DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0138
88
Iupiter-Columns
Preserver1,' in another ' to Iupiter Best and Greatest and to all
the other gods and goddesses immortal2.' Thus with simple time-
honoured phrases the tribes of Rhenic Germany attested their belief
that heaven, the abode of the sky-god, rested on a world-pillar.
Their ancestors, could we have questioned them, would probably
have held the same opinion in a slightly different form, speaking
not of a pillar but of a tree—a notion that still lingers in the cottage-
homes of their descendants3.
Finally, since the holy tree of a primitive cult is apt to be
associated with a holy well4, F. Hertlein rightly draws attention
to the fact that a noticeable proportion of these 'Jupiter-columns'
has been discovered in Roman wells or beside a spring or river5.
110.55 LO.M. e[t lun.] = Corp. inscr. Lett, xiii no. 7270 I.O. M. e[t I.K.]), Bierstadt
(Haug in the IVestdeictsche Zeitschrift 1891 x. 34 no. 58 [I.]O.M. [Iu]noni Reg.), Lieder-
bach {id. ib. 1891 x. 34 no. 59 I.O.M. et Iunon(i) Re(ginae)), Heddernheim (id. id. 1891
x. 35 no. 61 [I.O.M. et Iunoni Regijnae), Heddernheim bis (id. ib. 1891 x. 35 f. no. 62
[I.JO.M. Iunoni Regina[e]), Mayence (id. ib. 1891 x. 55 f. no. 120 I.O.M, which
J. Becker Die romischen Inschriften tend Steinsculpturen des Museums der Stadt Mainz
Mainz 1875 p. 3 no. 11 completes [Iun. Reg.], the Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 6699 [et I. R.],
F. Hertlein op. cit. p. 81 n. 1 [(et) I. R.]), Mayence bis (Haug in the WestdcutscheZeitschrift
1891 x. 56 no. 121 I.O.M. et Iunoni Reginae), Mayence ter (id. ib. 1891 x. 57 no. 124
I.O.M. et Iunoni Reginae), Heddernheim ter (F. Hertlein op. cit. p. 6 [I.O.M. et
I.JR.), Mayence quatcr (id. ib. p. 123, cp. Korber in the Westdcutsche Zeitung 1906 xxv
Korrespondenzbl. p. [68f. [I.O.M. et Iunoni Rejgin(a)e), Weisenau (id. ib. p. 123
[I.O. M. et] Iunoni Reg.).
1 I(ovi) 0(pti)no) M(aximd) Conservatdyri\ So on a Viergiitterstein of Rastel (Haug in
the Westdcutsche Zeitschrift 1891 x. 31 f. no. 52). For Conservator an epithet of gods in
general and of Iupiter in particular see the Thes. Ling. Lat. iv. 418, 37 ft"., Preller—
Jordan Rom. Myth.2 i. 208, 238, Wissowa Rel. Kult. Rom.'2 p. iiSf. : cp. supra i. 276
n* 5» 551 n- iri 608 n. 7.
- Lovi Optimo Maximo et caeteris dis deabusq(ue) immortalibus. So on the Wochen-
gbtterstein of Agnin (Orelli—Henzen Inscr. Lat. set. no. 5653, Haug in the Westdcutsche
Zeitung 1890 ix. 35 no. 17).
3 The idea of a woild-tree (on which see e.g. J. Grimm Teutonic Mythology trans.
J. S. Stallybrass London 1883 ii. 796 ff., 1888 iv. 1536 f., P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye
The Religion of the Teutons Boston and London 1902 p. 347 ff., R. M. Meyer Altger-
manische Religionsgeschichte Leipzig 1910 pp. 69, 474 ff., 547 f. ; Folk-Lore 1906 xvii.
56 f., 158 f. ; R. Fisler Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt Miinchen 1910 ii. 565 f., 584, 604,
677; A. de Gubernatis La mythologie des plantes Paris 1878 i. 93 fF., 1882 ii. 75 ff.;
Mrs J. H. Philpot The Sacred Tree London 1897 p. 109 ff.) enters into tales of the 'Jack
and Beanstalk' type (C. S. Burne The Handbook of Folklore London 1914 p. 350 no. 33),
which are of wide-spread occurrence (E. B. Tylor Researches into the Early History of
Mankind and the Development of Civilization London 1865 pp. 341—349, W. R. S.
Ralston Russian Folk-Tales London 1873 PP- 29I—29%' J- Jacobs English Fairy Tales'-1"
London 1898 pp. 59 ff., 238) and have left traces of themselves in France (P. Sebillot Le
Folk-lore de France 1906 iii. 439) and .Germany (Grimm's Household Tales trans. M. Hunt
London 1901 ii. 107 f. no. 112, ib. ii. 4)3, cp. ib. ii. 506—508).
4 Supra i. 76 f., 36S f., 526 n. 4.
8 F. Hertlein op. cit. p. 85!., following up an observation by F. Plettner in the West-
deutsche Zeitschrift 1885 iv. 387.
