Basilica of Saint Clement: Two Basilicas and a Mithraeum

A 12th century Christian basilica was built on top of a church from the late 4th century. That church had been built on top of an earlier structure that included a Mithraeum, a cave-temple in in which the rituals of the Mithraic Mysteries were practiced. Mithraic rituals had to be carried out in hidden subterranean spaces. A proper Mithraeum contains a depiction, usually carved in stone, of the…