Archaeologists have discovered a place of worship for the Roman god of light, Mithra, during excavations in southwest Germany. His cult was carried west by the Cilician pirates.
In February of this year, researchers were excavating in Trier, a city in Germany. Archeonews talked about the results, namely the remains of the ancient Roman god Mithra’s sanctuary discovered there, which was destroyed and started at the end of the 4th century.
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Prior to this, the most important find at this place was considered a 1.2-meter limestone bas-relief depicting Kautes, one of the two moons of Mithra, with torches.
Kautes and Kavtopat symbolize sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, life and death. Outwardly, they are no different, but one lights the torch up and the other extinguishes it and lowers it.
Mithra is considered the rock-born Iranian god of sun and light. The cult of this god spread throughout the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries of our era, especially among the legionnaires who believed that it brought victory. It is also known that his cult was significantly colored by astrological elements.
It is known that the city of Trier was founded in 16 BC. to. However, there are legends that he founded the Assyrian prince Trebeta in the 16th century BC. And later it was captured by the ancient Romans and made the capital of the province of Gallia Belgica.
According to Michael Ebling, Trier, responsible for cultural heritage, this is the second proof of the existence of such a sanctuary for the god Mithra.
Mitra sanctuaries – the mitrai – were often located in underground chambers or caves. The followers of this cult were obliged to maintain complete secrecy of the rites and rites, so modern ideas about these mystical religious beliefs are based mainly on the interpretation of surviving works.
It is known that in a certain period Mithraism competed with Christianity and was very common. However, after the first was adopted as the official state religion, the cult began to decline. Eventually, their sanctuary was destroyed or abandoned. Christian churches were built on the ruins of some of them.
Previously Focus He talked about the excavations in the ancient necropolis of Memphis, the capital of the Old Kingdom. Researchers stumbled upon a tomb that once belonged to a high-ranking person in ancient Egypt.
They also wrote about the excavations in the largest building in Constantinople. The modest ruins of the church, which was once the largest church in Constantinople and built like the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, are located in a small park right in the middle of Istanbul’s Fatih district.
Source: Focus
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