Scorpion/Scorpio

Continuing, Hinnells has less to say on the subject of the scorpion, but does continue in the same this creature is not evil vein, railing against Cumont’s Zoroastrian theory. And again, the ‘facts’ are there if we strip off our old lenses.

I can’t find the tauroctony I want, so we’ll come back to it, but the reason I’m looking for it is to show Cautopates holding a scorpion (in my mind he’s holding it like a stuffed animal.) The creature is larger than normal, because, let’s face it, scorpions aren’t that big (thank heaven!!) But it’s not the only example of a scorpion with or in place of Cautopates.

Without getting into too much detail on this now lost tauroctony (I’m bettin’ it’ll be its own report at some point) this very creative rendering shows the boys off to the side, but within the actual tauroctony the artist went with a shorthand rendering of them that doubtless members of the cult would recognize: a fruitful tree, downward torch and scorpion for Cautopates, and a barren tree, upward torch and bull’s head for Cautes. These are marked with the letters V and X respectively.

(The scorpion seems a little shy of his target, IMO.)

But we can go one better! Let’s take a walk through a tauroctony!

Welcome to Mitreo degli Animali in Ostia. On the floor you can see the major parts of a tauroctony rendered as mosaics. (The link shows the creatures in greater detail and I invite you to take a look.)

Floor plan for Mithraeum of the Animals, Ostia.

You enter on the mosaic of the naked conglomerate figure of Pater and Lion. He’s holding both a sickle and a fire shovel. Turning right toward the altar, you encounter a cock and a raven. Everyone is doing double duty here, the cock being Sol and Cautes (a not uncommon attribute), the raven representing the grade and being the messenger of Sol. Next, the scorpion is both Cautopates and the scorpion in the tauroctony. Okay, the snake isn’t anything but a snake, my bad. And then we get to the bull and the knife what done the deed.

At no point are these scorpions threatening. And I don’t think it’s a case of the artist not being up to the challenge of rendering a scorpion about to strike. There’s plenty of other details that are just as delicate and yet presented…the dog’s tail, for example, or the body of the snake. It doesn’t matter if these details survived to the present day or not, what matters is that they were carved and there is no reason to doubt a threatening tail could have been done as well.

Hinnells lists the deities whose attribute is a scorpion: Heremes, Serapis, Isis, Mercury and Artemis. He calls the scorpion a symbol of abundance and good fortune, pointing out that it is often used in amulets that guard against poisons and the evil eye. In the zodiac, when aligned with the human body, Scorpio’s position is on the genitals, which, at this point, should surprise no one.

The happy conclusions is, here’s another chance to look at the tauroctony, but with new eyes… while I continue to look for the one I want…

 

 

 

June

Santa Maria Capua Vetere

Grade:

Sign: Gemini/Cancer

CIMRM: 180

Second century tauroctony at Santa Maria Capus Vetere.

I can honestly say I know very little about this mithraeum, so I’m typing this while leaning over the CIMRM (thanks again, Erica, for this awesome b-day present!) S. Maria has, however, aided me in the past.

In my house and in my mithraeum, Cautes and Cautopates are referred to as “the boys.” They stand on either side of the door into the studio, so Cautopates (who looks remarkably like Kirk Douglas) is in my sights at all times. I’d have to move to see Cautes.  (And in typing that out I realized they are backwards and when next I get up I’ll switch them!)

The boys are as common in mithraic iconography as the essential tauroctony. In fact, they frequently appear, when space permits, within the tableau itself. It is also pretty common to have them in 3D somewhere else within a mithraeum. So, while planning my mithraeum, I knew I’d need them both, and went the easiest route possible: I took my chosen image, made them large enough to fit on 2 pieces of 11X17 paper (I did this in Word), printed them out and colored them in. (A friend later pointed out that if I had colored them in prior to printing I would have saved a buttload of markers and sore wrists. Live and learn.) I then mounted them on cardboard (which is why they look like they’re standing in boxes) and trimmed the cardboard around them so as not to be seen. The bottom, uncolored cardboard folds under and I tape them in the back so they’re upright. Easy peasy, if somewhat unstable. I used CIMRM 165-166 as my “base” since they are the most impressive and complete I could find.

But it was to CIMRM 181 that I turned to for coloring, for whereas CIMRM 165-166 are remarkably complete, CIMRM 181 is remarkably vivid. In fact, I used it to make the sign for the convention.

I spent a pleasant evening looking into the boys because if you look at Cautes in the tauroctony, you’ll see he has a bow in his right hand. Sadly I haven’t found an image I can get close enough to to see if there’s a rooster at Cautopates’ feet. The bow and the rooster aren’t common and looking for similar variations was fun.

The quick list of things, other than a torch, for the boys to be seen with comes out of Clauss’ book. For Cautes at the bull’s tail: a severed bull’s head (below right), wheat, a pine cone and he typically stand with his legs crossed, right over left. Cautopates, at the bull’s head, can been seen with: a rooster, a scorpion (below right) and he stands legs crossed left over right.

Terrific article on the boys here.