LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mithras: Caves
built 302 days ago
[C]aves are precisely hollows within the rocky earth, which suggests that the rock from which Mithras is born is meant to represent the Mithraic cave as seen from the outside. Now as we saw earlier, the ancient author Porphyry records the tradition that the Mithraic cave was intended to be "an image of the cosmos." Of course, the hollow cave would have to be an image of the cosmos as seen from the inside, looking out at the enclosing, cave-like sphere of the stars. But if the cave symbolizes the cosmos as seen from the inside, it follows that the rock out of which Mithras is born must ultimately be a symbol for the cosmos as seen from the outside. This idea is not as abstract as might first appear, for artistic representations of the cosmos as seen from the outside were in fact very common in antiquity. A famous example is the "Atlas Farnese" statue, showing Atlas bearing on his shoulder the cosmic globe, on which are depicted the constellations as they would appear from an imaginary vantage point outside of the universe.
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Records appear to show that this was the site of a semi subterranean cave, dedicated to Mithras. It was excavated in 1898 and several Mithraic figures were recovered. This is the only Mithraic site which appears to follow the continental model in that it is partly underground... archaeological investigation in the early nineteenth century was unscientific in the extreme and it is difficult now to be certain about what was found on the site. In 1900 it was stated that amongst the alters found in the Chapel Hill cave was one bearing the names of Gallus and Volusianus, who were consoles in the year 252. Unless a coincidence this again shows evidence of high status and official approval of the followers of Mithras. There was also found a tablet, which shows a representation of Mithras himself coming out of an egg and surrounded by an oval belt containing the signs of the zodiac.
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Worship took place in a temple, or "mithraeum", an artificial cave probably constructed to resemble the place of Mithras's birth. Although some of these temples were built specifically for the purpose, most of them were rooms inside larger structures which had a different purpose, such as a private home or a bath house.
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