the final scene in the initiation ritual alludes to both the act performed by the Leo initiate to solidify his fidelity to his new rank, and the sacred pact between the initiate as Mithras and the Pater or the mystagogus as Sol. THE MEDALLION A deposit of debris related to the eastern cult niche included lamps dated to the 2nd–3rd century CE, charcoal, ash, quail bones, and a white crystalline marble medallion measuring 7.5 cm in diameter. Examination of the eastern podium revealed a white circular area approximately 8.0 cm in diameter on the plaster of the western face of the eastwest wall, positioned directly above the spot where the medallion was found (fig. 15.6). The central location of the medallion within the mithraeum’s visual program indicates the object held special meaning to its members as it occupied a place of honor. The medallion’s central scene features the iconic Mithraic imagery of a tauroctony. Mithras and the bull are surrounded by other usual elements associated with the cult, and this includes the snake lunging towards the bull’s wound, the scorpion at the bull’s testicles, the raven on Mithras’ billowing cloak, and the dog next to the torchbearer Cautes. The other torchbearer Cautopates stands behind Mithras and the bull paralleling his counterpart. The heads of Sol and Luna peer over Cautopates and Cautes respectively. Unfortunately, the heads of these two gods are rendered quite simply, but traces of red paint found on Mithras’ cap indicate the medallion was painted, and therefore subtle details may have been further painted on the heads.

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The three scenes of the lower register are allusions to events from the life of Mithras. The medallion is completely “Mithras-centric,” as it makes no visual references to the cult rituals or grades. Rather, its iconography is entirely focused on the actions of Mithras prior to his eventual apotheosis. The left scene depicts Sol kneeling before Mithras who stands over the god wielding an object in his right hand. Two well-preserved frescoes among the scenes bordering the central tauronoctonies in the San Marino and the Palazzo Barberini mithraea provide similar examples.12 Another comparison to this scene, depicting Mithras holding a piece of meat over the head of Sol, is shown on an elaborately carved relief found in Osterburken, Germany.13 The meaning of this scene is not fully understood but it corresponds with the other images that allude to events in the life of Mithras. The center scene in the lower register depicts the sacred repast. The essence of the scene can easily be captured in depictions of two seated individuals at a table or even more simply, as on this medallion, with two heads in a structure alluding to a banquet hall. Examples of the repast depicted on sculptural reliefs are commonly found in the Danubian provinces, particularly in Dacia and Moesia.14 On a number of these reliefs, the sacred repast is one of three scenes that decorate the bottom frame, being placed in the middle. Its position is likely a result of the condensed nature of the scene in which only the outline of a grotto contains the busts of Sol and Mithras. The scene to the right of the medallion’s bottom register has the least common composition of the three images. On reliefs where a threescene sequence occupies the bottom register, the third scene is most often an image of Mithras riding off into the heavens with Sol in his chariot. Sometimes the image of Saturnus or Oceanus occupies the very bottom corner underneath the chariot. The Caesarea medallion deviates from this iconographic pattern, combining the image of Mithras clinging to the running bull as the two proceed forward. It is important to note that the bull appears to be alive in this scene. If this is the case and the scene depicts Mithras in the act of catching the bull to drag him to his slaughter, it is a departure from the closest parallel known in Mithraic iconography, the Mithras Taurophorus (Mithras carrying/dragging the dead bull over his shoulder). A very similar parallel is found on the cult relief from the Heidelberg-Neuenheim mithraeum.15 Here, the image of Mithras grasping the bull as it runs forward is one of fourteen scenes that surround the central tauroctony. Directly in front of Mithras and the bull is shown the reclin-

ing Saturnus/Oceanus. The reclining individual in the medallion’s corner has very few details around his lower body, suggesting that a cloak may have covered it; alternatively, his lower body is in the form of a snake. The scenes depicted on the medallion are common throughout Mithraic iconography, the tauroctony being one of the most important and prevalent among images associated with the cult. However, the three scenes in the lower register have the closest compositional and typological parallels among reliefs from the province of Dacia.16 The medium (marble), not local to the region, also points to the piece being imported. Similarly, the style of the piece, with indistinct figures and soft contours (what Steven Hijmans has evocatively dubbed the “cookie dough style”), closely resembles reliefs manufactured in the Danubian provinces.17 This small medallion may have arrived in Palaestina with a member of the Mithraic community who brought it over as a cultic token from another mithraeum or a link to the homeland of the founding members. At any rate, in iconography, medium, and style, this relief points to the mobility of Mithraic worshippers and the (far more rarely seen) mobility of their cult objects. The iconography on the Caesarea medallion not only confirms the identification of the building as a mithraeum, but its prominent position affixed to the podium in the center of the cult complex reaffirms its importance to the congregation. The lack of either a painted tauroctony or a sculpture in the eastern cult niche may indicate this medallion was even more important as an alternative cult image, especially in its relationship to the eastern aperture and possible illumination during the summer solstice. Some communities may also have elected to display multiple images of the bull-slaying scene; in the case of Dura, this involved re-displaying an earlier votive plaque that had been commissioned by a member of the community.18 A similar dynamic might be at play here. THE VISUAL PROGRAM AS CULT RITUAL Beyond interpretations of the mithraeum as a microcosmos and the associated astrological significance of much of the iconography, the entire visual program likely played a critical role in cult rituals.19 The mithraeum’s interior followed a specific design pattern to establish a baseline for cult ritual to play out. On a very fundamental level, this entailed creation of the “Mithraic environment”: a place removed from the outside world in which cult practices would be enacted. The mimicking of a cave (real or artificial), or

