Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

HAWARTI

SYRIA

pedestal was added on the right side of the
podium, with two steps leading sideways to
it. The last two layers of painting go over
from the walls onto the podium and the
pedestal. The earlier paintings, of which we
do not have any clear idea, thus predate the
installation of the podium, while the last
two, the only ones that can be at least part-
ly understood, are dated by the contents of
the fill in the steps in front of the podium to
not earlier than ca. AD 360.

In the last period of use, the paintings
of the mithraeum covered the entire north-
ern wall and the structures in front of the
niche, while the niche itself remained
remarkably plain. This can be explained
only if it is assumed that the niche held
a Mithra relief. In front of the podium to
the right, there stood during the last phase
of use an altar, which we have found
knocked down and lying with its front
face, painted twice, to the ground.

CHRONOLOGY

The small finds connected with the latest
changes in the decoration of the
mithraeum, as well as with its destruc-
tion, can hardly be more telling.
Altogether 23 coins were found, all of
them of the 4th cent., the latest one being
attributed to Arcadius (Augustus since
AD 383, though reigned only from 395);
lamps and pottery belong to the same
chronological horizon.
The inevitable conclusion from the dat-
ing evidence is that the mithraeum
remained in use at least until the last years

of the 4th cent., when it was finally sacked
and filled in, and a church was built above
it. It makes the mithraeum of Hawarti the
latest known to have been used anywhere
in the Roman world. Indeed, the most
recent monuments of the cult of Mithra
known so far are an inscription of AD 387
in the city of Rome and sculptures found
more than 100 years ago in Saida in
Lebanon, which E. Will ascribed to AD
389- In Syria, the only mithraeum found so
far was in Dura-Europos, dated to the mid-
3rd cent, (now at Yale University).

PAINTINGS

Apart from the obvious historical impor-
tance, the most interesting aspect of the
discovery are the preserved paintings.
Painted decoration in the mithraea is very
rare, and in the known cases (again, Dura-
Europos, Aquincum on the Danube, and a
few in Italy) it is mostly limited to a frame
around the niche. The mithraeum at
Huarte, however, preserved quite uniquely
the decoration on the walls. It depicts sym-
bolical scenes related to the myth of
Mithra. As this is very imperfectly known,
the discovery at Hawarti shall no doubt
add considerably to our knowledge of
mithriacism. Quite certainly, this monu-

ment will be quoted in every future work
on the subject.
The latest layer of painting, the only one
of which we can have any idea, covers the
wall right and left of the niche, which was
only whitewashed, no doubt behind the lost
sculpture. The figures are aligned frontally in
a continuous frieze 110 cm high, separated
from the ceiling by a wide red band {Fig. 3).
Below the figures there is a dado with
varied geometric patterns (sets of lozenges,
scaled panels, etc.) covering also the podi-
um added in the middle.
The first scene on the right side of the
niche depicts the struggle of Zeus with the

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