Drains and Springs of a Mithraic Temple

Mithraism

Mithraism or the Cult of Mithras was a Roman mystery religion that became very popular throughout the western Roman Empire from the 1st to 4th centuries CE, especially within the Imperial Roman Army.

Mithraism had many parallels to early Christianity, and the two religions became rivals. Through the mid to late 300s, Christianity had become first officially tolerated, and then was made the state religion. At the same time, the Western Roman Empire was declining in power. Mithraism rapidly disappeared.

Mithraism had always been a mystery cult, the Mithraic Mysteries. It had no written scriptures, and all traditions and rituals were passed verbally to the new members. So, we don't know much about it.

The Basilica of Saint Clement stands just a few blocks east of the Colosseum. What you see today was built in the 12th century CE. However, that church was built on top of a church that was completed by 392 CE. And that church was built on top of a cluster of first-century CE structures, including a Mithraeum, a cave-temple in which the rituals of the Mithraic Mysteries were practiced.

Fresh water was required for some Mithraic rituals, and there are both springs and drains to be seen down there, two levels below the surface.

Mithras Originally, and in the Mithraic Mysteries

The original Mithra or Mithras is an ancient Iranian deity who became an exalted figure of Zoroastrianism.

At some time around the 1st century BCE, Roman soldiers came into contact with followers what had started in a Zoroastrian environment and then evolved as it moved west through the centuries. Scholars now believe that what the Romans encountered in the 1st century BCE had probably taken form a century earlier around Pergamun, in western Anatolia.

The Roman soldiers picked up a partial and misunderstood notion of the Zoroastrian Mitra, and then blended in aspects of other faiths including the classic Roman religion. They took that new faith back to Rome where it surged in popularity in the 1st century CE.

The Romans, to the extent they said or wrote anything about the Mysteries, mistakenly attributed them to the Zoroastrian faith from Persia. And, the Roman Mithraists took the concept of "mystery cult" very seriously indeed.

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The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol, the Sun.

One of the very few things we know about Mithraic ritual is that the community regularly gathered for meals emulating the feast shared by Mithras and Sol. Yes, that sounds like the Christian ritual of communion, re-enacting the Last Supper. But is that the result of some sharing of traditions, or simply a coincidence? We don't know.

The new faith grew rapidly. Archaeologists have found about 420 sites with material related to the Cult of Mithras, including about 700 examples of the tuaroctony, the iconic bull-killing scene.

Since it was largely a faith of military men, it spread across the empire. There are many related sites in and around Rome, but to formerly Roman-controlled regions in Dacia (today's Romania), Numidia (today's Algeria), north to the Rhine and Danube frontiers, and many Mithraea or Mithraic temples have been discovered in Britain.

However, it spread widely but not evenly. It was common in Numidia but not in Egypt. It was not common in Greece. Only three Mithraea have been found in Syria, close to the home of Zoroastrianism.

So, the idea was born in the east, but the religion spread out from Rome. Scholars estimate that there were at least 680 Mithraea in the city of Rome.

The Multi-Level Temple

The map near the top of this page shows the location of the Basilica of Saint Clement, known as Basilica di Sant Clemente in Italian and therefore on maps. You enter its outer gate and cross a cloister-like courtyard.

Clement was an early Bishop of Rome, believed to have been just the second, third, or fourth man to hold that title, dying around 100 CE. He very likely died in exile, but the stories don't agree on precisely where he died.

Inside, it's a classic basilica design. "Basilica" is a term from architecture, from the Greek βασιλική στοά or just βασιλική, basiliki. That's a public building in a rectangular shape, divided by internal rows of columns supporting roofs of differing heights. The central section is the nave, while the outer aisles between the column rows and outer walls, tend to be under lower roofs. Clerestory windows in upper walls joining the roofs could provide more light for the interior.

City governments in Greek and then Roman cities used basilicas for multiple purposes. They were like a courthouse in an English speaking country today — the courts operated here, but it was also the mayor's office, where you paid taxes, where you got building permits, where governmental announcements were made, and so on.

It was a familiar and useful design, and when Christianity grew beyond small groups meeting in members' homes, it was an obvious choice for purpose-built church structures. Much later, the Roman Catholic church began to use the word to designate a church that has been given special privileges.

Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, a city he re-named Constantinople, today's İstanbul. He legalized Christianity in 313, before organizing the First Council of Nicaea in 325.

Theodosius I, who ruled 379–395, took things a step further. He declared that Christianity was the official religion of the empire, not just a tolerated one. "Pagan cults" were suppressed. The Oracle of Delphi was shut down.

Also, Theodosius I was the last emperor to rule over the entire Roman Empire before its split into the crumbling Western Empire, ruled from Rome, and the prospering Eastern Empire, ruled from Constantinople.

