The Mithraeum of the Seven Gates

[Stephan Huller]

The Mithraeum of the Seven Gates (7.05 x 5.80) was built in a cella in the south-east corner of horrea from the first century AD (IV,V,12). In the back wall a square, arched wall-niche was made. Brick podia were set against the lateral walls, and a floor mosaic and paintings were added. The installation took place in the years c. 160-170 AD (see the Mitreo delle Sette Sfere (II,VIII,6) for Beck's interpretation).

The shrine is entered through a door two metres wide, with a travertine threshold with pivot holes for two doors opening inwards. The podia were reached along a few brick treads. In the vertical side of the podia, halfway down the shrine, are rectangular niches. In both a small, rectangular, marble altar was found. In the southern niche a terracotta vessel had been buried, in which bones were found of poultry and perhaps rabbits, plus three small, broken, ovoid vessels.

At a distance of 1.80 from the back wall is a round terracotta vessel in the floor, 0.25 deep. On either side is a small, square, marble slab. They are both pierced by a lead water-pipe. At 0.40 from the back wall is a square masonry altar (0.45 x 0.50, top missing), decorated with white plaster. A semicircular or round, horizontal hole passed through the entire altar. It was closed off by glass, of which fragments were found. Behind the glass was probably a lamp. The altar rests on a marble column base, below which a second-century coin was found of Faustina Minor, with a depiction of Ceres. Nearby a terracotta lamp for six wicks was found.

Behind the altar is a large, arched wall-niche (starting at h. 1.40, w. 1.50, h. 0.80, d. 0.30). It was painted blue with red spots. The central part of the back wall of the shrine was painted red, the colour of the sun and fire. Above the podia, both on the east and north wall, and on the west wall is a garden painting, with among others palm trees. The garden is a symbol of rebirth. On the west part of the south wall are two panels, separated by a red band. On the lower panel a red and yellow geometric object can be seen, on the upper panel a disc.

Between the podia is a black-and-white mosaic. Behind the threshold is a central gate flanked by columns supporting an arch with battlements or pinnacles. An oscillum is hanging down from the arch. On either side are three minor gates, separated by columns, with battlements. The seven gates are a reference to the seven planetary spheres through which the souls of the initiates passed. The seventh gate is made of gold and belongs to Sol.

There are also mosaic depictions on the vertical side of the podia. On small pilasters near the door, badly preserved, must have been mosaic depictions of Cautes and Cautopates, the former with a cock and a raised torch, the latter with a lowered torch, symbols of, respectively, the morning and evening. Four planets are depicted on the podia. On the front part of the right podium is Mars with a helmet, a lance in his right hand, and a trophee with cuirass resting on his left shoulder. Further on is Luna, a naked woman with a moon crescent on her head. On the front part of the left podium is Venus Anadiomene. In the centre is a naked Mercurius, with purse and caduceus. Also on the vertical side and on the horizontal rim of the podia are floral motifs.

Two more planets are depicted on the floor. In the back part is a standing, bearded Jupiter, with a bolt of lightning and a sceptre. Near the back wall a bearded bust with a pruning knife represents Saturnus. The seventh planet, Sol, was represented by Mithras who must have been depicted in the niche.

In front of Jupiter we see a krater, symbol of the water in the cave of Mithras, a snake emerging from a rock, symbol of the earth, and a bird, probably an eagle, symbol of the air. The object in front of the eagle is probably a bolt of lightning, symbol of the fire.

The following objects were found:

- Fragments of a krater with a glazed surface, imitating metal. Figures were depicted on the krater. Preserved are Minerva with lance and shield, a figure holding a lance (possibly Jupiter, in which case Juno may also have been depicted), Dionysus-Bacchus with thyrsus and kantharos, and Hercules with a club and a vessel. Probably the twelve gods were depicted (dodekatheon).
- The lower part of a statuette of Cautes or Cautopates.
- A small marble altar with inscription:

SEX. FVSINIVS
FELIX
DON(um) DED(it)

[Roger Pearse]

This is all from here, isn't it? - http://www.ostia-antica.org/regio4/5/5-13.htm

I've never managed to visit this Mithraeum as I think it is kept locked. But my last visit to Ostia was in August, and it was simply too hot to do anything except hide in the air-conditioned cafe!

[slevin]

Roger Pearse wrote
This is all from here, isn't it? - http://www.ostia-antica.org/regio4/5/5-13.htm

http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/mithraism.htm

Alison Griffith wrote:
Roman worship of Mithras began sometime during the early Roman empire, perhaps during the late first century of the Common Era (hereafter CE),
[cut]
Mithraism had a wide following from the middle of the second century to the late fourth century CE, but the common belief that Mithraism was the prime competitor of Christianity, promulgated by Ernst Renan (Renan 1882 579), is blatantly false.
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My question concerns this temple, mentioned in the first post of this thread, and also at the link provided by Roger Pearse:
“The Mithraeum of the Seven Gates (7.05 x 5.80) was built in a cella in the south-east corner of horrea from the first century AD (IV,V,12).”


How can so many mithraic temples exist, around Rome, dating, according to this article, from first and second centuy CE, without finding even one single Christian church, of any kind, from the same geographic area?

I do not have a quote to offer, but, didn't Philo of Alexandria comment that Jews had been permitted to freely worship in Rome, at that time? They must surely have constructed a temple. Do we know of such a building? The article seems to suggest that there were several cults from the outlying areas beyond the borders of the Roman Empire, engaged in practice of their religion in the first century CE.

Allison Griffith wrote
The cult of Magna Mater, the first imported cult to arrive in Rome (204) was the only one ever officially recognized as a Roman cult. The others, including Mithraism, were never officially accepted, and some, particularly the Egyptian cult of Isis, were periodically outlawed and their adherents persecuted.
***********************

How can this be known, if not from excavations of ancient cult worship buildings, like this Mithraic temple, yet, nothing at all in Rome, from the Christians until...?

How could cult members erect such huge stone buildings, even if underground, without the Roman government knowing about these construction activities—lending tacit approval?

[Roger Pearse]

My question concerns this temple, mentioned in the first post of this thread, and also at the link provided by Roger Pearse:
“The Mithraeum of the Seven Gates (7.05 x 5.80) was built in a cella in the south-east corner of horrea from the first century AD (IV,V,12).”

How can so many mithraic temples exist, around Rome, dating, according to this article, from first and second centuy CE, without finding even one single Christian church, of any kind, from the same geographic area?

The Mithraea are not first century. There is no Mithraic archaeology belonging to that period, although the cult certainly existed as it is referenced by Statius ca. 80 AD, and must reasonably have existed before then.

I'm not sure how many of the Roman (&c) Mithraea are second century; quite a number, I think. 30? (guessing wildly)

I'm not sure whether your statement is correct that no churches of the period are known. But if it is, the reasons are surely obvious? A Mithraeum is a highly distinctive structure, with some highly distinctive contents. It was a cult which enjoyed imperial support and (sometimes) patronage. Christianity was an illegal and degraded cult with no distinctive architecture in this period. If the churches were house churches, how would we recognise them?

All the best,

Roger Pearse

[slevin]

I'm not sure whether your statement is correct that no churches of the period are known.

Thank you Roger, yes, I share your uncertainty, regarding my statement. I don't know of any 2nd or third century churches, anywhere. If you have a link to a site which has conducted an excavation of an actual church, not a "house church', in Corinth, or Alexandria, or Rome, or anywhere else, from third century, I would like to learn about it. I know of excavations of Jewish temples from ancient times, and then, these Mithraeae, as you have described, and other cults, but not Christians. I am guessing, not an informed guess, that the reason why we have so few (or none at all), is because none had existed, until the fourth century. I discount the Megiddo "church", because, so far as I am aware, it has nothing more than a lovely mosaic, representing a fish to identify it as "Christian". Maybe I err on that point, but, if so, I am still keen to learn of any other excavation which has had proper dating. I have no clue why the Jewish archaeologist proclaimed the mosaic to be third century. The monastery of St. Anthony, another presumptive third century church, seems also to have a sketchy assessment of the date of construction. Here's a link to the gorgeous mosaic in the Roman German Museum of Koln dating from the second century CE. Notice the variety of animals depicted.
https://www.google.com/search?q=mosaic+ ... 288%3B3216

