AXIMA
(Aime) Savoie, France.
Ancient
capital of the Ceutrones, who inhabited the Tarentaise
region (valley of the Isère). Conquered by Caesar and
subdued by Augustus, the region became a procuratorial
province of the Alpis Graia. Darantasis (Moutiers) was
the first capital, then Axima, which was on the Roman
road leading from the Val d'Aoste to Vienne and Lyon
by the Little Saint-Bernard Pass. Under Claudius it was
known as Forum Claudii. At Aime the present national
highway closely follows the Roman road, which used to
be lined with funerary monuments. Many ancient remains and inscriptions have been unearthed in different
areas.
In the Saint-Martin district, 3.3 in below the Romanesque basilica, is a rectangular Roman building which
may have been a temple of Silvanus or, more likely, a
secular basilica from the late 1st or early 2d c., judging
from the base of a statue of Trajan found there. It was
destroyed, and replaced in the 5th c. by an apsed
Early Christian basilica (22.9 x 9.1 m). In the Saint-Sigismond district, on the hill above Saint-Martin,
the traces of a temple with an altar dedicated to Mars
can still be seen. Under the chapel is a necropolis. In the
Poëncet district, between the Grande Rue and the Tessens road, many inscriptions and architectural fragments
have been found; they are now in the Saint-Martin
church. In the Replat district, between Saint-Martin and
the national highway, are some tombs in which have
been found epitaphs, pottery, and many other objects
now at the Musée de l'Académie du Val d'Isère at
Moutiers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. L. Borrel,
Les monuments anciens
de Tarentaise (1884)
PI; M. Hudry,
La basilique de Saint-Martin d'Aime (n.d.).
M. LEGLAY
