Roman buildings were excavated in Bioggio (to the west of Lugano) at the locality San Maurizio - Via Valle Maggiore in the 1960's and 1990's.
Plan of the site. Cardani Vergani 1998, fig 1.
1: Roman walls; 2: chapel of Sant'Ilario; 3: building with a heated room; 4: temple; 5: church of San Maurizio.The most important discovery was a small temple (nr. 4; 3.80 x 2.80 m.) that has been dated to the second half of the second century. There was an enclosing wall around the temple and a second, partially excavated building. The temple had a porch with two columns with Corinthian capitals. It must have reached a height of 3.35 m. In front of the temple, three meters away, was a rectangular area (1.80 x 4 m.) with piers on the corners. In this area two round pits for the remains of sacrifices were found. Also in front of the temple was a large pit in which elements of the marble decoration had been collected after a fire.
Plan and reconstruction drawing of the temple area. Poster "L'area sacra di Bioggio", Avenches 2006.
Red: enclosing wall; black: temple; grey: corner piers and sacrificial pits; yellow: pit with marble; green: partially excavated building.
A Corinthian capital of the temple. Photo: Wikimedia, Ilario.Amongst the marble objects was an altar or base with a dedication to Jupiter:
IOVI O(ptimo) M(aximo)
NENN[ic(o)]
EX VOTO
VRNAM [cum]
SOR[ti]B[us]
CRESCEN[s/tinus]
[---]C[-]V[---]To Jupiter Optimus Maximus.
To Nennicus.
After a vow
the urn with
lots
Crescens / Crescentinus
[---]C[-]V[---]Marble altar or base. W. 0.30, h. 0.705, d. 0.18.
Square hole in the top: 0.025 x 0.025 m., d. 0.05-0.06.
Dell'Era 2022, nr. 20; EDCS-37601043. Photo: Wikimedia, Ilario.There has been quite some debate about the object. Was it an altar or a base? There is a square hole in the top, but was this used for fastening a bowl for incense or wine during a sacrifice, or a different kind of object? The second line most likely mentions a Celtic deity. The urn with lots, mentioned in the fourth and fifth line, was perhaps standing on top of the object. Could we be dealing here with an oracular cult, in which responses of the deity were given through lots? Tacitus has left us a description of such practices:
Auspicia sortesque ut qui maxime observant: sortium consuetudo simplex. Virgam frugiferae arbori decisam in surculos amputant eosque notis quibusdam discretos super candidam vestem temere ac fortuito spargunt. Mox, si publice consultetur, sacerdos civitatis, sin privatim, ipse pater familiae, precatus deos caelumque suspiciens ter singulos tollit, sublatos secundum impressam ante notam interpretatur. Augury and divination by lot no people practise more diligently. The use of the lots is simple. A little bough is lopped off a fruit-bearing tree, and cut into small pieces; these are distinguished by certain marks, and thrown carelessly and at random over a white garment. In public questions the priest of the particular state, in private the father of the family, invokes the gods, and, with his eyes towards heaven, takes up each piece three times, and finds in them a meaning according to the mark previously impressed on them. Tacitus, Germania 10. Translation A.J. Church - W. Jackson Brodribb - L. Cerrato. However, in the Roman world drawing lots was done in numerous situations in public life. For magistrates and priests the distribution and rotation of functions could be determined in this way. On a small bronze plaque from Martigny (VS) the donation of an urn with lots is recorded.
G(enio) V(allensium?)
VRNAM
CVM SOR
TIBVS
GRECVLIO
D(onum) D(edit)To the Genius of those in the Valley (?)
the urn
with
lots
Graeculio
donated.Bronze tabula ansata from Martigny. W. 0.09, h. 0.07. Aberson 2001. Photo: EDCS-23900152. Another building was found to the south-west (nr. 3). On one side was a long room ending in an apse, with a hypocaust for heating, apparently a bathing room (w. 2.80 m.). In a later phase this room was replaced by a porticus, while four small basements (2 x 1 m.) were built next to it. The coin range was 138-378 AD. There were some more Roman walls to the south (nr. 1). The function of these buildings is not clear. Perhaps we should think of an inn for visitors of the temple area.
View of the building with the heated room (red). Photo: Cardani Vergani 1998, fig 2.
Literature
Biaggio Simona 1994; Archäologie der Schweiz 19,3 (1996), 132-133; Bollettino dell'Associazione archeologica ticinese 9 (1997), 25; Cardani Vergani 1998; Aberson 2001; Morinini 2003; Morinini 2005; Reusser 2005; Raepsaet-Charlier 2014; Poux 2019. Publications by P. Donati are not readily available.
[18-Jan-2024]
