An 2000-year-old marble monument featuring the pagan god Mithras has been found outside Rome by Italian police who believe it was to have been illegally sold abroad. The large marble bas-relief which dates from the 2nd century AD was recovered by authorities in a house north of the capital, according to a report in the Italian daily, Il Messaggero.
The relief, made of white Carrara marble and weighing 1,500 kilogrammes, comes from Vejo - a former Etruscan city that flourished in the 5th century BC - and shows the god Mithras slaying a bull.
According to a statement by Italian tax police, the operation "allowed us to also discover an archaeological site previously unknown to authorities."
Mithras worshippers held strong beliefs in a celestial heaven and an infernal hell, they believed in resurrection as well as judgement day and also drank wine and ate bread to symbolise the body and blood of the god.
The birth of the god was celebrated annually on 25 December.
clipped from: www.adnkronos.com 