Cities, villages, fortresses - Solothurn - Solothurn (Salodurum) - Tombs

Introduction Religion Tombs

There was a necropolis to the east of the settlement. A small number of funerary inscriptions has been found. Of special interest is an inscription that was found in fragments in 1762 in the foundations of the cathedral of St. Ursus. The text is in a tabula ansata. A member of the gens Crassicia, Lucius Crassicius Corbulo, was buried by his sons, Primus and Seccalus. Corbulo was a member (sevir) of the Augustales, linked to the Imperial cult. Yet another Crassicius, Titus Crassicius Avitus, is documented in a lost funerary inscription.

[D(is)] M(anibus) L(uci) CR[ass]ICI COR BVLON[i]s IIIIIIVIR(i) AVGG(ustalium) [pub?]LI PRIM VS ET SECCALVS FILI(i) E[i]VS PONEN DVM CVRAVER VNT	To the spirits of the dead. Of Lucius Crassicius Corbulo, sevir of the Augustales. [Pub?]lius Primus and Seccalus, his sons, had (this monument) built.
Inscription found in 1762. Limestone. Kolb et al. 2022, nr. 352. Photo: EDCS-10800583.

Two saints have been of special importance in Solothurn: Ursus and Victor. Their martyrdom in the city is set around 300 AD. In 1519 a sarcophagus was found in the cathedral of St. Ursus that contained the bones of Ursus. It was a reused sarcophagus. In a tabula ansata on the front is the inscription D(is) M(anibus) FL(aviae) SEVERIANAE. In view of the size of the sarcophagus Flavia Severiana died during childhood. To the left of the inscription is an engraved axe (not a cross).

Sarcophagus found in 1519. Limestone. W. 1.20, h. 0.425, d. 0.605. Kolb et al. 2022, nr. 354; EDCS-10800586. Photo: Glutz-von Blotzheim 1955, 75.

Woodcut by Urs Graf (1485-1527) of the discovery of the sarcophagus. Wikimedia, Zentralbibliothek Zürich.

To the south of the cathedral of St. Ursus is the chapel of St. Peter. Below the chapel a small room was excavated (6 x 5 m.) that has been interpreted as a memoria, a tomb of a martyr, built in the fifth century.

The chapel of St. Peter and the cathedral of St. Ursus seen from the Aare. Photo: Wikimedia, JoachimKohlerBremen.

Plan of the oldest phases of the chapel of St. Peter (grey). Backman 2011, Abb. 8. Graves, red: 600-900 AD; orange: 800-1100 AD; green: 900-1200 AD; black: not dated. Crosses: piles of bones; yellow: memoria from the fifth century; blue: chapel in the period 900-1100 AD.

Introduction Religion Tombs

[29-Dec-2023]