This altar was found during construction works for a new cricket pavillion in Inveresk, East Lothian, Scotland.
The altar is dedicated to Mithras, the god of light and rebirth. Mithras first appears in Roman religion in the 1st century AD and his addition to the Roman pantheon may be related to the expansion of the empire eastwards into Persia (modern-day Iran) and the ancient Indo-Iranian god Mithra, dating to c. 1300 BC. According to myth, Mithras hunted a bull and killed it in a cave; the spilling of the bull’s blood was believed to bring about the beginning of the earthly world. Membership of the cult of Mithras may have offered salvation to freeborn men.
The objects carved on the altar identify Mithras with another solar deity: the lyre, the raven and the laurel wreath (on the Sol altar) are all symbols of Apollo.
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