The Segontium Mithraeum was a small temple to Mithras situated just outside the Roman auxiliary fort at Caernarfon in north-west Wales, serving the garrison and associated community. Excavated by George Boon in 1959, the building followed the standard mithraeum plan — a narrow rectangular hall with side benches (podia) flanking a central nave — and appears to have been in use from the later second or third century until its abandonment in the late fourth century A.D., when Segontium itself was wound down.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
As the westernmost securely identified mithraeum in the Roman Empire, the Segontium temple is an important indicator of the spread of this eastern soldier-cult to even the remoter auxiliary garrisons of the north-western frontier. Its presence reflects the cosmopolitan religious life of the fort's officers and troops, who at various periods included units drawn from across the empire.
Boon's excavation revealed the foundations of an aisled rectangular structure with the characteristic flanking benches and a sunken central aisle, along with altars and fragments associated with Mithraic ritual. The building had been deliberately damaged, plausibly in the late fourth century when Christianisation of the army led to the destruction of Mithraic sanctuaries across Britain, though direct evidence for the agents of destruction at Segontium is limited.
The Segontium Mithraeum was a small temple to Mithras situated just outside the Roman auxiliary fort at Caernarfon in north-west Wales, serving the garrison and associated community. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a temple site from the Roman period in Britain.
Mithraeum at Segontium is classified as a Roman temple — a religious site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Segontium (0.2 km), Segontium: Roman Bath House (0.2 km), Pen Llystyn (17.4 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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