A few objects have been linked to oriental cults: a bronze votive hand dedicated to Sabazius found in block 16, a bronze bust and a relief of Sol, and a (lost) mosaic with a consular date of 209 AD, discovered in 1676 in a building in the north-west part of the city, with birds in seven segments of a circle.
Relief of Sol. Photo: Wikimedia, Fanny Schertzer.
Votive hand dedicated to Sabazius. Photos: Wikimedia, Fanny Schertzer.
A natural or artificial grotto at the locality Pré Mermoud, one kilometer to the west of the city, was probaby a mithraeum. The entrance was flanked by two niches. In the interior were three aisles, 15 meters long. The side aisles, slightly elevated, will have supported wooden benches. In the back wall were two recesses flanking a door leading to a corridor 5.70 m. long.
View of the interior of the Pré Mermoud mithraeum. Photo: De Pury-Gysel 2012(2), Abb. 41.A cave at the locality Joly-Val, about 200 meters to the south-west of the city, may also have been a mithraeum. A corridor (G; 2 m. wide) had two small lateral rooms (E, F) and a lateral niche (H; w. 0.80, h. 0.80 , d. 0.20 m.). At the south end of the corridor was a well. The floor of the northern part (A) was two meters higher. On two walls (B, C) reliefs had been cut out in the rock. The smaller reliefs measured 0.30 x 0.30 m., a "main relief" was 1.25 m. wide and had a curved top. The reliefs are heavily weathered and appear to have been deliberately damaged. They seem to have had figurative representations. Also, letters were made: MI, M, PC, A.
Plan of the Joly-Val mithraeum. De Pury-Gysel 2012(2), Abb. 45.
View of the interior of the Joly-Val mithraeum. Photo: De Pury-Gysel 2012(2), Abb. 44.
[1-May-2024]
