Roman Mithraeum Discovered in Southern Spain

CABRA, SPAIN—ArtNews reports that a sanctuary dedicated to the god Mithras has been uncovered at the Villa del Mitra in southern Spain's Roman city of Licabrum by researchers from the University of Málaga, the Carlos III University of Madrid, and the University of Córdoba. The villa, which has been dated to the first century A.D., was discovered in the 1970s and named for a second-century A.D. sculpture of Mithras sacrificing a bull discovered there about 20 years earlier. The villa featured a courtyard with a pond, rooms with mosaic floors, and a subfloor heating system. The Mithraeum was constructed at the villa in the second century A.D. and remodeled at the end of the third century. Several steps descend from its narrow entrance to a rectangular room measuring about 24 long by eight feet wide. Two stone benches flank the walls. Members of the cult would have sat on the benches during feasts and rituals. Fragments of pig, bird, and rabbit bones have been found on the floor. To read about a Mithraeum excavated at the Roman site of Mariana, go to "World Roundup: Corsica."