Editing Mithraism (section)

=== Bull-slaying scene ===
{{See also|Tauroctony}}
In every mithraeum the centerpiece was a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull, an act called the tauroctony.{{efn|English ''tauroctony'' is an adaption of the Greek word ''tauroktónos'' (ταυροκτόνος, "bull killing").}}{{efn|
"Although the iconography of the cult varied a great deal from temple to temple, there is one element of the cult's iconography which was present in essentially the same form in every mithraeum and which, moreover, was clearly of the utmost importance to the cult's ideology; namely the so-called tauroctony, or bull-slaying scene, in which the god Mithras, accompanied by a series of other figures, is depicted in the act of killing the {{nowrap|bull." — D. Ulansey (1991)<ref name=Ulansey-1991-Origins/>{{rp|style=ama|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=25_SOWldSUUC&q=cumont+tauroctony&pg=PA6 6]}} }}
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The image may be a relief, or free-standing, and side details may be present or omitted. The centre-piece is Mithras clothed in [[Anatolia]]n costume and wearing a [[Phrygian cap]]; who is kneeling on the exhausted bull, holding it by the nostrils<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 77}} with his left hand, and stabbing it with his right. As he does so, he looks over his shoulder towards the figure of Sol. A dog and a snake reach up towards the blood. A scorpion seizes the bull's genitals. A raven is flying around or is sitting on the bull. One or three ears of wheat are seen coming out from the bull's tail, sometimes from the wound. The bull was often white. The god is sitting on the bull in an unnatural way with his right leg constraining the bull's hoof and the left leg is bent and resting on the bull's back or flank.{{efn|"The god's right leg, appearing on the left as one faces the tauroctony, is nearly always straight as it pins the bull's hoof to the ground, while his left leg, which is usually resting on the back or flank of the bull, is bent at the knee with his foot often partially obscured beneath the folds of his tunic. Anyone familiar with the cult's iconography will immediately recognize this awkward and possibly unnatural posture as a typical or even essential aspect of the tauroctony. The remarkable consistency of this particular feature is underscored by comparison with the subtle variability of others&nbsp;..." {{nowrap|— Z. Mazur ({{circa|2011}})<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irisnoir.com/Zeke/HarmoniousOpposition.pdf |title=Harmonious Opposition (Part&nbsp;I): Pythagorean themes of cosmogonic mediation in the Roman mysteries of Mithras |access-date=2011-06-14 |last=Mazur |first=Zeke |author-link=Alexander J. Mazur |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121161617/http://www.irisnoir.com/Zeke/HarmoniousOpposition.pdf |archive-date=2011-11-21 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>}} }} The two torch-bearers on either side are dressed like Mithras: ''Cautes'' with his torch pointing up, and ''Cautopates'' with his torch pointing down.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 98–99}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.isvroma.it/public/pecus/nasstrom.pdf |title=The sacrifices of Mithras |access-date=2011-04-04 |last=Näsström |first=Britt-Marie |quote=He is wearing a [[Phrygian cap]] and a wind-filled cloak, and, most remarkable of all, his head is turned in the other direction as if he would not look at his own deed. Still, this sacrifice is a guarantee of salvation for the participants. |archive-date=9 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409212158/http://www.isvroma.it/public/pecus/nasstrom.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Sometimes [[Cautes and Cautopates]] carry shepherds' crooks instead of torches.<ref>{{cite journal |first=J.R. |last=Hinnells |title=The iconography of Cautes and Cautopates: The data |journal=Journal of Mithraic Studies |volume=1 |year=1976 |pages=36–67}}<br/>''See also'' {{cite encyclopedia |first=William W. |last=Malandra |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/v5f1/v5f1a033.html |title=Cautes and Cautopates }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[File:KunsthistorischesMuseumMithrabulSacrifice.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.25|A Roman tauroctony [[relief]] from [[Aquileia]] ({{circa|175}}&nbsp;CE; [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]], Vienna)]]

The event takes place in a cavern, into which Mithras has carried the bull, after having hunted it, ridden it and overwhelmed its strength.<ref name=Clauss-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 74}} Sometimes the cavern is surrounded by a circle, on which the twelve signs of the zodiac appear. Outside the cavern, top left, is [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]] the sun, with his flaming crown, often driving a [[quadriga]]. A ray of light often reaches down to touch Mithras. At the top right is [[Luna (mythology)|Luna]], with her crescent moon, who may be depicted driving a [[biga (chariot)|biga]].<ref name="griffithlecole">{{cite web |website=L'Ecole Initiative |first=Alison |last=Griffith |year=1996 |url=http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/articles/mithraism.html |title=Mithraism |access-date=2 April 2004 |archive-date=27 April 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040427151813/http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/articles/mithraism.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In some depictions, the central tauroctony is framed by a series of subsidiary scenes to the left, top and right, illustrating events in the Mithras narrative; Mithras being born from the rock, the water miracle, the hunting and riding of the bull, meeting Sol who kneels to him, shaking hands with [[Sol Invictus|Sol]] and sharing a meal of bull-parts with him, and ascending to the heavens in a chariot.<ref name="griffithlecole"/> In some instances, as is the case in the stucco icon at [[Santa Prisca Church (Rome)|Santa Prisca]] Mithraeum in Rome, the god is shown [[heroic nudity|heroically nude]].{{efn|name=name="jonasicondescription"|The figure of Mithras himself is usually attired in an oriental costume of Phrygian cap, tunica manicata (a long-sleeved tunic), [[anaxyrides]] (eastern style trousers), and a cape, though in some cases, he is depicted heroically nude or even, in a unique example from Ostia, in what seems to be a Greek chiton. Like the general trend in Graeco-Roman art, most if not all tauroctony scenes, regardless of the medium they were executed in, were painted, and the different items of Mithras' clothing was usually colored in either blue or red, often, as in the painting at Marino, with most of the costume in red with only the inside of the cape being blue and star-speckled. The bull was often white, sometimes wearing the dorsuale, the Roman sacrificial band in reds or browns, while the torchbearers could be depicted in a variety of colors with reds and greens being the most common. — Bjørnebye (2007).<ref name=Bjørnebye-2007>{{cite thesis |last=Bjørnebye |first=Jonas |title=Hic locus est felix, sanctus, piusque benignus: The cult of Mithras in fourth century Rome |degree=PhD |year=2007}}</ref>{{rp|at=chapter: The Mithraic icon in fourth century Rome: The composition of the Mithraic cult icon}} }} Some of these reliefs were constructed so that they could be turned on an axis. On the reverse was another, more elaborate feasting scene. This indicates that the bull killing scene was used in the first part of the celebration, then the relief was turned, and the second scene was used in the second part of the celebration.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1=Klauck |first1=Hans-Josef |author1-link=Hans-Josef Klauck
 |last2=McNeil |first2=Brian
 |date=December 2003
 |title=The Religious Context of Early Christianity: A guide to Graeco-Roman religions
 |publisher=T & T Clark Ltd.
 |isbn=978-0-567-08943-4
 |pages=146ff
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XEuddWHIqaYC&pg=PA146
 |access-date=4 September 2011
}}
</ref>
Besides the main cult icon, a number of mithraea had several secondary tauroctonies, and some small portable versions, probably meant for private devotion, have also been found.<ref>{{cite book |last=Beck |first=Roger |year=2006 |title=The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire | publisher = Oxford University Press |place=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-814089-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordworldheroi00libg |url-access=limited |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordworldheroi00libg/page/n35 21] |quote=Often, the mithraeum was embellished elsewhere with secondary exemplars of the tauroctony, and there also seem to have been small portable versions, perhaps for private devotion.}}</ref>