Great Jupiter Column in Mainz

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The Great Mainz Jupiter Column (replica in front of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, Mainz)

The Great Mainz Jupiter Column is a civil monument erected in Mogontiacum (today's Mainz ) in the second half of the first century in honor of the Roman god Jupiter . It is the oldest, largest and most elaborate Jupiter column that has been found in German-speaking countries so far. The Great Mainz Jupiter Column was the model for other Jupiter Columns, especially erected in the second and third centuries, in the Roman provinces of Germania inferior (Lower Germany) and Germania superior (Upper Germany). It was destroyed in the late period of the Roman Empire and rediscovered in 1904/05. Today the reconstructed remains can be viewed in the stone hall of the State Museum in Mainz. Copies of the Great Mainz Jupiter Column can be found in Mainz itself, at Saalburg Castle , in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and in Rome.

Historical background

Location of the Great Mainz Jupiter Column and the Dimesser town in Mogontiacum

13/12 BC The almost 500 year long Roman presence in Mainz began with the construction of a legionary camp on the Mainzer Kästrich (elevation above the Rhine Valley). Shortly afterwards, several canabae (civil settlements) arose on the slopes of the Kästrich towards the Rhine and in Weisenau , which quickly developed into individual, loosely connected civilian settlements. In the area of ​​today's Mainz Neustadt at the height of the customs and inland port , a settlement known in the specialist literature as "Dimesser Ort" was founded. A naval base of the Roman Rhine fleet was probably located here in the first half of the first century . In addition, archaeological finds allow the interpretation that there was also a larger transshipment point for goods transported by ship. In professional circles, the settlement is therefore seen as the vicus of trade and long-distance merchants. At the beginning of the second half of the first century, this civil settlement must have had great importance for civil life in Mainz as well as a certain degree of prosperity. It is also assumed to be interpreted as the former civil center of Mainz at the time. During the reign of Emperor Nero , residents (canabarii) of this settlement donated what is now known as the Great Jupiter Column in Mainz. Together with an altar stone for thanksgiving offerings, it was erected in the settlement as a sign of their devotion and loyalty to the imperial family .

Recovery and reconstruction

In December 1904 the head of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz, Ludwig Lindenschmit , became aware of bronze fragments that construction workers were selling at a scrap metal dealer. A foot clad in a sandal and the remains of a lightning bolt turned out to be parts of the larger than life figure of Jupiter. After Lindenschmit was able to locate the site in Sömmerringstrasse No. 6 in the Neustadt district of Mainz, the remains of the Jupiter column were found at a depth of two and a half meters in several weeks in early 1905. A total of almost 2000 fragments of various sizes were recovered. Even then, the find situation led to the conclusion that the fragments of the Jupiter column were the result of a systematic and planned destruction and disposal of the fragments. Lindenschmit, who enjoyed a good reputation as a conservator in Europe, laboriously reconstructed the column from the rubble. This was made easier by offset marks, which defined the sequence of the individual column sections and their arrangement. He later wrote:

“The construction of the individual links, the plinth, column drums, etc. was carried out in such a way that initially the parts of the outside that belonged together, often only touching at narrow fractures, were pinned together using brass oarlocks and stone putty . Where larger pieces were missing inside the column, the connection to the outside was made with bricks, which were embedded in a mass made of glue and plaster, in order not to increase the weight unnecessarily.
In addition, the outward-facing parts were connected to each other and to the core by inlaid metal lumps, wires and clips. All gaps inside and outside were filled with the above-mentioned compound or with stone putty. "

- Ludwig Lindenschmit

Despite the emerging supraregional significance of the find, the Jupiter column was stored in various places under the open sky for several decades. From 1963 it was shown in the stone hall (the former riding hall of the electoral stables ) of today's Mainz State Museum. There it is exhibited together with other important stone monuments from the collection of around 2000 individual pieces of Roman stone monuments from the Roman era in Mainz. In autumn 2016, the parts of the column were sent to the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology in Erlangen for examination . It will take about two years to determine what the individual parts of the Jupiter column looked like 2000 years ago.

The replicas of the Great Mainz Jupiter Column in front of the Deutschhaus in Mainz and near the Saalburg are closely based on the original. In some illustrations, missing parts of the sculptures and the decorative friezes were added to a small extent . It was not possible to clearly determine whether the Jupiter figure was once designed to be standing or sitting. A painting of the Jupiter column can be assumed as possible, but cannot be proven due to the finds. Currently (as of October 2016) the copy of the column in front of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament in the Große Bleiche in Mainz has been dismantled for restoration work.

