PLATE XXXIII
1
Typical Representation of Mithra
Mithra is shown sacrificing the bull in the cave. Beneath the bull is the serpent, and the dog springs at the bull's throat, licking the blood which pours from the wound. The raven, the bird sacred to Mithra, is also present. On either side of the god stands a torch-bearer, symbolizing the rising and the setting sun respectively, and above them are the sun and the moon in their chariots. This Borghesi basrelief in white marble, now in the Louvre, was originally in the Mithraeum of the Capitol at Rome. After Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, Fig. 4.
2
Scenes from the Life of Mithra
This bas-relief, discovered in 1838 at Neuenheim, near Heidelberg, shows in the border, round the central figure of the tauroctonous deity, twelve of the principal events in his life. Among them the clearest are his birth from the rock (top of the border to the left), his capture of the bull, which he carries to the cave (border to the right), and his ascent to Ahura Mazda (top border). The second scene from the top on the border to the left represents Kronos (Zarvan, or "Time") investing Zeus (Ahura Mazda) with the sceptre of the universe. After Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, Fig. 15.
