Publications

The exhibition “The Mystery of Mithras: Exploring the heart of Roman Cult” can be seen at the Musée Saint-Raymond, Toulouse Archaeology Museum, from 14 May to 30 October 2022. By participating in this project, developed in collaboration with the Musée Royal de Mariemont (Belgium) and the Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt (Germany), the Musée Saint-Raymond remains faithful to its mission and major axis of research: the study of the Roman world.  

The god Mithras, of Iranian origin, was the subject of a cult celebrated amongst large communities of followers. This cult was found all throughout the Roman Empire between the end of the first and the end of the fourth centuries. The exhibition in Toulouse is remarkable for its presentation of objects and artworks from the Iberian Peninsula, which provide an insight into the cult of Mithras in the south-western region of Europe. It will also allow the public to discover the cult from a range of different viewpoints.

The exhibition is built around five independent sections with an open-ended scenography. The themes explored include: the Eastern origins of the god, the emergence of the cult within the context of a Roman polytheism, and the major stages in its spread and expansion across the Western Roman Empire. Following an analysis of the main episodes in the mythological narrative associated with the god, the exhibition devotes special attention to the structural specificities of Mithraic sanctuaries and rituals. A section dedicated to the identity of devotees and the organization of their communities questions the reasons for the progressive decline of the cult from the fourth century onwards.

Over the course of the exhibition, the reception or interpretation of Mithras and Mithraism will be examined through a variety of themes relating to pop culture.

The  exhibition  at the Royal Museum of Mariemont, from November 20 2020 to April 17, 2022, invites  you  to  discover  this  enigmatic  cult  and  unravel  the  Mystery  of  Mithras. Why was this cult organized out of sight? Why did Mithras know such success up  to  the  point  of  appearing  as  a  rival  to  Christ?  To  answer  such  questions,  the  exhibition  features  spectacular  archaeological  artifacts  and  recent  finds  which  are  unveiled  for  the  first  time.  Over  a  hundred  artworks  are  shown,  coming  from  both  public  and  private collections in more than fifteen European countries.

The exhibition creates wonderful synergies with the Mariemont Museum’s collections, which were  developed  under  the  guidance  of  Franz  Cumont,  an  eminent  scholar  on  the  Ancient East and close friend of Mariemont estate’s founder Raoul Warocqué.

Thanks  to  new  technologies,  an  immersive  scenography  initiates  visitors  into  the  cult  of Mithras  leading  up  to  a  life-size  temple  specially  built  for  the  exhibition.  Presented  as a journey  through  time from the  depths  of  Mithraic  caves  to  the  Renaissance,  the  Age  of Enlightenment  and  our  era,  the  remarkable  story  of  Mithras  echoes contemporary  social issues,   such   as   the   circulation   of   goods,   ideas   and   people,   gender   relations   or   the cohabitation of cults. The Mystery of Mithras offers visitors a unique, immersive and participatory experience for interpreting  this  peculiar  cult,  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  original  that  the  ancient  world has known!

At the end of a journey with stages at Mariemont (Belgium) and Toulouse (France), the monuments of the cult of Mithras from the Roman city of Nida (Frankfurt am Main-Heddernheim) are returning to Frankfurt: from 19 November 2022 to 15 April 2023, the Archaeological Museum Frankfurt will show the exhibition “The Mystery of Mithras: Exploring the heart of a Roman cult”, which was created in international cooperation. A central component of the project are the outstanding finds from the Mithraic sanctuaries of Nida, which already attracted the attention of archaeologists in the 19th century. Together with numerous objects from Mithraea in the Limes region on the Rhine and Danube, they form the focus of the Frankfurt exhibition. Selected monuments from ancient Gaul and Italy provide a glimpse of similarities and differences between the border regions and the cultural centres in the west of the Imperium Romanum. Thanks to close cooperation with a large number of European museums, it is possible not only to present the results of current archaeological research, but also to take a look at the history of the reception of the cult of Mithras up to modern times. Thus, the show offers an unusual, new view of this deity and its fascinating cult, which still holds many unresolved mysteries for us today.