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Taking the Bull by His Horn: Augustus Slays the Mithraic Bull

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Abstract The Mithraic visual language can be read as a hybrid iconography created by the Roman Mithraists to stress the non-Roman provenance of their deity. This note analyses the gesture of Mithras’ slaying the bull and the so-called “Mithraic hold” to reveal the ex-novo nature of the Mithraic visual language and iconography from two vantage points: the first, at the aesthetic level; and the second, from its sources and origin. Additional considerations are also given on the iconographical referent of the Mithraic bull as well as the numismatic symbols traditionally discussed in relation to the Mithraic visual language.
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Title: Taking the Bull by His Horn: Augustus Slays the Mithraic Bull
Description:
Abstract The Mithraic visual language can be read as a hybrid iconography created by the Roman Mithraists to stress the non-Roman provenance of their deity.
This note analyses the gesture of Mithras’ slaying the bull and the so-called “Mithraic hold” to reveal the ex-novo nature of the Mithraic visual language and iconography from two vantage points: the first, at the aesthetic level; and the second, from its sources and origin.
Additional considerations are also given on the iconographical referent of the Mithraic bull as well as the numismatic symbols traditionally discussed in relation to the Mithraic visual language.

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