CIMRM 74 - The Mithraeum at Sidon.

A collection of beautiful Mithras statuettes was sold to the Louvre in the 1880s by an adventurer. The man, named Durighello, claimed that he had discovered them in a Mithraeum at Sidon, and demanded money to reveal the location. The location of the Mithraeum is still unknown today. There are extensive details about the transactions, including a map, in Jean-Marie Saint-Jalm, "Vers la localisation du mithraeum de Sidon", in: Topoi. Orient-Occident 18, (2013) pp. 295-313.

CIMRM entry

74.
About the Mithraeum at Sidon (Saida), the article of the journalist Durighello, which has been published again by Reinach, does not give satisfactory explanation. Part of his statements, especially those about the finds, is based on the truth; according to de Ridder, however, one has "demesurement grossi l'importance d'une decouverte reélle". Beside the statues, niches are mentioned, in which they shall have been placed, and a tesselated floor. According to the seleucid era the Mithraeum must have existed in the second century, assuming, however, the autonomic era of the city itself, the sanctuary existed in the fourth one. The last dating has been proposed by E. Will in Syria XXVII, 1950, 261ff,¹ especially the name of one of the dedicators Fl. Gerontios points into this direction. The collection of sculptures (coll. Péretié) was bought by de Clercq in Paris in 1882 and is now deposited with Comte Louis de Boisgelin, 5 Rue Masseran, Paris (VII). To his kindness we owe that we have been in the opportunity to study the documents.
E. Durighello in Bosphore Egyptien, 19 Aug. 1887; S. Reinach in RA (I) 1888, 91ff²; Chroniques d'Orient, I, 434ff; MMM II 191 No. 4; de Ridder, Coll. Cl. IV, 52ff.

Note that the de Clercq collection is now in the Louvre. (RP)

Durighello's Letter.

Note that a new article has appeared, offering a proposed site under the court of the archbishop of Saida, and actually provides Durighello's plans.: J.-M. Saint-Jalm, "Vers la localisation du mithraeum de Sidon" TOPOI 18.1 (2013), 295-313.

Notes

The Mithraeum may have been under the present Greek Catholic Archbishopric, although what evidence there is for this is not stated.³

Summary of Colloquium "Mithra" held at the Maison de l'Orient Méditerranéen, Lyon, 18 November 2000. Topoi 11 (2001).⁴ Gordon dates the finds to 140/141 A.D. One paper is of specific interest:

5) F. Baratte (Univ. de Paris I, Sorbonne), 'Le mithraeum de Sidon'
A short account of the sculptures found at an unknown date in the mithraeum of Fl. Gerontios in Sidon, which entered the Collection Péritié and, in 1882, the Collection Le Clerc, and are now in the Louvre (CIMRM 74-87). The circumstances of the discovery, as described by E. Durighello in Bosphore égyptien 19 August 1887, are more or less totally unreliable, though the account of 7 niches may be true. One of the Cautes and Cautopates pairs (CIMRM 82, 83), in white marble with vertical veins, is separate from the rest. They are the same height as nos. 80-81, but differently worked, and they probably come from another mithraeum.
The reverse of the tauroctony (no. 76) is left rough, suggesting it backed against a wall. The base of the taurophoros (no.77) has traces of cement , suggesting that it was cemented to the floor or to an altar. Doubts have been expressed about the authenticity of the Hekate (no. 84), but Baratte rightly compares the style with that of Venus, Artemis and Ganymede group from Aphrodisias now in S. George de Montagne in Bordeaux (late IV cent. AD).
The three inscribed pieces (nos. 76, 78, 84) are surely late IV cent. AD, the others, particularly the well-known relief with zodiac (no. 75) probably earlier.

A. Chalupa, Mithraism in Ancient Syria: Persian Cult on the Borders of the Roman Empire, in: Anodos, vol. 10, 2010, p.57-66. p.58:

A mithraeum was found at Sidon[10] in the late 19th century. Unfortunatelly, archaeological reports are very incomplete and the original site has been built up so no new excavations arepossible[11]. The mithraeum is dated on the basis of inscriptions on some of the its monuments[12], but because they might use two different versions of a local calendar, it can be placed either in the year 188 C.E.[13] or 389/390 C.E. [14] The later dating is usually preferred [15], which is somewhatsurprising, because the majority of scholars see Mithraism on the brink of extinction by this time. Two pieces of statuary from the Sidon mithraeum are worth mentioning.Firstly, there is a beautifully cut marble relief with a tauroctony surrounded by the twelvesigns of the zodiac (Fig. 1)[16]. Two details are quite remarkable in this regard, since they attest the presence of astrological lore in this Mithraic community:
1) a scorpion encircling bull's genitalia is identical with the astrological sign of Scorpio;
2) the animals symbolizing the constellations of Taurus and Aries are depicted leaping up at the busts of Luna and Sun, which could be, at least according to one specialist in ancient astrology, anallusion to the fact that the exaltation of these planets occurs in these particular zodiacal signs[17].
Secondly, there are two statues representing Mithraic torchbearers[18], Cautes and Cautopates.These are quite customary except for one extraordinary detail. It is the only known instance when these followers of Mithras are holding double edged battle axes in addition to the usual torches.
10. CIMRM 74.
11. For a detailed summary of all facts we know about the mithraeum at Sidon and the circumstances of its discovery see Baratte, F. 2001. "Le mithreum de Sidon: certitudes et questions." Topoi 11: 205-27.
12. Especially CIMRM 76.
13. De Ridder, A. 1906. Collection De Clercq. Catalogue. IV. Le marbres, les vases peints et les ivoires. Paris: E. Leroux: 54, 60.(Online here.)
14. Will 1950, 262-3.
15. Cf. Beck, R. 1984. "Mithraism since Franz Cumont." ANRW II.17.4: p.2002-115; p.2015, n. 13; Hopfe, L. M. 1990, "Mithraism in Syria." ANRW II.18.4: p.2214-35., p.2221; Baratte 2001, p.207-8.
16. CIMRM 75.
17. Beck 1984, p.2062-3.
18. CIMRM 82-83.

Examining De Ridder, p.54 we find that Edmond Durighello published his letter in the Bosphore Egyptien on 19 August 1887; and it was reprinted by S. Reinach in Rev. Archéol. 1888, I, p.91-93 (Chroniques d'Orient I, p.434-6). See Cumont, TMMM II, inscr. 6, p.92 and mon. 4, p.191. He does not discuss the Venus statues, except to say that the second one is of type "Cnidean". The Mithras and Hecate monuments are illustrated in plates XIX-XXVIII, in images that appear to be reproduced exactly in the CIMRM. (p.297 of the PDF).

CIMRM 75 - Tauroctony in Parian marble, Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 76 - Tauroctony statuette, Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 77 - Mithras carrying the bull statuette. Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 78-79 - Lion-headed statuette. Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 80 - Cautes statuette. Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 81 - Cautopates statuette. Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 82 - Cautes statuette with axe. Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 83 - Cautes statuette with axe. Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 84-85 - Hecate statuette. Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 86 - Two statuettes of Venus, one bronze , one marble. Sidon. In the Louvre.
CIMRM 87 - Research note by Vermaseren on the Sidon Mithraeum.

Number of entries: 11