Search

The author publishes two out of three altars recently discovered during the excavation of a mithraeum at Martigny, which was dedicated by two governors of Alpes Atrectianae or Alpes Graiae (French Tarentaise) and Vallis Poenina (modern canton Valais). This name first appears under Septimius Severus but could have been the province's official name as early as Claudius, even if three inscriptions dated between the end of the 1st and 2nd century name it only as Alpes Graiae or Atrectianae. The first of the officials, Julius Constitutus, is a procurator Augusti who can be identified with a praeses mentioned in an inscription from Sion in the same district The second, Publius Acilius Theodoras, is called vir perfectissimus et praeses, and does not occur earlier than the reign of Aurelian, The author suggests an increased importance of Valais in the 3rd century. He also includes a list of 23 governors and administrators of the province known over the whole Roman Empire.