Temple of Mithras in Northern Duhok, Iraq

Brief piece on Bloomberg about the discovery of a temple of Mithras in the in the Badri Mountains in the northern province of Duhok. Although Bloomberg can't decide on how to spell the province (Dohuk in the headline, Duhok in the piece), it is worth a look:

A temple built by followers of Mithraism, a mystery cult that flourished throughout the Roman Empire from the second to third centuries A.D., has been discovered in Iraq’s northern Duhok province.

The temple, which consists of three parts, lies in the Badri Mountains in eastern Duhok, and includes a place for prayer facing the sun, the province’s antiquities director, Hassan Ahmed Qassim, said in a statement to the Web site of President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.

“This discovery is important in helping to understand and learn the region’s history, and the important stages it passed through,” Qassim was quoted by Aswat al-Iraq newspaper as telling a news conference at Duhok University.