This mithraeum was excavated by the Irish painter Robert Fagan between 1794 and 1802. Today it cannot be seen. It must be somewhere between the so-called Imperial Palace and the ancient mouth of the Tiber (Tor Boacciana). In the shrine a marble sculptural group was found of Mithras killing the bull (now in the Vatican Museums). He is called "undiscoverable deity" in an inscription on the basis (the second line was added later and should be understood as being in front of C. Valerius):
SIG(num) INDEPREHENSIVILIS DEI C(aius) VALERIVS HERACLES SACERDOS S(ua) P(ecunia) P(osuit)
L(ucius) SEXTIVS KARVS ETLucius Sextius Karus and Caius Valerius Heracles, priest, placed at their own expense the statue of the undiscoverable god. Furthermore a curious marble statue was found (now in the Vatican Library). It was painted red. It is a representation of time: a naked body in the coils of a snake and with the head of a lion. In its hands are two keys and a sceptre. It has four wings, symbols of the seasons. It was dedicated by a "father" and two priests, witness an inscription from 13 August 190 AD:
C(aius) VALERI
VS HERACLES PAT(er)
ET C(aii) VALERII
VITALIS ET NICO
MES SACERDO
TES S(ua) P(e)C(unia) P(o)S(ue)R(unt)
D(e)D(icatum) IDI(bus) AVG(ustis) IMP(eratore)
COM(modo)
VI ET
SEPTI
MIANO
CO(n)S(ulibus)Caius Valerius
Heracles, father,
and Caii Valerii
Vitalis and Nicome(de)s,
priests,
placed it at their own expense.
Dedicated August 13, Emperor
Commodus
for the 6th time and
Septimianus
being
consuls [190 AD].A similar, gilded figure is seen on a marble relief from the shrine (now in the Vatican Museums). Also from the shrine comes the following inscription:
C(aius) VALERIVS HERACLES PAT[e]R E[t] A[ntis]
TES DEI IV[b]ENIS INCONRVPTI S[ol]IS INVICTI MITHRA[e]
[c]RYPTAM PALATI CONCESSA[m] SIBI A M(arco) AVRELIO
[---]Caius Valerius Heracles, father and overseer
of the young and uncorrupted god the invincible Sol Mithras,
made (?) the cave of the palace, granted to him by Marcus Aurelius
[---]Apparently the shrine was installed in an underground room of an Imperial palace to the west of the so-called Imperial Palace. Approval was given by Marcus Aurelius, either the Emperor Commodus himself, or an Imperial freedman. Commodus had been initiated in the mysteries of Mithras:
Sacra Mithriaca homicidio vero polluit, cum illic aliquid ad speciem timoris vel dici vel fingi soleat. He desecrated the rites of Mithras with actual murder, although it was customary in them merely to say or pretend something that would produce an impression of terror. SHA, Commodus IX,6. Translation David Magie.
Photos
The group of Mithras killing the bull. Photo: Vatican Museums.
The statue and relief of time. SO II, Tav. XXXVI, 1-2.
The statue of time. Photo: Andreu Abuin.
