CIMRM 188 - Initiation ceremony 2. S. Maria Capua Vetere, Italy.

In the next panel, there are three figures in a dramatic group. The mystagogue, in a billowing cloak edged in red, and wearing a phrygian cap, stands on the left; in his outstretched left hand he is extending a stick-like object, perhaps a sword, towards the initiand. The latter's eyes are still blindfolded, and he is kneeling: his arms appear to be tied behind him (V 188). Ambrosiaster describes, in the passage just cited, how the initiand's hands were tied with chicken's guts, which were then cut through by a man calling himself his 'liberator'.108 Behind the initiand stands the assistant mystagogue, who seems to be keeping a firm grip on him.

These are the five panels which Clauss identifies as the initiation series, one per grade.

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  CIMRM 187 - Initiation ceremony 1. S. Capua Vetere, Italy.
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  CIMRM 188 - Initiation ceremony 2. S. Capua Vetere, Italy.
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  CIMRM 191 - Initiation ceremony 3. S. Capua Vetere, Italy.
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  CIMRM 194 - Initiation ceremony 4. S. Capua Vetere, Italy.
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  CIMRM 193 - Initiation ceremony 5. S. Capua Vetere, Italy.

CIMRM entry

188. Minto, 369 and fig. 11; Leipoldt, fig. 43; CAH, Plates V 164a. See fig. 58. Before the standing mystagogus, dressed in white tunica with red stripes, the myste kneels down with folded hands. Here he is blindfolded as well, with a white bandage. Behind him a priest approaches dressed in a red mantle and Phrygian cap; he seems to hold a sword or staff in his hands.