Cautes in Eastern Dress
Unknown · Roman Imperial, AD 389
A second torchbearer from the Sidon Mithraeum wears the same Phrygian cap, short tunic, cloak and boots as his companion, but here the attributes differ. In one hand he holds a torch, in the other a double-headed axe, the bipennis of the Anatolian gods. The figure stands eighty-eight centimetres tall, carved in the round with a smooth youthful face and hair curling out from under the cap. Notice how the sculptor has rendered the cloak as a heavy curtain behind the body to strengthen the fragile marble.
The torchbearers Cautes and Cautopates flank Mithras in every sanctuary of the cult, one with torch raised for the rising sun and one with torch lowered for its setting. The Sidon group is exceptional because it survived nearly complete and because an inscription dates it to the year three hundred and eighty-nine of our era, one of the latest dated monuments of Mithraism anywhere. Like the other pieces in this display, it passed through the collection of Louis de Clercq, whose heirs gave it to the Louvre in nineteen sixty-seven.
Did You Know? The double axe he carries is unusual for a torchbearer and links him to the sky god of Asia Minor, whose weapon it was.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.