#Mithraic

🪷 #Solstice #Yule #Saturnalia: #Antinous was initiated into #Mithraic mysteries, writes #Yourcenar. Roman troops in Britannia adored this sculpture of #Mithras hatching from #Orphic Egg & the UK's oldest depiction of a #Zodiac. Full details here: antinousstars.blogspot.com/2025/12/love... 🪷

RELIEF WITH MITHRAS, C. 160 CE. CASINO DELL'AURORA LUDOVISI This relief was first noted in the Ludovisi collection in 1623, when its location was given as "at the end of the Spiral Staircase". It stayed there until the inventory of 1749 and now is in the glassed-in rear porch of the Casino. It may have been part of the huge Cesi purchase of 1622. In any case it shows the tauroctony or bull-slaying of the god Mithras, who occupies most of the panel. He is recognisable by his Phrygian cap, his billowing cloak, and his bull-killing. His left leg is bent to kneel on the bull's back; his left hand pulls up the bull's head and he stabs the bull in the neck with his right hand. In his lethal act he is assisted by a dog and a snake, while a scorpion is using this particular moment to attack the bull's testicles. The cave in which this is all happening is suggested by the rocky floor of the scene. Most notable are the busts of the sun, at left, with his radiate crown, and the moon at right within her crescent.

#ReliefWednesday draws us back to the #CasinodellAurora #Ludovisi in #Rome, where the ancient art is also part of the #architecture. This #Mithraic scene is rich with symbolism: the bull's tail becomes a sheaf of wheat, suggesting the fruitfulness after the sacrifice of the bull.

🪷 #Solstice / #Yule / #Saturnalia: #Antinous embodies #Phanes, #Mithras, #SolInvictus hatching from the #Orphic Egg encircled by #Ouroboros on 25 December, the pagan origin of #Christmas. This head is possibly of #Antinoos as #Ganymede wearing a #Mithraic #Phrygian cap in the Musee du Louvre. 🪷

🪷 #Solstice / #Yule / #Saturnalia: #Antinous was initiated into #Mithraic mysteries, writes #Yourcenar. Roman troops in Britannia adored this sculpture of #Mithras hatching from #Orphic Egg ... the UK's oldest depiction of a #Zodiac. Full report here: antinousstars.blogspot.com/2024/12/love... 🪷