CIMRM 52 - Mithras the hunter. Fresco. Dura Europos, Syria

From: M. I. Rostovtzeff, The Mithraeum of Dura-Europos on the Euphrates, Bulletin of the Associates in Fine Arts at Yale, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Jun., 1939), pp. 3-10. The Hunting Scene from the Side Wall of the Mithraeum. Showing Mithras shooting game aided by the lion and the serpent. Now in the Yale Gallery of Fine Arts.

From here.

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CIMRM entry

52. On the side-walls of the niche. there is on either side a representation of Mithras as a hunter.
Cumont in CRAI, 1934, 102f; Rostovtzeff in RM, 190ff and Pl. 13; ILN 1934, fig. 7; AJA 1935, Pl. Vb; GBA 1935, fig. I; Syria 1935,314 with fig.; C. Hopkins, Aspects at Parthian Art in the Light of Discoveries from D-E, in Berytus III, 1936, 1ff and Pl. VIII; Report, 112ff and Pls. XIV, XV. See fig. 24 with courtesy of Yale University Art gallery.
The picture on the left wall is excellently preserved. Mithras is represented on horseback galloping to the right and shooting arrows. In the figures of the deer the upper part of their horns has the form of a crescent. The horse has large breast phalerae and balloon-like tassels behind. Mithras is dressed in Perso-Palmyrene attire, his bow, arrows and quiver are typically Sassanian.
"The god is assisted by a large snake speeding forward under the feet of his horse and by a big lion galloping before him. Mithras has already wounded all the wild animals. Each of them has an arrow in its neck, two of the arrows being broken, and blood is flowing in abundance from their wounds. The hunt takes place in a forest. The trees are highly stylized. Each has three fan-like leaves or c!usters of branches. Besides the trees, there are some low plants on the ground, each with three stems ending in an arrow-like point.
Less well preserved is the picture on the right wall. It is almost identical with that on the left wall. The only difference is that the snake is omitted and its place is taken by a very small lion, ahnost a copy of the lion of the other picture".