were originally equals of Mithras but soon became minor characters representing the rising and setting sun as well as hope and sorrow. Cautes always holds an uplifted torch whilst Cautopates has a down-turned torch. They are clothed in the costume of ancient Persia, including the Phrygian cap.
Floor mosaic showing emblems of the grades, in the mithraeum of Felicissimus,Ostia.
The worshippers of Mithras were divided into
seven grades, each marking a stage of knowledge in the cult's mysteries.
An initiate started as Corax (the Raven), then moved progressively through
the stages of Nymphus (bridegroom), Miles (soldier), Leo (lion), Perses
(Persian), Heliodromus (Runner of the Sun) before reaching the ultimate grade
of Pater (Father). Each grade wore a costume and headmask to symbolize his
grade.
Initiation
into each grade involved severe tests and training. At Carrawburgh an 'ordeal
pit' was found as well as a bench very close to a large fire - these would
have been used in the ordeals of heat, cold and fasting.
Three temples to Mithras have been found on Hadrian's Wall at Housesteads,
Carrawburgh and Rudchester. The excavated material from all three is now
in the Museum of Antiquities where there is also a reconstruction of a Mithraeum
based on the first temple at Carrawburgh.
Mithraea were rectangular stone and timber buildings with wooden roofs.
Internally, each had an antechamber, a nave with raised benches along the
walls, and a sanctuary with altars and the
tauroctony. Some mithraea are sunk below ground and
there were no windows as each mithraeum was intended to be as dark as the
original cave of Mithras.
Carrawburgh Mithraeum lies 27.4m south-west of the Roman fort at Carrawburgh
(Brocolitia). The site of the temple was first discovered in 1949 when a
dry summer caused the surrounding peat to shrink away from the stones. It
was excavated in 1950 by Sir Ian Richmond and Mr J.P.Gillam. The first mithraeum
to be built on the site was erected in the early 3rd century AD but soon
proved too small for its purpose and the two successive buildings were very
much larger: 5.79 x 12.8m
Worshippers
entered the Mithraeum through a door in the south-west wall. This led to
the antechamber in which a large fireplace was placed next to a stone bench.
During one period of its history the antechamber housed the 'ordeal pit'.
A statuette of a mother-goddess with a small pot for offerings was also found
in this area.
A wickerwork screen divided the antechamber from the nave. Against the nave
walls there were clay benches faced with wickerwork and covered with a thick
rendering of plaster. It was on these benches that the worshippers reclined
when taking part in the ritual meals which marked the initiation ceremonies.
Along the front of the benches were four small altars with the statues of
Cautes and Cautopates at one end.
In the sanctuary were found three large altars and
some fragments of the tauroctony, the latter apparently having been smashed
and removed after the Theodosian Edict of 391AD banned the worship of pagan
gods. A ritual deposit of two pots with the skull
of a cockerel and two lumps of charcoal made from pinecones was found under
the altars.
'To the Invincible God Mithras, Marcus Simplicius Simplex, prefect, willingly
and deservedly fulfilled his vow'
Deo Invicto Mitrae M(arcus) Sim/plicius Simplex / pr(a)ef(ecus) v(otum) s(oluit)
l(ibens) m(erito)
The front of the capital has a frieze of leaves and there is no focus. On
the front of the shaft is the relief of the torso of Mithras rising from
the Living Rock. He wears a cloak and a radiate crown, the rays of which
are cut through to a hollow niche at the back of the altar in which an oil
lamp would have been placed; when lit the light of the lamp would have shone
through the openings into the gloom of the Mithraeum. Mithras's link with
the sun is further emphasized by the Sun God's Whip which he holds in his
right hand. When found, traces of red paint survived on the cloak, hair and
letters, green and red paint were found on the decorated columns and Mithras's
face was plastered white and then painted.
It is thought that the dedicator, Marcus Simplicius Simplex, came from Lower
Germany, and was the prefect of the First Cohort of Batavians.
Acc.No. 1956.10.30; RIB 1546; CSIR I.6.122
'To the invincible God
Mithras, Lucius Antonius Proculus, prefect of the First Cohort of Batavians
Antoniniana, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.'
Deo Inv(icto) M(ithrae) / L(ucius) Antonius / Proculus / praef(ectus) coh(ortis)
I Bat(avorum) Antoninianae / v(otum) s(oluit) l(ibens) m(erito)
The unit's honorary title 'Antoninus's Own' dates this altar to the reign
of either Caracalla (211-217) or Elagabalus (218-222). The capital has a
very dominant focus and bolsters with a central pediment. The letters have
been carefully arranged - the marking out lines are still visible as are
the compass points in the circular letters.
Acc.No. 1956.10.31; RIB 1544; CSIR I.6.121
'Sacred to the Invincible
God Mithras, Aulus Cluentius Habitus, prefect of the First Cohort of Batavians,
of the Ultinian voting tribe, from Colonia Septima Aurelia Larinum, willingly
and derservedly fulfilled his vow.'
D(eo) In(victo) M(ithrae) S(acrum) / Aul(us) Cluentius / Habitus pra(e)f(ectus)
/ coh(ortis) I /Batavorum / domu Ulti/n(i)a Colon(ia) / Sept(imia) Aure(elia)
L(arino) / v(otum) s(oluit)l(ibens) m(erito)
The dedicator of this altar came from the family of the Aulus Cluentius Habitus
who was defended by Cicero in 66BC on a charge of murdering his
step-father. By giving full details of his birthplace - Larinum in the foothills
of the Appenines - Habitus was ensuring that anyone knowing the works of
Cicero, as all well-educated Romans would have done, would know that he was
a descendant of an infamous equestrian family. Larinum had already been promoted
from a municipium to a colonia by the time this altar was erected in AD 208-11.
Acc.No. 1956.10.32; RIB 1545; CSIR I.6.123
Visitors to Carrawburgh site today can see the stone temple in its final
4th century phase. The wooden roof posts, benches, sculpture and altars have
been replaced by concrete copies. All the original material is now in the
Museum of Antiquities.
The reconstruction in the Museum of Antiquities is based on the first Mithraic
temple at Carrawburgh. It has been possible to recreate the colours on the
walls, benches and altars because traces of the original colours were found
during the excavation of
Carawburgh and
other mithraea.
All the details shown in the reconstrucution, such as the heather carpeting,
have been deduced from the information gathered from the excavation. Although
we know the walls had scenes painted on them - fragments
of painted wall plaster were found - the precise images are unknown; the
reconstruction, therefore, has drawn heavily on the scenes found in mithraea
elsewhere in the Roman world.
FURTHER READING
Mithras and his Temples on the Wall by C.M.Daniels, 3rd ed. 1989, Newcastle
upon Tyne (available through the Museum of Antiquities)
'The Temple of Mithras at Carrawburgh', by I.A.Richmond and J.P.Gillam, in
Archaeologia Aeliana 4th series, XXIX (1951) 1-92
'The cult of Mithras and its temples at Carrawburgh' by I.A.Richmond,
in R.L.S.Bruce-Mitford (ed) Recent Archaeological Excavations in Britain
(1956) 136-42
'The genius of Mithraism, by A.D.Nock, in Journal of Roman Studies XXVII
(1937) 108-12 Oriental Cults in Britain by E and J.R.Harris (1956)
Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae by
M.J.Vermaseren (2 vols., 1956 and 1960)
Mithras, the Secret God, by M.J.Vermaseren (1963)
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