Statuette of Mithras

The Roman cult of Mithras was a mystery religion, meaning its practices and beliefs were kept secret from non-initiates. Persian in origin, the cult flourished during the Roman Empire, particularly among the military. The central rite of Mithraism appears to have been the tauroctony, a symbolic or ritual slaying of a bull, represented in the iconography of Mithras Tauroctonos. In this representation, situated atop a profiled plinth, the youthful Mithras is shown plunging a dagger into the neck of a bull in a cave-like setting.Only the lower part of Mithras's body is preserved, and his right lower leg is missing. He's dressed in a Persian-style outfit, which includes a cloak and loose-fitting pants. He is shown reaching for the neck of a bull, whose head is now missing, as are parts of its front and hind legs. The bull's blood was considered to have life-giving power. Below the surviving fragment of the dagger, individual drops of blood are faintly incised. They would have been made more prominent through the use of red paint, traces of which are still visible around the wound. Fragments of several animals, often seen in representations of this scene, are also present, including a snake biting the bull's genitals, a scorpion climbing the bull's stomach, and a dog whose head and paws can be seen close to the bull's front legs.