CIMRM Supplement - A stone Cautopates and two other figures. Manchester, Britain.


From: Flickr by thezombiesaid.

From: Ancient Worlds at Manchester Museum. By Bryan Sitch. Larger images may be found at the original site.

From: Ancient Worlds at Manchester Museum. By Bryan Sitch. Larger images may be found at the original site.

From: Hibbert p.20 (1848). This shows the undamaged form of the third monument.

From: here. By @Kanovium.

From: here. By @Kanovium.

From: here. By @Kanovium.

A stone block depicting Cautopates, another block with a primitive head, and a third with arms crossed, all found at Hulme by the Roman road outside the Roman fort at Manchester in 1821. Salford Museum and Art Gallery.

The Gentlemen's Magazine, 1821, vol. 129, part 1, p.257; Samuel Hibbert, The ancient parish church of Manchester, 1848. p.19; F. Bruton, The Roman Fort at Manchester. Manchester 1909. Online here; F. Bruton, A Short History of Manchester and Salford. Manchester 1927.

In 1821 the Gentlemen's Magazine, vol. 129, p.257, reported that three large blocks of stone, all about two and a half feet high, were discovered, just within the gravel, about six feet below the ground. The first was a representation of Cautopates, within a raised square border or moulding. The Cautopates has the usual form with the torch downwards and crossed legs. The lower moulding on one side suggests that it was part of a series. The second was a large head. The third was an image in a flowing dress, with arms crossed at the front, and the head broken off but found nearby. The head portion of the last monument was lost sometime after 1848 but is depicted by Hibbert. They were found on the exact line of the Roman road from Manchester to Chester, a few hundred yards to the south of the Roman fort of Mamucium, the modern Castlefields district of Manchester. Various other Roman finds were made at various times very nearby, including an altar of Legio VI Victrix. The stone used is the local dark brown grit stone, so not brought from a distance.

The items are kept in the basement of the Salford Museum and Art Gallery, but in 2012 were on loan to the Manchester Museum.

Vermaseren appears to have omitted from the CIMRM the details of the Manchester Mithraeum and its remains, but he gives the Bruton references in the bibliography.

Some of the literature supposes that there was a Mithraeum at the site, and that it was destroyed by the works. However the only account of the find seems to be that of Whatton in the Gentleman's Magazine, and this does not make either statement. In the absence of further investigation, possibly the stones were simply dumped here at some point and abandoned, perhaps after the triumph of Christianity?

Other bibliography:

  • Samuel Hibbert, The ancient parish church of Manchester, 1848. p.19 discusses the head, and the mysterious figure. The head is one foot ten inches tall and one foot six inches broad. The other is described thus: "... being that of a female with a loose cap on her head, and arrayed in rather an elegant robe. The forearms are placed over the front part of the waist." It is two foot four inches tall and one foot four inches broad. On p.25 is an imaginative description of the Cautopates figure as a crusader. Hibbert supposes that all three monuments are actually from a church (!)
  • Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, vol. 27 (1910), p.33 mentions "Reproductions of Photographs of a Cross-legged Figure, a head, and a figure bearing a tray of offerings, all relating to the worship of Mithras in Manchester; they were found in Hulme in 1821. See the printed label lent by Salford Corporation". Unfortunately this volume is not accessible from the UK.
  • Another snippet from vols.41-50 (1936), p.176, of the same journal states: "I refer to the discovery of the three Mithraic objects in Hulme, in 1821. They were first described ... On the dissolution of this museum, they were handed over to Peel Park Museum, Salford, where they are now preserved" and another snippet from the same: "I refer to the discovery of the three Mithraic objects in Hulme, in 1821. They were first described by Whatton in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1821 (part 1, p. 257) and have been further dealt with by later writers. Charles Roeder made a short ...".

From Shelagh Grealey, Roman Manchester, p.16:


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