Jupiter giant column

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Jupiter Column at Stuttgart New Palace , reconstruction of the giant Jupiter column from Hausen an der Zaber

A Jupiter giant column is a certain type of archaeological monument from the time of the Roman Empire , evidence of the syncretistic Roman-Germanic gods cult that was widespread at the time . Most of the giant columns of Jupiter were erected in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD at Roman settlements or manors ( villae rusticae ) in the province of Upper Germany . There are also finds of giant columns of Jupiter and the similarly designed columns of Jupiter in Lower Germany , northern Gaul and Britain .

iconography

Color reconstruction (giant column of Jupiter in Schwarzenacker )

The base of the column is formed by a four-god stone with alternating combinations of the gods depicted. Above that follows a weekly god stone and a stone column, usually decorated with scales, which is crowned by a (in the majority of cases riding) Jupiter who rides a (mostly serpentine) giant . The heads depicted on the capital (Jupiter giant column from Walheim ) are interpreted either as the four seasons or the four times of day (morning, noon, evening, night). The height of this column is usually four meters, the Great Mainz Jupiter column measures over nine meters. The Lower Germanic Jupiter columns, on the other hand, usually show a Jupiter enthroned - they are therefore referred to as Jupiter columns . Often altars were erected in front of or next to the pillars and placed in a walled area.

In the course of the gradual rediscovery of the original paintwork of ancient monuments (see replica of the Igel column in the Landesmuseum Trier ), attempts were made to reconstruct the original paintwork in the Saarland Roman Museum in Schwarzenacker (see picture).

The historian Greg Woolf interprets this type of column to mean that it represents the victory of Jupiter Optimus Maximus over chaos, elevated above the other gods and humans, but closely connected to the latter. Most of the consecrations also represented personal cult acts after him.

Upright monuments have not been preserved in Germany - they are only known from archaeological finds or spolia (reused sculptures, e.g. stones of the four gods in Christian churches). Occasionally, in recent years, reconstructions of giant Jupiter columns have been set up at their place of discovery or in the vicinity (for example in Ladenburg near Mannheim, Obernburg am Main , Benningen am Neckar , Hausen an der Zaber , Steinsfurt , Berwangen , Stuttgart , Köngen and near Kastell Saalburg ) . The only Gaulish Jupiter column that has survived above ground is located in Cussy-la-Colonne in the Côte-d'Or department in Burgundy.

Frankfurt "Jupiter Column", 2011

Artistic reception in the present

In the Frankfurt city forest , on the banks of the Tyrolean pond , there has been an artistic parody of a Jupiter column since 2011 . On the about four-meter-high column of red sandstone Main a gilded figure perched the Frankfurter Green armadillo - which from the publisher, author and satirist Robert Gernhardt invented Sympathiefigur the Frankfurt green belt . The sculpture created by the sculptor Andreas Rohrbach is part of the Komische Kunst series in Frankfurt's green belt .

literature

  • Gerhard Bauchhenß : Jupiter giant columns. Limesmuseum Aalen, Aalen 1976 (= Small writings on the knowledge of the Roman occupation history of Southwest Germany 14. ZDB -ID 236356-2 ).
  • Gerhard Bauchhenß: The giant columns of Jupiter in the Roman province of Germania superior. In: Gerhard Bauchhenß, Peter Noelke: The Iupiter columns in the Germanic provinces. (= Supplements to the Bonner Jahrbücher . Volume 41.). Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne / Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-7927-0502-8 , pp. 1–262.
  • Peter Noelke : The Jupiter columns and pillars in the Roman province of Germania inferior. In: Gerhard Bauchhenß, Peter Noelke: The Iupiter columns in the Germanic provinces. (= Supplements to the Bonner Jahrbücher . Volume 41.). Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne / Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-7927-0502-8 , pp. 263-515.
  • 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. (online) (introductory technical article).
  • Roland Gschlössl: In the melting pot of religions. Exchange of gods among Celts, Romans and Teutons. von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3655-1 , pp. 41-46.
  • Peter Noelke: New finds of Jupiter columns and pillars in the Germania inferior together with additions to the earlier inventory . In: Bonner Jahrbücher 210/211, 2010/2011, pp. 149–374.

Web links

Commons : Columns of Jupiter  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Color-reconstructed replica of the Igel column in the Trier State Museum .
  2. ↑ Jupiter giant column for the Roman Museum in Homburg-Schwarzenacker , Rotarian, 2006.
  3. ^ Greg Woolf: Representation as Cult. The case of the Jupiter columns. In: Wolfgang Spickermann et al. (Hrsg.): Religion in the Germanic provinces of Rome. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2001, ISBN 3-16-147613-1 , pp. 117-134.
  4. ↑ Berndmark Heukemes: The giant column of Jupiter from Ladenburg in ancient times and today - destroyed three times and restored twice. In: Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg , 4th year 1975, issue 2, pp. 39–43 ( PDF ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.denkmalpflege-bw.de
  5. ↑ Jupiter giant column in Ladenburg
  6. ↑ Jupiter giant column in Obernburg am Main
  7. ↑ Edmund Kiehnle: The giant column of Jupiter to Berwangen , in: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research , volume 13, 1993, pp. 169–176.
  8. ↑ The Green Armadillo at the Tiroler Weiher at par.frankfurt.de , the former website of the City of Frankfurt am Main (accessed on March 13, 2019)