further enhancing the cult space to make it appear as a microcosmos with a ceiling of painted sky and stars, set the stage within which the cult practices would be contextualized. Other additions such as the benches for ritual meals, cult niches, and altars reiterated the nature of rituals enacted within the cult complex. Without a written liturgy to turn to, the significance of the visual program becomes all the more apparent. As an alternative, the imagery within the mithraeum supported and strengthened oral transmission of the cult narrative. Transmission of cult knowledge and the enacting of rituals should be considered in the context of a congregation composed of men of varying social status, military rank, and ethnic origin, possibly speaking a variety of native languages, and relying on an oral tradition. This was supplemented by a detailed and consistent visual program which made the ritual initiation and installation into the different grades of membership an easier process that could be tailored to the needs of each local community. The images held aesthetic interest and value to those not initiated but to those possessing a sacred knowledge of the ritual, the images may have served as a guide for both the core liturgy and details of the ritual practices. This also made the transmission of the cult knowledge all the more sacred, as it was both ritually experienced as well as completely entrusted upon the memory of the community for its perpetuation. The dual oral-visual aspect of the cult may have also increased its appeal to other marginal groups for whom literacy would not be necessary.20 The rich imagery found in many mithraea not only supplemented the oral narrative as a sort of guide to orient the mystagogus and mystes through the ritual acts, it also embodied abstract ideas associated with the actual rituals.21 Functionally, the wall paintings and the medallion (along with other aspects of the visual program now lost) served as a visual allegory engaging the viewer with the underlying meaning of the ritual acts. Through this form of allegory, the ritual is taken from the artistic-representational world and brought into the real world, but only together with the associated sacred cult knowledge of the significance and the layers of meaning attached to each image. In the case of the wall paintings from the Caesarea mithraeum, the specific scenes allude to the initiation into a particular grade, that of the Leo. The painting is a reference guide in which either the same ritual acts were enacted or the initiate was only shown the images and the narrative explained to him in lieu of the physical reenact-

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ment. In this way the paintings and other Mithraic imagery are the conduit for ritual transmission. The establishment of a Mithraic iconographic canon may have been more than just an artistic attempt at standardization. The choice of imagery and its location within the mithraeum intimately tied the membership to the cultic rituals. Even the time of the year or day when these rituals took place may have been dictated through aspects of the visual program. At Caesarea, the precise placement of the eastern aperture led to the illumination of the small central altar on the summer solstice, as well as providing a light source for the wooden splay of beams that spanned the vault’s ceiling. The strategic use of light in conjunction with the Mithraic calendar ties the physical world to that of the ritual activity. The deliberate construction of light sources used to illuminate key aspects of the mithraeum’s interior is not unique to Caesarea. Similar apertures incorporated into the mithraeum construction have been identified at Hawarte, Capua, the Terme del Mitra in Ostia, and Santa Prisca in Rome.22 Only a certain amount of conjecture can be provided in the interpretation of the cult’s rituals and their connection to iconography. The visual cues in the mithraeum’s iconography undoubtedly contributed to the viewer’s emotional experience and encounter with the god.23 However, they were only a supplement to the rituals themselves. The incorporation of such vivid imagery, in many if not most mithraea, created a ritual environment that actualized the cultic experience.

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NOTES 1

2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

This paper includes and extends a synthesis of the more in-depth discussion of the Caesarea Mithraeum’s visual program published in the final report of Vault I and should be consulted for arguments in greater detail: Bull et al. 2016. Citations to that volume will not be made throughout this paper, but noted only here. E.g., Gordon 2009, 81. The dating was based on preliminary analysis of the ceramics in Blakely 1987. CIMRM 180. Note also the use of rock crystal to create stars at Martigny: Wiblé, this volume. The Santa Prisca Mithraeum, Rome: CIMRM I, 481, fig. 134; other similarities to this procession scene can be found in the Mithraeum at Konjic, Dalmatia: CIMRM II, 1896. Porph., De Antro Nympharum 15; Ps.-Nonnus, Comm. Serm. 4, ed. Smith 2001, 47. Porph., De Antro Nympharum 15. Vermaseren 1971, pl. XXII Vermaseren 1971, pl. XXVII. Beck 2000. Vermaseren 1982: pl. VIII. CIMRM 390. CIMRM 390; Vermaseren 1982: pl. VIII. CIMRM 1292. E.g., CIMRM 1935 (Dacia); CIMRM 2225 (Moesia). Cf. Sicoe 2014. CIMRM 1282. CIMRM 2187 is the best Dacian parallel; see also Sicoe 2014. Hijmans 2016; this vol. McCarty & Dirven, this vol. Beck 2006. Cf. Dirven 2015. Baskins & Rosenthal 2007, 1. Gawlikowski et al. 2011, 169. Martin 2015, 34.

16

Rethinking the Dura-Europos Mithraeum Diversification and Stabilization in a Mithraic Community Lucinda Dirven, Matthew M. McCarty INTRODUCTION:

FROM LOCAL AND GLOBAL TO DIVERSIFICATION AND STABILIZATION

From its discovery in February 1934, the mithraeum of Dura-Europos has loomed large in Mithraic studies. The site represents one of the most complete assemblages of Mithraic material found in situ, including architecture preserved to ceiling height, images (wall paintings, reliefs), some small finds and evidence for cult practice, and over two hundred graffiti and dipinti that reflect the social contours of the worship community. This unparalleled material and visual package was preserved when an embankment was built over the sanctuary to buttress the nearby city wall for a siege that spelled the end of the Roman city around 256 CE.1 It is a paradigmatic mithraeum, upon which reconstructions and imaginations of the cult and its material correlates across the empire are predicated. Yet despite the central role that the Dura mithraeum has played in understanding all aspects of Mithraism, it has never been published in final form. The preliminary reports and Franz Cumont’s posthumously-published paper interpreting the sanctuary have come to serve as the final word on the mithraeum and its development, despite evidence for continued debates among the excavators over the material.2 The authors of the present chapter have begun a project to publish the final report on the Dura mithraeum, drawing on unpublished archival material from the excavations. In doing so, it has become clear that new analysis of the site itself can transform our understandings of its history, development, and the Durene context, and that this has ramifications for how the Dura mithraeum illuminates the wider dynamics of Mithraism under the Roman Empire. At first glance, the material from Dura appears torn by the dialogic dynamics between universalism and regionality (or localness) that mark religion in the imperial period, and Mithraism in particular.3 Although Cumont had hoped that a mithraeum so far east might reflect a kind of proto-Mithraism, proving the Near Eastern origins and the trajectory of the cult’s spread from the East, he disappointedly admits “that the hieros logos which was taught to the initiates… differed

