CIMRM Supplement - Mithraeum. Inveresk, Britain.

The altars as found.

From: AOC Archaeology Group.

Excavations at a cricket pavilion at Lewisvale Park, Musselburgh in March 2010 revealed two Roman altars and some small finds. The altars were broken when they were buried face down in antiquity.

Report

Inveresk Mithraeum Excavations on the eastern edge of the fort complex of Inveresk in East Lothian have revealed the first evidence for the cult of Mithras in Scotland. The excavations, for East Lothian Council by AOC Archaeology Group, preceded the rebuilding of the cricket pavilion after it was burnt down. The findspot is over 750 m from the fort, in an area where little Roman activity was previously known. Excavations exposed part of a sub-rectangular sunken feature 6.1 m long, at least 4.1 m wide and 0.65 m deep. Buried face-down at its north-west end were two intact altars, both offered by the same person, C Cassius Fla[vianus?], a centurion. One is dedicated to Sol and bears a bust of the god, his pierced eyes and radiate crown allowing light to shine through from a recess carved in the rear; the capital carries busts of the four seasons. The other is dedicated to Mithras, with imagery linked to Apollo (lyre, plectrum and griffin) and sacrificial implements carved on the sides. Traces of pigment survive on both altars. Close by was an altar base. Inveresk was only occupied in the Antonine period. Was the sunken feature a timber-built mithraeum? -- John Gooder (AOC Archaeology Group) and Fraser Hunter (National Museums Scotland)

From John W. Brandt:

Discovered: 2010

Coordinates: 55° 56' 12" N, 3° 03' 17" W / 55.936541° N, 3.0546636° W

Links

• Epistula: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Issue 1, Summer 2011.
• STV video report on the find.

Bibliography

• Fraser Hunter, Martin Henig, Eberhard Sauer and John Gooder, "Mithras in Scotland: A Mithraeum at Inveresk (East Lothian)", Britannia 47 (2016), 1-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X16000295. Preprint here.