{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "Can you imagine knocking down a wall to renovate your basement\u2026and discovering an intact Mithraeum?\n In 1963, a Mr. Zoffoli was...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/148333808768/", "html": "

davidsevera:

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honorthegods:

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Can you imagine knocking down a wall to renovate your basement\u2026and discovering an intact Mithraeum?

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In 1963, a Mr. Zoffoli was enlarging his wine-cellar in Marino, a village about 13km/8 miles south of Rome, and discovered 13.25 x 8m entrance hall, behind which was a 29.20 x 3.10m grotto\u00a0dedicated to Mithras. This Mithraeum dates to 160-200 C.E.\u00a0The most important find was that many spectacular paintings adorn the walls.\u00a0

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Sources:

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http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/display.php?page=supp_Italy_Marino_Mithraeum

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http://chaudron.blogspot.com/2011/01/mithraeum-at-marino.html

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http://www.visitlazio.com/en/dettaglio/-/turismo/622853/archeologia-nei-castelli-romani

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Tauroctony is a modern name[1] given to the central cult reliefs of the Roman Mithraic Mysteries. The imagery depicts Mithras killing a bull, hence the name tauroctony after the Greek word tauroktonos (\u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u03ba\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, \u201cbull killing\u201d).

Despite the name, the scene is symbolic, and there is no evidence \nthat patrons of the Roman cult ever performed such a rite. Like all \nGreco-Roman mysteries, the Mithraic Mysteries was limited to initiates, \nand there is very little known about the cult\u2019s beliefs or practices. \nHowever, several images of the bull include a dorsuale ribbon or \nblanket, which was a Roman convention to identify a sacrificial animal, \nso it is fairly certain that the killing of the bull represents a \nsacrificial act. And, because the main bull-killing scene is often \naccompanied by explicit depictions of the sun, moon, and stars, it is \nalso fairly certain that the scene has astrological connotations. But \ndespite dozens of theories on the subject, none has received widespread \nacceptance. While the basic bull-killing image appears to have been \nadopted from a similar depiction of Nike,\n and it is certain that the bull-killing symbolism and the ancillary \nelements together tell a story (i.e. the cult myth, the cult\u2019s mystery),\n what that story was is only known to Mithraic initiates. Following \nseveral decades of increasingly convoluted theories, Mithraic \nscholarship is now generally disinclined to speculation.

\n\nAltar, side benches, and Tauroctomy\n\nMithras and Sol\n\nTauroctony", "thumbnail_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/media/tumblr_oa06iiCkxj1toti4zo1_400_c460f65852bc.jpg", "thumbnail_width": 349, "thumbnail_height": 400}