in no important respect at the eastern limit of the Roman Empire from the revelation of the same mysteries in the spelaea of the West.” 4 Yet as Roman provincial studies have turned their focus away from koine and towards the recognition and valorization of local diversity, accounts of the Dura mithraeum have followed. The “departures” from assumed Mithraic norms, especially in iconography, have been emphasized and explained in ways that privilege place and geography.5 For example, in the two bull-stabbing reliefs displayed, the bull lacks a sheaf of wheat growing out of his tail, a feature explained with reference to a particular Syro-Anatolian iconographic tradition.6 The larger of the two bull-stabbing reliefs decorating the niche includes an image of the dedicant, Zenobius, and four companions, reflecting local sculptural tradition and the composition of votive reliefs at Dura more broadly.7 Painted hunting scenes on the side walls of the cult niche have also been linked to Near Eastern traditions and a Syrian strain of Mithraism, especially in connection with new finds from Hawarte.8 It is true that the material culture of the Roman provinces, and the visual repertoire of Mithraism more particularly, is marked by what we have previously called “local idioms.”9 Without becoming a set of check-boxes that categorize features as widespread and normative, or as more local or regional “tics,” how do we understand the convergences and divergences of Mithraic material and visual culture? Neither geography nor local traditions are explanations in their own right, even if analysis frequently stops at marking such spatial patterns. Rather, any observable localness or universality in material culture is the result of active agents and choices made: choices, though, that were governed by frames of personal experience, knowledge acquired from mediated forms (textual, visual, performed…), material limitations, and the negotiations between commissioner and craftsperson.10 Learned practices or the perceived weight of tradition created by past images and objects could set implicit (or explicit) boundaries of possibility.

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In examining the cult of Mithras at Dura, rather than focusing on similarity or difference, on localness or universality, we want to focus instead on the agents and processes of diversification or stabilization of the cult’s images and practices. Given the evidence for diachronic development RI WKH FXOW DW 'XUD Я WKH H[FDYDWRUV DUJXH IRU three major phases of the mithraeum’s architecWXUHDQGLWVGHFRUDWLRQЯWKHVLWHDOORZVGHWDLOHG understanding of these processes unfolding through time not possible at other sites that lack the level of preservation at Dura. Given the observable importance of the earliest sanctuary in shaping what comes later, understanding the first phase of the mithraeum (the least well attested archaeologically) is all the more important. This article focusses on both the architecture and the decoration of this phase. We shall argue that material from the site reveals three key dynamics in how the cult at an individual site might tend towards diversification or koine: first, the original painted decoration of the mithraeum played an active role in setting the parameters of subsequent redecorations. Second, this decoration, in commemorating events and people related to the community at Dura, created a sense of diversification in the image program while partaking in more widespread mithraeum-decoration practices. Our third argument is that archival archaeology of the mithraeum suggests that the received interpretation of this first phase is unsustainable. Instead of a “private” mithraeum tucked into the back of a house and used for almost half a century by a small group exclusively made up of exotic Palmyrene archers, the archaeology of the site suggests that the earliest mithraeum at Dura was closely related to a group of worshippers who possessed deep experience with regular, legionary units of the Roman army. The cosmopolitan nature of this group helped to drive the maintenance of cult knowledge that was stable through space. Before turning to these arguments, though, it is worth outlining the picture of the mithraeum and its development promulgated via the preliminary report. THE DURA MITHRAEUM The published (and now canonical) preliminary accounts of the Dura mithraeum divide its life LQWRWKUHHGLVWLQFWDUFKLWHFWXUDOSKDVHVЯWKH(DUO\ Mithraeum (EM), Middle Mithraeum (MM), and Late Mithraeum (LM), each with its own decorative assemblage. In the field, Comte Robert du 0HVQLO GH %XLVVRQ Я D )UHQFK PLOLWDU\ RIILFHU Я directed excavation of the building; yet the report on the building, and especially the three-phase

