Altar of Vieu

TNMM 456 ↔ CIMRM 911

Dei i(nvicti) M(ithrae) / patri patru/m G. Ru[f(io)] / Eutacto / C. R(ufius) Viri/lis fil(ius).

The same C. Rufius and his wife are mentioned in a sepulchral inscription.

–——

Six lines of a complete inscription, punctuated with seven ivy leaves (hederae), are carefully engraved on an altar from which only the front survives:

Dei i(nvicti) / M(ithrae) Patri Patru/m C(aio) Ru[t(io9] / Eutacto / C(aius) R(ufius) Viri/lis fil(ius).

Caius Rufius Virilis, his son, for Caius Rufius Euctatus, Father of Fathers of the invincible god Mithras.

This tribute by a son for his father makes known to us one of the few Patres Patrum recorded in the western provinces. This title, honorific or hierarchical, is primarily known at Rome and Ostia, where it is notably borne by senators (viri clarissimi). It perhaps implies that its bearer held authority either over several sanctuaries or several Fathers at a single Mithraeum. The Father of Fathers at Vieu, Caius Rufius Euctatus, was a physician by profession, as is indicated by a double epitaph, dated to the 3rd century and found in the same urban area, that was inscribed at the initiative of his wife Caesiccia lanuaria, who, like him, was a Roman citizen.

The altar given by Caius Rufius Virilis was unearthed in January 1869 at Vieu in what was identified as a Mithraic spelaeum. Endowed with a cultic medical centre established at a large temple that was probably dedicated to Apollo, the vicus of Venetonimagus, in the territory of the Ambarri, was a commercial settlement situated on one of the Alpine routes providing access to Lugdunum (ancient Lyon). Located near the baths and temple, the Mithraeum, established in the 3rd century and active up to the 4th, was integrated into the religious complex at the settlement's monumental centre. It has not been excavated since its discovery and remains poorly known. The rectangular structure, measuring 10.60 m in length and 3.40 m in width, has produced, among other objects, decorative elements, pieces of marble statuary as well as fragments from two other inscribed altars, and coins from the end of the 2nd century and 3rd century C.E.