the porta decumana, and to place in the former the future museum of the Limes. The results of investigations have been made known by a series of monographs, one for each Kastell. They are parts of a great work entitled Der Obergerm.-Raet. Limes des Römerreiches im Auftrage der Reichs-LimesKommission herausgegeben von dem Militärischen und dem Archäologischen Dirigenten, O. von Sarwey, Generallieutenant z.d., F. Hettner, Museumsdirector. I have selected three of these separate papers-" Osterburken," Öhringen," and "Unterböbingen." 66 At Osterburken incomparably the most remarkable object brought to light is a Mithras relief, now deposited in the Altertumshalle at Karlsruhe. It was found in the spring of 1861, in a cellar 9 feet underground, close to a bridge over the Kirnach, not far from the railway station. In the Mithra as yet known an apsis or exedra has not been met with, but it occurs in inscriptions No. 256 (signum numinis cum absidata), No. 239 (cryptam cum porticibus et apparatorio et exedra). The discovery of a spring of water is interesting; I suppose it was used for ablutions and purifications. The tablet ranks among the first of its class for size (being 170 mètre in height and breadth), for Mithraic legends, mysterious deities and the union of Persian, Greek and Chaldean elements.2 and distinguishes these apartments from hemicyclia. Cf. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, I, 6. Marquardt, Privatleben der Römer, zweite Auflage, 1886, p. 249, note 6, Exedra ist ursprünglich ein in einer Säulenhalle nach innen hin ausgebauter Sitzplatz." Dictionary of Antiquities, third edition, I, 281, plan of Thermae of Caracalla; FF half-circular aleoves, in which there were seats for the philosophers to hold their conversations. The same plan is given by Rich, op. citat., but the exedrae are marked with the letters E E, p. 657 seq., s.v. Thermae. The numbers of the inscriptions quoted in the text are derived from Fr. Cumont, ride infra, list of references at the end of the Appendix. From the writings of the Christian Fathers we know how extensive was the spread of Mithraism, and I have in a paper on Roman Antiquities of the Middle Rhine," Arch. Jour., XLVII, 379, note 1, quoted Tertullian De The central group, of large dimensions, consists of Mithras killing a bull, and fills the greater part of the niche; he is in the usual attitude, as we see him at the British Museum. The bull in mortal agony draws back his foreleg and extends his tail upwards. From it three ears of corn are sprouting, perhaps to indicate the fertilising influence of the sun-god, causing vegetation to rise up out of the earth. Mithras looks back towards a raven, the messenger of Apollo; again there may be an allusion to the sun, with whom Apollo was identified. Under the bull a vase, snake and lion are said to symbolise the strife of the elements. On each side of the chief group stands a torch-bearer, dressed like Mithras, compare τριπλάσιος Μίθρας in inscriptions; so that some kind of trinity seems to be represented. These figures may have reference to the seasons, of which in the old Greek mythology there were only three. The signs of the Zodiac occupy the border over the niche, and may be traced to Chaldæan influence; immediately above them we see an assemblage of Olympian deities." In the middle of the lower row, Jupiter is enthroned; Apollo, Mars and Hercules stand on his right; Juno, Minerva and Venus correspond with them on his left. Minerva with her attributes, helmet, shield and lance, is easily distinguishable. In the upper row, Victory behind Praescriptione haereticorum, cap. XL, Jupiter holds a large palm-branch; the other personages are so much injured that we can hardly identify them. On the left hand in the upper corner, the sun, nimbated, with flying drapery, drives a quadriga; over him hovers the morning star, holding torches. To right, the moon, who has a large crescent over her head, in a chariot drawn by two oxen, descends into the darkness of a cave, while the evening star, also holding torches, falls down from heaven. The groups on the pillars are much mutilated, but beginning with the lowest on the left, proceeding upwards and then downwards along the right pillar, we may remark a head in a rosette; Earth and Atlas, the latter supporting a globe; the three Fates; Kronos (Saturn) handing over to Jupiter the thunderbolt, emblem of dominion over the world; and Jupiter contending with a giant. In the left upper corner the birth and deeds of Mithras are the subject, and the most conspicuous figure is a youth, wearing the Persian cap as before, who is cutting leaves or flowers from a great tree. In the right upper corner the bull appears twice, alone and carried by Mithras on his back. At the top of the right pillar, Mithras draws water from a rock by striking it with an arrow; one Asiatic stretches out his hand to receive it, 1 Horace, Odes, III, i, 7. "Clari Giganteo triumpho." Comp. the cameo at Naples, representing Zeus Gigantomachos, signed AOHNION, engraved in Milman's edition of Horace, "Neapolitan Gem of Jupiter and Titans. From an Impression." This book is illustrated by the late Sir George Scharf's drawings from the antique. For the Gigantomachia, see Perry, Greek and Roman Sculpture, pp. 545-555, especially p. 549 seq., The Zeus Group.' Id., Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Casts from the Antique in the South Kensington Museum, pp. 99-101. 2 Moses smote the rock twice, Numbers xx, 11; ibid., vv. 8, 10; Cruden's Concordance. Cf. St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians x, 4, ἔπινον γὰρ ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας, ἡ πέτρα δὲ ἦν ὁ Χριστός. Alford's edition of the Greek Testament, Vol. II, p. 523 seq., VενμаTIKÓs typical, ef. Revelations xi, 8. The rock followed the Israelites in their journeyings, and gave forth water all the way. How extensively the traditionary reliques of unrecorded Jewish history were adopted by apostolic men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apology of Stephen may bear witness. Aringhi, Roma Subterranea (Catacombs), tom. II, p. 101, fol., 1651: "Tabula unica cubiculi undecimi Coemeterii Marcellini et Petri inter duas Lauros ad S. Helenam Via Labicana." Ibid., Lib. V, cap. XII, § 3, p. 482 seq.: "Mysteria aquarum e petra in deserto scaturientium. Petra in deserto Christum figurabat." Ibid. tom. I, pp. 450-461, lib. III, cap. XI, "De celebri Callisti Coemeterio. Ibid., p. 546 seq., “Tabula Prima." No. iv, "Et demum Moysis virgae ictibus uberes aquarum rivos e petra educentis." There are six full page plates of this catacomb. Lübke, Grundriss der Kunstgeschichte, I, 1, "Altchristliche Kunst." 3. "Bildnerei und Malerei," pp. 250-252, "Moses mit dem Stabe Wasser aus dem Felsen schlagend," Fig. 170, "Wandgemälde aus den Katakomben von S. Calixtus." |