In 1954, archaeologists investigating the site of a new office building in London uncovered a temple of Mithras dating to around 240 CE. Public outcry forced the developers to delay their work long enough for the temple to be completely excavated and disassembled. The key artifact was this head of Mithras.
The temple was eventually re-assembled on a vacant lot on Victoria Street, but the restoration was somewhat bungled and it was a long way from the artifacts found with it, kept in the London Museum. Above, the plan of the temple.
A few years ago that 1954 office building was torn down to make way for the new headquarters of Bloomberg Europe. Bloomberg paid for a major archaeological campaign in another part of the site, and
amazing finds were made in the mud of the former Walbrook. Like this set of Roman pewter and leather shoe.
Bloomberg also provided space in the basement of the new building to reassemble the temple in its approximate original location, and the temple has just re-opened to the public. Above, some of the stones on their way to the new site.
Video here.
The temple as it looks in its new home.
And this time the temple is accompanied by an impressive collection of artifacts from the site.
Like this section of a Roman wooden door; did you know the paneled door was such a traditional design? So kudos to Bloomberg, the archaeologists who did this work, and the preservationists who set up the London Mithraeum in its original home.
Mithras is the one Roman deities that truly fascinates me, because his cult seems to have had a profound unintended influence on the development of early Christianity froma position of mere fringe belief to one of widespread popularity within the Roman Empire. It is tantalizing to wonder how different the world might be today if only faith in Mithras had been more democratic and accessible instead of being so secretive and exclusive.
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