I had the opportunity this weekend to visit the temple dedicated to Mithras on Hadrian’s Wall behind the auxiliary fort of Brocolita at Carrawburgh, Northumberland.
The remains of an early 3rd century mithraeum was discovered in 1949 and excavated by Ian Richmond and J.P. Gillam in 1950, and is the second-most northernly mithraeum discovered so far. The Brocolitia mithraeum is also the only sanctuary outside the Rhine provinces from which a monument of the goddess Vagdavercustis has been recovered. Like most other mithraea, the Brocolitia temple was built to resemble a cave, and also had the usual anteroom, and a nave with raised benches (podia) along the sides. At Brocolitia, the anteroom and nave were separated by a wattle-work screen, the base of which was found exceptionally well preserved.
The three altars found there were all dedicated by commanding officers of the unit stationed here, the First Cohort of Batavians, a Germanic people from the Rhineland. From left to right in the picture the named commanders are Marcus Simplicius Simplex (RIB 1546), Lucius Antonius Proculus (RIB 1544) and Aulus Cluentius Habitius (RIB 1545).
Mithraism is a Persian religion, with many aspects similar to another minor eastern Roman religion, Christianity, where the proponents are given the hope of a better afterlife rather than improving the current life and through this became a favourite of the Roman army.
