AQUAE BORMO´NIS
AQUAE BORMO´NIS (
Bourbon l'Archam bault).
The site of these hot springs is marked in the Theodosian Table by the square figure or building which indicates mineral waters, and by the name Bormo, which D'Anville erroneously would have altered to Borvo.
It is also marked as on a road which communicates to the NW. with Avaricum (
Bourges), and to the NE. with Augustodunum (
Autun).
The hot springs of Bourbon are a few miles from the left bank of the Allier, an affluent of the Loire.
At
Bourbonne-les-Bains, in the department of
Haute Marne, there are also hot springs, and the Theodosian Table indicates, as D'Anville supposes, this fact by the usual mark, though it gives the place no name. D'Anville (
Notice, &c.) gave it the name of Aquae Borvonis, founding the name on an inscription discovered there; but the correct reading of the inscription, according to more recent authorities, is BORBONI THERMARUM DEO MAMMONAE, &c.
It is probable that Bormo may have been the deity of both places, as the modern names are the same. Thus the god of the hot springs gave his name to the place, and the place gave a name to a family which, for a long time, occupied the throne of France.
[
G.L]
