Great Mithraic Relief

The relief depicts the central episode of the Mithraic cult: in the middle Mithras is holding the bull by the nostrils and stabbing it with a knife. A dog and a snake jump up to lick the blood from the wound, while a scorpion grabs the bull's testicles. On either side of the scene are the "torch-bearers", Cautes (torch pointing up) and Cautopates (torch pointing down), Sol, in top left, and Luna, top right. The relief was found in 1964 at Tor Cervara, near Rome; the fragment depicting the deity's head had ended up in the Karlsruhe Museum. As part of a recent collaborative agreement, the Badisches Landesmuseum of Karlsruhe has provided on loan the fragment depicting the face of Mithras. This has allowed the relief to be reconstructed in its entirety. 2nd-3rd century AD