Wonderful Roman altars found under East Lothian cricket pitch are a Mithras miracle
Mithraism was a secretive, male-only religion that ‘gave soldiers a sense that there was a purpose to their world and a life after death’
“What have the Romans ever done for us?” Well, we won’t go through the full list of Scotland’s answers to that famous question from Monty Python’s Life of Brian, but it just got a bit longer.
For the Romans have left us with two absolutely extraordinary altars, one dedicated to the mysterious god Mithras and another to the sun god Sol. Dated to about 140AD, they lay buried underground for nearly two millennia before being discovered 16 years ago during excavations at a cricket pavilion in Inveresk, East Lothian.
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Life after death
Mithraism was a secretive, male-only religion that, according to Dr Fraser Hunter of National Museums Scotland, “gave soldiers a sense that there was a purpose to their world and a life after death”.
We may even know the name of the Roman soldier responsible for the altars’ creation, as his abbreviated name is carved on them. “G CAS FLA” probably means Gaius Cassius Flavianus.
The altars will go on show at an exhibition in November entitled Roman Scotland: Life On The Edge Of Empire. Gaius may be long gone but at least his name lives on. Praise Mithras!
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