Abstract
The National Museum of Rome has an important collection of Mithraic sculptures found in the years 1973–1975 during the archaeological excavation under the early Christian basilica of Santo Stefano Rotondo on the Caelian hill in Rome. The sculptures excavated from this Mithraeum show many traces of gilding and polychromy, whose best example is the great bas-relief with Mithras slaying the bull discussed in this work. The analysis was conducted during a scientific campaign in the museum with portable instrumentation of the Institute for Conservation and Valorisation of Cultural Heritage, ICVBC mobile laboratory following a completely non-invasive approach. By means of a protocol based on the use of multispectral imaging, microscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), this study allowed to better understand the technique used and to make comparisons with other representations of Mithras slaying the bull.
Highlights
During archeological excavations, conducted in the years 1973 to 1975, under the early Christian Basilica of Santo Stefano Rotondo on the Caelian hill in Rome, several Mithraic sculptures were found
By means of a protocol based on the use of multispectral imaging, microscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), this study allowed to better understand the technique used and to make comparisons with other representations of Mithras slaying the bull
The examination showed that the slab was originally almost completely painted and today the residual polychromy is still visible and well preserved
Summary
During archeological excavations, conducted in the years 1973 to 1975, under the early Christian Basilica of Santo Stefano Rotondo on the Caelian hill in Rome, several Mithraic sculptures were found. By means of a protocol based on the use of multispectral imaging, microscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), this study allowed to better understand the technique used and to make comparisons with other representations of Mithras slaying the bull. According to the results of multi-band imaging, areas were chosen to be analyzed by means of portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (p-XRF) and FORS.
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