CIMRM Supplement - Equestrian statuette of Mithras. Getty Villa, Malibu, USA

Better images are available at: Getty Museum Website.

Bronze statuette (6 cm high) of figure in Persian dress, mounted on a horse. Period of Caracalla, 2-3rd century, because the picture of the young horseman is like portraits of the young Caracalla. Made of bronze in two pieces and soldered together with lead. This is the only known representation of an equestrian Mithras in the round. The left hand, which must have held the reins, is missing. The right hand holds what seems to be a patera, recognisable by its central umbo, as in CIMRM 1289, rather than a globe as in CIMRM 334. The patera by itself is depicted at Ostia, CIMRM 299.¹ But is it in fact Mithras at all?

Held in the Getty Villa in Malibu, but not on display as of 2014.²

Date: 1st - 2nd century Medium: Bronze Dimensions: H: 6 x L: 6.1 cm (H: 2 3/8 x L: 2 3/8 in.) Object Number: 71.AB.160

Bibliography

• Al. N. Oikonomides, Mithraic Art: a search for unpublished and unidentified monuments. Chicago: 1975. pp. 85-91; figs. 30-32.
• Duchesne-Guillemin, Marcelle. "Une statuette équestre de Mithra," Études Mithraiques: Actes du 2e Congres International, Teheran, 1-8 Septembre 1975. Acta Iranica IV, pp. 201-204. Leiden: Brill, 1978. pl. XIII. Online here