Publication details

Expressing religious ideas through Visual Art : a new interpretation of the third symbol of the Mithraic grade miles on the floor mosaic from the Felicissimus Mithraeum in Ostia

Authors

CHALUPA Aleš GLOMB Tomáš

Year of publication 2012
Type Appeared in Conference without Proceedings
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Description The Roman Cult of Mithras is an example of a religion which expressed its central ideas not by text but through visual art. This paper deals with a single instance of this strategy and exemplifies its use in the Mithraic art. In the first part of the paper, a new interpretation of the third symbol of the Mithraic grade Miles on the floor mosaic from the mithraeum Felicissimus will be presented. The object which this symbol represents has been, according to our opinion, wrongly identified in the previous scholarship and a new interpretation is urgently required. In the second part of the paper, after we have argued that the new interpretation we are proposing conforms better with other Mithraic evidence, possible meanings of this object in Mithraic religious ideology will be explored and evaluated.

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.

More info