CIMRM 389 - Barberini Mithraeum. Rome.
See also: CIMRM 389 Mithraeum; 390 Tauroctony fresco; 391-5 Other finds;
The site was discovered in 1936 and consists of a room, 11.85 x 6.25 m, with a barrel vault and side benches. It has a complex fresco decoration. At the top is the sky, with the zodiac. Around it are ten boxes (pinakes) which tell the sacred story of Mithras. Also the personifications of Sol and Luna. The focus is on the central scene of the tauroctony where Mithras, flanked as usual by Cautes and Cautopates, ritually kills the bull.
The monument is currently (2014) under restoration.
CIMRM entry
389. In 1936 in the garden of the Palazzo Barberini a Mithraeum was discovered under a house, which is in the possession of Conte A. Savorgnan di Brazza. The great kindness of the owner enabled us to examine it closer.
Annibaldi in BCR 1938, 251f; R. Horn in AA 1936,475f; Lugli, Mon. Ant., 1938, 320 and Suppl., III, 31ff; Annibaldi in BCR LXXI,1943-45 (1947), 97ff. See fig. 111, taken from Annibaldi's publication, which he kindly sent to me.
The excavated room consists of a central room, on either side of which there is a smaller, narrower room; they are of the same size (probably first cent. A.D.). One of these rooms was changed into a Mithraeum later on. The sanctuary is rectangular (H. 4.42 L. 11.83 Br. 6.25) and is divided into a central aisle (Br. 1.95) and two side-benches, sloping towards the walls. Along the front of the r. bench (H. 0.83 Br. 1.40) as well as of the I. bench (Br. 2.45) runs a broad ledge, covered with marble.
The two benches show moreover, approximately in the middle ,and on floorlevel, hollows for the basins. The basin of the l. bench (c) is half-round and covered by a lid. This bench can be ascended via three steps at d, and it supports four brick columns, which help to support the arched roof. Behind the r. bench, which can be ascended via two steps, runs a small canal b.
On the level with the side-benches against the back wall, the arched cult-niche (H. 2.15 D. 1.03) has been constructed. The arch joins the last column of the bench. On its right two fishes are painted, a remnant of the signs of the zodiac. The inside of the niche is covered with sea-shells and pumice to give it a cave-like appearance. At the foot of the niche two projecting elevations have been made (H. 0.82 Br. 0.50-0.70 D. 0.90), which are plastered on the inside and painted with undefiniable motives in blue, green and red.
Bibliography
- M.J.Vermaseren, Mithriaca III: The Mithraeum at Marino, Brill, 1982. This contains a detailed description of the frescos and a discussion of the date, which Vermaseren places in the second quarter of the 3rd century A.D.
Images
The following photographs were taken by Pascal Lemaire on 25th January 2014. Used by permission.
