Altar of Victoria (Cologne)
The altar of Victoria was a consecration gift donated in honor of the Roman goddess of victory , which was erected in the 3rd century near the site of the Alteburg naval fort , south of the then city of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium , today's Cologne .
Religious environment of the altar
During the occupation of the Lower Rhine region, the Germania inferior , the Romans found a developed, rural area. The subsequent integration into the Roman Empire brought rapid changes to the local population, which affected almost all areas of life. The previously venerated deities initially retained their cultic value for the local population alongside those of Roman mythology , which saw the deified personification of victory, the patron goddess of the Roman emperor and virgin guardian of the empire manifested in Victoria .
Original location of the consecration stone
The smaller settlements called Vici emerged early on in the run-up to large cities . These “Vici” formed at the important crossings and river crossings of the long-distance and military roads built by the Roman conquerors , but mostly as suburbs of the military camps in which the civilians who followed the army lived. One calls this type settlements as Canabae legionis or as Kastellvici, depending on whether they are next to a military camp were or auxiliary forces fort, including about three kilometers outside the provincial capital of Lower Germany , the CCAA where the Romans on a flood-proof hill on the banks of the Rhine one Had established the base of the imperial fleet Classis Germanica .
The vicus in front of the naval fort was the largest of these settlements compared to others, followed by the most extensively researched “Vicus Bonn” and the smallest, the “Vicus Xanten”.
The altar , built in honor of Victoria , the goddess of victory, dates back to the first half of the third century .
- Side views of the altar
General view on the left
Top right
Bottom right
Symbolic dolphins
description
The altar stone, 220 cm high and almost 74 cm wide, is unique in the Rhineland due to its slender shape and its reliefs incorporated on all sides, its inscription and ornamentation . It was probably donated as a thank you for fulfilling a request and was possibly the commission of a high-ranking member of the base, who had it done by a stonemason moving from place to place. Clients and craftsmen are unknown. The inscription on the front of the stone reads:
- Deae | Victoriae | sacrum ("sacred to the goddess Victoria")
A bull's head framed by two small dolphins is depicted above the inscription . The choice of motifs suggests a member of the fleet who took a victory of the emperor or the fleet as an opportunity to donate an altar to the goddess. The back of the altar also shows two larger dolphins protecting a smaller one. It has been suggested that the larger dolphins symbolize the imperial fleet that protects the Rhine fleet.
On the back of the altar, a bull with a leaning tree is depicted, while on the sides sacrificial objects and people are shown in relief in two image fields. A sacrificial ax, bipennis , and a sacrificial knife, secespita , can be seen in one of the upper fields ; Below you can see a sacrificial servant, popa victimarius , dressed in a tunic and sandals, who holds one of the instruments in each hand. On the opposite side, in the upper field, equipment for a libation with a donation jug and donation bowl, patera or simpulum , is shown, below it again a sacrificial servant who holds both objects in his hands. The sides of the altar are framed by a lesbian kymation , while the front is framed by a running dog made of vine or ivy leaves .
History of the altar stone since the Renaissance
The denominational , social and cultural changes of the Renaissance also included a rediscovered interest in ancient art. The Burgundy family of the jeweler Haquene (a) y, who had been based in Cologne since the 15th century, also turned their attention to this . The brothers Nikasius († 1518) and Georg († 1523) were in the service of the Habsburg dynasty under Emperor Maximilian . They were raised to the rank of imperial knighthood in 1498 and appointed count palatine in 1502. In the collection of Cologne antiquities created by Nicasius, there was also the altar of Victoria, which went with the entire collection as heir to his niece Elisabeth, who had become the wife of Constantin von Lyskirchen in 1540 . The carefully hoarded antiquities, mostly finds from the Cologne Roman era, showed the efforts of individual personalities already at that time to receive for posterity - in the manner of the later art collector Ferdinand Franz Wallraf - evidence of the city's history through collections. As early as 1570, the collections of Lyskirchen and other Cologne collectors were documented as commissioned work by the council by the copper engraver Arnold Mercator , who illustrated his Cologne cityscape from 1570 not only with the altar of Victoria but also with a number of other antique collector's items.
The Victoria Altar passed from the Lyskirchen family to the possession of Count Manderscheid-Blankenheim at Blankenheim Castle . From there it came to Bonn in 1806, after Wallraf's efforts, to his collector friend Franz Pick, who gave it to the city in 1809 with the condition that it be displayed on Remigiusplatz. Later it came into the collection of the predecessor institute of today's Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn , where it is still located.
literature
- Hartmut Galsterer , Brigitte Galsterer: The Roman stone inscriptions from Cologne. IKöln². Zabern, Mainz 2010, ISBN 978-3-8053-4229-2
- Peter Noelke: Discovery of History, Arnold Mercator's city view of Cologne . In: Lothar Altringer, Guido von Büren, Georg Mölich (eds.): Renaissance on the Rhine . Catalog for the exhibition in the LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn, Sept. 16, 2010–6. Feb. 2011. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, ISBN 978-3-7757-2707-5 .
Web links
- Weihaltar for Victoria in the Arachne archaeological database
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Peter Noelke: Discovery of History, Arnold Mercator's city view of Cologne , p. 257.
- ↑ Jeanne-Nora Andrikopoulou-Strack, Cornelius Ulbert and Gary White: Roman Vici in the Rhineland . In: Thomas Otten, Hansgerd Hellenkemper , Jürgen Kunow , Michael Rind : Fundgeschichten. Archeology in North Rhine-Westphalia . Accompanying book for the state exhibition NRW 2010. Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-8053-4236-0 , p. 147 ff.
- ↑ CIL 13, 8252 .
- ^ Information on the object of the exhibition at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn.
- ↑ Laurenz Lersch : Central Museum Rheinländischer Insschriften, I Cöln , Bonn with T. Habicht, 1839, Inscription 19 (pp. 21-23) Google Books online
- ↑ Ulrich S. Soenius, Jürgen Wilhelm (Ed.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon , Greven, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3774304000 , pp. 214-215.
- ↑ According to Lersch.