CIMRM 274 - Two side-pieces of a tauroctony. Mithraeum of the "Planta Pedis", Ostia, Italy.

These two items are held in the Ostia museum, where they are unlabelled. However they stand next to the Mithras exhibits. They seem to be portions of a small tauroctony. One is Sol, with his rayed crown, the other is Luna.

Casts of the two are in position at the Mithraeum itself.

CIMRM entry

274. Fragments of a marble relief, which decorated the cult niche. Becatti, Mitrei Ostia, 82f and Pl. XVI,3. Fragments of a representation of Mithras as a bullkiller, of which only two side parts have been preserved. Bust of Sol in radiate crown (traces of a red colour), a small part of the border of the grotto and the tail of the raven (H. 0.17 Br. 0.20) ; another fragment shows the bust of Luna in crescent and a part of the rocky border (traces of red). It is clear, that the relief originally belonged to the first period of the Mithraeum but in constructing the new cult niche in the time of Valerian (No. 277) the Mithraists themselves reduced the proportion of the relief. by cutting away its upper part and its side parts (Becatti, 82).