The Barberini Mithraeum is a small building that, reusing previous structures from the 2nd century AD, was dedicated to the cult of Mithras, a solar deity of Iranian origin already guarantor of pacts and agreements, later with a more explicitly military profile and thus particularly widespread among the Roman legions especially in the middle and late empire.
The room, discovered in 1936 and consisting of a hall measuring 11.85 x 6.25 meters with a barrel vault and side benches called praesepia, features a complex and interesting fresco decoration, with few parallels (e.g. Marino and Capua; in Rome the Mithraeum of S. Prisca): above, the celestial vault with zodiac signs, around ten small panels (pinakes) depicting the history and sacred feats of Mithras; the personifications of Sol and Luna.
Attention focuses on the central taurobolium scene where Mithras, flanked as usual by Cautes and Cautopates, ritually slays the bull.
