Graoully
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The Graoully (Grauli) was a legend , a dragon , in the ruins of the Roman amphitheater of the city of Metz , to him the holy lived Clement , the first bishop of Metz, in the 3rd century sales. The legend is interpreted as a symbol for the victory of Christianity over paganism . The name should be derived from "grayish".
The poet Rabelais wrote of Graoully: "His eyes are bigger than his stomach, his head bigger than his body with a huge wide mouth and sharp teeth."
According to legend, St. Clement put his stole around the beast's neck and led it away from the city to an island in the Seille . There the monster was swallowed by the ground. Clemens closed the hole with a rock that is said to be still visible today.
Until the 19th century, when the occasion arose, a representation of the graoully was carried through the streets in Metz and beaten by the city's children. Even today, a number of references to the dragon can be found in Metz. A figure of Graoully is in the cathedral crypt ; a copy of it hangs in a hall of the Hohkönigsburg . The fabulous animal is also depicted on the coat of arms of the FC Metz football club .
The name of the Rue Taison, a street not far from the cathedral, is traced back to a warning about the Graoully: "Taisons, taisons nous, voilà le Graoully qui passe" ( Be quiet [let us be silent], the Graoully is walking around ). Allegedly, the saint already uttered these words "taisons-nous" when he entered the city so that the monster would not be awakened. At that time the street was the north-south axis ( Cardo ) of the city, as part of the Marseille - Trier trunk road, crossed in the quarter by an east-west axis ( Decumanus ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Westphal: History of the City of Metz, Part I, Until 1552, Metz 1875, pp. 22-23.
- ↑ cf. also in Pantagruel the last syllable
- ↑ petitfute.com - Rue taison
