CIMRM 2351 - Tauroctony. Patras, Greece.

This item is a damaged tauroctony found at Patras in Achaia in 1912. It may have some connection to the discovery in 2001 of a Mithraeum at nearby Aigio.

From the article on the latter by E. Kolia ("The Cult of Mithras in Aigion"):

The relief of Patras is the second testimony of the worship of Mithras in Achaia (fig. 9). It is stored in the Museum of Patras and was found in 1912 in the estate of Lykouriotos. A typical tabernacle scene of the bull is depicted by Mithras. Only the right half is saved: the young god with the characteristic Phrygian cap, the Asian costume and the mantle that winds back, kills the bull by pressing on the back of the animal with his left knee. With his left hand he holds the head of the bull, while with his right he sinks the knife on his throat. Under the stomach of the animal there is a scorpion and a snake and on the right a dog rushing to his throat. These animals were symbolic in Mithriac worship and are often found in reliefs with a backyard scene22. On the right edge of the relief, a torchbearer, probably Cautes, is depicted, holding the torch raised with his right hand. On the right corner of the relief there is a bust of the Moon, over the head of the bull, a small upright male figure resting on a sceptre, probably Jupiter and above the head of Mithras, an incised triangle that may symbolize light and therefore has a bearing on the attribute of the god as a personification of light and the sun. In the middle of it is a fragmentary Latin inscription 23: [Soli Invic]to milites [---] YS + [---] ESARCVS The inscription dates back to the 2nd or 3rd cent. A.D. Mithras is called Sol Invictus, a widespread name for the god that declares its identity with the Sun, but also its omnipotence. The following is the word "milites", which is considered to refer to the degree of initiation of the followers25, as the "soldier" was the third hierarchical degree of initiation in the Mithraic worship26. Perhaps this interpretation is correct, as the "milites" in the inscription of Patras is not accompanied by the reference of the legion or other military body, as in the numerous inscriptions, in which the adjudicators are soldiers27. According to Ch. Avezou and Ch. Picard's conclusion of the second name denotes the Greek origin of the adjudicator, since it is a Latin type of Greek name that can be restored as Master, Postmaster or Angisarchus28, a valuable indication that the cult of Mithras was also adopted by Greek inhabitants of Patras. It is noted that the majority of Mithraic inscriptions use the Latin language.

CIMRM entry

ACHAIA PATRAS 2351. White marble slab the left side of which is broken off (H. 0.44 Br. 0.32 D. 0.06- 0.09), found at Patras in 1911. Patras, Gymnasium. Avezou-Picard in RHR 1911, 179ff and fig., cf. AJA 1912,444; LeRoy Campbell in Berytus XI, 1954, 46 No. 79. The damaged relief shows Mithras as a bullkiller. The r. arm and the r. leg are lost. The dog, the snake and the scorpion. Before the bull a standing Cautes with upraised torch in his r.h. The bust of Luna in the r. upper corner. Above the bull's head a standing person who leans on a sceptre (Jupiter?). On the left of Mithras' head a kind of triangle. In the lower border an inscription: 2352. Ann. ep. 1912 No. 282. L.H. 0.0125. Soli invic/to milites/ ..... uist/ .... esarcus.