![\"IMG_3916\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2016\/08\/IMG_3916-e1471637703194-768x1024.jpg\")
In the seven\u00a0years I\u2019ve been writing my Holy Rover blog (my goodness, has it been that long?), I\u2019ve explored\u00a0hundreds of spiritual sites from\u00a0many different faith traditions. But today marks the first time I\u2019ve ever written about spirituality in ancient Rome\u2014in particular, about the worship of the\u00a0Roman god known as Mithras.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t expect to encounter the Romans on our recent trip to Austria. But at Carnuntum<\/a>, an attraction on the border between Austria and Slovakia, I encountered the most amazing archeological site I\u2019ve ever visited.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been to\u00a0quite a few Roman sites over the years, but to be honest, it\u00a0took a lot of imagination to make them into anything\u00a0more than just a pile of rocks.\u00a0Carnuntum, in contrast, was\u00a0like stepping into a time machine.<\/p>\n For at Carnuntum, they don\u2019t have just ruins: they\u2019ve rebuilt\u00a0some of what once was there.<\/p>\n Carnuntum was founded as a military\u00a0camp by Tiberius (who later became emperor) in 6 A.D. By the second century it had grown into the wealthy capital of a Roman province that covered what is now much of Austria and the Balkans. At its height, 50,000\u00a0people lived here, a mix of Roman soldiers and officials\u00a0and natives of the region. There were two amphitheaters (one for the Roman city\u00a0and the other for the civilian city)\u00a0and a school for gladiators.<\/p>\n The most famous resident of the city was the philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius, author of the Stoic classic\u00a0Meditations<\/a><\/em>. It\u2019s believed he wrote part of\u00a0this book while\u00a0he was stationed in Carnuntum.<\/p>\n Carnuntum\u2019s glory came to an end in the fifth century, when the city\u00a0was attacked by barbarians and left abandoned. But by a happy accident of history, the ruins here were not covered over by construction in\u00a0subsequent centuries. Unlike almost all major Roman settlements, Carnuntum was left largely undisturbed\u2014making it a treasure trove for archeologists.<\/p>\n With 1600 acres, Carnuntum is\u00a0one of the largest archeological parks in Europe. It\u2019s a sprawling complex that includes\u00a0remains\u00a0from the military and civilian cities and a museum full of artifacts.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a history buff like me, you probably have certain eras\u00a0that fascinate you and others that don\u2019t. Take Elizabethan England, for example. Try as I might, I can\u2019t muster up much interest in it. But Rome? Oh, my gracious. I love<\/em> Roman history (it must be a past life thing).<\/p>\n And so walking through the reconstructed buildings of Carnuntum was\u00a0the fulfillment of a wish I\u2019ve long had\u2014to travel back in time to Rome.<\/p>\n There are four main buildings in Carnuntum that have been rebuilt in their original locations, using ancient techniques and reconstructed Roman tools. The first to be done was a home once owned by a merchant. It was the equivalent of a middle class home, perfectly comfortable even by today\u2019s standards, especially if you don\u2019t\u00a0mind cooking over a fireplace.<\/p>\n Look at the\u00a0bedroom\/sitting room below. Is this nicer than your bedroom at home?\u00a0It\u2019s certainly nicer than mine.<\/p>\n The\u00a0crown jewel of Carnuntum is its\u00a0reconstruction of a villa owned by a member of the upper class. Even though Carnuntum\u00a0was in the hinterlands of the empire, this home\u00a0was likely comparable to the wealthy mansions of\u00a0Rome.<\/p>\n It\u00a0had an ingenious underfloor heating system that warmed it\u00a0in the winter, and thick walls and wide overhangs that kept\u00a0it cool in the summer. Its elegantly proportioned rooms were\u00a0decorated with beautiful painted stucco designs. All of these elements have been carefully reconstructed, with the result shown below\u2014a home that looks quite\u00a0similar to one in an upper-crust subdivision of an American city.<\/p>\n And as if all of this luxury\u00a0wasn\u2019t enough, right next door was a public bath, which has also been reconstructed.<\/p>\n Visiting such\u00a0baths was a central part of Roman life. Different rooms had pools\u00a0of different temperatures: the frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium (aren\u2019t those great names?). The baths at Carnuntum also\u00a0included a central assembly room where people could socialize before or after their baths.<\/p>\n By the time we finished our tour of the Roman city, I was ready to sell my house in Iowa and move in.<\/p>\n We next\u00a0visited\u00a0an additional treasure:\u00a0a museum filled with artifacts excavated from Carnuntum. On display\u00a0were statues and household goods, weapons of war and farming implements.<\/p>\n But by far the most intriguing to me was a Mithraeum, an underground grotto where the god Mithras was once worshipped.<\/p>\n I first encountered Mithras in the historical novels of Mary Renault<\/a>, and he\u00a0has intrigued me ever since.\u00a0The sun god Mithra originated in Persia. During the second century\u00a0his cult\u00a0became very popular in the Roman Empire, especially among soldiers in\u00a0the military. He was born on the day of the winter solstice, which was December 25 according to the Julian calendar\u2014the date that in the fourth century the Christian Church chose to celebrate as Jesus\u2019 birthday. (Many historians have pointed out similarities between the rituals of Mithras and those of Christianity, but that\u2019s a topic for another day.)<\/p>\n Archeologists have found six Mithraeum at Carnuntum, which gives an indication of how widespread the worship of Mithras was here. The Mithraeum in\u00a0the\u00a0museum is a recreation of one of these sites, using original carvings found nearby.<\/p>\n The Mithreaeum\u2019s central focus is an image of Mithras slaying a bull. The image below\u00a0is a little fuzzy because the colors are actually projected onto the stone, not painted, so as not to damage the surface. But they show how brightly colored the carved relief\u00a0once was. The scene is a key part of\u00a0the\u00a0creation myth associated with\u00a0the god and has been found in virtually all the grottos associated with the worship of Mithras.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know a lot about what happened in these underground grottos, because devotees of Mithras were sworn to secrecy on the pain of death. Much of what scholars have pieced together is speculation, mainly taken\u00a0from\u00a0descriptions of the rites given by detractors, especially early Christian writers.<\/p>\n Historians believe\u00a0there were seven levels of initiation and that those who completed them were said to attain eternal life. The rituals, which were open only to men, including purification through water, feasting, and enactments of a sacred\u00a0journey from life to death to rebirth.<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t it interesting how so many religions revolve around this archetypal story? One can dismiss this, of course, as simply due to the fact that humans try to find ways to deal with their fear of death. And yet perhaps there is a deep intuition, an innate knowledge, that death is not the end. Standing in the Mithraeum, I had a sense for how long people have been struggling with these questions, seeking answers in rituals, myths, and stories.<\/p>\n In my travels around the world, I\u2019ve become increasingly interested in sites where\u00a0ancient gods were once worshipped, places haunted by the ghosts of pilgrims past.\u00a0Carnuntum<\/a> is among the most splendid of these landmarks, an entry point into a twilight world between ages, a site where the past doesn\u2019t seem like the past at all.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Stay in touch! Like Holy Rover on Facebook:<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Gladiatoren](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2016\/08\/Gladiatoren-in-Carnuntum-2013-1024x683.jpg\")
![\"Haus](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2016\/08\/Haus-des-Lucius-Wohnraum-1024x683.jpg\")
![\"Villa](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2016\/08\/Villa-Urbana-1024x683.jpg\")
![\"The](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2016\/08\/R%C3%B6m.-Therme-Apodytherium-1024x688.jpg\")
![\"IMG_3902\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2016\/08\/IMG_3902-1024x768.jpg\")
\n