Mithra Saecvlaris

Even though the Mithraic epiclesis SAECULARIS has been explained with a link to the Ludi SAECULARES of 248, we prefer to elucidate it with the relief that we can observe between the two altars consecrated to MYTRAE SAECULARI, in Housesteads, in the civil parish of Bardon Mill in Northumberland, England, south of Broomlee. Close to Hadrian’s vallum, we can actually see a representation of Mithras, identified with Phanes, emerging from the cosmogonic egg with a zodiacal belt around him, lighting up the world. Concerning Jupiter (IOVI SEQULARI), moreover, on an Antoninianus of Claudius II “the Gothic”, this epiclesis expresses his responsibility for the kosmos in its cyclic eternity. Like Jupiter, Mithras is a sovereign of the universe