MITHRAS REDISCOVERED II. FURTHER NOTES ON CIMRM 1938 AND 1986 Csaba Szabó Abstract: Recently, an important Mithraic relief was rediscovered and University of Pécs republished by the author of these lines in collaboration with George szabo.csaba.pte@gmail.com Bounegru and Victor Sava. The relief, known in the literature as CIMRM 1938 was for a long time considered a „disappeared” monument, the only laconic description being that of Marteen J. Vermaseren from his monumental corpus. Due to the recently rediscovered photographs of DOI: 10.14795/j.v2i2.111 the relief and the detailed analysis of the correspondence between Béla ISSN 2360 – 266X Cserni and Franz Cumont, the CIMRM 1938 is now became available for ISSN–L 2360 – 266X further research. In this article, I will add some further historiographic and iconographic notes on one of the biggest Mithraic reliefs found in Dacia, solving also another mysterious piece in Vermaseren’s catalogue, the CIMRM 1986. The article is also the first publication of Béla Cserni’s photograph about the relief. Keywords: Mithras; Apulum; Roman religion; CIMRM 1938; CIMRM 1986 T he relief found on the territory of Colonia Aurelia Apulensis (probably in the North-Western part of the city) was in the Lapidarium of the first Archaeological Museum of Alba Iulia, Romania around 50 years, from 1905 till the beginning of the 1950’s (Pl. I)1. During this period, the monumental relief was never published officially, only photographed twice by Béla Cserni and described by him in the letters sent to Franz Cumont2. The Hungarian scholar attached a photograph to the letter sent to Cumont on 21 November 19123. The photo was unknown until now, and recently found in the Franz V. Cumont Archive in Rome by Daniela Bonanno (fig. 2.)4. It is the first photograph of the relief ever made, signed with the signature of Béla Cserni himself5. On the picture, Cserni mentioned also the provenience of the relief (Colonia Apulensis) and confirmed that in 1912 the relief was in the custody of the local museum of Alba Iulia. Important to notice, that in his picture the face of Mithras seems to be better preserved as it is today, reflecting a very unusual and highly realistic smile, noticed by Cserni also in his letter. His face is the only one that is not battered, that of Sol, Luna and the torchbearers are missing completely6. As far as we know, 1  SZABÓ/BOUNEGRU/SAVA 2014. 2  On the rich correspondence and archive of Cumont, see: BONNET 1998, BONNET 2013. A photo of the Lapidarium from the first museum in Alba Iulia was published in the first article: SZABÓ/BOUNEGRU/SAVA 2014, 150, fig. 1. 3  CP 236 (AB I/5). The letter, as a part of the Franz. V. Cumont Archive is digitized and can be consulted online. 4  Inventory number: 3367, Box XXVI 5. The photo is in the custody of the Academia Belgica in Rome. It’s publication here was accepted by prof. dr. Wouter Bracke, director of the institution. 5  The rediscovery of Cserni’s correspondence opened a new chapter also in the research of the intellectual heritage of the great scholar. 6  If the surface of the relief was destroyed and battered in modern times, preparing the monument for his new purpose as a bench in front of a house, suggest an interesting, probably superstitious explanation, why Mithras’ face was preserved completely. Journal of Ancient History and Archeology No. 2.2/2015 67 Studies Fig. 1. The original photo of Béla Cserni about the relief. With the kind permission of the prof. Dr. Wouter Bracke and Dr. Pamela Anastasio, Aca- demia Belgica, Roma (Franz V. Cumont Archive, inventory number: 3367, Box XXVI 5.). the picture was never published by Cumont and remained statement11. unknown by the later research, inclusive by M. Vermaseren, Buday’s article12 was his third contribution on the who does not mention the photo in his corpus. problem of the Thracian rider, introducing the first time in There was probably also an inventory description the local historiography the topic of the Horsemen cults13. of the relief, which served as source for Vermaseren in the In this extremely interesting, however today not acceptable end of the 1950’s when he visited Romania. The relief was cogitation, Buday presents the Dieburg relief as an analogy than already in the Museum of Arad. During his visit, he for the syncretism and interaction between the Mithraic cult collected also a rich Hungarian literature of the monuments, and the riders’ cults in the Danubian provinces14. However some of them being translated by the French Orientalist, his arguments on Phaeton – Mithras is not accurate15, he Henri Boissin7 others were probably served by Constantin used numerous analogies for presenting his theory, that Daicoviciu, fluent in Hungarian too8. Many of the monuments the association of Phaeton – Mithras