Cities, villages, fortresses - Valais (Wallis) - Martigny - The forum

Introduction The forum Houses and workshops Baths and water supply Gallo-Roman temples

The precinct of temple II The mithraeum The amphitheatre Christianity Burials

In the centre of the settlement was the forum, excavated in the late 19th century. It was probably built during the reign of Claudius. After a fire in the late first century it was completely rebuilt.

Plan of the forum and the basilica. In grey: the first phase. Wiblé 2012(2), fig. 5.

In the final phase the entire complex measured 65.45 x 97.20 m. The main entrance, with a marble threshold, was on the south-east side. The square itself measured 37.50 x 55 m. It was flanked by small rooms behind arcades, presumably shops (rooms 1-6, 36-38, 40-49). At the back of some rooms is a small platform on which a ladder was placed to reach a mezzanine floor. Room 49 was partially heated. In room 37 a hoard of 19 gold coins was found of Emperors from the first century. In 1887 a cippus (an altar or a base?) with a dedication to Salus, the personification of good health, was excavated in room 41. It was made by the inhabitants of the settlement, together with the governor of the province.

	SALVTI SACRVM FOROCLAVDIEN SES VALLENSES CVM T(ito) POMPONIO VICTORE PROC(uratore) [Augusto] RVM
	Dedicated to Salus. The inhabitants of the Forum of Claudius in the Valley with Titus Pomponius Victor, procurator of the Emperors.
Limestone cippus. W. 0.57, h. 1.13, d. 0.25. The right part of line 7 is lost. Photo: EDCS-17000063.

The north-west side of the forum was taken up by a basilica, used for economic transactions and court sessions (rooms 20-35, 50-51). Room 29, which formed an entity with room 23, and room 30 had a hypocaust for heating, with praefurnia in rooms 50 and 51. It has been suggested that this part of the building was used as curia, the meeting place of the mayors and city councillers (duumviri and decuriones). From room 23 six fragments of large bronze statues were extracted in 1883. A leg and an arm must have belonged to a deity. A hand and an arm, both gilded, belonged to two statues of a deity or an Emperor. Quite famous is the head of a sacred bull. It had three horns (the middle one is broken off).

The bronze head of a bull found in 1883. Photo: vici.org, Marco Prins.

Next to the forum the podium of a temple was found, measuring 13.15 x 19.00 m. To the temple will have belonged a composite capital, known already in the 18th century. On three sides are busts of deities emerging from acanthus leaves. A bearded head is perhaps of Jupiter associated with the Celtic deity Taranis. The other busts might represent Apollo and Juno. On the corners are eagles. Perhaps also from this temple comes an inscribed altar that was reused in a mithraeum in the west part of the city. It records the restoration of a temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus by Iulius Constitutus, procurator of the Emperor (Iovi Optimo Maximo. Iulius Constitutus, procurator Augusti nostri, templum a solo restituit; EDCS-11801003).

The composite capital. Limestone. H. 0.83. Late second or early third century. Photos: Bossert-Neukom 2004, Taf. 8. Top: Jupiter-Taranis? (the photo top right was taken around 1896). Bottom left: Apollo? Bottom right: Juno?

Reconstruction of the forum and the basilica. To the right the podium of the temple is indicated.
F. Wiblé, "Forum Claudii Vallensium", Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.

Introduction The forum Houses and workshops Baths and water supply Gallo-Roman temples

The precinct of temple II The mithraeum The amphitheatre Christianity Burials

[1-Feb-2024]