For Bellinzona two names are documented in the Mediaeval period: the stronghold (castrum) Bilitio (Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum X,3) and Bellitiona (Ravenna Cosmography IV,30). Roman remains were excavated in 1967-1968 and 1984-1985 below the Castel Grande. The ceramics were from the years 20 BC - 100 AD and from the fourth century. A wall with a (blocked) gate, 1.30 m. thick, will have belonged to a late-antique fortress.
View of the Castel Grande. Photo: Wikimedia, Zairon.One inscription has been found in Bellinzona, in 1882, at the locality Carasso: the lower part of an altar with a dedication to Jupiter Optimus Maximus and Mercurius by Fronto, son of Quintus.
IO(vi) OP(timo) MAX(imo)
ET MERCVRIO
V(otum) S(olvit) L(ibens) M(erito)
FRONTO Q(uinti) f(ilius)For Jupiter Optimus Maximus
and Mercurius
fulfilled his vow gladly and deservedly
Fronto, son of Quintus.Marble altar. W. 0.61, h. 0.905, d. 0.425.
Dell'Era 2022, nr. 34. Photo: EDCS-08000593.
Literature
Meyer 1967; Donati 1986; Drack-Fellmann 1988, 361; Drack-Fellmann 1991, 75-76; Meyer 1993.
[18-Jan-2024]