appears also in the and their description are based exclusively on the Hungarian iconography of Sol with radiate crown, pointing towards literature. One of these pieces is the CIMRM 19869. Mithras16. Two of his examples are from Apulum: one is a Vermaseren cites the article of Árpád Buday, preeminent famous, anepigraphic relief (CIMRM 1973) where a radius member of the so-called Béla Pósta archaeological school of Sol not only that darts towards Mithras, but overarch of Transylvania10, specialist in Latin epigraphy. The Dutch 11  The CIMRM 1986 was continuously cited by numerous catalogues as a scholar however cites wrongly the pagination (instead of missing relief, none of the authors publishing also Buday’s drawing: SICOE 19, he wrote 39). Having no further information about 2014, 162, nr. 46. 12  BUDAY 1930. the CIMRM 1938 and 1986, he considered as disappeared 13  See also: BRRD I, 78-80. monuments. The later research simply ignored or copied his 14  The subchapter on the Dieburg relief is an answer for Behn’s monograph on the finds: BEHN 1928. On the Dieburg relief, and about Mithras, as rider see: CIMRM 1247, MERKELBACH 1984, 111. On Phaeton and the symbolism of 7  SZABÓ 2014a. the Dieburg relief: GORDON 1975, 240, MATIJEVIC/WIEGELS 2003, 44-49. 8  GOMAN 2010. 15  He cites numerous times the article of Wilhelm Roscher from his 9  VERMASEREN 1960, 289: „Buday in Dolgozatok VI 1930, 39f (sic!) monumental lexicon: ROSCHER 1902, 3050. Than a relatively new edition, mentions a small Mithras relief from Apulum, which has not yet been published. it was very popular in Romania and Hungary too. Unfortunately, Buday does On a design (Buday fig. 4.) the bust of Sol in radiate crown is visible. One ray not mention in his article the extremely important analysis of Snyder on darts out towards Mithras”. Phaeton-Mithras: SNYDER 1927. 10  VINCZE 2014. 16  BUDAY 1930, 16-17. 68 Journal of Ancient History and Archeology No. 2.2/2015  Studies in the Museum of Arad. Both on the drawing of Buday and the recently found picture of Cserni is clearly visible the long and very elegant hair of Sol and its vestment too. Putting together all the recently found information, the contribution of Árpád Buday helped us to identify a new reference of the CIMRM 1938 and to solve the “mystery” of CIMRM 1986 – which practically never existed, being identical with the rediscovered relief of CIMRM 1938. THE RADIUS OF SOL: SYMBOLISM AND ICONOGRAPHY However the argumentation of Buday regarding the relationship between the horsemen cult and Mithras is not always accurate and his Phaeton – Mithras interpretation is merely just a repetition of the Cumontian ideas, he identify two important aspects: the religious syncretism manifested in local iconographic features and the rarity of the representation of the solar radius crown in the Mithraic iconography. Beside the two mentioned reliefs from Apulum, he gives also analogies from Italy (CIMRM 366, 670) citing the corpus of Cumont and points out the importance of the number and direction of the rays in the representations. Fig. 2. The drawing of CIMRM 1938 from BUDAY 1930, 19. fig. 4. As we already pointed out, the representation of the solar radius – crown appears very rare in the Mithraic the line of the spelaeum17 (fig. 2.), and the other one is an iconography of Dacia19 however, there are numerous unpublished, “smaller” relief. The description of the objects is examples in the Empire (CIMRM 30, 42.12, 103, 148, 172, very laconic, it seems obvious, that Buday had as source only 321, 334, 350, 354, 357, 366, 368, 390, 435, 437, 458, 546, the published drawing (fig. 3.) and never saw the relief itself: 588, 597, 641, 670, 692, 759, 798, 90c, 847, 1137, 1201, “ about the second, smaller and – as far as I know – unpublished 1314, 1400, 1579, 1591, 1683, 1806, 1893, 1907, 1910, 2196, monument I have only this drawing. It can be concluded, that 2237, 2247, 2255, 2306). Sol usually appears with seven, or one of the radius of the crown on the head of the solar divinity is more rare with twelve rays on his crown. Sometimes his longer than the others, and this one is pointing towards the bull crown is represented in form of a nimbus as in our case too20. killer”18. The drawing published about the left corner of the Although, the representation of Sol with a radius-crown is extremely wide-spread in the Empire (especially in Italy), it appears very rare in Dacia21. This aspects could be interpreted also as a specificity of the local workshop – system, which must be monopolized by some great urban communities, such as Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa (“the Sarmizegetusa – workshop”) and probably Apulum22. The representation of the radius pointing towards Mithras is much rarer (Pl. II).23 As Buday already pointed out, all the examples known – with the exception of the two reliefs from Apulum – are came from Italy. This could indicate a direct link between the Mithraic communities of Apulum and Italy. Another iconographic feature that indicate this link is the representation of Cautes holding the bucranium, attested in some early forms only in Italy, than evolved into a particular iconography in Apulum and a single example in Boppard (Bodobrica)24. This obvious link between the Mithraic communities from Italy and Dacia could be formed due to the customs system (Publicum Portorium Illyrici) which itinerary can be reconstructed on the Rome – Aquileia – Poetovio – Apulum road25. 