MITRAIZAM NA PROSTORU JUŽNE SRBIJE – ISTORIJSKE OKOLNOSTI

The cult of Persian god Mithra, the Invincible Sun god, was the most significant and present cult in the Roman Empire. Epigraph and archeological evidence of worship of Mithra was recorded in all provinces of this huge Empire on three continents. Cult monuments were discovered in that way even on the territory of modern south Serbia, i.e. parts of the Roman provinces Upper Moesia and Thrace. This paper describes six such monuments: two votive altars with inscriptions from Osmakovo near Pirot and Ravna and four relief icons capturing tauroctonia from Ragodeš and Rasnica near Pirot, Ražanj near Aleksinac and Mramor near Niš. The aim of the paper is to emphasise certain historical circumstances of the growth of Mithraism in south Serbia taking the analyses of these monumetns into consideration. This region is seen as favorable for the spread of this eastern religion for numerous reasons. It is a rich mine region, the intersection of many imporant Roman roads on the Balkans and the main camp of some military units. All these circumstances resulted in the significant presence of the cult of Mithra. The period of the growth of Mithraism stretches from the middle of the 2nd century to the middle of the 3rd century, which is clearly confirmed by epighraph vows. The iconographic analysis of relief stones reveals that they belong to the Danube type and that Mithraism reaches south Serbia from lower Podunavlje through the Roman limes on the river. The lower frieze with side scenes from the Mithra cult legend points to the religious centres in Dacia as models in making the icons.