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development scheme, represent the interpretations of Henry Pearson, the team architect, that Mikhail Rostovtzeff, the site director, subsequently adopted.11 The first two relative phases could be assigned an absolute date based on the epigraphic dossier from the sanctuary. Pearson’s EM was envisioned as a small shrine built into a private house in the northwest quarter of Dura (fig. 16.1a). For the preliminary report, he reconstructs the room as opening off a gypsum-paved courtyard, with a short pair of plaster benches on each side. The cultic function of the room was guaranteed by a raised plaster-faced mudbrick podium (“altar table”) along the western wall that included an engaged plaster altar. Two rubble columns, set on foundations of mortared rubble, supported the roof. Pearson notes that the finishing plaster on the base of the columns was integral with the first coat of plaster on the benches, the podium, and the engaged altar: that is, these cult furnishings were all contemporary with one another.12 The first shrine allegedly bore little decoration: “no fragments of plaster with figures or ornaments earlier than the Middle Mithraeum were found during the excavation.”13 The two reliefs that were redisplayed in the final phase of the building provide epigraphic dates in the Seleucid era for this first construction. The smaller relief, with a Palmyrene inscription, was dedicated by Ethpeni, strategos in charge of the archers at Dura, in the month of Adar, year 480 of the Seleucid era: spring of 169 CE.14 The larger relief, with a Greek inscription, was dedicated by Zenobius, also strategos of the archers, in year 482 [170-171 CE]. Although one book has recently suggested that the presence of two reliefs, dedicated so close in time, might reflect the synoecism of two Mithraic communities at 'XUD Я ZKHQ WKH\ MRLQHG WKH\ FRPELQHG WKHLU FXOWLPDJHVЯSRVLWLYHHYLGHQFHIRUDVHFRQG0LWKraic community somewhere else on the site is nonexistent.15 The fact that both dedicants seem to have occupied a similar rank (even treated as a loan-word transliterated in Ethpeni’s Palmyrene inscription) of a military unit also suggests that WKH\ PD\ KDYH EHHQ SDUW RI WKH VDPH Я UDWKHU WKDQWZRGLIIHUHQWЯ0LWKUDLFFRPPXQLWLHV6XEsequent commanding officers made similar dedications, although as altars rather than reliefs, in mithraea across the empire: at the auxiliary fort of Carrawburgh, several prefects of the cohort made offerings to Mithras; at Aquincum, a series of tribunes of the legion erected altars.16 Pearson’s MM was enlarged considerably and converted into a free-standing building (fig. 16.1b).17 The benches were extended over the floor of the courtyard, a new entrance built at the east end,

Fig. 16.1. Henry Pearson’s proposed phases of the Dura mithraeum. Adapted from Rostovtzeff et al. 1939, figs. 32-35. Courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

and the entire western end of the mithraeum renovated. A mud-brick arch was added to the west wall to frame the cult image, the level of the podium was raised, new brick flooring was laid down in the rear half of the building, and two extra columns were added. An elaborate painted program decorated the walls, including substantial fragments that were preserved during construction of the LM. A Latin inscription commemorating the rebuilding of a temple to Mithras with imperial titulature, found in the fill of the 256 CE siege rampart over the building, provides a date of 209-211 CE.18 The centurion Antonius Valentinus, in charge of vexillations of the IV Scythica and XVI Flavia Firma, oversaw the

work; funding may have come from the legionary coffers, as the inscription also proclaims that the renovation was done sub Minic(io) Martiali [p]roc(uratore) Aug(ustorum). Finally, Pearson recognized a host of even later changes (fig. 16.1c). The podium at the west end of the sanctuary was extended outwards, covering the earlier staircase and altars, and receiving a vaulted ceiling supported by mudbrick walls that extended along the edge of the podium, covering paintings from the MM. The two reliefs were re-set in this niche. More columns were added in the nave, including one that filled in an earlier niche in the north bench. A small passage was cut in the north bench, leading into a suite of

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rooms to the north. The whole mithraeum received a new decorative program, discussed further below. There is no epigraphic evidence for an absolute date for this phase; instead, the lack of graffiti and the excellent preservation of the paintings struck du Mesnil as comparable to those in the synagogue he had previously excavated at Dura, and which did have an epigraphic date of around 240. The LM reconstruction was thus dated to a similar period. This diachronic schema has had important ramifications for interpreting the site, its community, and how the cult of Mithras developed at Dura. Although the LM looked disappointingly “canonical” to Cumont, inserting an EM phase as a small, private chapel dedicated by Palmyrenes allowed for an element of “easternness” and divergence at the site. Both Cumont and Rostovtzeff used both this particular building history and ideas about the changing decoration to argue for the cult at Dura coming directly from Asia Minor to Palmyra, and for undergoing development in a Semitic milieu that was distinct from Mithraism in the West.19 Only later, with the arrival of legionaries at the site, was the observed “orthodoxy” created with rebuilding and redecorating at the time of the MM. For Cumont and Rostovtzeff, this process involved editing and updating what was already there: changing a number of supposedly deviant features in the reliefs and creating a painted iconographic program in line with what was found elsewhere in the empire. However, the reliefs do not deviate significantly from reliefs in the West, nor were they adapted to “Western” norms. At the same time, the frequently repainted series of frescoes that decorated the mithraeum are remarkably consistent over time. This suggests a rather different scheme: the earliest decoration in the mithraeum created boundaries and parameters for later decoration that encouraged the long-term stability of the cult through time. Yet at the same time, the reliefs and paintings commemorated events in the local community’s own history, creating a sense of individuality rather than canonicity. THE DECORATION OF

THE THE EARLY COMMUNITY

DURA MITHRAEUM AND

Over 40 years ago, Susan Downey demonstrated that the oldest decoration from the Dura mithraeum, the two reliefs that were on display in the cult niche representing Mithras stabbing the bull, do not deviate significantly from similar scenes in the West, nor do certain minor changes made in the reliefs testify to an adaptation to common Roman practice.20 Although tauroctony scenes

