The Cult of Mithras in Roman Britain

The religion of Mithras was spread all throughout the Roman Empire, and he became popular not only with slaves, but with the Roman soldiers. It is my intention to look at the cult of Mithras in Roman Britain using the information left by the archaeological record.

First, let us define who Mithras was. Mithras was the Persian deity of the sun, truth and light, although it must be stressed that it is difficult to establish when the ancient Persians connected Mithras with the sun, since ancient Iran had a different solar deity (Edwards, p.2). Once Persia was under Rome’s authority, the religion of Mithras rapidly spread across the Roman Empire.

The military background to Mithraism in Britain is well known to academics and its reputation among the military seems to indicate the cult was most active amongst the veterans stationed near temples and mithraea, small basilical buildings resembling caves where ceremonies were performed.

Due to the deliberate water-logging of the mithraea at Carrawburgh near Hadrian’s Wall in the late Roman period, this mithraea is very well-preserved and can offer us great insight into the significance of the cult of Mithras. The temple itself was built in the early 3^rd century CE, and indicates that the fire that destroyed it could have been deliberate (King, p.354). We have evidence that animal sacrifice was practiced in early to mid 3^rd century CE, as the floor of the narthex was covered in the bones of sheep, goat, pig and ox. Bones of chickens were found amongst a large amount of heather. This has been “interpreted as ritual offerings, either as general sacrifices to Mithras or as part of an initiation ceremony and subsequent ritual meal” (King, p.355). This evidence indicates that these sacrifices were carried out with deliberation, and were clearly significant to the participants involved. It should be noted, however, that due to the complex and secret theology of Mithraism, offerings to the deity are likely to have been undertaken only within the mithraea itself (Stocker, p.360).

Among the different minor animals that have been portrayed on known Mithraic representations, the bull, dog, scorpion and the serpent have all played an important role in the Mithraic myth. However, until recently, no known text recorded the role these animals played, so that “interpretation of the artistic representations and the various group scenes on the art-monuments remains an open field for scholarship” (Oikonomides, p.88).

The significance for Mithraism in Britain is highly important, not only the religion’s own internal history, but also for the religious identity and history of Rome. Instead of the stereotyping view that Rome forced its religious identity onto its conquered people, the study of Mithraism allows us to see clearly that Rome’s stand on religion was more fluid than fixed. The archaeological remains relating to the cult of Mithras indicates that the religion shared a universal identity across not only land and people, but also across time.

Bibliography:

Edwards, M. J. (1990) Herodotus and Mithras: Histories I. 131, The American Journal of Philology, The Johns Hopkins University Press.

King, Anthony (2005) Animal Remains from Temples in Roman Britain, Britannia, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

Oikonomides, Al. N. (1977) A New Mithraic Tauroctony in the J. Paul Getty Museum, The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, J. Paul Getty Trust.

Stocker, David (1998) A Hitherto Unidentified Image of the Mithraic God Arimanius at Lincoln? Britannia, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

The History and Significance of the Goddess Acca Larentia

The gods and goddesses from the Classical world (ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt) are some of the most well known deities in the western world. Indeed, these gods and their myths are taught to western children at a very young age in school and we still refer to some of these mythical characters in our modern society today.

The Romans had very few native deities of their own; the majority of Roman gods were imported from other civilizations, a vast amount from Greece. The gods imported from Greece were given Roman names (i.e. Zeus became Jupiter, Hera became Juno, Athena was known as Minerva, etc) and other deities from around the Roman Empire kept their native names.

The Greek gods were adopted alongside the native Italian gods (also known as the Etruscan gods)and there are instances where it is hard to identify which culture a particular deity is originally from. However, there are some gods who are totally Roman, without any other cultural elements to them.

One of these is Acca Larentia. There are a few different accounts as to who she was, but she was a goddess native to the people of Italy where Rome was built. One accounts says that she was the mother of the Lares (household gods or ancestral spirits), the Arval Brothers (the 12 priests of the field gods) and of Hercules. There are other versions that state that was won by Hercules in a dice game.

She features heavily in the Roman foundation myth of Romulus and Remus. Where the twin boys were laid out in the open and were found and suckled by a she-wolf. In this account, the shepherd Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia, adopted them.

From tracing the origins of her name across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, the first part of her name appears to be translated as ‘mother’. “On this showing, Acca would appear to be the Roman equivalent of Mother Earth, the nourishing and life-giving, but also chthonian, divinity. “.

The second part of her name, Larentia, is a little different but has some similarities. “Now Larentia was connected with the feast of the Larentalia, which fell on December 23rd, as we know from the Maffeian and Praenestine calendars and the evidence of Ovid. On that day the priests offered her publicly mortuary honors … Acca Larentia would then appear to be the mother of the Lares, whose chthonian associations have repeatedly been suspected”.

From this then, it is clear that Acca Larentia was seen to be a mother-goddess, particularly the Mother Earth goddess that is widespread throughout the Mediterranean. In this role of Acca Larentia, scholars have stated that she was “manifesting herself in her usual double aspect as the mnagna parens of mortals and as the great chthonian goddess of death, who mercifully takes men back unto her bosom at the close of their earthly careers”.

