A recent study of the Močići site on the Dalmatian coast in southern Croatia has revealed that worshippers of the Roman mystery cult of Mithras adapted their practices to the natural environment far more than previously thought. The findings challenge the long-held belief that Mithraic sanctuaries were strictly uniform, indoor, and artificial spaces designed to represent the cosmos.
Located in the hills above the ancient city of Epidaurum (modern Cavtat), the Močići sanctuary features a rock-cut relief of Mithras positioned above a natural cave and spring. Unlike the typical enclosed Roman mithraea, this site lacks any built structures, suggesting that rituals were performed in the open air, directly engaging with the surrounding landscape.
The Standard Model of Mithraic Worship
Mithras, a deity with ancient Iranian roots associated with contracts and light, was widely worshipped across the Roman Empire from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD. The cult was particularly popular among soldiers and merchants. Over the past two centuries, archaeologists have excavated around one hundred sanctuaries dedicated to Mithras.
These traditional sanctuaries typically followed a highly recognizable and consistent design. They were elongated, enclosed halls featuring side benches or podia where initiates reclined for communal banquets. At the focal point of the room was the tauroctony, a sculpted or painted scene depicting Mithras slaying a bull.
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Detail of tauroctony relief at Močići. (Ian Wilson/Journal of Roman Archaeology)
Because of this architectural uniformity, many scholars believed the cult was a homogeneous religion that artificially recreated the cosmos wherever it went. The 3rd-century Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry described Mithraic caves as images of the universe, an idea that has dominated modern interpretations, suggesting the cult was portable and independent of its physical location.
Breaking the Rules at Močići
The Močići site, first documented by archaeologist Arthur Evans in 1883, tells a different story. A new study by Ian S. Wilson of Harvard University and Matthew McCarty of the University of British Columbia, published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, utilized 3D photogrammetry to map the sanctuary in detail.
Their research revealed a sanctuary that defies standard conventions. The central relief of Mithras, measuring 75 by 110 centimeters, is carved directly into the living rock above the entrance to a small natural cave. While the iconography is canonical - showing Mithras, the bull, a dog, snake, scorpion, torchbearers, and celestial bodies - the setting is entirely natural.
There are no walls, roofs, or rock-cut benches. The cave interior is merely 17.7 square meters, far too small for the typical communal dining associated with the cult, where average halls were around 68 square meters. Furthermore, the relief is difficult to see from inside the cave, functioning instead as a focal point for an outdoor gathering space.
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Photogrammetric model of Močići site. 1: bull-stabbing relief. 2: modern concrete wellhead. 3: rock-cut steps. 4: fissure in rock. 5: cave floor (modern). 6: relief of Silvanus. 7: modern concrete feature. 8: clearing. 9: steps into clearing. (Model: Ian Wilson and Matthew McCarty/Journal of Roman Archaeology)
A Sanctuary Shaped by Nature
The researchers propose that worshippers gathered in the natural, amphitheater-like clearing surrounding the cave, an area of about 120 square meters. Here, participants would have eaten sitting or lying on the ground, making Močići a unique destination sanctuary that required intentional travel from nearby Cavtat.
Instead of artificially recreating a cosmic cave, the community at Močići utilized the existing landscape. Mithras had strong mythological ties to rocks and water; he was known as the rock-born god who could strike stone to create a spring. While urban temples used basalt and dedicated altars to "eternal springs" to mimic these elements, Močići possessed them naturally. The site features a permanent, year-round spring flowing from the cave.
Relief with legs of Silvanus. (B. Bijadija/Journal of Roman Archaeology)
Adding to the site's local character is a second, weathered relief inside the cave, interpreted as Silvanus, the Roman god of nature and pastures. In Dalmatia, Silvanus was strongly associated with limestone caves and herding. The spring at Močići likely served as a watering hole for local livestock, deeply intertwining the ritual space with the daily pastoral life of the community.
The findings at Močići demonstrate that the cult of Mithras was not a rigid, uniform system imposed upon the landscape. Instead, worshippers adapted their shared symbols - the rocky god, caves, and springs - to their specific environments. As the authors of the study conclude, the cult was "a set of material relationships in the world... always deeply intertwined with its locality."
Top image: Overall view of Močići mithraeum. Source: Ian Wilson/Journal of Roman Archaeology
By Gary Manners
References
Carvajal, G. 2026. Findings in a Mithras Sanctuary in Croatia Force a Rethink of How This Roman Cult Was Practiced. Available at: https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/06/findings-in-a-mithra-sanctuary-in-croatia-force-a-rethink-of-how-this-roman-cult-was-practiced/
Wilson, I.S. & McCarty, M. 2026. Situating a rock-born god: place, practice, and geologies of Mithras-worship at Močići (Croatia ). Journal of Roman Archaeology. Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/situating-a-rockborn-god-place-practice-and-geologies-of-mithrasworship-at-mocici-croatia/5E789F94E865BD8385B100D023A3580C
