Rudchester Mithraeum

Rudchester Mithraeum is a Roman temple to the Roman god Mithras at Rudchester (Vindobala), an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, the northern frontier of Roman Britain [1]. The temple (known as a mithraeum) was located 137m to the west of the castra [1]. The site of the shrine was first discovered in 1844 when the local farmer uncovered a statue and five altars in his field [1]. The statue was broken up; however, the altars were all saved [1]. Gillam identified two distinct phases of use consisting of two successive temples on the site [1]. He deduced that the first temple was built in the late second or early third century AD [1]. Oriented east to west, the shrine formed a rectangle 12 x 6.02m in size with a small apse in the west end-wall [1]. The plan was typical of mithraic temples in that it consisted of a central nave flanked by low benches [1].