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The precinct of temple II The mithraeum The amphitheatre Christianity Burials |
In 1993 a mithraeum was discovered at the west end of the settlement. The shrine was 8.95 m. wide and 23.36 m. long, and had a gabled roof reaching a height of 6 m. Ceramics and coins point to a date of construction during the reign of Marcus Aurelius or Commodus (161-192 AD).
View of the remains of the mithraeum, plan and reconstructions. Photo: F. Wiblé, "Forum Claudii Vallensium", Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.
Plan: Dubois 2012(1), fig. 1. Reconstructions: Information leaflet, Kantonales Amt für Archäologie, Canton du Valais and Wiblé 1995, fig. 12.The shrine was surrounded by a wooden fence at a distance of 6 m. Next to the path leading to the shrine was a furnace, perhaps for baking bread. The entrance was in a side wall. In front of the entrance was a small, rectangular pit that must have been filled with water (1.70 x 1.10 m., d. 1.35). In this pit a vessel was found with a Greek graffito, a dedication to Helios (Sol) by a certain Theodoros.
Vessel with a Greek graffito. H. 0.11. EDCS-65000198. Photo: Wikimedia, Caroline Léna Becker.
ΘEOΔΩPOC ANEΘHKA ΘEΩ HΛΛIΩ - Theodoros dedicated (this) to the god Helios.In the vestibule was a masonry stove for preparing meals. Next to the entrance of the main room was a rectangular space that has been called an apparatorium, a Mithraic sacristy (a first space was destroyed by fire and replaced by a similar space). The walls and ceiling were decorated with paintings, of which a running dog between trees has been preserved.
Painting of a dog between trees from the first apparatorium. Photo: Wiblé 1995, fig. 11.A few steps led down to the spelaeum, a space recalling the cave in which the so-called tauroctony had taken place, the killing of a sacred bull by Mithras. On either side were wooden reclining couches for the initiated. Below the aisle between the couches animal bones had been buried, the remains of communal meals. Tableware was found, but also some vessels decorated with snakes. The light of oil lamps and torches reflected in rock crystals, perhaps fastened to the ceiling.
Reconstruction of the mithraeum. Information leaflet, Kantonales Amt für Archäologie, Canton du Valais.The room was decorated with paintings, of which only fragments were found. On the lateral walls human figures were depicted. Below an arch at the back the tauroctony was depicted, not painted, but made of bronze. Again, only fragments were found: the torchbearer Cautes, the right leg of Cautopates, the Phrygian cap of Mithras, a scorpion, and a female head with a turreted headdress. The headdress, also called a mural crown, resembles the walls of a city with its turrets. This may therefore be the protective deity of the city. A small bronze votive plaque with the tauroctony was also found. Some fragments of plaster from the back wall have been recognized as parts of busts of Sol with sun rays on the head and of Luna with a crescent moon.
Reconstruction drawing of the back part of the shrine. Dubois 2012(1), fig. 2.
Reconstruction drawing of the tauroctony with bronze fragments.
Information leaflet, Kantonales Amt für Archäologie, Canton du Valais.
Top right: Cautes. Bottom left: protective deity. Bottom right: scorpion.
H. of Cautes: 0.23. Photos: Wikimedia, Caroline Léna Becker.
In the central aisle three inscribed altars were found. One of these originally belonged to a temple of Jupiter, perhaps the temple next to the forum. The worshippers of Mithras had covered the inscription with plaster and painted a new text with red letters, of which only traces had been preserved. Many sherds were found with short graffiti, such as DIM for Deo Invicto Mithrae, "for the invincible god Mithras". Graffiti had also been written on the paintings.
DEO SOLI
[I]NVICTO
MITHRAE
[---] CONDIV[s]
PATERNV[s]
FLAMEN
IIVIRALIS
V(otum) [s(olvit)] L(ibens) M(erito)To the god Sun,
invincible,
Mithras.
[---] Condius
Paternus,
priest,
former mayor,
fulfilled his vow gladly, deservedly.[D(eo) S(oli) I(nvicto) M(ithrae)?]
DIIS
DEABVSQUE
OMNIBVS
P(ublius) ACILIVS THEO
DORVS V(ir) P(erfectissimus)
PRAESES[To the god Sun, invincible, Mithras?]
To all
gods
and goddesses.
Publius Acilius Theodorus,
most excellent man,
governor.Inscribed altars. EDCS-11801000, EDCS-11801004. For the third altar see the page about the forum.
The three altars during the excavation. Photo: Wiblé 1995, fig. 16.In and around the mithraeum 2091 votive coins were found, mostly from the years 378-402 AD. In 391-392 AD pagan cults were forbidden by the Emperor Theodosius.
Introduction
The forum
Houses and workshops
Baths and water supply
Gallo-Roman templesThe precinct of temple II
The mithraeum
The amphitheatre
Christianity
Burials
[4-Feb-2024]
