A Persian god in a Navarrese site

During the excavations of the Santacara site, a graphite was found in a ceramic vase. The vase, on display at the Museo de Navarra, has been studied by Pablo Ozcáriz Gil, professor of Ancient History at the URJC, and who links it to the god Mithras, of Persian origin

Núria Ripoll

It was at the end of 2021, at which time the Museum of Navarra was tidying up its showcases, when the historian of antiquity Pablo Ozcáriz, an expert in graffiti from the ancient world, went to review the pieces on display in order to study them later. One of the graffiti that he examined particularly caught his attention, since the inscription 'Mitrh-' could be read on it, which does not respond to any name, but to that of a specific deity.

Coming from the Indo-Iranian or Persian world, the cult of the god Mitrha spread mainly through the Roman legions that had fought in Asia. His cult spread throughout the Roman Empire during the XNUMXst and XNUMXnd centuries, at which time there was a 'boom of oriental religions' and in which the cults of the Egyptian goddess Isis, Cibeles or Mitrha stood out especially.

At this point, Ozcáriz proposes that this graphite can respond to two theories; The first is that this piece in which the inscription 'Mitrh' appears could belong to the god Mitrha. The second theory, according to Ozcáriz, is that it may be a proper name, thus referring indirectly to the name of the god.

On this occasion, the historian points out that "we do not know how the name ends since the pottery is broken, so we cannot determine that the name refers to the deity." "If it is a proper name, it is very interesting, because according to philologists, Mitrhes or Mitrheti are proper names of people of Iranian origin, so perhaps this person could probably come from Persia, since it used to be used in other countries. sites to name slaves and freedmen with that origin. That is the most likely, but they could have also put it on for another reason that escapes us,” says Ozcáriz. "This is the first time that a name like this appears in the Iberian Peninsula, it would probably be a slave or freedman from the eastern part of the Empire," says Ozcáriz.

According to Ozcáriz, it was very common for pottery for domestic use to include proper names. "Although we do not have archaeological or epigraphic testimonies, it cannot be ruled out that the cult of Mithras reached this territory in a timely manner." As he points out, in the Iberian Peninsula there are testimonies of this cult in two areas: the Mediterranean coast and the northwest of the peninsula "it was probably spread by Roman officials who came from abroad to hold administrative positions." “The cult of Mithras was also very popular among Roman soldiers, which is why testimonies appear in the northwest, where there were military units such as the Legio VII Gemina” he ends by saying.