Mithraeum of Santa Prisca

The mithraeum was discovered by chance in 1934 under the Church of Santa Prisca by the Augustinian Fathers; the walls of two buildings were used to construct it: one dating from the late 1st century AD and another, datable to the 2nd century, characterized by two naves, on which the church was later built.

The mithraeum dates back to the 3rd century AD and consists of a main room with an elongated rectangular floor plan where the ritual banquet was held during which the adepts entered into communion with the god. This room is preceded by two niches with representations of Cautes and Cautopates, the two Mithraic genii that symbolized sunrise and sunset. Today only the marble sculpture of Cautes remains, with the torch raised.

In the back wall is a large niche inside of which is a statue depicting Mithras killing a bull and the god Saturn lying down constructed of fragments of amphorae covered with gilded stucco. An inscription indicates that the mithraeum was already in use in 202 AD. The side walls are frescoed with a depiction of the sacred procession of worshipers bearing liturgical offerings; in the back wall of the central room is another niche decorated with seven concentric circles representing the planetary sphere.

The mithraeum was violently destroyed around 400 AD, probably by Christians before the construction of the Church of St. Prisca.

Photo: Special Superintendence of Rome