CIMRM 89 - Tauroctony and inscription. Sî`, Syria.

The photograph found online of a smashed tauroctony and originally added as a supplement here has been identified as CIMRM89.

There is no photograph in the CIMRM. The entry below by Vermaseren, based on Will's article, introduces a couple of mistakes. CIMRM 88 shows the left torchbearer; E. Will states that this monument shows the right torchbearer. The two monuments are by the same hand. This one must have been found in situ. Will states that a publication is intended by "M. Sabeh, conservateur du Musee de Damas" in a work on the "sculpture hauranaise". He also gives the inscription as "D(eo) I(nvicto) S(oli)".

The publication may be: Joseph Sabeh, "Sculptures palmyréniennes inédites du musée de Damas", Annales Archéologiques de Syrie 3 (1953) 17-26.

CIMRM entry

89. A second relief (H. 1.15 Br. 1.06), certainly made by the same sculptor, had been inserted in a larger basalt-stone, which is beside the entrance of a grotto. Museum at Damascus. Will in Syria XXIX, 1952, 68 and Pl. VI, 2. Representation of Mithras tauroctone. Except for some minor differences it is identical with the preceding one, but now the two torchbearers are represented. Above the relief the inscription: D(eo) S(oli) I(nvicto) Both reliefs may have belonged to the same spelaeum, from which No.88 must have been dragged away to the temple of Dusares.

The "Born in Damascus" website offers the following bibliography:

• Sélim and Andrée Abdul-Haq . Illustrated catalog of the Department of Greco-Roman Antiquities at the Damascus Museum, 1951.
• Thomas M Weber . Sculptures from Roman Syria in the Syrian National Museum at Damascus 2006.

A further post from the same website offers what seems to be a quote from Weber:

Seen in this plate are two basaltic sculptures of Mithras slaying the bull, a central ritual in this cult where the spilled blood renovates the fertility of the soil it irrigates. Both were found at or near Seeaa, a village in Soueida Governorate in Southern Syria and both date from the third century of the Common Era. The top sculpture is 72 cm x 58 cm x 10 cm as far as dimensions are concerned. It was discovered in 1919 by an archaeological expedition from Princeton University and had been stored for a while at the Teacher's College at Mezze Boulevard before it changed location to the National Museum of Damascus, where it currently resides. The bottom figure features the same motif and was studied by Dr. Salim Abdul Haq in the early 1950's. It is 112 cm x 106 cm x 4.5 cm in size. It also is a possession of the Museum. It is to be regretted that many such ancient sculptures have been transferred from their original sites to be recycled in relatively modern residences which has resulted in the deformation, and potentially the loss of those priceless treasures. Such has been the case throughout Syria including Damascus and the large cities. Thomas M. Weber Sculptures from Roman Syria Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft. Worms 2006