The Temple of Mithras

There seemed little to see at Brocolitia -  we picked our way through the long grass - butterflies with sombre wings flew before us - we brushed against waist high thistles - there were clumps of sedge where our boots sank into damp earth - 

Only vague shapes or foldings in the marshy ground hinted where the fort had been - we looked in vain for the site of Coventina's Well - sheep with oily tangled fleeces ran from us - 

But, on the far side of the site, there was the Mithras Temple, open to the sky - 

We made our way there, stumbling over the uneven ground, entering blithely the place of secrets - 

I stood near the three altars - one still bore the likeness of a hero or a strange god - 

I remembered reading about the primeval bull - 

Here, the initiates had held their rites - 

Julia sketched the altars - I watched the wind make shapes in the grass - 

July 7 2014

Brocolitia