00:00My name is Dr Fraser Hunter. I'm the Iron Age and Roman Curator at National Museums Scotland.
00:04These are two of the most amazing sculptures from Roman Britain. They come from the most
00:08northerly temple to the god Mithras in the whole of the Roman Empire. One is to Mithras himself
00:14and it's dedicated by a legionary centurion who's probably in command of the fort. The other,
00:19dedicated by the same man, shows the sun god and Mithras and the sun god work together in the story
00:25and this is the face of the sun god with the rays of his of his solar crown that would be illuminated
00:31from behind. So in the dark of the temple you would see the rays and the eyes of the sun god glaring at
00:36you. Then along the top the four seasons depicted as female deities conveying the passage of time.
00:44Mithras is all about the victory of good over evil and the control of the passage of time.
00:50The ulcers are really exciting because they tell us about the beliefs of the soldiers on the frontier
00:55and I say soldiers purposely. Mithras was a male only cult. So while other finds from the frontier
01:01tell us about the whole frontier community, this was for the men, particularly the soldiers. And for
01:05them Mithras was really appropriate because he was all about the triumph of good over evil,
01:10light over darkness. He gave soldiers a purpose, if you like, a sense that there was a purpose to the
01:15world and that there was a life after death. And you can see them for the first time in the Roman
01:19Scotland Life on the Edge of Empire exhibition which opens in Chambers Street in Edinburgh on the 14th
01:26November 2026.
Comments