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Monumentum

Tauroctony of Circo Massimo

This remarkable marble relief from the end of the 3rd century was discovered in the most remote room of the Mithraeum in the Circo Massimo.
 
 
The New Mithraeum
25 Apr 2010
Updated on Jan 2022
 

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White marble relief found in the hindmost room of the Mithraeum in 1931. End of the third century.

The relief must have stood in a corner against the wall on a pedestal, as is clear from holes in the lower rim and in the back and moreover from a decoration only on the left and upper border.

Mithras in tunica manicata and flying cloak is slaying the bull, whose tail ends in one great ear. On the point of the Phrygian cap a star; four more stars are visible to the right of the god's head. The dog and the serpent are licking the blood from the wound; the scorpion grasps the testicles. On

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Tauroctony of Circo Massimo

This marble relief depicting Mithras as a bull slayer was found in the back room of the Mithraeum of the Circus Maximus.