Roman Mithras Shrine and Related Artefacts Presented

The Roman ruins excavated at the former Óbuda Distillery (in the north of the Hungarian capital), now under construction at the Waterfront City residential development, are several meters below the current walkway level, so they can only be displayed at a higher level. The ruin walls of great cultural importance, excavated by experts from the Budapest History Museum, will therefore be "sliced up" on site, lifted out by crane, stored until the construction is completed (for a year and a half, according to plans) and then displayed to the public in a purpose-built shelter currently under design by Biggeorge Property, which is investing in the area.

The process of lifting the Roman shrine is similar – albeit on a much smaller scale – to the one used in Egypt to rescue the rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel during the construction of the Aswan Dam (1963-1968), and more recently the lifting of the Mithras shrine in London (1954, 2017).

The first Mithras shrine in the military city of Aquincum was discovered in the late fall of 2023 by the Budapest History Museum during archaeological excavations carried out in the area since 2017. The small sanctuary, which was only fully excavated in 2024, was built in honor of Mithras as a place of worship for the popular mystery religion in the 2nd century AD, more than 1,800 years ago. It was rebuilt on one occasion and then, during the turmoil following the Sarmatian invasion of 260 AD, the shrine itself ceased to function in the gradually depopulating suburb. Its more valuable furnishings, including the cult image and the cult vessels, were removed and the building abandoned. Later, the roof collapsed and the walls were buried with the rest of the Roman remains. Although the site was heavily disturbed during the construction, extension and public works of the Óbuda Distillery, the shrine of Mithras has survived the last 150 years relatively intact.

In addition to the walls, the excavation revealed four altar stones bearing traces of stucco and paint, one of which, by a stroke of luck, even preserved the painted dedicatory inscription TRA(n)SITO(!), which can only be linked to the cult of Mithras and which refers to the 'Passage of the Deity'. Other important finds include a lead votive (a vow offering) depicting a figure in a frigate cap, the skull of a large domestic ungulate with a three-holed candle underneath, and a fragment of a stone bowl. Pieces of the broken mural that once adorned the walls of the sanctuary have been pieced together to reveal a portrait of a man wearing a frigate cap – he may have been Mithras himself.

The Mithras cult can be seen as a quintessentially Roman cult, but one that developed its own iconographic program using Persian and Greek imagery in Asia Minor in the 1st century AD. This explains the distinctive cap motif and oriental costume of Mithras and his two torchbearers.

Although several shrines of Mithras have been excavated in the wider Aquincum area, this is the first such site in the former military city. The worship of Mithras was very popular among soldiers and was one of the mystery cults from which Christianity drew particularly heavily.

Once the remains have been removed, they will be stored in a conservation warehouse for about a year and a half. The rare Roman relic will not only be accessible to the residents of the housing estate, but will also be part of the city's cultural circuit, as it will be open to the public.