Mareos

Painting from the Mithraeum

Mareos (or Mareinos) was an ancient painter known by his signature in the mithraium of Dura Europos . The paintings there are dated to the middle of the third century AD. The short inscription reads: For the salvation of Mareos, the painter (Νάμα Μαρέῳ ζωγράφῳ). The paintings in the Mithraeum are relatively well preserved, but are described by most modern authors as not of particularly high quality. He may have been a local artist with limited skills. With a foreign painter one would expect a better quality of the work. Mareos is blessed in the short inscription, using the word nama . This word is of Persian origin and is often used in the Mithras cult as a particularly solemn blessing in the sense of "for salvation ...". So Mareos was very likely a follower of this god.

Individual evidence

↑ HF Pearson, MI Rostovtzeff : The Pictures of the Late Mithraeum (Inscr. No. 853). In: MI Rostovtzeff, FE Brown, CB Welles: The excavations at Dura-Europos: Preliminary Report of Seventh and Eighth Season of Work 1933-1934 and 1934-1935. Yale University Press, New Haven / London / Prague 1939, p. 104.
↑ Manfred Clauss : The seven degrees of the Mithras cult. In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy . Volume 82, 1990, pp. 183-194, here: p. 183 with note 2 ( PDF ); Manfred Clauss: Mithras. Cult and Mystery. Philipp von Zabern Verlag, Darmstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3805345811 , p. 116. 140.
^ Tommaso Gnoli: The Mithraeum of Dura-Europos. New Perspectives. In: Ted Kaizer (Ed.): Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos (= Yale Classical Studies. Volume 38). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-12379-3 , p. 149.

personal data
SURNAME	Mareos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mareinos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Roman painter
DATE OF BIRTH	3rd century
DATE OF DEATH	3rd century

[1] HF Pearson, MI Rostovtzeff : The Pictures of the Late Mithraeum (Inscr. No. 853). In: MI Rostovtzeff, FE Brown, CB Welles: The excavations at Dura-Europos: Preliminary Report of Seventh and Eighth Season of Work 1933-1934 and 1934-1935. Yale University Press, New Haven / London / Prague 1939, p. 104.

[2] Manfred Clauss : The seven degrees of the Mithras cult. In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy . Volume 82, 1990, pp. 183-194, here: p. 183 with note 2 ( PDF ); Manfred Clauss: Mithras. Cult and Mystery. Philipp von Zabern Verlag, Darmstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3805345811 , p. 116. 140.

[3] Tommaso Gnoli: The Mithraeum of Dura-Europos. New Perspectives. In: Ted Kaizer (Ed.): Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos (= Yale Classical Studies. Volume 38). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-12379-3 , p. 149.