PORT-SUR-SAONE
(“Portus Abucinus” or Bucinus, or
Buxinus) Haute-Saône, France.
The ancient
name is mentioned in the
Notitia Galliarum at the end
of the list of places in the Provincia Maxima Sequanorum. It reappears in the account of the Passion of St.
Valerius, archdeacon of Langres, as the place of his
martyrdom (
Acta Sanctorum 9, Oct. 22, 525, 526,
535). The site has been located at Port-sur-Saône, where
there is a chapel to Saint-Valerius on the left bank across
from the modern town. On the same bank, at the places
called Le Magny and Cuclos, are sizable Roman ruins;
a large villa was excavated in 1860 and other discoveries
have been made recently. (Bucey-les-Traves has also been
suggested as the site of Portus Abucinus.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Suchaux,
Dictionnaire historique,
topographique et statistique de la Haute-Saône II (1866)
168-71; H. Stern,
Recueil général des mosaïques de la
Gaule romaine I, 3 (1960) 98-99, no. 367; L. Lerat,
Gallia 22 (1964) 381-83.
L. LERAT
