Mithraeum
The Mithraeum under Santa Prisca was first excavated in 1952-59 through Dutch excavations. The original building was erected ca 95 and served as Trajan’s town house until his death. One hundred years later, a member of the imperial family took over the building and built a Mithraeum in one part of the basement while a Christian meeting place was established in the other part.
The original Mithrauem had a central aisle, a niche and side benches. Fine fresoces were found on the Mithraeum walls as well as a stucco Mithras the Bull Slayer, one of the main images of the Mithras cult. Renovations in 220 yielded a larger central cult room and the addition of new ones while the frescoes were covered with new, more elaborate paintings.
These paintings were important to the development of understanding the Mithraic cult. Along with the typical bull slaying scene so common amongst the cult, other paintings depicted different cult rituals. For example, one painting shows a procession of figures wearing masks and different colored tunics holding what has been presumed to be a piece of liturgical equipment. These paintings have been incorporated in the long standing debate about the admittance of women into the cult.
Around 400, the Christians took over the Mithraeum, destroyed it and built Santa Prisca on top of it.
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