Bibliography:

Krappe, Alexander H. (1942) Accia Larentia, American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of Archaeology.

The Archaeology and Significance of the Goddess Sulis-Minerva

The archaeology of the Roman baths at Bath in Somerset provides us with much information about the cult of the goddess Sulis-Minerva. From this, we can understand more about the religious diversity within the Roman Empire at the time of its occupation in Britain. It is my aim to discuss the significance of the archaeological remains surrounding the goddess-Minerva.

First, let us define who we mean. Sulis-Minerva is the hybrid of the Roman goddess of healing, Minerva, and the native Celtic goddess Sul. The word ‘sul’ is usually translated as “gap”, “opening” or “orifice” which is the “interface between this world and the otherworld, from whence the extraordinary hot waters emerge” (Bowman, p.25).

The Roman baths at Bath is one of the most well-known religious sites in Britain. With most religious sites, animal sacrifice is most common with dedications to deities. However, excavations at Bath have yielded little faunal evidence, so it could be argued that animal sacrifice was not practised or that the animal remains were deposited outside the temple and baths areas (King, p.361). Through the archaeological information, it is most probable that the first theory is the most accurate one, since the site was dedicated to healing (King, p.361), so it is unlikely that animals, that were sometimes diseased, would be introduced where they could possible infect humans.

Different offerings were dedicated to the goddess. Coins were thrown into the sacred spring, attesting to the sanctity of the waters. Over 12,000 Roman coins have been found, which is one of the largest votive offerings found in Britain (The Official Roman Baths), dating from the first century CE right up to the fourth century CE. It is a matter of debate between archaeologists whether these coins were offered as a single votive offering or whether the devotee offered several coins at once. “However, the importance of these coins may not be confined to our understanding of the temple complex” (Gerrard, p.376)

Curse tablets have also been found. These were soft lead tablets inscribed with a curse, then rolled up and offered up to the goddess of the sacred spring (Richmond & Toynbee, p.97). The devotee would ask for intervention from the goddess. One curse states 'To Minerva the goddess of Sulis I have given the thief who has stolen my hooded cloak, whether slave or free, whether man or woman. He is not to buy back this gift unless with his own blood' (Gerrard, p. 288).

From the available evidence, the significance of the goddess Sulis-Minerva has been of importance since the time the Romans arrived onto the scene. The fact that the Roman goddess Minerva was entwined with the native goddess Sul can be seen of great importance, since religious encounters were more fluid than fixed. Even today, the archaeological evidence that is continually uncovered yields great significance in understanding the power and importance of the cult of Sulis-Minerva.

Bibliography:

Bowman, Marion (1998) Belief, Legend and Perceptions of the Sacred in Contemporary Bath, Folklore, Taylor & Francis.

Gerrard, James (2005) A Possible Late Roman Silver ‘Hoard’ From Bath, Britannia, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

King, Antony (2005) Animals Remains from Temples in Roman Britain, Britannia, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

The Official Roman Baths, Bath & North East Somerset Council, http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/

The History and Significance of the god Faunus

There are two divine characters in Roman mythology with the name Faunus. In the first, Faunus was the Roman god of the countryside and identified with the Greek deity Pan, the god of the mountainside. He is said to have been the son of Mars onto a local princess, Mercury or Picus and the grandson of the god Saturn (Cronos in Greek mythology). Some accounts say that as the son of Mercury, he killed strangers and then offered them as sacrifices to his father. Mercury then gave his son the hindquarters and hoofs of a goat in punishment.

Faunus was credited with incredible prophetic powers which led to the Romans, on occasion, to be inspired to renew efforts on the battlefield in the face of defeat. This could emphasis the reason why Faunus was seen as the son or descendant of the war god Mars.

At the Lupercalia, it was Faunus who was the divinity most honoured, and we know this from such ancient authors as Ovid. Yet he had his own festival on the Ides, 13^th February, very close to the Lupercalia but not on the same day. Faunus, as the god of the Lupercalia, goes back at least as far as the historian C. Acilius in the mid-second century BCE.

In art, as the god of the countryside, is often depicted as frolicking with goats and other rural animals. His children are known as the Fauni, who were half-men, half-goats. They were amusing but unpredictable creatures who were said to plague mortal men with nightmares as they slept. They can be seen as the Roman equivalent to the Greek satyrs, but since they were Roman, they were seen as guardians of sacred woodland areas rather than Greek drunken creatures.

The second character with the name Faunus was a king of Italy who was either the son of Hermes or the god Faunus. Sources say that he killed strangers and sacrificed them to his father, Hermes, but was killed by Hercules during his 10^th Labour.

Faunus had a son named Latinus (although some accounts say that it was Hercules who fathered him) whom he visited after his death. He warned Latinus not to allow his daughter Lavinia to marry anyone but a stranger from overseas. This turned out to be Aeneas, who arrived after fleeing from Troy.

Faunus, in today’s society, has become an obscure figure compared to that of the other deities from the Classical world. Yet he was a huge figure in the rural areas of Italy and throughout the Empire and offers us great insight into the Roman religious and spiritual beliefs.

Bibliography:

Wiseman, T. P. (1995) The God of the Lupercal, The Journal of Roman Studies, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.