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are remarkably similar throughout the empire, we do see minor variations, such as the stance of the bull or the presence or absence of grain sprouting from its tail.21 Because there is no orthodoxy in representations of the tauroctony in the first place, one cannot conclude from supposedly deviant features that Dura started off unorthodox and was adapted to shared convention later in time. Furthermore, it is virtually impossible to interpret the changes made in the reliefs along these lines because the evidence seems to contradict itself. The bust of the sun and the moon were chiseled off in the relief of Zenobius,22 but the luminaries remained in place in the relief of Ethpeni.23 And whereas the snake was possibly removed in the small relief, it remained in exactly the same position in Zenobius’ relief. 24 The only substantial change is the plastering over of the two profile heads of uncertain meaning in the upper corners of Zenobius’ rectangular relief.25 Probably, this was done to stress the arched top of the relief and to align the relief with the painted scenes illustrating the cosmogony and events from Mithras’s life that are arranged around the arch of the relief. Downey hardly involved the painted decoration in her argument in favor of the fairly standardized and traditional character of the Dura mithraeum: a missed opportunity, because Dura provides us with one of the few instances in which we may study subsequent layers of decoration. Rather than focusing on orthodoxy and the relationship of the decoration to mithraea in the western empire, it may be more productive to focus on the development of decoration through time. The Dura mithraeum is one of the few mithraea known to date in which we can reconstruct (part of) at least three layers of painted decoration.26 In order to establish possible continuities and changes in the subsequent phases of this decorative program, the decoration of the last phase will be described first, followed by a description of the material from earlier phases. By comparing these successive phases with the early reliefs, it can be shown that elements from the first phase of decoration still loomed large in the last phase. In the paintings belonging to the final decoration of the shrine (fig. 16.2),27 a series of thirteen small pictures resembling the arch-stones of a cylindrical vault are placed around the edge of the niche. They frame the two votive reliefs dedicated in the early days of the sanctuary mentioned above. The scenes picture both the cosmogony and the legend of Mithras. The soffit of the vaulted niche was decorated with pictures of the twelve signs of the zodiac. Like the mytho-

Fig. 16.2. Mithraeum of Dura-Europos, final phase decoration as reconstructed in the Yale University Art Gallery. Photo: Matthew M. McCarty.

logical scenes, the series starts at the top of the vault and has to be read counterclockwise.28 Two male figures in Persian dress sit on either side of the piers of the niche. Above these two figures, the upper part of the outer surface of the arch is decorated with Mithras slaying the bull in the center, with the figure of Cautes with raised torch to Mithras’ right. To Mithras’ left we may reconstruct his twin brother Cautopates with lowered torch. On either side of this group are seven cypress trees, alternating with seven altars. In the midst of the foliage of the tree next to Cautopates, the small figure of a naked child protrudes. On the side walls of the raised shrine, on either side of the niche, are two paintings of a figure in Parthian dress on horseback hunting animals. The painting on the south wall is best preserved and pictures the hunter moving towards the niche, whereas the figure on the north wall is galloping away from the niche.29 Only the two reliefs that are dated to 169 and 170 CE can with certainty be ascribed to the first years of the Mithraic community. The excavators did find a number of fragments of earlier painted

decoration, some of which were found in situ below the final layer of plaster.30 Pearson ascribes all fragments to one phase of decoration that he attributes to the Middle Mithraeum. In his opinion, the first mithraeum was not painted, apart from a decorative motif in red and black around the two reliefs.31 There are several reasons to question this hypothesis. Although it is impossible to date the earlier paintings with certainty, differences in style and color scheme among these earlier fragments strongly suggest we are in fact dealing with two subsequent layers of decoration that preceded the final decoration instead of one.32 We may distinguish an earlier phase, phase A, and a later phase B.33 The latter are very similar in style and color to the paintings from the last phase and are probably not far distant in time. Significantly, some of the paintings belonging to the earliest phase A were found in situ in the cult niche, below the painting of the last phase.34 During the oldest phase of painted decoration, thirteen scenes from the life of Mithras were painted on the wall around the niche. Four of them are described in the preliminary excavation

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Fig. 16.3. Fragments of painted plaster from Mithraeum I, Phase A in the Yale University Art Gallery. A-B: scenes from the life of Mithras. C-D: portraits of youths wearing Phrygian caps. Not to scale. Photos: Lucinda Dirven.

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Fig. 16.4. Fragments of painted plaster from Mithraeum I, Phase B. A: Banquet of Mithras and Sol. B-G: Narrative scenes from the Mithras story. Not to scale. Photos: Lucinda Dirven.

report, which enables us to identify two painted plaster fragments from the mithraeum now preserved in the deposits of the Yale University Art Gallery.35 They cannot be identified with certainty, but on the left side of the niche, next to the bottom, was a reclining figure whose head was projecting into the border of the panel (fig. 16.3, a).36 Above this was another head in a similar

position. In the third panel was a crouching figure wearing tunic and trousers (fig. 16.3, b),37 and above this were the feet of two figures. Inside the cult niche, around the two bas-reliefs, were found the very faint remains of five signs of the zodiac, although Pisces was the only recognizable one. The border of this series was yellow, the background blue, and the figures were in red and

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white.38 Several painted stucco fragments with a motif in red and black were found attached to the larger cult relief; in all probability, it belongs to the same phase of decoration as the other fragments found in situ. Above the arch, a large tauroctony was painted.39 Part of the bull’s rump and testicles as well as the head of the serpent were found in situ above the arch. On numerous small fragments the excavators could still identify the feet of the left-hand torchbearer and a lowered torch. Two fragmentary clean-shaven portraits wearing Phrygian caps, now in storage at Yale (fig. 16.3, c-d), possibly belonged to this scene as well. They are painted in the same style as the narrative cycle surrounding the arch. The iconography suggests we are dealing with representations of Mithras or, more plausibly (since they are two near-identical portraits), the two torch bearers.40 According to Pearson, the central group was flanked on either side by at least one tree.41 During a second and later layer of decoration, the banquet of Mithras and Sol was painted on the back wall, above the south bench (fig. 16.4, a). Since part of this painting was found covered by the newly constructed spelaeum of the last building phase, we know for certain that it belongs to the phase preceding the final decoration. A head in three-quarter view in the same style with the same dimensions may be identified as another head of Sol (fig, 16.4, b). We may therefore reconstruct at least one more narrative scene in addition to the banquet. In the reveal of the niche, beneath the final signs of the zodiac, the excavators found two beardless figures with Phrygian caps (fig. 16.4, c).42 Above these, the starry sky was painted. A fragment of a bull’s head (fig. 16.4, d)43 and fragments with its forelegs44 were found on the ground. Pearson identifies the bull as belonging to the tauroctony above the arch, but the fragment suggests the animal faced frontally, which is highly unusual for a bull-killing scene. However, the wall above the arch seems to be the only possible placement for this fairly large fragment. This also holds true for a large fragment with Parthian clothing, now in storage at Yale (fig. 16.4, e),45 and the upper part of the body of a figure in Parthian dress, turned to the left (fig. 16.4, f).46 With the new decoration, the former panels illustrating events from Mithras life were also replaced, for the excavators found a fragment with the same dimensions as the scenes from the final phase,47 painted in a style deviating from both the earliest and the last cycle (fig. 16.4, g).48 Probably this narrative cycle was also set around the arch. Finally, there are the portraits of Mithraic initiates, fragments of which were found in the nave (fig. 16.5, a-c); they display various styles that with