Description and figure program

The Great Mainz Jupiter Column consists of two almost cubic base stones of different sizes and five column drums, which taper slightly towards the top in diameter. In this area of ​​the monument, a total of 28 different deities from Roman-Celtic mythology are represented. On the column sits a richly decorated Corinthian-type capital with a cubic closing stone on which the figure of Jupiter stood. The column measures 9.14 meters without the Jupiter figure, with the 3.36 meter tall Jupiter figure the Jupiter column had a total height of 12.50 meters. Like numerous other stone monuments of the Roman Mogontiacum, it was made from Lorraine keuper (limestone) from the Verdun area .

Base stones

The two slightly profiled base stones probably stood on a multi-level substructure, about which nothing is known. The lower of the two base stones shows on the four sides of the picture Jupiter himself as well as the goddess of luck, Fortuna , and Minerva , the goddess of wisdom. Then there are Mercurius , the god of commerce, and possibly Salus , the female deity of well-being personified. Hercules is shown alone on the fourth page . The second base stone shows Apollo , god of music and the arts, as well as the two dioscuri . The front side of the Jupiter column (the side facing the sacrificial altar) contains the foundation inscription mentioned below. In addition to the figures of the gods, the respective picture sides have a rich surrounding decoration.

  • Base stones (replica of the Great Jupiter Column in front of the Saalburg)

  • Jupiter

  • Fortuna (left) and Minerva

  • Hercules

  • Salus (? Left) and Mercurius

Column drums

Figure program of the column drums (replica Saalburg)

The column drums show the following deities or personifications , some of which cannot be identified with absolute certainty :

On the bottom column drum, the sea god Neptunus , Diana , the goddess of the hunt, the goddess of victory Victoria and the god of war Mars are represented. The next drum shows two female deities who could be interpreted as the city goddess Roma (?) And the vegetation goddess Ceres (?), As well as Vulcanus , the god of blacksmithing, and possibly Virtus (?), The personification of bravery. At the next column drum none of the depicted deities can be clearly identified. It is possible that the goddess of peace Pax , Aequitas , the personification of justice, the house goddess Vesta and an indeterminable female goddess are represented here.

The penultimate column drum shows a person who possibly represents the genius Nero, the god of wine Bacchus, and two larars , patron gods of Roman mythology. The last column drum depicts Luna , the goddess of the moon, and Sol , the god of the sun. Luna is portrayed as the driver of a biga (pair), while Sol is driving a quadriga .

Capital and closing stone

The Corinthian capital, which sits on the last column drum, is typically decorated with richly decorated acanthus leaves in two rows one above the other. The closing stone on the capital is adorned with a floral decoration and a diagonal pattern.

Jupiter figure

The figure of Jupiter standing on the column is only preserved in a few fragments. It can be assumed that during the violent destruction of the Jupiter column, the gold-plated bronze statue of Jupiter was smashed and melted down because of its metal value. At well over three meters, the larger-than-life figure was depicted standing or sitting, with a bundle of lightning as a typical attribute in his hand and an eagle standing next to him. The left foot (wearing a sandal), a finger, a lightning wedge, an eagle's claw and smaller parts of the middle part of the body have been preserved.

  • Column drums and Jupiter figure (replica of the Great Mainz Jupiter column in front of the Saalburg)

  • Vulcanus

  • Virtus (?), Personification of bravery

  • Corinthian capital

  • Attempt to reconstruct Jupiter's figure

Inscriptions

Dedication inscription Jupiter column (replica Saalburg)

Along with the fragments of the Jupiter column, inscriptions came to light. A dedicatory inscription is integrated on the front of one of the lower plinths. It is repeated in a shortened form on a sacrificial altar, which stood some distance in front of the Jupiter column and has also been preserved. The founders are the canabarii , i.e. the civilian population of a civilian settlement whose name is not specified. On their behalf, the two named curatores Quintus Iulius Priscus and Quintus Iulius Auctus consecrated the memorial including the consecration altar.

The names of the two most likely local Celtic sculptors can also be found on one of the lower plinth stones. The inscription reads: [S] amus et Severus Venicarii f (ilii) sculpserunt .

