Discovered in 1931, during the building of the set storage facility for the Teatro Nazionale dell’Opera, the MITHRAEUM , set in a strategical postion, between the Tiber River, the Forum Boarium and the Circus Maximus, is one of the best conserved underground architecture in Rome. It was built in the second century AD under a large building in opus latericum (found at a depth of 14 meters), probably connected to the activities and the strokes of the wagons in the Circus. The area of the Mithraeum was reserved for the initiation of the followers of the mystery religion of Mithraism. We don't know enough about the ceremonies which took place on the podium, but manies informations come from the remarkable relief in the last room (the primitive spelunca of Mitra). At the top, in the inscription we read the name of Tiberius Claudius Hermes, who commissioned this work of art. The interpretation of this relief is unclear: Mitra is killing the bull between Cautes and Cautopates, his assistents, a recurring iconography in this religion -the so called tauroctonia -, but the meaning of the whole composition - the tail of the bull represented as an eat of wheat, a dog and a snake licking its blood, a scorpion biting its genital organs, the others elements as the sun and the moon and a rook over the entrance of the cavern - lead us in the world of astrology and magical arts.
In fact, according to a recent theory, the symbolism into the cult of Mithra is related with the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. In fact, all the animals represented in the tauroctony have the corresponding constellation. According to this interpretation, the god Mithra had so much power that he could upset even the immutable sphere of fixed stars.
è stata davvero un'esperienza stupenda!