33°33′51″N35°22′20″E / 33.56417°N 35.37222°E /33.56417; 35.37222
TheSidon Mithraeum was aMithraeum inSidon,Lebanon, discovered in the late 19th century by antiquarianEdmond Durighello and now lost. A number of statues and a marble bas-relief were found on site; these were part of the décor of a Mithraeum, an underground sanctuary dedicated toMithras, anIranian deity whose cult, reserved for initiates was especially popular among Roman soldiers.[1] A brief note by the Durighello, who sold the sculptures to Louis De Clercq, offers a doubtful and fanciful description of the Mithreum.[1] It is believed that the structure is located under the car park of the St. Nicholas Greek church in Sidon, but has not been excavated in modern times.[2]
A set of eight statues and a marble bas-relief from the Mithraeum were donated by Edmond Durighello to theLouvre, where they remain on display today.[1] They have been catalogued in theCorpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae as numbers 74–87.
The bas-relief represents one of the key scenes of Mithraism: the sacrifice of the bull by Mithras. This central cultic piece was surrounded in Sidon, as on other reliefs, by the signs of the zodiac and busts of the Four Seasons. The same image is featured on one of the statues, where Mithras, in Persian attire, tight-fitting trousers, and a Phrygian cap, slays the animal. The other statues depict the god carrying the bull, two of his attendants,Cautes and Cautopates, each holding a torch, two other characters that are more difficult to identify, each characterized by a double axe which may link them to the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus, another Near Eastern deity popular among Roman soldiers.Hecate, a Greek deity of magic is depicted on a marble statue surrounded by dancers, possible theHours.[1] Finally a figure with a lion's head, probably a personification ofAion (or Chronos), a deity of eternal time.[3][4][1] The statues are of varying sizes but of meticulous craftsmanship.[1]
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Three of the statues, Mithras slaying the bull, Hecate and Aion, bear an inscription on their base in Ancient Greek. The inscriptions detail that they were offered by a certain Flavios Gerontios, a high-ranking official of the Mithraic order. They also provide a date, according to a system used in Sidon, corresponding to the year 389 AD. This group represents the most recent dedication to Mithras known to date. These statues serve as an important reference point in the evolution of sculpture inRoman Phoenicia at the end of antiquity. Their donation by Flavios Gerontios further confirms that the Mithraic cult was still flourishing in Sidon despite the imperial edicts condemningpaganism, the persistence of which is now well known through many other documents.[1]
