Just behind him lie the remains of a temple to Mithras, or Mithraeum.

BBC: Walking Hadrian��s Wall

The site also includes a previously unexcavated section of the Temple of Mithras, a Roman cult, which was first unearthed in 1954.

BBC: 'Entire streets' of Roman London uncovered in the City

The current excavations started with the dismantling of a 1960s reconstruction of the Temple of Mithras, a popular visitor attraction when it opened.

CNN: London dig turns up slice of Roman life

Beneath the uppermost church lies a 4th-century church, and beneath this lies the dark, dank temple, with its altar bearing a carving of the god Mithras slaying a bull.

BBC: Rome��s most mysterious places

When work on the new Bloomberg headquarters is completed, the reconstructed Temple of Mithras and finds from the current excavation will be put on public display there.

CNN: London dig turns up slice of Roman life

Yet something even more mystical and mysterious lies beneath: the next staircase down leads to a Roman house and pagan temple, complete with altar showing Mithras killing a bull.

BBC: Going underground at the Colosseum

The dig is taking place in Bloomberg Place, a three-acre site in the heart of the Roman city of London and home to the Temple of Mithras, built in the 3rd century.

CNN: London dig turns up slice of Roman life

Each party took 41 seats, most of the rest going to mild Islamists, Turkomen, Christians and Yazidis (followers of a sect that is said to descend from Roman-era worshippers of the god Mithras), nearly all with the blessing of the two big Kurdish parties.

ECONOMIST: Iraq's Kurds