19  SZABÓ/BOUNEGRU/SAVA 2014, SICOE 2014, nr. 39, 102, 108, 109. 20  On the various aspects of the iconography of Sol-Helios: HIJMANS 2009. 21  It appears rare also in the Pannonian material. However, there are more Fig. 3. The representation of Sol and it’s radius on CIMRM 1973. numerous analogies. A possible answer for the lack of the rays could be their fragile nature, which are hardly observable on some deteriorated reliefs. 22  SICOE 2014, 59-70. relief is without doubt, represents the same relief mentioned 23  CIMRM 172, 350, 366, 597, 641, 670; VERMASEREN 1982, plate III, IV and photographed by Béla Cserni and rediscovered recently and XIV. 17  Idem, 17-18, fig. 3-3a. 24  SZABÓ 2015a. 18  Idem, 18. The drawing is on the next page of the article. 25  About the possible links with the communities from Rome, see: TÓTH Journal of Ancient History and Archeology No. 2.2/2015 69 Studies This rare iconography was interpreted in numerous museum based only on archive sources and literature33 shows ways from Cumont onward: the Sun with radius crown, the great possibilities and new perspectives of research. They pointing towards Mithras with a ray or watching on the bull should not focus only on the systematic publication of the killer was considered for a long time a symbol of the divine new excavations and researches but also the revision of messenger (corax – kerux) of Helios – Apollo and a part of a the old repertories and the reorganization of the museum dogmatic narrative26. This was contested later by numerous storerooms, known many times as “labyrinths of knowledge”, scholars27, however the real message of this iconography still hosting numerous unpublished artifacts. Publishing the wasn’t solved by the “new ways” and methodology of Roger CIMRM 1938 was also a first step of a comprehensive work Beck’s “star talk”28. The standard presence of the Sol – to establish a Supplementum for CIMRM of Dacia34. Mithras iconography on reliefs – especially on central reliefs, as our case is – suggest, however that it must be certainly ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS an astronomic message and a historical – mythological I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Dr. narrative too, where the syncretic fusion of Sol – Mithras Daniela Bonanno and Dr. Corinne Bonnet for their kindly (Sol Invictus Mithras) was considered a reality29. However, help, consulting the Archive of Franz V. Cumont in Rome the representation was influenced by the local trends, and serving valuable information about the correspondence workshops, worshippers and economic realities. In most of of the great scholar. I thank to Dr. Pamela Anastasio, curator the cases, Mithras is looking towards Sol, which is pointing of the F.V. Cumont Archive and prof. Dr. Wouter Bracke, to him or looking on the bull-killer, however, there are some director of the Academia Belgica in Rome for their kindly cases – also the CIMRM 1938 – where Mithras is looking permission to publish the original photo of Béla Cserni, now towards the audience, the worshippers, emphasizing the in the custody of the Academia Belgica, Franz V. Cumont importance and emotional, performant effect of what a Archive. central relief, a signum mean to be30. Representing Mithras in front of the worshippers with a direct and very powerful ABBREVIATIONS contact with Sol, the relief was meant to emphasize a certain BRRD - Boda, I./Szabó Cs., The bibliography of Roman religion in aspect of the Mithras – narrative and star talk. In fact, Sol Dacia (Cluj – Napoca, 2014) pointing towards Mithras reflect not only the clear solar fusion and syncretism of Sol Invictus Mithras, but emphasize CIMRM - Vermaseren, M., Corpus Inscriptionum Monumentorum that iconographic tradition and also, innovation, which exist Religionis Mithriacae I –II (The Haguae, 1960) in the Greco - Roman world when they “invent” Mithras31. Divinities pointing towards the viewer, such as Mithras reflect in this case is a common iconographic expression of divine contact, often represented in statues or described in REFERENCES literary texts. 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