Traffic headed for Italy could use both the Julier Pass (2284 m.) and the Septimer Pass (2310 m.), to the east and south of Bivio. The Julier Pass was easier to cross.
View of the Julier pass near Bögia. Photo: Wikimedia, Capricorn4049.On the summit of the Julier Pass two column stumps of soapstone flank the modern road. They were mentioned for the first time in 1396 AD. The two stumps were part of the same column. The column may have been a mere marker of the summit. It would however have been standing next to a sanctuary. In 1854 more than 200 coins, from the reign of Augustus to the late fourth century, were found a few meters away. They have been interpreted as votive gifts. Remains of the sanctuary were excavated in 1934-1939. Many more coins were found, the latest from the first half of the fourth century. A foundation was unearthed (5 x 5 m.), made of blocks joined by lead-and-iron clamps. Fragments of cornices were found, made of marble and soapstone, stone types that do not occur elsewhere on the Julier. A right upper arm and a left knee emerged of a male statue of marble, presumably of a deity. It may have been standing in a small chapel to which the cornices belonged, on top of the foundation, together with an altar. A small fragment of an inscription has, rather optimistically, been understood as a dedication to the Alps. Using an inscription from Thun-Allmendingen (BE) as a parallel, it has been supplemented as A[lpibus ex stipe] RE[gio Iulia].
The two column stumps. Photo: Wikimedia, Adrian Michael.Both on the Julier and on the Septimer Pass some short stretches of the Roman road were found by Armon Planta. They are characterized by grooves for the wheels of wagons that are 1.07 m. apart, sometimes as much as 0.45 m. deep. On the Septimer Pass scant traces of a Roman building were found near a Mediaeval guest house.
Wheel ruts on the Julier Pass (La Veduta). Photo: Rageth 2007, 272.
Literature
Meyer 1861, 132-136; Conrad 1934-1936, 1938(1,2); Burkart 1952; Koenig 1979; Overbeck-Pauli 1982, 133-135, 149-150, 231-234; Planta 1986-1990, II, 15-93; Rageth 1986, 48-55, 98; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 367-369; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 83-84; Brunner 2002; Rageth 2007; Sele 2013.
[2-Dec-2023]
