This project seeks to create a virtual model of the Mithraeum of Dura-Europos on a website that can serve as both an educational tool and a research database.
Current representations available online of the Mithraeum of Dura Europos are mostly rendered in two-dimension, with many images of the Mithraeum not seeming to provide the full context of the room, specifically in regards to what it might have looked like in different stages of construction throughout the time of its use. Our model aims to not only show the different stages of construction of the Mithraeum with annotations about current research progress, but also give a contextualized idea (that includes lighting and textures) for what the Mithraeum might have looked like to worshippers.
Humanities Research
Much of the literature that grounds the research included in this project stems from an article written by Lucinda dirven and Matthew M. McCarty titled “Rethinking the Dura-Europos Mithraeum. Diversification and Stabilization in a Mithraic Community.” In this piece, dirven and McCarty trace and dissect the excavations as interpreted by Henry Pearson, the team architect on the Yale-French excavations, and Mikhail Rostotzeff, the site director, who envisioned a “three-part” construction of the Mithraeum. His findings, found in the published Preliminary Report, have become widely accepted, but through a re-examination of source material and evidence, dirven and McCarty make an argument for a more complex understanding of the different stages of construction of the Mithraeum, one that does not automatically delineate and segregate the different stages, but instead acknowledges the impact of earlier stages of construction on the latter stages. The decoration of the earliest Mithreaum fully contributed to how the later stages of the MIthraeum were decorated, especially when considering re-paintings of the plaster decorations in the building. More broadly, the traditions and images of an early Mithraeum did not dissipate with new stages of construction. Instead, the inherited traditions of worshippers shaped the “new” stages of construction.
The Religion of Mithraism
The religion of Mithraism, which centers around the god Mithras, was a prevalent religion in Dura Europos. The part of the Mithraeum modeled here (now stored at the Yale University Art Gallery) is an example of a shrine dedicated to Mithras, a pre-Zoroastrian Persian solar god. The religion was popular among the Roman army, most likely because Mithras was often imaged or known as a victorious warrior who also then promised a “final victory” after death. As the cult began to grow in power and popularity in modern-day Anatolia (much of present-day Turkey), sanctuaries, or mithraeums, began to be built frequently as caves. Mithraic shrines and sanctuaries in these forms have been excavated primarily in the frontiers of the Roman empire: Britain, and along the Rhine and Danube Rivers, locations which then coincided with Roman military camps. In fact, this mithraeum was located in section (insula) J7 of Dura Europos, where the Roman military camp was held. Most are similar, centered around a bas-relief or statues of one of the most important scenes from Mithraic religion: Mithras slaying the bull, who acts as a symbol of nature. Around this central image were often smaller images depicting signs or moments in the life of Mithras, from his birth to various zodiac signs.
Mithraism, Worship, and Signs
At the time of construction in the 3rd century A.D. services and other activity inside the building would have been candle-lit. Worship and service inside a mithraeum such as this one would have been led by religious officials in front of the shrine, or central relief, punctuated by hymns as members would sit on benches along the side walls of the shrine. Much as art played a significant role in the worship and sacrality of the Mithraeum, its role as a type of symbol also factored into the everyday life and activity of people within the cult. While the cult image of Mithras stabbing the bull remains consistent throughout the life of this Mithraeum, it has been interpreted that the decorative religious program has changed throughout the Mithraeum’s stages of construction. However, something that Dirven and McCarty point out is that Pearson’s harsher delineation between his three stages aided one of Rostovtzeff and Cumont’s Orientalist arguments that the first Mithraic cult traveled to Dura Europos from Asia. Dirven and McCarty rebuff this argument. As a result, a clear visualization of the objects and other archival evidence from the Mithraeum are necessary in order to be conscious of different interpretations of the building.
Website Functionalities
A primary objective of this project is to visualize—in 3-dimensional space—what each of these stages might have looked like, especially as the mithraeum on view at the Yale University Art Gallery is a reconstruction of the Late Mithraeum. As the institution still houses objects located in the earlier, and many do not have pictures available online, a 3-dimensional reconstruction of both the Late Mithraeum and its earlier iterations provides not only a visual clarity for researchers and those interested in art and Mithraism, but may also give a contextualized understanding of how this space might have been able to be used by worshippers.
As a result, this website has the following features: