This paper aims to reconstruct the religious experiences of the men who

worshipped at the sanctuary of the god Mithras in Dura Europos, a small city

situated on the banks of the Euphrates in present-day Syria, close to the border

with Iraq. Thanks to the extraordinary quantity and quality of its archaeological

remains, Dura is one of the few places where we can gain insight into the

everyday life of a Roman provincial town in the first half of the 3rd century CE.

Among the sixteen sanctuaries belonging to different religions that

archaeologists found in this small city, is an exceptionally well-preserved

mithraeum. Of all of the Mithraic sanctuaries in the Roman world it is among the

few that can be interpreted within its local social and religious context. This

offers a unique insight into the experiences of those who participated in its rites.