Monumentum
Tauroctony 593
This is the earliest known sculpture of a Roman Mithraic tauroctony.
PublishedMithraeum.eu
2 May 2010
Updated on 22 Mar 2022
Mithras killing the bull, earliest representation known.
CIMRM
The Trustees of the British Museum
The Trustees of the British Museum
Earliest known Tauroctony.
The Trustees of the British Museum
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Statue of coarse grained marble (H. 0.78 Br. 1.07). At first in Rome, afterwards in the Townley Collection, nowadays British Museum.
Mithras, slaying the bull. Three ears come out from the wound, the dog and the serpent direct their heads towards them. Behind the bull, on the ground traces of the legs of a bird (probably the raven). The two torchbearers are standing behind the bull; their heads have got lost. Cautopates points his torch downwards with both hands; Cuates holds his r.h. against the bull's tail, holding a torch with his upraised l.h.
Mithras, slaying the bull. Three ears come out from the wound, the dog and the serpent direct their heads towards them. Behind the bull, on the ground traces of the legs of a bird (probably the raven). The two torchbearers are standing behind the bull; their heads have got lost. Cautopates points his torch downwards with both hands; Cuates holds his r.h. against the bull's tail, holding a torch with his upraised l.h.
Brothers
Data
- Location
Latium (Italia) Roma (Italy) - Current location
British Museum London (United Kingdom) - Type
- Labels
- Dimensions H. 77.5 W. 112 D. 37 cm
- Dating late 1st century
- Material Marble
- Canonical URI
mithraeum.eu/monument/164
- CIMRM 593, 594
- CIL VI 30818