Tiberius Claudius Thermodon

Tiberius Claudius Thermodon is known from a dedication to Sol Invictus Mithras from the territory of Volsinii in Etruria, probably dating to the second half of the 2nd century CE. The inscription records that Thermodon, son of Tiberius, fulfilled a vow by providing a spelaeum cum signis et ara ceterisque, a Mithraic sanctuary with its images, altar and other furnishings (TNMM 652; CIMRM 660; Clauss 1992; Chalupa 2023). The sanctuary itself has not been identified archaeologically.

Thermodon is also named in a dedication to Diana from the same area (CIL XI 2683), an identification accepted by Clauss (1992) and later authors. A third inscription from Praeneste, dedicated to Fortuna Primigenia by a Tiberius Claudius Thermodon and Mettia Lochias (CIL XIV 2853), has sometimes been attributed to the same man. Clauss (1992), however, considered this identification unlikely because of the distance between Praeneste and Volsinii.

Thermodon’s cognomen, derived from the Thermodon river in Asia Minor, has been taken to suggest a possible Anatolian origin. Luciani (2018) further interprets him as belonging to a family of Imperial freedman background and as a prominent member of the local community, viewing his Mithraic patronage in the wider context of the relationship between local elites, Imperial administration and religious patronage in Etruria. These aspects of Thermodon’s social position, however, remain interpretative rather than being explicitly stated in the surviving inscriptions.

Chalupa (2023) treats Thermodon’s dedication as strong evidence for the existence of an otherwise archaeologically unattested Mithraeum in ancient Volsinii.