Seeing the Mithraic Tauroctony

Abstract

Abstract What might a Mithraic initiate have seen when he viewed the ubiquitous tauroctonous image? Rather than understanding the tauroctony as illustrating an episode in a presumed mythic life of Mithras or as exemplifying some conceptual principle, this article seeks to understand the tauroctony as image qua image. Insights from art historians, neurophysiologists, and neurocognitivists show that cultural expectations for seeing the tauroctony are as an image of sacrifice and, at the same time, as an astrologically configured star map, cultural perceptions that were subject to local interpretations. A conclusion briefly suggests how all Mithraic images might have been seen and how scientific methodologies might profitably be incorporated into a history of religions.