world
Archaeologists Decode Aramaic Inscription at Turkish Mithras Temple
Researchers have deciphered a 1,700-year-old Aramaic inscription at an underground Mithras temple in southeastern Turkey. The engraving, found at Zerzevan Castle, references both Mithras and Jesus Christ and provides direct evidence of the temple's closure by early Christians.
New York PostAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Developing·Limited corroboration so far. This page will refresh as more sources emerge.
Archaeologists have deciphered a 1,700-year-old Aramaic inscription at an underground Mithras temple inside Zerzevan Castle in southeastern Turkey. The engraving, discovered in 2017 at the temple entrance alongside a cross carving, had remained uninterpreted until now. It is the first known Aramaic text documenting the closure of a Mithras sanctuary.
A professor at Mardin Artuklu University analyzed the language and letter forms. He dated the text to the third or fourth century A.D. and identified references to Mithras, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Cross. The same statement said the inscription marks the shift from Mithraism to Christianity at the site.
Mithraism, a mystery cult centered on light and cosmic order, was widespread across the Roman Empire.
An excavation director told Turkish state media that earlier coin finds had indicated the temple was abandoned in the third or fourth century. The newly read inscription supplies direct evidence that Christians closed and symbolically sealed the sanctuary after fourth-century Roman emperors adopted Christianity.
Similar early Christian sites continue to surface in the region. Last summer, teams uncovered a fifth-century church at ancient Olympus and a Roman hospital later converted into a Christian sanctuary at Kaunos.
