DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0106
Iupiter-Columns
57
vehicle of the sky-god and even to be embellished with his form
and features1.
(e) Iupiter-Columns.
Far and wide over the territory once occupied by Germanic
tribes2 are remains of isolated columns, dating from the close of
the second to the middle of the third century A.D., that is to say,
from the period when Rhenic Germany witnessed a Romanised
revival of its national cults3. These columns, usually termed Jup-
pitersaulen or Giganteusmileui, consist of the following parts. The
lowest member, exclusive of the base, is a quadrangular plinth
known as the Viergotterstein^, which is adorned by reliefs of four
deities—commonly Iuno, Mercurius, Hercules, Minerva (fig. 22)°—
1 A. Olrik ' Irminsul og gudest0tter' in Maal og minne 1910 pp. 1—9, summarised in
the Zeitschrifl des Vereins fitr Volkskunde 1910 xx. 348 (' Die Saulen mit clem Gdtternagel,
die im Hause der altnordischen Hauptlinge neben dem Ehrensitze standen hatten, wie
aus einem Yergleiche der altdeutschen Irminsaulen...und der noch im 18. Jahrhundert
bei den Finnen verehrten " Weltpfeiler " erhellt, die zweifache Bedeutung einer die Welt
tragenden Saule und eines rohgeschnitzten Gdtterbildes '). On the high-seat pillars of
the old Norsemen and on the world-pillars of the Lapps, with their sacred nails, see infra
§3(a)vi(o),§3(c)i(7).
2 For detailed proof of this limitation see the admirable monograph of F. Hertlein
Die fuppitergigantensciiden Stuttgart 1910 p. 51 ff.
3 A. Riese ' Zur Geschichte des Gdtterkultus im rheinischen Germanien ' in the West-
deutsche Zeitschrift 1898 xvii. 1 ff. says (p. 13) : ' Urn die Zeit nach dem Tode des Marc
Aurel geschah eine wunderbare Veranderung, die meines Wissens in diesem Sinne noch
nicht erwahnt ist: der Romanisierung der Religion folgte eine neue Nationalisierung, und
gallische und auch germanische Gotter erhalten Votivinschriften.' He goes on to quote
inscriptions ranging from 187 a.d. {Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 8i85 = Dessau Inscr. Lat.
sel. no. 4743 deae Hariasae etc. found at Cologne) to 259—268 a.d. (Cohen Monn. emp.
rom.'1 vi. 24 ff. no. 88 f. her ■ devsoniens, nos. 90—100 herc • devsoniensi, nos.
115—Il8 hercvli devsoniensi, id. vi. 29 f. no. i 29 f. hercvli magvsano Oil Coins of
Postumus: for these deities see R. Peter in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 3017—3020 and Haug
in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. viii. 61 r).
4 A bibliography of the 'Jupiter-columns' is given supra i. 178 n.
5 Haug 'Die Viergottersteine' in the Westdeutsche Zeitsclirift 1891 x. 9—62, 125—161,
295—340, F. Hertlein Die Juppitergigantensdulen Stuttgart 1910 pp. 94—164 ('Die
Viergottersteine ').
6 Of 83 plinths decorated with four deities 48 exhibit the series Iuno, Mercurius,
Hercules, Minerva (42 from left to right, 6 from right to left), 19 replace Mercurius by
another deity (2 by Iupiter with a wheel, 2 by Mars with a wheel, 2 by Mars without a
wheel, 7 by Apollo, 4 by Volcanus, 2 by Victoria (fig. 22, 3 b Kreuznach no. 137 Haug)),
2 replace Minerva (1 by Fortuna (fig. 22, id Kreuznach no. 136 Haug), 1 by Mars),
4 replace two deities (1 substituting Fortuna with a wheel and Apollo for Iuno and
Mercurius, 1 Victoria and Mars for Mercurius and Minerva (fig. 22, 3 b and 30' Kreuz-
nach no. 137 Haug), 1 Apollo and Volcanus for Mercurius and Hercules, 1 Minerva and
Mars for Hercules and Minerva), 10 are quite irregular. See the summaries in Hertlein
op. cit. pp. 111,127.
Fig. 22, 1 a—d (after E. Schmidt in the Jahrb. d. Vereins v. Alterthumsfreund. im
Rheinl. 1869 xlvii. 92 pi. 14, 3 a, c, d, b) shows the reliefs of a sandstone block,
o-90m highxo-4im broad and deep, found in 1858 a.d. built into the north-west angle of
57
vehicle of the sky-god and even to be embellished with his form
and features1.
