사용자:배우는사람/문서:Mithraeum

위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.
A mithraeum found in the ruins of Ostia Antica, Italy
How a modern history theme park imagines a mithraeum: Museum Orientalis in the Netherlands
Finds from a mithraeum in Stockstadt, Germany
A mithraeum found in the German city of Saarbrücken

A Mithraeum is a place of worship for the followers of the mystery religion of Mithraism.

The Mithraeum was either an adapted natural cave or cavern or an artificial building imitating a cavern. Mithraea were dark and windowless, even if they were not actually in a subterranean space or in a natural cave. When possible, the mithraeum was constructed within or below an existing building. The site of a mithraeum may also be identified by its separate entrance or vestibule, its "cave", called the spelaeum or spelunca, with raised benches along the side walls for the ritual meal, and its sanctuary at the far end, often in a recess, before which the pedestal-like altar stood. Many mithraea that follow this basic plan are scattered over much of the Roman Empire's former area, particularly where the legions were stationed along the frontiers (such as Britain). Others may be recognized by their characteristic layout, even though converted as crypts beneath Christian churches.

From the structure of the mithraea it is possible to surmise that worshippers would have gathered for a common meal along the reclining couches lining the walls. Most temples could hold only thirty or forty individuals.

The mithraeum itself was arranged as an "image of the universe". It is noticed by some researchers that this movement, especially in the context of mithraic iconography (see below), seems to stem from the neoplatonic concept that the "running" of the sun from solstice to solstice is a parallel for the movement of the soul through the universe, from pre-existence, into the body, and then beyond the physical body into an afterlife.

Notable mithraea[편집]

France

Germany

Hungary

Israel

Italy

Romania

Spain

Switzerland

  • Martigny (ancient Octodurus) - a reconstructed Mithraeum [2]

Syria

  • Duro-Europos - Transported to and rebuilt at Yale University's Gallery of Fine Arts.

United Kingdom

External links[편집]