Norman J. Penny - pictish-mithraism.com

Z-Rod and Rectangle with niches.
Part of Raven Stone (minus Raven) from an 1856 hand sketch.
Fish
Some of the fish carvings have been identified as salmon. This fish was mystically revered (but to
date not known in Mithraism) not least as it can live in both salt and fresh water. Scandinavians have
a home for the salmon in their folk lore. Maybe some inscriptions, not just the fish ones, have been
added to the Stones for the benefit of people with other belief sets in way of harmony, acceptance
and tolerance.
Bird
The eagle was commonly used on the standards of Roman Legions and possibly has an association
with the Leo Mithraic Grade.
The goose does not appear to have any Mithraic significance. However, it is referred to in
Scandinavian folk lore so there may be an explanation similar to the fish above.
The raven has a distinct place in Mithraism – on the Tauroctony, as the messenger of God,
identification with a constellation named Corvus and as the Corax Mithraic Grade.
Animal
The low incidence and geographic spread of animal figures makes pattern formulation difficult.
Relationship with Mithraic aspects is even more difficult.
For example, the Knocknagael boar Stone may not have been in its original position when located at
Knocknagael farm near Inverness; there is no significant running water immediately nearby but
other streams are close by. Whether there was a Roman presence is not yet known. The purpose of
the Stone is unclear save to say that the 20 th Roman Legion ( XX Valeria Victrix ) was involved in the
construction of Hadrian’s Wall and is believed to have been in Britain until wholesale Roman
withdrawal in the early 5 th century CE). Perhaps someone from the Legion had the Stone carved
when in the vicinity – but why only one associated symbol?
Another example is the wolf which might be (as has been speculated) a less than accurate carving of
a dog – an animal seen on the usual format of the Tauroctony.
Serpent
Considering the profile of the serpent (snake, hydra etc) in the symbolism of Roman Mithraic statues
and paintings it is surprising to see so few of these shapes on the Pictish Stones – or is it? Faced with
the ability directly to see this shape in the Open-Air Mithraeum perhaps there is less of a need to
depict it on the Stones.
However, the serpent with the Z-Rod could link the Tauroctony with Cautes and Cautopates; on its
own (as two snakes intertwined into a caduceus or singly as the rod of Asclepius) it might be
deciphered as a symbol of the Corax Mithraic Grade whose associated planet is Mercury (Mercury
the messenger is often depicted with the snake); the Leontocephalous is entwined by a snake;
maybe it looks like the Mushhushshu (known as the furious snake).
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