Sidon Mithraeum
The Sidon Mithraeum was a Mithraeum in Sidon, Lebanon, discovered in the late 19th century by antiquarian Edmond Durighello and now lost. A number of statues and a marble bas-relief were found on site; these were part of the décor of a Mithraeum, an underground sanctuary dedicated to Mithras, an Iranian deity whose cult, reserved for initiates was especially popular among Roman soldiers. A brief note by the Durighello, who sold the sculptures to Louis De Clercq, offers a doubtful and fanciful description of the Mithreum. It is believed that the structure is located under the car park of the St. Nicholas Greek church in Sidon, but has not been excavated in modern times.
Statues
A set of eight statues and a marble bas-relief from the Mithraeum were donated by Edmond Durighello to the Louvre, where they remain on display today. They have been catalogued in the Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae as numbers 74–87.The bas-relief represents one of the key scenes of Mithraism: the sacrifice of the bull by Mithras. This central cultic piece was surrounded in Sidon, as on other reliefs, by the signs of the zodiac and busts of the Four Seasons. The same image is featured on one of the statues, where Mithras, in Persian attire, tight-fitting trousers, and a Phrygian cap, slays the animal. The other statues depict the god carrying the bull, two of his attendants, Cautes and Cautopates, each holding a torch, two other characters that are more difficult to identify, each characterized by a double axe which may link them to the cult of Jupiter Dolichenus, another Near Eastern deity popular among Roman soldiers. Hecate, a Greek deity of magic is depicted on a marble statue surrounded by dancers, possible the Hours. Finally a figure with a lion's head, probably a personification of Aion, a deity of eternal time. The statues are of varying sizes but of meticulous craftsmanship.