Mithraeums

Italy has many layers. Sometimes they are metaphorical, such as layers of culture. Other times, they are quite literal. It was thus on Friday when Amy led 1/3 of the school on a tour of Rome she called “Martyrs and Mithraeums”.

First, a bit of (over)simplified history. The later Republican, early Imperial age of Rome saw a huge expansion of the Roman Empire. The Romans were somewhat unique in their colonization. From the earliest times, whenever they conquered a people, they incorporated and assimilated them as best as possible. The idea was that, by offering the people the best of Roman citizenship, they would become loyal and faithful followers of Rome. Of course, Romans also took many slaves, ravaged the landscape, plundered the treasury, … you get the picture.

A corollary was the subsequent flow of ideas and customs back to Rome from the other parts of the world which they controlled. The first few centuries AD found a variety of religious beliefs competing with and being synthesized into the traditional Roman Pantheon. Three of those had wide following: Isis from Egypt, Mithras from Persia and, of course, Jesus from Palestine. Mithras was a particular favorite of the soldiers and there were many, so he had a faithful following. Meetings were held underground or in rooms designed to look as though they were underground in specially created spaces referred to as Mithraeums. Animal bones and cherry pits found during archeological exploration suggest feasting during the Spring time. Eventually, however, the followers of Christ gained ascendency and the other two cults disappeared from Rome.

Which brings us to yesterday’s trip to the Basilica di San Clemente al Laterano. The “modern“ church on the site was built around 1100 during the peak of the Middle Ages. It is considered a minor basilica of the Catholic church. The church is served by the Irish Dominicans who have been its caretakers since 1667 when the English tossed the entire order out of their home country. It is interesting, and instructive, to note that the entrance to the church atrium is considerably below street level.

The current church was thought to have been built on the base of a structure burned out during the sack of the city by the Normans in the late 11^th century. That hypothesis was put to rest when an obsessive compulsive monk named Joseph Mullooly, broke through into the basement and began to systematically excavate it, discovering in the process the remains of the original church which stood on the site. That church dates from 400 AD. The floor plan was very similar to the current floor plan above, even down to the support culumns and walls. The collection of mosaics and wall paintings are some of the best from that period in Rome.

It, in turn, was built on the foundations of a large private home and industrial complex which is believed to have housed a mint at one time and also a mithraeum! The remains of the mithraeum were discovered during the original excavation in the 1860’s, but poor drainage made it impossible to go any further until more recently. Evidently, followers of Christ felt the site was holy, but demonstrated their rise to power by filling in and building on top of the structure dedicated ot Mithras. Today, visitors can travel down into the archeological site and view both lower levels of the church. The lighting has been improved significantly over the decade since my first visit and there is conservation and restoration work ongoing for a number of original frescos. Pictures aren’t allowed in any of the archeological portion of the visit, but I snuck a picture of the mithraeum when no one was watching.

The bowels of San Clemente is one of Amy’s favorite spots in Rome since there is an essentially unique fresco with inscriptions in both Latin and a sort of proto-Italian which are likely some of the earliest remnants of modern Italian.