| The Mitreo, a sanctuary consecrated
to the Indo-European god Mithra is located within a water tank,
as the impermeable layer of plaster on its walls (cocciopesto)
testifies.
This sanctuary was discovered in a cellar near the railway
station in 1962. It consists of a twenty-nine-meter-long and
three-meter-wide tunnel, whose wall on the bottom is decorated
with a polychrome fresco representing the most important event
in the mithraic myth: the god Mithra while is cutting the throat
of a bull. Along the walls there were some benches (podia or
praesepia), where the disciples of this cult laid down during
the celebrations and the common meal. On the walls there are
a series of niches for the oil lamps.
The fresco represents the god Mithra while is cutting the throat
of a bull. This sacrificial rite aimed to regenerate the world;
thus from the tail of the animal appear some ears of corn, while
a dog and a snake drink its blood and a scorpion stings its
testicles. Mithra is dressed with a tunic, a pair of red trousers,
a blue mantle on his shoulder symbolising the sky. The sun and
the moon, in the upper part of the fresco, are the witnesses
of this scene, while in the lower part there are two men holding
torches: Cautes and Cautopates. Four little frescoed scenes
on each side of this fresco represent the other events of the
Mithra's myth.
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