I do not dispute your statement about the dates of the extant Roman Mithraeae--second century. It is unclear to me, whether or not Christianity had been persecuted, though I freely acknowledge that this would be consistent with the catholic position. It may be absolutely correct. I was under the impression, from reading I know not what, something published by Brill, I believe, that suggested contrarily that the only group persecuted by the Romans were the followers of Isis in Egypt. That article suggested hostility to the Jews, in first century, but they were not expelled, and the nature of the problem is somewhat more easily verified: Philo wrote to Caligula, more or less complaining about the Roman insistence on imposing heathen figures of worship inside the Jewish Temples.

My question is really simple: If Christianity had been functioning for two and a half centuries, at the time of emperor Diocletian, why don't we find some kind of building somewhere, to support that supposition? It is difficult to understand the rationale for persecuting a group so small that they lack resources to construct even one building.

[DCHindley]

My question is really simple: If Christianity had been functioning for two and a half centuries, at the time of emperor Diocletian, why don't we find some kind of building somewhere, to support that supposition? It is difficult to understand the rationale for persecuting a group so small that they lack resources to construct even one building.

I guess it depends on what you think "functioning" meant for Christians of that period.

A cultus had to be recognized by the Roman authorities before it could legally build and dedicate temples or shrines, or synagogues. There were a few "oldies but goodies" (over which the emperor functioned as the High Priest of all priesthoods of these officially recognized cults). Then there were the Judeans, whose peculiar form of worship and ancestral laws was recognized by the emperors from the beginning of the empire onwards, not because these rights were recognized by Roman law (there is reason to believe that they were not) but because the individual emperors tended to accept the decisions of their predecessors about such matters and continued to allow them their privileges (right of assembly and observance of their customs of worship, to operate their own courts independently from local magistracies, to move cash donations from provinces to the Temple in Jerusalem, exemption from compulsory military service in the Roman Army, etc.). I think that Samaritan were considered a subset of Judeans (by the Romans, at least). Very few others were allowed such freedom.

While there is evidence of "synagogues" (at least buildings that functioned as synagogues, if not also as residences or businesses) in the 1st century, they are few and far between, very simple, and then became more grand in the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Christians (the kind that believed that Christ was a divine redeemer) may have at first carried out their thing at synagogue meetings organized for the sake of "God fearing" gentiles. In time, probably mid 2nd century CE, they were expelled from the synagogues (although members of Jesus' family, who unmistakably practiced Judean ancestral customs, probably were not). I do not think these family members believed Jesus was some redeemer figure titled Christ, only that he was an anointed prophet who might or might not come back to lead God's armies in the last day when God makes his judgment of the people of the world and ushers in a blessed new age, but this had nothing to do with what got the "Christ" Christians expelled from synagogues.

So, without the cover of the Judean synagogues, and the fact that assembling for meetings as a private association was technically illegal, they probably met in private houses or did what many other private associations did, operate "memorial societies" which were legal (or at least tolerated) and usually collected dues used to both pay for a decent monument when a person died, or perhaps operated a mausoleum, except that they held monthly potluck feasts to commorate the dead, often with rites that stem from this or that cultus. This is the kind of meeting that Tertullian knows of (monthly meetings held in cemeteries). I suppose that someone could rent also space in a banquet hall, but it is unlikely the participants would deface a rented hall with graffiti.

When they still met at the synagogues, they would hear the Judean scriptures read in the form of Greek translations, and seem to have become very familiar with them. They may have continued to do so afterward, except in houses or rented halls. What we imagine early Christian worship to have been like (usually a formal weekly meeting on Sundays with celebration of the Eucharist, where selections from the Gospels and the other books might be read according to a formal liturgical calendar, and a sermon preached) is probably an anachronistic projection back in time of the form it had taken after it was recognized by Constantine and had to make itself seem respectable by the standards of that time.

DCH (suffering with a mouth full of Novocain after a bit of drilling & filling by my Dentist)

[slevin]

.
Thank you very much DCHindley, for this comment, written under duress, with anesthetic effects clearly evident!!! NOT!!

While there is evidence of "synagogues" (at least buildings that functioned as synagogues, if not also as residences or businesses) in the 1st century, they are few and far between, very simple, and then became more grand in the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Christians (the kind that believed that Christ was a divine redeemer) may have at first carried out their thing at synagogue meetings organized for the sake of "God fearing" gentiles.

Forgive my incredulity here, professor, but, do you have some kind of authority to quote, that the Jews who murdered people for engaging in sex outside marriage, and refused to eat certain foods, or share food in common with gentiles, would have tolerated entrance of heathen and acknowledged "former" true believers, into their holy temple of worship, a setting arranged carefully, deliberately, meticulously, with precisely placed instruments, to enact the various rituals associated with Judaism? I frankly cannot imagine that degree of comfort, with the notion of inviting unclean, unwashed, unkempt, ignorant aliens and apostates, into the most precious building of the city. That they exhibited nearly fanatical devotion to the interior of their synagogues, is attested to by Philo's letter to Caligula, daring to criticize the Roman Emperor, who had attempted to place a statue of a pagan deity inside this holiest of locales. What? They will prohibit the Roman Emperor from placing his junk in their synagogue, but the filthy, lice ridden Christians of the day can waltz right in, sing songs praising an imposter, and fiddle with the arrangement of the shrine's most precious documents? Makes no sense to me, sir.

Which source are you using to draw this strange conclusion that the Jews of 2000 years ago, just stepped aside, and willingly let any old slob off the street into their temple, to worship a false deity, on Yom Reeshone, the first day of the week?

One of the greatest problems one has in dealing with christian origins is the difficulty of dating texts.

spin is right, of course, but, of more interest to me, personally, is the absence of any, not even one, Christian church, prior to the third century, CE. I gaze again upon the photograph of that Roman Mithraeum, and wonder in amazement, how could the Christians have been unable to construct even one building, somewhere? To me, one answer which needs inclusion in the list of possibilities, concerns the simple lack of funds to construct something as gorgeous as the Mithraeum of the Seven Gates. Funds, workers, and political approval are required to construct any building, then, and now, today. How many stamp club members do we have? Chess players? Musicians? Book readers? There are any number of hobbies, and crafts in which to participate, then, and now, but only a few of those activities lead to an accumulation of wealth, sufficient to construct a large public edifice, constructed for the sole purpose of recruitment to that hobby.

[DCHindley]

Thank you very much DCHindley, for this comment, written under duress, with anesthetic effects clearly evident!!! NOT!!

Not sure what you were ranting about. You don't like "Jews", do you? Or is it know-it-alls like me, especially one who can out-know you? While I did not give any citations to buttress my scholarly sounding, but totally vacuous, declarations, I did not just make it all up - I just blew it out of my posterior.

I've got this bad habit of reading a lot. I don't remember everything I read, but I do store the factoids (that's a technical term) found in what I read in a special place in my enormous noggin for retrieval as new information is read. Pete (LC) even writes the SQL code to retrieve the data. Now I am no Aristotle, who loved to categorize everything to the nth degree, but I can usually bemember where I originally read said factoid (well, sometimes), and go back for another look.

All that there Judean-gentile hob-nobbin is found in inscriptions all over Asia, including those on synagogue buildings which thank their patrons, mentioning Judean and non-Judean names, some of them even have titles that identify them as "wigs of bigness" (again, I use a technical term, but trying to retain the word order of the original language ... NOT!!). There was this general equation of the God of the Judeans with Theos Hypsistos. The Romans tended to think that the Jewish God was the same as their Jupiter. Even Paul, the geeky Greek, equated God with the Greek Zeus, who was the Greek equivalent of Roman Jupiter.

The documents that I purportedly read that mention these inscriptions came from two sources:

The revised version of E. Schuerer's (my umlauts, unfortunately, are on strike), The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, volumes I, II and III.1.

