A temple of the Mithras cult, 7 metres under the City
In September 1954 builders digging the foundations of an office block on Walbrook in the City of London uncovered a Roman temple of the mystery god Mithras, perhaps the most famous Roman find of the century in London. It was built in the mid 3rd century partly below ground, recalling the cave where Mithras slew the bull, on the bank of the now buried River Walbrook. When it was rededicated early in the 4th century, probably to Bacchus, someone carefully buried its marble heads: Mithras in his Phrygian cap, Minerva, and Serapis with a grain basket on his head. A relief found nearby in 1889 shows Mithras killing the bull inside the wheel of the zodiac, dedicated by a veteran of the Second Augustan Legion. The ruin was taken apart and rebuilt 100 metres away beside a street, not accurately. When Bloomberg built its European headquarters on the site it moved the temple back, 7 metres below today’s street, and opened it in 2017 with most of its original stones. The same dig turned up the Bloomberg tablets, with the earliest written mention of London.
Walbrook, City of London, England
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Other places on the map within a couple of hours of here.