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one possible exception do not tally with the style of the paintings around the niche.49 From this it follows they are not part of one of the phases of decoration of the cult niche and probably are not contemporary with each other either. In passing, Pearson refers to a very faint, large-scale figure seeming to bear a lance that decorated the south column in the nave.50 It was later partly overpainted, for it is intersected at the waist by a much brighter wreath design. During the final phase of decoration the column was plastered over and remained unpainted, suggesting this figure belonged to an early phase of decoration.51 It is attractive to identify this figure as a worshipper as well, but this is bound to remain speculation. CONTINUITY OR CHANGE? What does this sequence of decoration teach us about the religious life in the Dura mithraeum? How do the early votive reliefs relate to the subsequent layers of decoration and how do these layers relate to each other? And what does this teach us about the way religious knowledge was passed on in this community? First of all, it is remarkable that the two oldest Mithraic reliefs occupied the most prominent position of the sanctuary during its final phase. This is particularly significant with respect to the status of the two men who erected these reliefs. The dedications of Ethpeni and Zenobius continued to be held in high regard by the later community, possibly because both had been involved in the foundation of the mithraeum and the Mithraic community. The two seated figures flanking the niche in the final phase may very well substantiate the enduring importance of the first patres to Dura’s Mithraic community. They evoke Cautes and Cautopates through their upward pointed staff (on the right) and downward pointed staff (on the left). Yet their beards and portrait-like features suggest that they are not the torchbearers; instead, their bonnet and staff suggest they are patres of the Mithraic community.52 Although this iconography is so far unique to Dura, the elevated status of patres was not, as numerous dedications across the empire attest.53 It is noteworthy that they replace the two figures wearing Phrygian bonnets from a previous phase in the decoration that decorated the reveal of the niche. Since the latter are clean-shaven, it is probable that they are to be identified as the torchbearers. If our interpretation is correct, the two patres with their downward and upright staff are an innovation that is in line with the previous decoration: an adaptation of what came before that built upon the significance of the earlier paintings.

Fig. 16.5A-C. Fragments of painted plaster from various phases, portraying members of the Mithraic community. Not to scale. Photos: Lucinda Dirven.

A number of the iconographic motifs that figure prominently in the early reliefs are a constant feature in the later decoration of the sanctuary. In Zenobius’s relief, the dedicant and members of his family or, more probably, of his military unit, attend Mithras’ stabbing of the bull.54 This fea-

ture is unique in Mithraic iconography but is easily explained by local cultic and artistic traditions, in which it was common to depict dedicants on cult reliefs.55 Despite the fact that this is unique to Dura, the innovation is not at odds with Mithraic iconography as described above and is very

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much in keeping with other local religious and dedicatory practices. In the mithraeum, myth and ritual, past and present, are intertwined at various levels and the attendance of mortals at a mythological event is another expression of the same phenomenon.56 Significantly, Zenobius established a tradition with his relief, for members of the community were still pictured on the sidewalls of the sanctuary in later phases of the building.57 The fact that these portraits differ stylistically from both the various decorative programs of the niche and from each other suggest they were painted progressively, probably commissioned by the individuals represented. Like a number of the graffiti found in the mithraeum, these paintings possibly commemorated important events in their religious experience and helped create the distinctive tradition of Dura’s Mithraic community.58 Zenobius is also the first to use the motif of the zodiac to represent the ceiling of the cave in which Mithras is stabbing the bull, thereby expressing the widespread notion that Mithras killed the bull in a cave and consequently created the cosmos. In addition to the relief, a zodiac was painted at least twice around the cult niche, in the earliest and the last phase, indicating this symbolism was and remained of primary importance to the Durene community. That the symbolism of the cave as the cosmos was in fact well-understood may be inferred from the blue ceiling of the final sanctuary that was decorated with white stars.59 Although previous layers of painting cannot be ascribed with certainty to the first mithraeum, it is telling that in the earliest layer Mithras’ life was also illustrated in 13 scenes. Unfortunately, we know very little about the preceding cycles. It is certain that the sequence changed in the final phase, but whether the selection of events also changed we cannot possibly tell.60 Whereas the Mithras-narrative was renewed twice, the tauroctony on the wall between ceiling and arch was at least once replaced by a newer painting. Apart from the placement of some of the paintings, the decorative programs from different periods are characterized by continuity. There are, however, also two substantial differences. First, it is noteworthy that the banquet scene that figured so prominently in the phase preceding the final decoration was possibly not copied. Apparently, it was replaced by the hunting scene.61 Second, the hunting scenes that figure so prominently in the last phase have not been attested earlier. Of course, this does not exclude the possibility they were part of the decoration but are now lost. In that case, the most likely option would be to have