The dedicatory inscription on the front of the intermediate plinth reads:

Original text reading
I (ovi) O (ptimo) M (aximo)

PRO [sa] L (ute) [Nero-]
[nis] CLAV [d] I
CAESARIS AV [g] (usti) IMP (eratoris)
CANABA [rii] PVBLICE
P (ublio) SVLPICIO SCRIBONIO
PROCVLO LEG [(ato )] AVG (usti) P [r (o) p] R (aetore)
CVRA ET IMPENSA
Q (uinti) IVLI PRISCI ET
Q (uinti) IVLI AVCTI

 To Jupiter Optimus Maximus (consecrated) for

the salvation of Nero
Claudius Caesar
Augustus Imperator
the residents of the Canabae on the basis of a public act
(this monument), when Publius Sulpicius Scribonius
Proculus was governor. Quintus Julius Priscus and Quintus Julius Auctus took
over the implementation and costs

After Nero's fall and subsequent suicide in 68, Nero fell victim to a nationwide Damnatio memoriae ordered by the Senate . This can also be found in the inscription on the Mainz Jupiter column. In the second and third lines, Nero's name and title have been deliberately made unrecognizable; but the words are still decipherable.

Dating

Due to the inscriptions, a relatively precise dating of the Great Jupiter Column in Mainz is possible. Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Proculus was a legate of the Upper Germanic Army from around 63 to 67 , until he was driven to suicide by a political intrigue initiated by Nero himself.

The wording pro salute Neronis used in the dedicatory inscription indicates, as already mentioned, a consecration on the occasion of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Nero or some other extraordinary event in Nero's life. On the one hand, the events surrounding the murder of Nero's mother, the younger Agrippina (March 59), or the suppression of the Pisonian conspiracy in April of the year 65 come into question. According to the current state of research, this tends to be the occasion for the dedication of the Monument rather to the Pisonian conspiracy. If one follows this assumption, the creation of the Jupiter column could be narrowed down relatively precisely to the period 65 to 67.

meaning

The Great Mainz Jupiter Column is one of the most important monuments of Roman Mainz. At 12.50 meters it is the largest of the previously known monuments of this type and, thanks to the rich relief decoration, also the most elaborately designed Jupiter column. Due to their importance, in addition to the copy of the Great Mainz Jupiter Column in Mainz, there are other duplicates on the grounds of the Saalburg in Hesse (there with a freely reconstructed Jupiter figure), in the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris and in the Museo della Civiltà Romana in Rome.

The importance of this pillar lies on the one hand in its function as a trend-setting prototype of the type of Jupiter pillars and Jupiter giant pillars that emerge from it. On the other hand, it is also an example of the development of a Gallo-Roman understanding of art and religion in the conquered Germanic provinces, whose relatively rapid emergence can be traced back to the example of the Great Jupiter Column in Mainz, both in terms of time and style.

Finally, the monument itself allows conclusions to be drawn about the establishment and development of civil life in the military garrison town of Mogontiacum.

Mixture of Roman and Celtic art and religion

The emergence of the Great Mainz Jupiter Column, with its easily definable period of origin, is an important indication that the local population relatively quickly adopted the civilizing achievements and cultural ideas of the Roman occupying power. On the one hand, the monument has architectural design elements based on Italian models. The pantheon shown, however, already shows the amalgamation of Roman and Celtic deities as a result of the formation of a new Gallo-Roman religion.

Model for Jupiter and Jupiter giant columns

Reconstructed Jupiter giant column

The Great Mainz Jupiter Column is the model and first example of the Jupiter (gigantic) columns popular in the north-western Roman Empire until the third century. From the Jupiter column of Mogontiacum which was created for one type of Jupiter columns . In terms of design, these are more similar to the Mainz model. A four-god stone and a column often decorated with images is usually followed by Jupiter enthroned, sometimes together with his wife Iuno Regina .

A modification of the Jupiter column is the Jupiter giant column . Here Jupiter is represented in the role of the giant riding down god, who triumphs over chaos and stands above other gods and humans. The group of figures usually stands on a serpentine, scaled column. This type was especially widespread in the province of Germania superior. The remains of up to 76 different (?) Jupiter (giant) columns were found in and around Mogontiacum alone.

Jupiter or Jupiter giant columns were generally civil dedicatory memorials that were often erected on their own land, for example at villae rusticae . Jupiter's columns were the most popular type of votive monument in the province of Germania inferior, especially in the second and third centuries. Archaeologically, both types belong to the best-documented groups of monuments in the two Germanic provinces.

Conclusions about civil life in Mogontiacum in the first century

As a civil monument donated by citizens to this civil settlement, which is no more than 70 years old, in the area of ​​today's Mainz Neustadt, which was only one of several canabae , the Great Mainz Jupiter Column suggests that the Roman Mainz population was already numerous and wealthy in the first century . Only this could afford to commission such a representative and expensive monument. Possibly the erection of the Great Mainz Jupiter Column and its consecration as part of a large public act ( publice ) should also underline the efforts of the canabarii to obtain official city rights for their up-and-coming civil settlement.

