CIMRM Supplement - Mithraeum of the coloured marbles. Ostia, Italy.

Reconstruction of the caupona of pan, from the rear, with the Mithraeum chamber at the bottom. From: LiveScience

Plan of the caupona. 1 is the Mithraeum, 3 is the old main room of the caupona with the pan mosaic, containing the graffiti. From M. David, 2008.

Aerial view of the caupona.

Aerial view of the caupona, room 1 at the bottom left. From "first remarks" (2017)

Graffiti

Room 3: Upper graffito "Concordius".

Room 3: Lower graffito of Mithras and Kronos. From M. David, 2008.

Room 3: graffito of the Navigium Isidis. From M. David, 2008.

Room 3 : Mithraic monograms.

Other items

Room 5: Isaic crown applique.

Room 5: Ivory handle, perhaps of sistrum?

Room 8: painting of trident. From M. David, 2008.

A Mithraeum of the late 4th century was discovered in Ostia in 2014, in the area outside the Porta Marina (=sea gate), in a converted caupona (IV, ix, 5). The cult chamber has a single bench, a well, and what was possibly a small flower-bed. An adjacent room contains two graffiti, one of which mentions Mithras and Kronos. The building was only used for a short time.

Details

In the early third century a two-storey caupona (tavern/eating-place) was built on the street known today as the via della Marciana, opposite the baths. The central room has a mosaic of pan, so the building is known as the "caupona of the god pan".

In the second half of the 4th century, the building was repurposed, the main entrance closed, and the walls repainted with imitatation marble.

Room 1 : The spelaeum

From David, "Il Pavimento":

From M. David, "A newly discovered Mithraeum at Ostia", 2018:

The room is decorated with a floor made up of marble fragments, a form of decoration popular in the 4-5th centuries. The small bed of flowers proved to contain traces of juniper.

Room 3: The graffiti and monograms

On the west wall of room 3, the main chamber of the old caupona with the pan mosaic, there are two graffiti.

The first is just a name, "Concordius". This name is wide-spread starting from the 4th century, mostly in Christian epigraphy. At this period the old Roman custom of three names had largely been abandoned in favour of a single name.

Beneath this is another graffiti:

Inv(icto) D(eo) (arrow) M(ithrae) (bow with an arrow) D(eo) M(agno) Kro/no

To the unconquered god Mithras and to the great god Kronos".

On the south wall some monograms with Mithraic characteristics were found.

A graffito of the navigium of Isis was also found. Also found in the room was an ivory handle, perhaps from a sistrum, an item of Egyptian origin but also appearing in the mosaic in the Mithraeum of Felicissimus as associated with the grade of Leo.

Room 8 : The trident paintings

In one of the secondary rooms (no. 8), decorative elements of symbolic worth and of great interest have been identified; on the pedestal, painted in red on deep yellow, a “trident”, alternating with arrows, is repeated several times (fig. 8).

Bibliography

  • M. David, "First Remarks about the Newly Discovered Mithraeum of Colored Marbles at Ancient Ostia", Mediterraneo antico 20 (2017) 171-182. Online here.
  • M. David &c, "Il pavimento del nuovo Mitreo dei marmi colorati a Ostia antica", in: AISCOM (2016) 369-376. Online here.
  • Massimiliano David, "A newly discovered Mithraeum at Ostia", Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 58 (2019), p.117-131. Online here.


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