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the hunting scene represented above the north bench, as the pendant of the banqueting scene.62 Notwithstanding these differences, we may conclude that continuity reigns in the decoration of the Dura mithraeum during most of its existence. This is a remarkable feature that deserves to be studied in more detail. It begs the question whether Dura was unique in this respect or whether this traditionalism was common in mithraea. Unfortunately, there are not a great many mithraea in which subsequent stages in the decoration can be studied. The few examples that are known today do suggest a similar picture. First there are the layers of painting in the Santa Prisca mithraeum in Rome; although the first and second layer are not exactly the same, similarities are striking, just as in Dura. Another very interesting example is provided by the mithraeum of Hawarte in Syria; here we find no less than five layers of paintings, dating from about 50 years. According to Michal Gawlikowski, the archaeologist in charge of the excavations, these different layers are almost identical with respect to subject matter and execution.63 Another telling instance is provided by the decoration of the Planta Pedis mithraeum from Ostia. In the mosaic floor of the central aisle, just after the entrance, is the representation of a foot imprint. In the original floor of the mithraeum that was found below the pavement, a terracotta imprint of a foot was found at exactly the same location.64 So how are we to explain this harking back to previous decoration phases? We think it has to do with the importance that was attached to the foundation of the mithraeum and the role of the first pater in this process. Recently, Richard Gordon pointed out that the pater had a considerable amount of creative freedom and could build and decorate the mithraeum according to his own (frequently locally influenced) ideas.65 We think Gordon is correct, but like to add that this was only true for the primus pater. The fathers that succeeded him did not seem to have had the same amount of freedom, but had to work between certain pre-established patterns. A very interesting illustration of such a process is provided by an inscription from the Aldobrandini mithraeum in Rome, in which the pater Sextus Pompeius Maximos replaces an image of the god that had formerly been executed on a velum in paint, with a marble copy that was in all probability based upon the original painting.66 The rationale for this traditionalism is illustrated by the wellknown poem by Aubutius Restitutianus, primus pater of the mithraic community below the Basilica of S. Lorenzo in Damaso in Rome:

Hic locus est felix, sanctus piusque benignus Quem monuit Mithras mentemque dedit Proficentio patri sacrorum Utque sibi spelaeum faceret dedicaretque….67 REJECTING THE “EARLY MITHRAEUM” The moment when the cult was established at Dura was thus of paramount importance in setting parameters and boundaries for later iterations of the cult and future worshippers at the VLWH ´$UFKLYDO DUFKDHRORJ\µ Я UHDQDO\]LQJ WKH records from the excavations at Yale, as well as WKH SXEOLVKHG UHSRUWV Я VXJJHVWV WKDW WKHUH ZHUH two primary building phases, and that the earliest RQHЯZKLFKZHZLOOFDOO´0LWKUDHXP,µWRGLVWLQJXLVKLWIURP3HDUVRQ·V(0ЯZDVIDUOHVVXQXVXDO ЯDQGIDUODUJHUЯWKDQWKHH[FDYDWRUVWKRXJKW Full discussion of the Dura mithraeum’s phasing will await our final publication of the site. Yet in reviewing material from the excavation, and attempting to treat it as if it were a modern single-context horizontal excavation by recording each feature described or visible in photographs as a discrete context that could be placed in relative chronological relationships with other features, several problems emerge with Pearson’s schema. These problems cluster around the relationship between the EM and previous buildings on the site, as well as around the relationship between features assigned to the EM and MM. ,WLVFOHDUWKDWWKHFXOWIXUQLWXUHЯWZREHQFKHV the two easternmost columns, the raised podium, DQGWKHURXQGHQJDJHGDOWDUЯDUHDOOFRQWHPSRrary and belong to the first phase of the mithraeum, for they are covered by a single contiguous coat of plaster.68 Associating this first cult furniture, as evidence for the creation of a sanctuary, with architectural features is the challenge. It is clear that there were a range of structures, built on different kinds of foundations (“cut stone in mud,” “rocks in mud,” and “plaster rubble”), that predate the mithraeum; this should be expected on an urban site with almost 400 years of building and rebuilding prior to 169 CE.69 These include walls on different alignments. Pearson gives up trying to understand the preceding structures, and the lack of recording in the neighboring buildings of block J7 (only a plan of their final phases was drawn, without discussion) makes the task impossible today.70 What is clear, though, is that the mithraeum was not simply “inserted” into the fabric of a preexisting house, as Pearson suggests. Its rubble foundations overlie foundations of cut-stone that reached west to the city wall (fig. 16.6) and must have been

Fig. 16.6. Pearson’s state plan of mithraeum site. Adapted from Rostovtzeff et al. 1939, fig. 30. Courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

part of a roofed structure, given the aligned cuts for ceiling beams that had been inserted into the city wall. In a field photo, the mithraeum walls can be seen sitting directly atop part of this reused foundation, and thus immediately subsequent to it.71 In other words, constructing the mithraeum required razing significant portions of a house. One of Pearson’s section drawings suggests a different interpretation of the phasing than that which he published. It shows the western end of the mithraeum and the cult podium. First, it is striking that only two building phases are visible: a first phase of a lower podium, then a raising of that podium (fig. 16.7, 1). The extension of the podium to the east, which Pearson connects with the LM, is not shown. The plaster face of the podium (the left side in the drawing) is drawn as a continuous line from floor/foundation to its height. Not only is no first-phase plastering indicated, but a field photo shows that the plaster facing between points 2 and 3 on the diagram is contiguous with the surface of the extended “late” altar.72 That is, the raising of the podium’s height is connected to the extension of the podium: instead of three phases (EM initial con-

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Fig. 16.7. Pearson’s section drawing of west end of mithraeum. From Rostovtzeff et al. 1939, fig. 31. Courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.

