This unique carved altar represents the triumph of light over darkness in ancient Roman religion.
In 2010, before construction workers began building a new cricket pavilion in Lewisvale Park, just east of Edinburgh, Scotland, archaeologists were called in for a survey. In a brief dig, they uncovered a remarkable Roman-era altar, once used to worship the sun god in a mysterious, male-only ritual.
The altar, dedicated to Sol, the sun god, was found in two pieces and made of buff sandstone. Originally standing about 4 feet (1.23 meters) tall, it is adorned with four female busts representing the seasons. At the center, a humanlike face of Sol rises from the monument, framed within an incised circle. The face, complete with eyes and mouth, and the six rays of Sol’s crown, were pierced to allow the altar to be illuminated from behind. Traces of red paint were found on the front, while the sides featured carved laurel wreaths.
An inscription suggests that the altar was dedicated by a soldier named Gaius Cassius Flavianus, likely stationed at the Roman military base in Inveresk, Scotland, around A.D. 142. The fort was part of the Antonine Wall, the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire, and housed soldiers protecting the empire’s boundary.
National Museums Scotland, which has recently acquired the Altar to Sol alongside another altar dedicated to Mithras, notes that these monuments would have served as focal points for secret religious ceremonies. Mithras, a mythical figure born from a rock, was often depicted slaying a bull and was closely associated with Sol in Roman religion. Temples to Mithras, known as Mithraea, were underground, and the cult was exclusively male, celebrating the victory of light over darkness and goodness over evil.
Fraser Hunter, curator of Iron Age and Roman archaeology at National Museums Scotland, described how, in the dark of the Mithraeum, worshippers would have seen the rays and eyes of Sol glaring at them. These altars to Sol and Mithras, rare in Scotland, reflect the beliefs of soldiers stationed along the Antonine Wall. They offered soldiers a sense of purpose and the hope of life after death.
The rare carved altars will be displayed at National Museums Scotland starting November 14.