Rome was declining in the late 300s, but Christianity was favored and the Mithraic Mysteries definitely were not. An existing basilica-style church on this location bought an extension to its property and slightly enlarged the structure. By the year 400 CE, Mithraism had almost completely disappeared.

Cyril and Methodius were brothers, Eastern Orthodox theologians and missionaries from northern Greece. The brothers taught the Slavs in their own languages in the mid to late 800s, and they designed the Glagolithic alphabet to write those languages. It involved into Cyrillic, named for Cyril.

German church figures arriving from far to the west insisted that everything had to be done in Latin, even though the Christian New Testament had been written entirely in Greek, and hardly anyone in the east could understand any Latin. Tensions grew, and the brothers traveled to Rome in 867 to talk to the Pope.

The Pope welcomed Cyril and Methodius and formally authorized their Slavic liturgy and Slavic translations of scripture. This was partly because they had brought relics of Saint Clement to Rome, and partly because supporting their mission could give the Bishop of Rome some leverage over the Bishop of Constantinople.

Cyril died in 869 while in Rome, and Methodius returned to the Slavic lands to continue his mission.

By the mid 1800s, the history of this site had been almost completely forgotten. Yes, Saint Jerome had written a letter in 392 saying that a church in Rome was dedicated to Saint Clement. But it was assumed that he was referring to the church we see above ground today. A history-minded priest began an excavation in 1857, and discovered that there was an entire church of similar design and size underneath!

And then, an entire layer below that came to light. To put things into time order:

In the first century CE, two structures were built here. The first was an industrial facility connected with the Roman mint. Adjacent to it was a complex with multiple dwellings. These structures, at least the one with the dwellings, were partially or completely underground — a basement level with other uses above.

In the late second century, part of the dwelling complex was modified to create a Mithraeum to house rituals along with a Mithraic school for training members.

During the third century, the industrial complex was filled in with rubble to support a new structure above it. That new structure was the first Basilica of Saint Clement. This is what Jerome's letter of 392 mentioned.

By the end of the fourth century, Mithraism was almost completely eliminated. Soon after that, the church bought the property above the Mithraeum and slightly enlarged the apse at its front end, extending it further out over the Mithraeum.

In 867–869, Cyril and Methodius traveled to Rome bringing relics of Clement.

In the early 12th century, it became obvious that the 3rd century church had structural problems and was unsafe. Soil had accumulated and ground level had risen enough that the 3rd century church was partially buried. So, they filled it with rubble and built a new church on top of it.

From the late 12th through the mid 19th century, the details were forgotten.

In 1857, excavations began.

Here's a view through the nave of the 3rd century church, now fully underground.

It was clear that Cyril had died in Rome in 869. He was strongly associated with the church dedicated to Clement, and so he probably was buried there. That led to the conclusion in the 1800s that a specific location in the fourth-century basilica was his tomb. It is now venerated, especially by Eastern Christians, as the tomb of an Apostle to the Slavs.

Down to the Mithraeum

The tomb of Cyril is in the apse, the forward end, of the left aisle of the 4th century basilica. A staircase leads down from there to the lower level.

This takes you into the basement level of a 1st century structure, partly a commercial or industrial facility associated with the Roman mint, and partly a cluster of dwellings and other structures.

Drains, seen above, direct water into a drainage system located even lower yet. You can still hear the sound of running water coming out of these holes in the floor.

The Mithraic Temple

Finally, the Mithraeum.

Temples of Mithras are very distinctive. They are below ground and windowless. They might be built within a natural cave, or within a city like this one, constructed in a basement beneath a structure. They are usually located close to springs or streams, as fresh water was required for some rituals. Each Mithraeum represented the cave to which Mithras carried and then killed a bull.

The Mithraea were very different from the temples and shrines of other religions. In most religions, the temple was a house for the deity, personified by a statue or other symbolic object within the naos, the innermost chamber. From the naos, the god could see sacrificial worship being offered on an altar immediately in front of the temple. Unless the temple was enclosed by walls, anyone nearby could see the sacrificial activity, and, in some cases, possibly see in through the portico and antechamber to the cult image within the naos.

However, in the Mithraic Mysteries, only the properly initiated could see any of the proceedings. Mithraism had to be practiced within a subterranean, windowless Mithraeum.

Mithraic worship included ritual feasts. The initiates would eat together while reclining on stone benches along the longer sides of the chamber. Similar dining facilities, triclinia, were found in most religious facilities throughout the Roman Empire. Similar rooms were used by the collegia or clubs of the Roman elites. This is another example of Mithraism being egalitarian. Only certain upper-class Romans could belong to a collegium, while Mithraism was open to anyone who could keep a secret.