Iupiter-Columns
Preserver1,' in another ' to Iupiter Best and Greatest and to all
the other gods and goddesses immortal2.' Thus with simple time-
honoured phrases the tribes of Rhenic Germany attested their belief
that heaven, the abode of the sky-god, rested on a world-pillar.
Their ancestors, could we have questioned them, would probably
have held the same opinion in a slightly different form, speaking
not of a pillar but of a tree—a notion that still lingers in the cottage-
homes of their descendants3.
Finally, since the holy tree of a primitive cult is apt to be
associated with a holy well4, F. Hertlein rightly draws attention
to the fact that a noticeable proportion of these 'Jupiter-columns'
has been discovered in Roman wells or beside a spring or river5.
110.55 LO.M. e[t lun.] = Corp. inscr. Lett, xiii no. 7270 I.O. M. e[t I.K.]), Bierstadt
(Haug in the IVestdeictsche Zeitschrift 1891 x. 34 no. 58 [I.]O.M. [Iu]noni Reg.), Lieder-
bach {id. ib. 1891 x. 34 no. 59 I.O.M. et Iunon(i) Re(ginae)), Heddernheim (id. id. 1891
x. 35 no. 61 [I.O.M. et Iunoni Regijnae), Heddernheim bis (id. ib. 1891 x. 35 f. no. 62
[I.JO.M. Iunoni Regina[e]), Mayence (id. ib. 1891 x. 55 f. no. 120 I.O.M, which
J. Becker Die romischen Inschriften tend Steinsculpturen des Museums der Stadt Mainz
Mainz 1875 p. 3 no. 11 completes [Iun. Reg.], the Corp. inscr. Lat. xiii no. 6699 [et I. R.],
F. Hertlein op. cit. p. 81 n. 1 [(et) I. R.]), Mayence bis (Haug in the WestdcutscheZeitschrift
1891 x. 56 no. 121 I.O.M. et Iunoni Reginae), Mayence ter (id. ib. 1891 x. 57 no. 124
I.O.M. et Iunoni Reginae), Heddernheim ter (F. Hertlein op. cit. p. 6 [I.O.M. et
I.JR.), Mayence quatcr (id. ib. p. 123, cp. Korber in the Westdcutsche Zeitung 1906 xxv
Korrespondenzbl. p. [68f. [I.O.M. et Iunoni Rejgin(a)e), Weisenau (id. ib. p. 123
[I.O. M. et] Iunoni Reg.).
1 I(ovi) 0(pti)no) M(aximd) Conservatdyri\ So on a Viergiitterstein of Rastel (Haug in
the Westdcutsche Zeitschrift 1891 x. 31 f. no. 52). For Conservator an epithet of gods in
general and of Iupiter in particular see the Thes. Ling. Lat. iv. 418, 37 ft"., Preller—
Jordan Rom. Myth.2 i. 208, 238, Wissowa Rel. Kult. Rom.'2 p. iiSf. : cp. supra i. 276
n* 5» 551 n- iri 608 n. 7.
- Lovi Optimo Maximo et caeteris dis deabusq(ue) immortalibus. So on the Wochen-
gbtterstein of Agnin (Orelli—Henzen Inscr. Lat. set. no. 5653, Haug in the Westdcutsche
Zeitung 1890 ix. 35 no. 17).
3 The idea of a woild-tree (on which see e.g. J. Grimm Teutonic Mythology trans.
J. S. Stallybrass London 1883 ii. 796 ff., 1888 iv. 1536 f., P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye
The Religion of the Teutons Boston and London 1902 p. 347 ff., R. M. Meyer Altger-
manische Religionsgeschichte Leipzig 1910 pp. 69, 474 ff., 547 f. ; Folk-Lore 1906 xvii.
56 f., 158 f. ; R. Fisler Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt Miinchen 1910 ii. 565 f., 584, 604,
677; A. de Gubernatis La mythologie des plantes Paris 1878 i. 93 fF., 1882 ii. 75 ff.;
Mrs J. H. Philpot The Sacred Tree London 1897 p. 109 ff.) enters into tales of the 'Jack
and Beanstalk' type (C. S. Burne The Handbook of Folklore London 1914 p. 350 no. 33),
which are of wide-spread occurrence (E. B. Tylor Researches into the Early History of
Mankind and the Development of Civilization London 1865 pp. 341—349, W. R. S.
Ralston Russian Folk-Tales London 1873 PP- 29I—29%' J- Jacobs English Fairy Tales'-1"
London 1898 pp. 59 ff., 238) and have left traces of themselves in France (P. Sebillot Le
Folk-lore de France 1906 iii. 439) and .Germany (Grimm's Household Tales trans. M. Hunt
London 1901 ii. 107 f. no. 112, ib. ii. 4)3, cp. ib. ii. 506—508).
4 Supra i. 76 f., 36S f., 526 n. 4.
8 F. Hertlein op. cit. p. 85!., following up an observation by F. Plettner in the West-
deutsche Zeitschrift 1885 iv. 387.