London Mithraeum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
London Mithraeum

The Mithraeum in 2017, in the Bloomberg Space
Location in City of London Show map of City of London Location in City of London in 1300 Show map of City of London in 1300
Location	12 Walbrook, London, EC4
Coordinates	51°30′45″N 00°05′26.16″W / 51.51250°N 0.0906000°W / 51.51250; -0.0906000
Type	Sanctuary
History
Periods	Roman Imperial

The London Mithraeum, also known as the Temple of Mithras, Walbrook, is a Roman mithraeum that was discovered in Walbrook, a street in the City of London, during a building's construction in 1954. The entire site was relocated to permit continued construction and this temple of the mystery god Mithras became perhaps the most famous 20th-century Roman discovery in London.

Excavation and artefacts

The site was excavated by W. F. Grimes, director of the Museum of London, in 1954.

The temple, initially hoped to have been an early Christian church, was built in the mid-3rd century and dedicated to Mithras or perhaps jointly to several deities popular among Roman soldiers. Then it was rededicated, probably to Bacchus, in the early fourth century.

Found within the temple, where they had been carefully buried at the time of its rededication, were finely detailed third-century white marble likenesses of Minerva, Mercury the guide of the souls of the dead, and the syncretic gods Mithras and Serapis, imported from Italy. There were several coarser locally-made clay figurines of Venus, combing her hair. The artefacts recovered were put on display in the Museum of London.

Head of Serapis found in the 1954 excavations.

Among the sculptures the archaeologists found was a head of Mithras himself, recognizable by his Phrygian cap. The base of the head is tapered to fit a torso, which was not preserved.

Artefacts found in Walbrook in 1889 probably came from the Mithraeum, according to the archaeologist [[Ralph Merrifield].

Location and relocation

The Roman temple, when it was originally built, would have stood on the east bank of the now covered-over River Walbrook, a key freshwater source in Roman Londinium.

The temple foundations are very close to other important sites in the city of London including the historic London Stone, the Bank of England and London Wall. Though the present location is at street level, the original Mithraeum was built partly underground.

The temple site was uncovered in September 1954 during excavation work for the construction of Bucklersbury House, a 14-storey modernist office block to house Legal & General. Due to the necessity of building over the site, the whole site was uprooted and moved down the road to Temple Court, Queen Victoria Street, London EC4, where the remains of the temple foundations have been reassembled for display to the public.

Images for kids

• 

  White marble relief depicting Mithras slaying the bull, found at the Walbrook site and on display at the Museum of London

• 

  A stylus and writing tablet, the oldest record of a commercial transaction in the City of London

• 

  The Mithraeum in 2004 when reassembled at Temple Court, Queen Victoria Street, EC4

See also

In Spanish: Mitreo de Londres para niños