CIMRM Supplement - Mithraeum in the "Domus del Mitreo", Tarquinia, Italy.
In 2015 the Italian carabinieri seized a tauroctony from art traffickers. They learned that it had been excavated from the ruins of ancient Tarquinia. In 2014 excavations had started at a large "Domus" there, and it came from that. A fragment of the tauroctony, the dog, proved that this was indeed the origin of the sculpture. The statue came from "ambiente B", "area B" of the excavation.1
Here is whatever I could learn about the site.
From "Symposium Peregrinum 2016"PDF here.
43. Maria Gabriella SCAPATICCI mariagabriella.scapaticci@beniculturali.it A New Mithraeum on the Civita of Tarquinia: the Discovery.
The discovery of the Mithraeum of Tarquinia is due to the Department for Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Carabinieri (Italian military police), who noticed some clandestine excavations near the Ara della Regina, on the ancient site of Tarquinia, in May of 2014. Subsequently the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell‘Etruria Meridionale carried out a short archaeological excavation in order to prove the actual provenance of the magnificant sculpture of Mithras, which had been illegally unearthed, and which was fortunately recovered by the Carabinieri, after investigations by the Procura della Repubblica of Rome.
The digging allowed the discovery of another part of the sculptural group, namely the dog, which is perfectly interconnected with the knee of the bull. Apart from the evident artistic value of this monument, the discovery of a part of the sculpture in an archaeological context is an unquestionable proof of the precise provenance of this Tauroctony from the ancient urban area of Tarquinia.
The same excavation brought to light the remains of a building which may have been the Mithraeum, and this fact is an important scientific contribution to the story of Tarquinia and of the mysteries of Mithras themselves. In fact, hitherto the unique sculptural group of Mithras killing the bull in southern Etruria had been that from Vulci, which was discovered in 1875 after clandestine excavations close to the domus del Criptoportico. This new find adds the urban area of Tarquinia as another seat of this cult, and the stylistic features of its sculpture suggest a date in the early reign of Antoninus Pius (138 – 161 CE), i.e., about one century before the Mithras from Vulci, which has been assigned to the middle of the 3rd century CE.
From TusciaWeb.eu, where there is a gallery of photos from the 2018 season:
Discovering the "domus del mitreo" of Pian della Regina. We arrive at ancient Tarquinia, along a dirt road, after leaving the Aurelia bis. Then continue on foot through the hills that slope gently down towards the Marta valley.
Only a few faded signs indicate the presence of the largest Etruscan temple and remind us that we are walking over the remains of the old city. First Etruscan, then Roman and early medieval. Until the transfer of the inhabitants to the hill where the modern town stands.
In this landscape shrouded in silence, from 2016 the University of Verona conducts archaeological investigation campaigns. The excavation area is in the so-called "domus del mitreo", in the area called Pian della regina, about 300 meters as the crow flies from the queen's altar.
"In this place a beautiful statue of Mithra was recovered from a clandestine excavator, recovered in 2015 by the Carabinieri command for the protection of cultural heritage and now preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of the city - tells Attilio Mastrocinque, director of the excavations and teacher of Roman history at the Scala University..."
Until today the excavations have brought to light many areas of a great Roman domus, whose main structure, currently visible, belongs to the Augustan era, but certainly built on pre-existing structures. The survey and the stratigraphic analysis have allowed to identify five life periods, with relative phases, included between the III sec. BC and the 7th century A.D
"The domus has returned about thirty rooms, arranged on different terraces that adapt to the morphology of the site, paved in different ways, including mosaic - explains Professor Mastrocinque -. In one of the rooms an exceptional fountain was found, which does not find comparison in the ancient world, able to feed itself with rainwater. The whole living area is equipped with wells and cisterns. Some are collapsed already in ancient times and filled. Others, however, still retain water and are constantly fed by rain”.
Bibliography
- G.Scapaticci, etc, A new Mithraeum on the Civita of Tarquinia: the Discovery, in The Mysteries of Mithras and other Mystic Cults in the Roman World, in: Symposium Tarquinia 2016, edited by P. Johnston, A.Mastrocinque, A.Russo Tagliente and L. Takacs.
- F. Pandimiglio, Domus del Mitreo a Tarquinia Pandimiglio, da Loggetta n. 116 (Autunno 2018)-4.pdf
References
| 1 | Francesca Pandimiglio, "Una villa romana lo scavo della Domus del Mitreo. Alla scoperta dei nuovi dati della campagna di scavo con il prof. Attilio Mastrocinque", in: Loggetta 116 (2018). Online here. |
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