The book Voluntary Associations edited by John Kloppenborg also cites inscriptions of these types.

Not that you will look any of this up ...

Are you actually the Islamic man who used to post at FRDB as "Tanya"? He tipped his hand when he ripped into the Egyptian women who were arrested by security troops and reportedly molested during the early period of the "Arab spring" (they DESERVED it, he said, for showing hair). Now you are blasting Jews as killers of those different than them, but it sounds like someone upset that Westerners tend to like Jews better than (radical) Islamists like the good folks in the ISIL caliphate, when they do the same things!

Spies are everywhere. Did I mention that we own 13 guns?

DCH

[slevin]

Not sure what you were ranting about.

Apologies, didn't mean to insult you, was instead attempting to convey sympathy for undergoing a painful procedure.

In brief, I seek evidence for the urban legend that the earliest Christians met at Jewish synagogues.

The revised version of E. Schuerer's (my umlauts, unfortunately, are on strike), The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, volumes I, II and III.1.

The book Voluntary Associations edited by John Kloppenborg also cites inscriptions of these types.

Thanks DCHindley, I will attempt to locate them, though, it is ancient, rather than contemporary, authors I had hoped to encounter. The Mithraeum of this thread, and others located elsewhere in the Roman Empire, is a subject of interest to many, including two celebrated members of the forum, Roger Pearse and

I don't know about the particular site, but there are mithraea under a number of churches in Rome: there's one under San Clemente, Santa Prisca, and Santi Giovanni & Paolo. It is usually the apse that is built over the mithreum. It was a symbol, I believe, of the victory of christianity over mithraism. It meant that no more worship of the competitor could take place there any more. The reason a number of churches survived in Istanbul when the Turks took over the city was that they were converted into mosques. By taking over the site you eradicate the local use of the place by competitors.

In my opinion, also one not considered that of an Aristotle, Judaism was inflexible, in those days. Maybe I misunderstand what I have read of the Torah in translation. I simply cannot imagine ancient Jews working so hard to create a synagogue, with its intricate internal architecture, designed to accommodate holy scrolls, then allowing people they dislike so much that they refuse to eat with them, into that holiest of all shrines in the city, for the purpose of engaging in idolatry. Would you think it logical to assume that the earliest Christians congregated inside this lovely Mithraeum? I would assume "over my dead body", would have been the response of those guarding the premises. Isn't the concept of "sharing" the same premises a contemporary illusion, rather than an ancient custom? I point again, as mentioned last week, to the absence of any churches before the third century CE, as indicating refutation of the notion that earliest Christianity was a strong vibrant force, until adopted by the Roman Empire.
Palmyra 270CE
Were there Mithraea in Palmyra? Churches?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Bel

Even this ancient church, when you read the fine print, offers a TPQ from the fourth century:

The Church of Mary is the main church building, dates back to the late 4th century

Aristotle, to my reading, did not demand memorization. He emphasized inquiry, survey, exploration. There it is, in the heart of Rome itself, this gorgeous Mithraeum built in first century CE. Where's the church? One proposes that earliest Christians shared Jewish temples, not because Jewish doctrine accommodates fake religious practices, but because Christianity had no building sites of its own, prior to its adoption by the Roman Empire.

[Peter Kirby]

In brief, I seek evidence for the urban legend that the earliest Christians met at Jewish synagogues.

I don't really have a dog in this fight (nor did I have any idea, until right now, that there was a fight to have a dog in here).

And I'm not telling you whether something is or is not "evidence." You decide; you will anyway.

But since you asked about the relevant information, one way or another, I will oblige your request.

some references (such as they are) to the word 'synagogue' in pre-230 CE writers

http://peterkirby.com/self-identifications.html

some search engine results of the same (early Christian writings):

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=0074723730 ... &gsc.sort=

some search engine results (articles) for the term synagogue and christians:

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=0074723730 ... &gsc.sort=

some search engine results (Google books) for the same:

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=0074723730 ... &gsc.sort=

Searches performed with the BC&H search engine:

http://bcharchive.org/

Please, by all means, synthesize this information however you wish.