struction, MM raising, LM extending), there are only two (initial construction, raising/extending). The drawing also calls into question the relationship between the cult furniture, the western wall, and the floor surfaces of the space. For Pearson, the mudbrick rear wall was razed down to the level of the podium in the MM reconstruction, and then rebuilt with the engage vault over the podium.73 Similarly, the EM had a plaster floor, which was covered by a fired-brick floor in the MM phase, which would have had to be set around the earlier EM cult furniture. Yet the section drawing shows no signs of this destruction/ rebuilding in the rear wall (nor are such interventions visible in any of the field photos). Instead, the podium is drawn as integral to the rear wall, and part of its construction, with no evidence for reconstruction above the original podium level; it is also not clear how it would have been possible to neatly raze the structure to podium-level without significantly damaging the attached cult furniture. Still, the diagram is schematic and distinct courses of mudbrick not easy to articulate in excavation or archival photos. Yet the relationship between the engaged altar and the brick floor as drawn is also telling; rather than the altar being earlier and surrounded by bricks, it appears to sit atop the bricks. This also appears to be the case in the final plan of Block J7, where the tops of the altars seen from above overlap bricks and suggest that the altars covered the pavers. In a field photo, the base moulding of one of the first-phase side altars also appears well above the level of the brick floor, suggesting that this altar, too, was set atop the bricks.74 In other

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words, the brick floor is prior to the cult furnishings that established a Mithraic sanctuary, but presumably part of the construction of the sanctuary. This not only suggests the range of features that Pearson associates with the MM are, in fact, part of the first Mithraic temple on the site, but has important ramifications for the social milieu of the community and history of Dura, as we shall see below. Finally, one further piece of circumstantial evidence suggests two building phases rather than three. Pearson notes a lack of painted plaster associated with his EM.75 Even if there are at least three re-plasterings and re-paintings archaeologically attested on the site, resurfacing generally happens far more frequently than structural renovation. The lack of any painting that can be related to the EM structures offers a further hint that this phase is simply a phantom; the paintings that Pearson ascribes to the MM, discussed above, probably relate to the earliest phase of construction (Mithraeum I). Taken together, these problems with Pearson’s relative chronology and three phases suggest that there were two primary structural phases of the Dura mithraeum. The relative relationships between features in the mithraeum also strongly suggest a first construction, Mithraeum I, and a renovation, Mithraeum II. In essence, the architectural remains that Pearson calls the MM are, in fact, the first mithraeum on the site, Mithraeum I. Certain other features, which will be discussed in the final report, suggest a few different details, such as the extension of the south bench over what had been an earlier house foundation, rather than a separate room to the south. Based on the excavation records, it is possible to propose reconstructed plans of these two phases, using overlays of the block plan, state plan from the excavation, and Pearson’s suggested phase plans (fig. 16.8). Given the dates recorded on the bull-stabbing reliefs and Latin inscription, these two phases can be given absolute chronology: Mithraeum I must date to 169 CE (or slightly earlier), and Mithraeum II must be the rebuilding under Antonius Valentinus in 209-211. The two votive reliefs, as well as Phases A and B of the decoration, belong to Mithraeum I; repaintings without major structural interventions are common in all ancient contexts. The last phase of decoration (Pearson’s LM), visible at the time of excavation and reconstructed at Yale, is probably contemporary with or a later re-painting of the 209-211 rebuilding; its excellent condition (and lack of graffiti/dipinti), though, may have less to do with its newness when the siege rampart was built and more to do with the fact that the paintings were essentially closed off in a cupboard

when the podium was extended. This has significant ramifications for understanding the social, historical, and networked milieux of the Dura mithraeum. MITHRAEUM I: RETHINKING THE MITHRAS-WORSHIPPERS AT DURA The proposed reinterpretation of the Dura mithraeum has several key ramifications for understanding the milieux of the earliest Mithraic community at Dura, whose commissions of paintings and sculpture effectively set the boundaries for later generations. Instead of a small group of Palmyrene archers who learned and inflected the cult in a Syro-Anatolian geographic and cultural sphere, the first Mithras-worshippers at Dura were more tightly integrated in the cosmopolitan world of the Roman army. First, instead of a small, “private” community tucked in the back of a house, the Durene community of Mithraists was, from the beginning, planned as being a substantial group.76 With each bench of Mithraeum I 8-9m long, the first temple could host around 26-36 concurrent, reclining diners, allowing 50-60cm per participant. 77 In other words, the planned size of the community was not exceptionally small, but on par with mithraea across the empire. Second, this first community of 169 was more “public” than previously assumed, based in a freestanding building that can be connected with sig-

nificant renovations of the northwest quarter of Dura. The mithraeum replaced a well-appointed elite house, probably as part of the general conversion of the quarter into a military zone after Dura had been seized from Parthian control during Lucius Verus’ campaigns in 165 CE.78 Whether this reflects an opportunistic redevelopment of the quarter after damage in an epigraphically attested earthquake of 160,79 or the seizing of property and razing of an elite residence, the plot of land seems likely to have changed hands. Third, there is archaeological evidence that the first mithraeum was linked directly to the presence of units closely connected to the wider Roman army. The precise position of the two “strategoi of archers” attested as relief dedicants in Mithraeum I has long been unclear: suggestions range from the unit being a numerus or other independent unit affiliated with regular Roman forces,80 being local police/guards,81 or (most recently) being military representatives of an independent Palmyra that quickly filled in a power vacuum created in the Middle Euphrates by Verus’ campaigns.82 The title of strategos, of course, suggests that neither dedicant was part of an “official,” regularized auxiliary unit, even if that group of archers eventually became the XX Cohors Palmyrenorum.83