Mithras Tauroctonous Relief

Carved in stone, this ancient relief shows Mithras Tauroctonous, the god Mithras slaying a sacred bull, the central image of a mystery religion that spread across the Roman Empire. Found in the Xanthi region of northern Greece, near Mykis, the work testifies to how far Mithraism traveled in antiquity, a cult that once rivalled early Christianity in popularity. Its carved surface preserves the scene at the heart of that faith: the bull, the god, the act of sacrifice. For a traveler in Thrace, it is a quiet reminder of how wide the classical world's beliefs once stretched.