A century ago, in 1922, some construction workers were intent on excavating the foundation for a new building in an area not far from the famous amphitheatre of Capua.
As the work progressed, they came across a certainly ancient structure, adorned with vividly colored and well-preserved paintings. It didn't take the experts long to figure out what it was. In that underground space, dating back to Roman times, all the elements linked to the cult of the god Mithras were concentrated. And the diffusion of that cult in the area was known. Not surprisingly, there was also his image carved among those of the deities depicted in the arch keys of the nearby amphitheatre. And among the oriental gladiators who fought there, it is probable that there were devotees of the Indo-Persian deity. In short, it was a Mithraeum, datable to the end of the 1st century AD, therefore the oldest found in the West, but above all the best preserved of those that have come down to us.
Opened to the public in 1937, it is accessed by a staircase that descends to a corridor, originally the antechamber of the underground sanctuary. It is composed of a rectangular room measuring twelve meters by three, with a cocciopesto floor and marble inserts and a barrel vault with skylights. The yellow vault has red and green painted stars, with glittering glass paste in the centre, to give the impression of a starry sky. On the long sides of the room there are stone seats on which the adepts took their seats and small tubs for ritual ablutions were placed in the walls. The wall paintings depict the seven levels of initiation that the faithful were called to pass in order to reach perfection. On the south wall is a marble bas-relief depicting Eros leading Psyche towards the light.
On the back wall of the room above the altar, the large fresco of the Tauroctony, painted in all the Mithraic places of worship, is a fundamental and central element. In that of Capua, which is still in excellent condition, all the distinctive symbolic elements of that type of representation are present, clearly visible and legible. Against the background of a rocky wall, there is the god Mithras, with his distinctive red Phrygian cap, red oriental dress bordered in green and gold and a red cloak but inside blue to represent the celestial vault. The god stabs the great white sacrificial ox in the neck, whose eye expresses all the terror of the victim. A detail that gives an artistic value, as well as a ritual, to the work. Above, to the left is the Sun, with a red cloak and a crow, to the right, the Moon with a scythe and a fluttering cloak. Always the Moon, on a chariot with a brown horse and a light one, is frescoed on the lunette of the east wall. In the Tauroctony also appear, below, on the left Ocean and on the right the Earth with green hair that evokes Nature. Also in the lower part of the painting are the three symbolic animals that accompany the sacrifice of the bull: the dog, the snake and the scorpion. There are also two torch bearers: Cautes, on the left, with the torch raised to commemorate the spring equinox and, on the right, Cautopates, with the torch lowered to symbolize the autumn equinox. And Mithras was the deity connected to the equinoxes. To complete the complex representation, there are the spirits associated with the place. Torch bearers with sacred twigs, used by Persian priests, are then painted on the side walls at the entrance.
The underground space of Capua was frequented by the followers of Mithras until the 4th century AD.
Today it can be visited by being accompanied by the staff on duty at the nearby Amphitheatre.
