The Mithraic material documented in the Alpine provinces reflects the role of mountain corridors and frontier mobility in the diffusion of the cult. The evidence is generally limited in scale but illustrates the circulation of religious practices through military movements and communication routes linking Italy, Gaul and the Danubian provinces.
Mithraic monuments of Alpes
Mithraeum de Martigny
The Mithraeum of Martigny is the first temple devoted to Mithras found in Switzerland.
Mitreo d’Aosta
The remains of the Mithraeum of Aosta, also known as the Mitreo di Augusta Praetoria, were discovered in 1953 in insula 59, in a commercial district of the ancient city.
Provinces of Alpes
Alpes Graiae
The high mountain routes of Alpes Graiae formed part of the Alpine corridors connecting Italy, Gaul and the northwestern provinces.
Alpes Poenninae
Alpes Poenninae controlled important Alpine routes through which military movement and religious practices circulated between Gaul and Italy.
Places in Alpes
Augusta Praetoria
Aosta is the principal city of the Aosta Valley, a bilingual region in the Italian Alps, 110 km north-northwest of Turin.
Octodurus
The Gaulish name of today Martigny was either Octodurus or Octodurum in the 1st century BC. It was conquered by the Romans in 57 BC and occupied by Servius Galba with the Legion XII.
References
- Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, Lidia Dastrù (2017) Il Mitreo di Augusta Praetoria (Aosta)
- Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta (2024) Aosta, città romana \"Giardino dei ragazzi\" insulae 51-52-59
- Martigny - Art City et Région