(e) Iupiter-Columns.
Far and wide over the territory once occupied by Germanic
tribes2 are remains of isolated columns, dating from the close of
the second to the middle of the third century A.D., that is to say,
from the period when Rhenic Germany witnessed a Romanised
revival of its national cults3. These columns, usually termed Jup-
pitersaulen or Giganteusmileui, consist of the following parts. The
lowest member, exclusive of the base, is a quadrangular plinth
known as the Viergotterstein^, which is adorned by reliefs of four
deities—commonly Iuno, Mercurius, Hercules, Minerva (fig. 22)°—
1 A. Olrik ' Irminsul og gudest0tter' in Maal og minne 1910 pp. 1—9, summarised in
the Zeitschrifl des Vereins fitr Volkskunde 1910 xx. 348 (' Die Saulen mit clem Gdtternagel,
die im Hause der altnordischen Hauptlinge neben dem Ehrensitze standen hatten, wie
aus einem Yergleiche der altdeutschen Irminsaulen...und der noch im 18. Jahrhundert
bei den Finnen verehrten " Weltpfeiler " erhellt, die zweifache Bedeutung einer die Welt
tragenden Saule und eines rohgeschnitzten Gdtterbildes '). On the high-seat pillars of
the old Norsemen and on the world-pillars of the Lapps, with their sacred nails, see infra
§3(a)vi(o),§3(c)i(7).
2 For detailed proof of this limitation see the admirable monograph of F. Hertlein
Die fuppitergigantensciiden Stuttgart 1910 p. 51 ff.
3 A. Riese ' Zur Geschichte des Gdtterkultus im rheinischen Germanien ' in the West-
deutsche Zeitschrift 1898 xvii. 1 ff. says (p. 13) : ' Urn die Zeit nach dem Tode des Marc
Aurel geschah eine wunderbare Veranderung, die meines Wissens in diesem Sinne noch
nicht erwahnt ist: der Romanisierung der Religion folgte eine neue Nationalisierung, und
gallische und auch germanische Gotter erhalten Votivinschriften.' He goes on to quote
inscriptions ranging from 187 a.d. {Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 8i85 = Dessau Inscr. Lat.
sel. no. 4743 deae Hariasae etc. found at Cologne) to 259—268 a.d. (Cohen Monn. emp.
rom.'1 vi. 24 ff. no. 88 f. her ■ devsoniens, nos. 90—100 herc • devsoniensi, nos.
115—Il8 hercvli devsoniensi, id. vi. 29 f. no. i 29 f. hercvli magvsano Oil Coins of
Postumus: for these deities see R. Peter in Roscher Lex. Myth. i. 3017—3020 and Haug
in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. viii. 61 r).
4 A bibliography of the 'Jupiter-columns' is given supra i. 178 n.
5 Haug 'Die Viergottersteine' in the Westdeutsche Zeitsclirift 1891 x. 9—62, 125—161,
295—340, F. Hertlein Die Juppitergigantensdulen Stuttgart 1910 pp. 94—164 ('Die
Viergottersteine ').
6 Of 83 plinths decorated with four deities 48 exhibit the series Iuno, Mercurius,
Hercules, Minerva (42 from left to right, 6 from right to left), 19 replace Mercurius by
another deity (2 by Iupiter with a wheel, 2 by Mars with a wheel, 2 by Mars without a
wheel, 7 by Apollo, 4 by Volcanus, 2 by Victoria (fig. 22, 3 b Kreuznach no. 137 Haug)),
2 replace Minerva (1 by Fortuna (fig. 22, id Kreuznach no. 136 Haug), 1 by Mars),
4 replace two deities (1 substituting Fortuna with a wheel and Apollo for Iuno and
Mercurius, 1 Victoria and Mars for Mercurius and Minerva (fig. 22, 3 b and 30' Kreuz-
nach no. 137 Haug), 1 Apollo and Volcanus for Mercurius and Hercules, 1 Minerva and
Mars for Hercules and Minerva), 10 are quite irregular. See the summaries in Hertlein
op. cit. pp. 111,127.
Fig. 22, 1 a—d (after E. Schmidt in the Jahrb. d. Vereins v. Alterthumsfreund. im
Rheinl. 1869 xlvii. 92 pi. 14, 3 a, c, d, b) shows the reliefs of a sandstone block,
o-90m highxo-4im broad and deep, found in 1858 a.d. built into the north-west angle of