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Monumentum

Tauroctony in the British Museum

The sculpture of Mithras slaying the bull was transported from Rome to London by Charles Standish in 1815.
Tauroctony from Rome in the British Museum

Tauroctony from Rome in the British Museum
Carole Raddato, CC BY-SA 2.0 

 
 
The New Mithraeum
17 Aug 2021
Updated on Jan 2022
 

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White marble statue (H. 1.27 BL 1.50). From Rome transported to London by Charles Standish in 1815; from 1826 in the British Museum, Inv. No. 1720. Probably second century.

Mithras, slaying the bull. The dog and the serpent lick the blood from the wound; the scorpion at the testicles.

Restored: Mithras' head, l. arm, r. arm (foremost part) and greater part of the dagger, part of the attire; the bull's muzzle, ears and horns; the hind-quarter of the dog except the legs.

Smith observes that the statue corresponds accurately to a sketch by van Heemskerck, if one thinks away the