The tauroctony, the depiction of the god Mithras killing the sacred bull, was the defining object of a Mithraeum. It might be a relief, as it is here, or it might be a free-standing object. But each tauroctony contains the same elements in the same arrangement.

You can look into this Mithraeum through a barred iron door, but you can't enter it, your view is limited. The brown object at center is a tall rectangular altar at the center of the room. The tauroctony is a relief on its near surface.

The small bright white marble figure is not on top of the altar, but instead is in a niche in the far wall of the chamber. It depicts Mithras' birth from a rock.

Mithras has overwhelmed the bull and carried it to the cave. Mithras is dressed in Anatolian costume with a Phrygian cap. He is kneeling on the exhausted bull, pulling its nostrils with his left hand to pull its head back. He looks back over his shoulder toward the figure of Sol while stabbing the bull with his right hand.

A dog and a snake reach toward the blood flowing from the wound. A scorpion moves to pinch the bull's genitals. A raven either flies overhead or sits on the bull. One or three ears of wheat emerge from the bull, either from its tail or from the wound.

Zoroastrianism has nothing remotely like this. The Romans probably took the imagery from winged Victoria, the Greek Nike, killing a sacrifial bull.

Each Mithraeum had its own officers, but no "home temple", no central authority. However, Mithraic iconography and architecture is extremely consistent.

The "banquet scene" is the second most important Mithraic image. It depicts Mithras and Sol feasting on the hide of the slaughtered bull.

Most Mithraic rituals involved feasting. Eating utensils and food residues are commonly found in Mithraea. Burned residues of animal entrails are commonly found on the main altar.

However, they did not actually bring a bull into a temple chamber like this for ritual slaughter. Just imagine the mess and the danger associated with ritually killing a bull in a small enclosed space! The sacrificial animal would have been ritually killed elsewhere. The Mithraic Mysteries required a spring or stream along with a drain, but it wasn't for cleaning up after killing an enraged bull in a basement room.

The sacrifice was done elsewhere, and the results brought to the Mithraeum for ritual offering upon the altar and the following feast.

Just beyond the Mithraeum entrance is a room that was used for instruction into the Mithraic Mysteries.

Across from the Mithraeum in the other direction were two rectangular structures that had originally been dwellings.

We know that Mithraea needed springs or streams to provide fresh water. Something to do with fresh water being needed in certain rituals. This house had its own spring, which was covered over and more recently had a window installed so visitors wouldn't quickly fill it with coins and other touristic debris.

And of course some people have figured out ways of getting coins into the spring anyway. Here we are in a subterranean temple area, baffled by the Mithraic Mysteries, wondering how these antique people came up with their elaborate beliefs and rituals, while our fellow visitors a few hours before were behaving at least as mysteriously. Why are the strange people of European descent in the early 21st century so obsessed with putting coins into water? There are clear explanations for Buddhist and Shintō latrine deities, but which deities are today's coin-in-water cult members trying to appease?

This brick arch with a stepped drain was close to the Mithraeum entryway.

The last room within the former dwelling complex, which seems to have been entirely converted into a Mithraic temple complex, had a stream running beneath it. The spring seen above was underneath what became the outer walls of the left aisles on the two basilicas above it. This one was under the outer walls of the right aisles. Both of them flowed parallel to those walls, so these were two parallel streams, not one stream flowing across the Mithraic area.

Look at all the coins! This is a major 21st century cultic site!

Where Is All That Water Going?

Both of the streams down within the Mithraeum complex were moving a lot of water. If you haven't walked around Rome, all this water just running through and away can seem puzzling or even troubling.

However, Rome seems to have an excessive supply of fresh water. Spigots along the streets flow constantly. These have no valve for you to turn them off after refilling your water bottle. Their constant flows go into the drainage system. I assume that the abundant supply of flowing clean water had to do with Rome being settled here in the first place. The first of these is a short distance down the sidewalk from where I was staying, the second is closer to the Basilica of Saint Clement.

What Happened Next?

The Mithraists faced persecution from Christians through the 4th century, and the religion was suppressed and eliminated by the end of the century. As for the Western Roman Empire...

In 376, a large migration of Goths and other non-Roman people entered the Roman Empire from the north, fleeing the Huns. Roman forces were unable to stop or even slow them.

Western Roman Emperor Theodosius I died in 395. He had just won two destructive civil wars. The army was collapsing, and the Western Empire was divided between the warring ministers of his two idiot sons. Barbarian groups kept crossing the Rhine and other Empire frontiers, and central control of the army was lost.

By the 470s, the Western Roman Emperor had no effective control over the remaining scattered domains that might be described as "Roman". In 476 the Germanic king Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The Senate sent the imperial insignia to Constantinople, announcing to the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno that the Western Roman Empire was no more.