CIMRM 353 - Mithras rock birth. Square marble relief. Rome, Italy.
See also: CIMRM 349 Mithraeum; 350-351 Tauroctony; 352 Tauroctony; 353 Rockbirth; 354-355 Sol.
CIMRM entry
353.
Square marble relief (H. 0.29 Br. 0.29 D. 0.03). Palazzo Conservatori, Inv. No. 2327. Probably 4th cent. A.D.
Visconti, BCM 1874, 211 and Pl. XXI, 2; Lanciani, Rome, 167; Maionica, Felsengeburt, No. IV; MMM II 203 No. 18 and fig. 28; Roscher, Myth. Lex., s.v. Mithras, 3046 and fig. 4; RRRIII, 1956; Gressmanni Or. Rel., 154 fig. 58. See fig. 100.
Mithras' birth from the rock; visible from the knees. The youthful god is in Phrygian cap; a knife in his upraised r.h.; a flaming torch in the l.h.
The numeral at top left is "2327", evidently some museum mark.
A version of this image gave rise in an internet forum to the humorous question, "How many gods do you know who were born wearing a hat and packing a shiv?"
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