DOI article:
Ninov, Lazar: Animal bones from mithraeum at Novae
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41865#0233
Lazar Ninov
Sofia
ANIMAL BONES FROM MITHRAEUM AT NOVAE
The cult of Mithra was introduced into the European part of the Roman Em-
pire at the end of Ist century AD and became popular in 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
It was spread mostly among the soldiers where its popularity was extremely high.
Within the Roman army there were many soldiers coming from the Orient. The
movements of the armies from one province to another popularized the various
beliefs of the soldiers from Euphrates to Rein. The region of the Lower Danube
was a border zonę that needed a strong military presence. There is a good body
of evidence that proves the presence of the cult of Mithra. One such place was
the discovered near Novae mithraeum. The bones found in it constitute the sub-
ject-matter of the present study. In the inner part of the Empire this cult was
popularized by the veterans, slaves and merchants. There are numerous papers
about its spread in the provinces Lower Moesia and Thrace. Animal bones from
closed complexes, however, have not yet been found anywhere else but in the
mithraeum in Novae. According to the available literaturę, there are no data about
animal bones connected with the Mithra cult in the Roman provinces along the
Danube river. This makes the present study valuable as a bases for the futurę
investigations.
Novae is situated in the Lower Moesia province, on the right bank of the
Danube and lies east from the present town of Sviśtov. There was ąuartered the
legio I Italica. The cult site of Novae and the artefacts found in it are published
by the excavator [Naydenova 1995]. There were established two periods of set-
tlement. During the first one, which comprises the time between the end of the
lst century and the very beginning of the 2nd century AD, this was a smali mith-
raeum. To that belongs a deep pit at the southeastem comer of the mithraeum.
During the second period, dated from the reign of Aurelianus to the introduction
of Christianity on the mithraeum it was built another sanctuary devoted to Sol
Augustus. The same sanctuary housed the cult of Mithra too.
The fauna comes from two closed complexes. The first one includes 161 an-
imal remains found in the pit. 94.41% out of the whole assemblage belong to
Sofia
ANIMAL BONES FROM MITHRAEUM AT NOVAE
The cult of Mithra was introduced into the European part of the Roman Em-
pire at the end of Ist century AD and became popular in 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
It was spread mostly among the soldiers where its popularity was extremely high.
Within the Roman army there were many soldiers coming from the Orient. The
movements of the armies from one province to another popularized the various
beliefs of the soldiers from Euphrates to Rein. The region of the Lower Danube
was a border zonę that needed a strong military presence. There is a good body
of evidence that proves the presence of the cult of Mithra. One such place was
the discovered near Novae mithraeum. The bones found in it constitute the sub-
ject-matter of the present study. In the inner part of the Empire this cult was
popularized by the veterans, slaves and merchants. There are numerous papers
about its spread in the provinces Lower Moesia and Thrace. Animal bones from
closed complexes, however, have not yet been found anywhere else but in the
mithraeum in Novae. According to the available literaturę, there are no data about
animal bones connected with the Mithra cult in the Roman provinces along the
Danube river. This makes the present study valuable as a bases for the futurę
investigations.
Novae is situated in the Lower Moesia province, on the right bank of the
Danube and lies east from the present town of Sviśtov. There was ąuartered the
legio I Italica. The cult site of Novae and the artefacts found in it are published
by the excavator [Naydenova 1995]. There were established two periods of set-
tlement. During the first one, which comprises the time between the end of the
lst century and the very beginning of the 2nd century AD, this was a smali mith-
raeum. To that belongs a deep pit at the southeastem comer of the mithraeum.
During the second period, dated from the reign of Aurelianus to the introduction
of Christianity on the mithraeum it was built another sanctuary devoted to Sol
Augustus. The same sanctuary housed the cult of Mithra too.
The fauna comes from two closed complexes. The first one includes 161 an-
imal remains found in the pit. 94.41% out of the whole assemblage belong to