Inscriptions of a restoration in the temple of Mithra
Inscriptions of a restoration in the temple of Mithra
The three documents have been attributed to the Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres of Ostia in the regio II, so-called on account of the seven arches symbolising, for the souls of initiates, the gates of access to the celestial spheres. It was studied by Lanciani in 1886 and compared with the one already identified from the excavations carried out at the behest of Pius VII in 1802-1805, which produced these inscriptions. They recount a restoration project (restituit) financed – sua p(ecunia) – by Aulus Decimius Decimianus and regarding the temple of Mithras and its portico, the statue of the god himself (deum solem Mithram) and the marble (marmoribus) and cultic (omni cultu) furnishings. The details of the work appear on the slab, perhaps carved into base supporting the relief depicting Mithras tauroctono, the “bull-slaughterer”, accompanied by an curvilinear inscription containing a generic indication of the same restoration.