In addition, the Jupiter column is the only evidence of Roman provincial art in Mogontiacum, the creator of which is better known. The two donors are named in the inscription on one of the base stones. In the characters of the two local Celtic brothers Samus and Severus , the artists are known to us thanks to another inscription on the monument.

In no other place have so many consecutive consecrations of Jupiter's columns been found as in Mogontiacum. More (gigantic) columns of Jupiter were found in various places in today's city of Mainz and its surrounding area, for example at Höfchen , Gutenbergplatz , in Neustadt , in Mainz-Kastel and an elaborately crafted Jupiter giant column in Wiesbaden-Schierstein .

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Jupitersaeule (Mainz)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Karl-Viktor Decker, Wolfgang Selzer: Mainz from the time of Augustus to the end of Roman rule. In: Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . History and culture of Rome as reflected in recent research. Berlin u. a. 1977, pp. 457-559, here: p. 477.
  2. ↑ Quoted from: Rudolf Pörtner: With the elevator to Roman times. Edition ?, p. 140.
  3. ↑ Landesmuseum Mainz, inv. No. P. 137.
  4. ↑ Consecration column at the X-ray in FAZ of December 23, 2016, page 40
  5. ↑ CIL 13, 11806 .
  6. ↑ CIL 13, 11807 .
  7. ↑ Reading from: Wolfgang Selzer, Karl-Victor Decker, Anibal Do Paço: Römische Steinenkmäler. Mainz in Roman times. Mainz 1988, pp. 90-91.
  8. ^ Gabriele Ziethen: Mogontiacum - From the legion camp to the provincial capital. In: Franz Dumont, Ferdinand Scherf, Friedrich Schütz (Hrsg.): Mainz - The history of the city. 2nd Edition. Mainz 1999, pp. 39-70, here: p. 49.
  9. ^ Leonhard Schumacher : Mogontiacum. Garrison and civil settlement as part of the history of the empire. In: Michael J. Klein (ed.): The Romans and their heritage. Progress through innovation and integration. Mainz 2003, pp. 1–28.
  10. ^ Wolfgang Spickermann: Mogontiacum (Mainz) as the political and religious central place of the Germania superior. P. 179 ff .; Leonhard Schumacher: Mogontiacum. Garrison and civil settlement as part of the history of the empire. In: Michael J. Klein (ed.): The Romans and their heritage. Progress through innovation and integration, Mainz 2003, pp. 1–28, here: p. 5.
  11. ↑ In detail on the dating: Gerhard Bauchhenß: The great Iuppitersäule from Mainz (= Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani . Corpus of the Sculptures of the Roman World. Germany (Germania Superior). Volume II / Part 2) p. 32 f.
  12. ^ Karl-Viktor Decker, Wolfgang Selzer: Mainz from the time of Augustus to the end of Roman rule. In: Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world. History and culture of Rome as reflected in recent research. Berlin u. a. 1977, pp. 457-559, here: p. 468.
  13. ^ Walburg Boppert: On the spread of Christianity in Upper Germany with special consideration of the situation in the provincial capital Mogontiacum. In: Wolfgang Spickermann, Hubert Cancik, Jörg Rüpke (Ed.): Religion in the Germanic provinces of Rome. Tübingen 2001, pp. 361-402, here: pp. 364 ff.
  14. ↑ Gerhard Bauchhenß:  Jupiter giant columns. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 16, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016782-4 , pp. 132-135.
  15. ^ Greg Woolf: Representation as Cult: the case of the Jupiter columns. In: Wolfgang Spickermann, Hubert Cancik, Jörg Rüpke (Ed.): Religion in the Germanic provinces of Rome. Tübingen 2001, pp. 117-134, here: pp. 117 ff.
  16. ↑ Gerhard Bauchhenß, Peter Noelke: The Iupiter columns in the Germanic provinces. Cologne 1981.
  17. ^ Wolfgang Selzer, Karl-Victor Decker, Anibal Do Paço: Roman stone monuments. Mainz in Roman times. Catalog for the collection in the Steinhalle. Mainz 1988, p. 49.
  18. ↑ A detailed list of the finds with further information can be found at Wolfgang Spickermann: Mogontiacum (Mainz) as the political and religious central location of the Germania superior. In: Hubert Cancik, Alfred Schäfer, Wolfgang Spickermann (Ed.): Centrality and Religion. For the formation of urban centers in the Imperium Romanum. Tübingen 2006, pp. 167–193, here: pp. 186 ff.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on June 8, 2009 in this version .

Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ 19.22 ″  N , 8 ° 16 ′ 13.98 ″  E