Mithriaca Jadertina

Abstract

The fact established not long ago that the well - known relief of the Mihtraic taurochthony (CIMRM II, p. 260, no. 1879) comes from Zadar where it was discovered in 1848 makes possible a better explanation of the appearance and development of Mithraism in the period of the second and third centuries in Jader. (Table I) The rendering of the relief, which was made in a provincial workshop, has a series of characteristics obviously inspired by the artistic and stylistic traditions of the classical sculpture, such as plastic characteristics of the whole composition with the elements of the full sculpture, realistic representation of movements, successful realization of plans and depth, etc. Such a stylistic context, and especially several monographic elements (Hellenistic-Roman, not oriental, visual interpretation of the clothes on Cautesa. who is shown with a mantle on a naked body, then Sol and the lost Luna, who are shown in full and not in reduced forms) date the relief in the middle of the second century, i. e. in the first phase of the development of Mithraism on the eastern ooast of the Adriatic. Its dimensions (being wider than 1 m it belongs to the group of the largest Mithraic movable reliefs in the province of Dalmatia for most of which it has been established, and for the rest only assumed, that they belonged to the cult - altar reliefs) show that this was an altar - relief, too. It means, therefore, that in the middle of the second century an organized Mithraic community existed in Jader, with the members assembling in the Mithraeum where this large cult picture was placed, functioning as an altar - relief. With regard to the place and context where it was found one can suppose that the Mithraeum was in an ager, east of Jader, and possibly in the vicinity of the amphitheatre or, more to the east, near the sanctuary of Apollo the Lycian. The characteristics of the other Mithriac relief (table II, fg. 1-2), of which only a corner fragment has been preserved, point to the presence of the influence of the Pannonian - Noricum regions on the development of Mithraism in Jader in the third century. With the reliefs from Konjic, Gardun and Banjevci this relief represents, geographically, the most eastern group of Mithraic reliefs with a motive on the back found in the Roman Empire. Since the reliefs with the reverse were, as a rule, cult-aind-altar reliefs one has reason to suppose that the relief from Jader, whose dimensions have not been established, was also a cult-and-altar relief. As was the case with the well-known relief from Konjic, the pater of the Mithraic community could lift it without difficulty in certain moments of the ceremony, turning to the congregation its back side where, most probably, was the motive of a holy meal, as was the case with other such reliefs. As in one Mithraeum two reliefs could not exist as altar reliefs one can conclude that, when the relief was made and used, there were two Mithraic temples and two Mitraic communities in Jader in the third century.