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Provincia

Mithras in Aquitania

In Aquitania, Mithraic evidence reflects the western expansion of the cult beyond the principal Rhine and Rhône corridors.

The material documented in Aquitania remains modest in scale but geographically important for understanding the spread of Mithraic cults into southwestern Gaul. Urban centres and regional routes connected the province to Atlantic, Iberian and inland Gallic networks through which religious practices circulated.

Mithraic monuments of Aquitania

 

Mithréum de Bordeaux

C’est en 1986, à l’occasion de la restructuration de l’ancien magasin Parunis, qu’une fouille de sauvetage archéologique fut réalisée cours Victor Hugo.

 

Aion altar of Bordeaux

The altar depicting a lion-headed figure from Bordeaux includes a sculpted ewer and a patera on the sides.

 

Cautopates de Bordeaux

The Cautopates of Bordeaux stands as usual with his legs crossed and arms down.

 

Inscriptions of Eauze

Several inscriptions dedicated to Mithras have been found in Eauze, including these two by a certain Pater Sextus Vervicius Eutyches, discovered in 1768.

CIMRM 888

 

Cautes statuette raising torch from Eauze

A white marble statuette of Cautes, dressed in a long cloak and raising his torch with both hands without being cross-legged, found near Eauze (ancient Elusa) in the Armagnac region of Aquitania.

CIMRM 884

 

Dedication to Sol Invictus Mithras from the colony of Elusatium

A dedication to the unconquered and propitious Sol Invictus Mithras, made by a priest named M. Pompeius on behalf of the divine house, the most sacred council, and the devout inhabitants of the colony of Elusatium (modern Eauze) in Aquitania.

CIMRM 891

 

Forged altar from Soulan

This supposed Mithraic altar from Soulan in the Pyrenees was later identified as a modern forgery, including both the inscription and the alleged cave context in which it was said to have been discovered.

CIMRM 883

 

Stone statuette of Cautopates from Bordeaux

Standing stone statuette of Cautopates, the downward-torch bearer, found at Bordeaux and kept in the city’s museum of antiquities (musée d’Aquitaine ?).

CIMRM 893

Brothers attested in Aquitania

Sextus Vervicius Eutyches

Sextus Vervicius Eutyches
(early 3rd century)

Places in Aquitania

 

[Soulan]

Soulan is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.

 

Burdigala

Around 300 BC, Burdigala was the settlement of a Celtic tribe, the Bituriges Vivisci. The Romans conquered the area in 60 BC and made Burdigala the capital of the Roman province of Aquitania during the reign of Emperor Vespasian.

 

Elusa

Eauze is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.

 

Elusatium

Elusatium refers to the territory associated with the Elusates in Roman Aquitania.

Inscriptions from Aquitania

Inscriptions of Eauze

Deo Invict[o] / Sex[tus] Vervic[ius] / Eutyches / vestiar[ius] civ[is] / Trev[er] pater.

V/ervi/cius Eutyc/hes pa/ter.
To the Unconquered God, Sextus Vervicius Eutyches, textile merchant, citizen of Treveri, and Father.

Vervicius Eutyches, Pater.

Forged altar from Soulan

Deo Mitr(ae) Faustus, Modesta v(otum) s(olverunt) l(ibentes) m(erito).
To the god Mithras, Faustus and Modesta willingly and deservedly fulfilled their vow.

References

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