History of the Aquincum city

Originally a Celtic settlement, Aquincum became part of Rome’s holdings around the midpoint of the first century CE. Their control took root through a legion of men that marched on the city, and by 89 CE a full camp had been established. The city grew quickly in the following years, so much so that by the end of the subsequent century the population reached into the tens of thousands. The fourth century, though, brought with it repeated attacks against the city, and by the fifth century the city was completely under the auspices of the Germanic tribes as well as the Huns.

Since the discovery of Aquincum’s ruins by chance in the late eighteenth century, there has been a concerted effort to put this history on display. The best stop for the modern tourist is the Aquincum Museum and Archaeological Park, which features a marvelous array of artifacts, including the Mithraeum.

Mithraeum of Aquincum

In 2018 the Aquincum Museum’s Archaeological Park gained a new feature. In the south-eastern part of the park a protective building opened on top of one of the Civil Town’s Mithras shrines, the so-called Symphorus mithraeum. The exterior of the building, which houses the new permanent exhibition, evokes the former edifice’s dimensions and the materials used for its construction, fitting well with the nearby House of the Painter, reconstructed in the Roman style. The structure of the interior in turn reflects how the inside of the shrine would have looked like, displaying, to a large extent, original remains found on site.

The development of the building and its interior was guided primarily by data from the archaeological excavations of the site, complemented with results from the exploration of other Mithras shrines. Hence the interior of the building presents not only the Symphorus Mithraeum, but helps to give us a picture of the world inside Mithras sanctuaries, built throughout the empire with a uniform layout, based on identical concepts and theories. The shrine, in addition to being a gathering place for worshippers, served as the place of sacrifices and initiations as well as the feasts that ensued. At the same time, its interior symbol system could be used to evoke the surrounding universe.

Cautious Reconstruction

Nowadays the question of archaeological reconstructions built on original ruins is controversial and brings up several issues. The presentation of the Symphorus mithraeum in a protective building–reconstruction, however, caused no professional or ethical problems. After all, based on the data of the first excavation, almost all the walls – with the exception of the podium walls – had been removed, with only some of their below-ground foundations remaining. These, however, as the 2017 excavation confirmed, were covered over or destroyed by the first conservation following the mithraeum’s discovery. Therefore, of the building, only the bottom rows of stone in the podium walls can be considered originals. Thanks to the current conservation, these are now under a roof in a protected environment.

Second Reconstructed Mithraeum in Hungary

After the Fertőrákos mithraeum, the Aquincum sanctuary is the second reconstructed Mithras shrine in Hungary to open to the public. The new exhibition is further significant as, in addition to the cultic objects, it presents to visitors one of the Aquincum Museum’s most beautiful stone remains: the cult statue of Mithras. The statue, once broken into a dozen tiny pieces, was restored soon after its discovery and was, until the previous decade, a key feature of the museum’s permanent exhibitions. Now visitors can see the restored statue in its original environment. The new exhibition also gives us an opportunity to peek into a special, for a time highly popular, but also mysterious part of religious life in Aquincum.

The remains of the mithraeum by the southern town wall show signs of two construction periods. The first shrine was abandoned in the second half of the 2^nd century. It was then rebuilt as a slightly larger and more ornate edifice at the turn of the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries. This was presumably due to the increasing number of Mithras worshippers in the town. The centrepiece of this shrine was the cult statue depicting the divinity slaying the bull. During the excavation, parts of the shrine’s paraphernalia, altars, cult objects were found in their original place. Most of these, with the exception of the cult statue, escaped the destruction which marked the end of the shrine. Based on coins from the site, the destruction probably took place under the reign of Constantine I (the Great) who officially permitted the practice of Christianity.

Author: Contributed to Timetravelrome by Orsolya Láng PhD, Director of the Aquincum Museum.

Aquincum Museum details:

ADDRESS: 135 Szentendrei út, 1031 Budapest
TELEPHONE: +36-1-250-16-50
E-MAIL: aquincum@aquincum.hu

To learn more, please visit the Aquincum Museum and Archaelogical Parc website.

Of course, you can also check our mobile app www.timetravelrome.com: we have a nice write app about Aquincum and will soon add a more detailed coverage of this wonderful site.

The Curious Case of Ancient Londinium’s Underground God

Today, London is the UK’s largest city. Two thousand years ago, the situation was very much the same. After the original settlement had been razed in 60/61 AD during the revolt of Boudicca and the Iceni tribe, it was swiftly rebuilt as a planned Roman town. This meant the new site adhered to the typical orthogonal urban formation of a central forum space surrounded by grids of ordered streets. Prior to Boudicca’s revolt, ancient Londinium was already beginning to prosper as the historian Tacitus makes clear, describing it as:

“a busy centre, chiefly through its crowd of merchants and stores.” (1)

The Thames allowed the newly restored city to flourish, attracting people, goods, and money. Londinium expanded rapidly during this period, and by the end of the 1^st century AD historians now estimate that as many as 60,000 people may have been living in the city. By the second century, when the Empire was enjoying its “Golden Age” under the auspicious rule of the “good” Antonine emperors, the ancient city of Londinium was at its zenith. It had replaced Camulodunum (Colchester) as the capital of the Province of Britannia, whilst its urban features reflected its stature. The Forum and the Basilica were the largest structures north of the Alps at the time of the Emperor Hadrian’s visit in 122 AD. Visitors to the Museum of London can see excellent displays to give a sense of the impressive scale and wealth of the ancient city, as well as a whole host of the archaeological finds made. The latter years of the 2^nd century were not kind to the city however. A plague, connected to the well-known Antonine plague recorded by Cassius Dio amongst others in the western half of the empire, is believed to have been responsible for a significant reduction in population, bringing an end to the expansion of the city.

The turn of the 3rd century saw Londinium, like many places across the Empire, begin to go on the defensive. It was during the years 190-225 AD that the enormous defensive wall – known today as the London Wall, fragments of which visitors can still today – was built to protect the city. It was also at this time that the prestige of the city took a knock. The Emperor Septimius Severus, having seen off three other rivals to the throne, reorganised the provinces of the empire, including the division of Britain into Upper and Lower halves. Whilst Londinium remained the primary city of Lower Britannia, the Province of Upper Britannia was controlled by the new governor based in Eboracum (York). Despite the slight to its status, Londinium actually enjoyed something of a boost. The campaigns of Septimius Severus in Caledonia, in the far north of Britain, brought an influx of wealth into the country and Londinium benefitted with a spate of new construction works.

As well as the spate of new wealth, the armies of Severus likely brought with them new ideas and new beliefs. Just as it is today, ancient Londinium would have reflected the cosmopolitan nature of the Empire at large as cultures mingled freely. This was most clear in the religious practices and gods worshipped in the ancient city. Alongside the traditional deities of the Roman pantheon, such as Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, a host of deities from the edges of Empire also found willing devotees here. It was during the middle of the 3^rd century, that the eastern mystery cult of Mithras arrived in Londinium, likely in the hearts and minds of the soldiers passing through the city on their way to the north of the island.

The Mysterious Mithras

With his distinctive pointed Phrygian cap, Mithras is arguably the most well-known of the mystery cults that existed in the Roman Empire. Their secretive underground temples, known as Mithraea, have been found across the entire expanse of the empire, including within the imperial capital itself, from Eboracum in the north of Britain, through to Numidia in North Africa and Roman Syria on the eastern fringes of the empire.

As the term “Mystery Cult” suggests, the exact nature of Mithraism remains shrouded in conjecture and is the subject of much debate amongst historians and archaeologists. The plethora of sites from across the empire have returned a wealth of material related to the practice of the cult, but there is, as yet, not written narrative or theology to have been discovered in connection with Mithraism. This significantly problematises the interpretation of the material remains.

That being said, there are iconographic consistencies. The image most commonly associated with the cult of Mithras is the Tauroctony scene. In every Mithraeum, this image of Mithras slaying a sacred bull appears to have been the centre piece. There is no formulaic style for this scene’s presentation; the image can either be carved free-standing or in relief, and sometimes appears as a fresco painting instead. However, there the typical features that are consistent across the various media. Depicted in a cave, on which the subterranean Mithraea were modelled, Mithras is depicted in typical Anatolian costume, complete with the iconic Phrygian cap, holding the head of the bull back whilst cutting its throat. Elsewhere, one can usually see the god Sol, towards whom Mithras is normally looking, along with a dog and a snake and a scorpion who is pinching the testicles of the bull.

