Mithras

Relief sculpture relating to the Roman god Mithras. The central medallion depicts Mithras slaying a bull, who is also being attacked by a dog, scorpion and snake. Mithras is flanked by his companions, Cautes, with his torch raised, and Cautopates, with his lowered. Around the circular border are the 12 signs of the zodiac. The sun (Sol) and moon (Luna) are depicted in the top corners, and the two wind gods in the bottom. The inscription is squeezed into any available space and was probably added later. It reads: Ulpi|us | Silva|nus | emeri|tus leg(ionis) | II Aug(ustae) | votum | solvit | fac|tus | Arau|sione, meaning ‘Ulpius Silvanus, veteran of the second Augustan legion, paid his vow: he was initiated at Orange’. It is unclear as to whether this refers to Ulpius Silvanus’s initiation into the army or the cult of Mithras at Orange in southern France. However, he was evidently a major patron of the London temple to Mithras. It has been suggested that he may have been the owner of the house behind which the temple was built.
The god Mithras first appeared in the Roman Empire in the 1st century CE. Mithras seems to be Roman in origin but influenced by an older Persian god, Mitra. Followers of Mithras were very secretive but surviving temples, objects, inscriptions and written sources suggest the religion was related to creation, the sun, moon and our place in the universe. It was mainly for men, and popular with soldiers, merchants and civil servants. The cult appears to have been adopted by the Roman army and travelled through the empire with the legions, spreading through Italy, Central Europe and Britain throughout the 1st-4th centuries.