CIMRM 484 - Under-layer: South wall paintings. Santa Prisca, Rome, Italy.

The paintings are nearly invisible on the right-hand (i.e. south) wall, but some of the verses that were above them can still be read. ¹

On the right wall, the layout is different. Above the man leading the boar in the procession of the suovetaurilia is line 18.

Line 18. Nama leonibus novis et multis annis (= "Hail to the Lions for many and new years").

Above the painting of the "Lion" leading a ram are lines 19-20:

Lines 19-20. h( ?) ... . su. nemin[i]. . . fero . ... . [mort]alium omnium et[er]norumque omnium. Meaning uncertain. Very damaged.

When Ferrua discovered the Mithraeum, he was able to read an inscription above the Lion leading the bull and the man with the cock. This inscription was no longer visible when Vermaseren excavated.

Line 21. .......... icit . ... ucta (ivy-leaf) reddite cantu. Vermaseren adds: "one must be very grateful that Ferrua has copied these important words, since they suggest that the lines of verse in the Mithraeum were possibly fragments of poems sung during the ceremonies. The words reddite cantu or cantus may even indicate that there was a chorus singing the hymns in honour of the invincible god, perhaps preceded by a hymnologus and accompanied by musical instruments as in other cults."²

The CIMRM entry is now obsolete:

484. On the under layer remnants of other painted persons are visible. We hope to be able with the help of the Istituto del Restauro to remove the second layer of paintings. It is possible to observe that on the first layer of wall I2, another procession of the various Mithraic grades has been represented. The first layer of wall I between entrance e and I1, however, has not a similar representation as that on the second layer. The leones have been painted in other colours and are walking without animals. On the left wall there is a new, long procession of other leones, hut the representation of the Mithraic meal has been omitted. Apart from the dipinti already mentioned, one is able to read the following words and lines (cf. Ferrua, 24): On wall I2, between e and I1; above 5 and 6: Nama Leonibus novis et multis anuis. Above 5: [N]ama. Above 4: Nama saev . . . . . . Leoni. Above the preceding there are two lines, parts of which can be read after having removed the second layer. l.1: ... sit nemin ...... redderes. l.2: qu .... nium. Above 3 and 2, Ferrua reads: Nama ..... / Leoni. . . . . . . icit .... ucta / reddite cantu.