A God Underground

In 1954, the city of London was still recovering from the ravages of the Second World War. Swathes of the city had been reduced to rubble and reconstruction was high on the list of priorities. It was against this backdrop that the then director of the museum of London, W. F. Grimes, along with his colleague Audrey Williams, happened upon the discovery of an ancient Mithraeum in the heart of the UK capital.  When they first happened upon the Mithraeum, the excavators had hoped that they had found an early Christian church. However, the other archaeological remains, including a range of marble likenesses of Roman deities such as Minerva, Mercury, as well as Mithras himself, found at the site soon proved this identification untenable.

Excavations in the area of Walbrook in the late 19^th century had also returned a wealth of material that was likely associated with the Mithraeum as well. These included the Tauroctony relief, which includes a dedicatory inscription. Still in relatively good condition, one can see this relief and inscription today at the Museum of London – its picture is used for the header of this post.

One is able to identify all of the usual figures associated with the cult of Mithras. These include the cosmic characters, such as Sol and Luna (the Sun and the Moon) in the upper corners, along with the zodiac signs that adorn the circular band that surrounds the central scene. The inscription records the following:

ULPIUS SILVANNUS EMERITUS LEG II AUG VOTUM SOLVIT FACTUS ARAVSIONE

Ulpius Silvanus, emeritus of the Second Legion Augusta, paid his vow; enlisted at Orange (2)

The close relationship between the cult of Mithras and the soldiers of the empire are confirmed by this inscription.

Mithras on the Move

London’s Mithras can stake an unusual claim to fame for being the most mobile of the ancient gods in Britain. The Mithraeum has been moved not once, but as many as four times!

The original Mithraeum, which is believed to have been built ca.240 AD, would have stood, partially underground, on the eastern banks of the River Walbrook (a vital fresh water source in ancient Londinium which is now unfortunately subterranean). When Grimes and Williams happened across it in the 1950’s, they were left in a quandary – the site was being worked on for the construction of a modern office block, as part of London’s post-second world war recovery. Whilst debates trundled on over what to do with this remarkable archaeological discovery, the Mithraeum – having been disassembled and moved – sat in storage in a London builder’s yard for 8 years! Thankfully, a decision was reached to provide the public access to the site. The Mithraeum was rebuilt in 1962 almost 100 metres away from its original position to Temple Court. The smaller material associated with the sanctuary – including the head of Mithras and the other deities – were sent to the Museum of London. However, in a great loss to the archaeological record, the original timber benches from the Mithraeum, a tremendous rarity, were thrown away. Unfortunately, the reconstruction efforts were also met a largely negative reception, prompting accusations of inaccuracy amongst other criticisms relating to the use of modern materials to “fill-in the gaps”.

Today, the Mithraeum has moved once again. Fortunately for visitors to London now, however, the newly reconstructed sanctuary is one of the British capitals best ancient attractions. The Mithraeum has been re-moved back to its original location and is now part of the Bloomberg Company’s European Headquarters. Entrance to the Mithraeum is now free, and visitors must descend 7 meters below the modern street level to reach the reconstructed sanctuary: Mithras has been returned to his original subterranean setting. The reconstruction itself is much better than the earlier attempts in the 1960s. The recent efforts have used the original excavation reports from 1954 to produce an accurate reconstruction of the temple as it would have appeared in 240 AD, whilst the use of modern materials has been deliberately limited. Where new material has been essential, they are based on other structures from Roman Londinium. Visitors to the Mithraeum can also enjoy exploring some 600 archaeological items, all recovered from the site, that are now beautifully displayed here.  Keep a keen eye out for a small wooden tablet, which records the oldest known instance of a financial transaction in Britain, dated to 57 AD, fittingly returned to the centre of the modern country’s financial sector.

Londinium and London’s Mithraeum on Timetravelrome app:

To find out more: Timetravelrome.

Author: written for Timetravelrome by Kieren Johns.

Sources: (1)  Tacitus, Annals, 33.1 ;  (2) RIB 3

Header Photo: The central medallion with a bull-slaying scene, by Carole Raddato licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0