Front Matter

Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48734-4 — Roman Cult Images Philip Kiernan Frontmatter More Information

ROMAN CULT IMAGES

In this book, Philip Kiernan explores how cult images functioned in Roman temples from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity in the Roman West. He demonstrates how and why a temple’s idols were more important to ritual than other images, such as votive offerings and decorative sculpture. These idols were seen by many to be divine and possessed of agency. They were, thus, the primary focus of worship. Aided by cross-cultural compara- tive material, Kiernan’s study brings a biographical approach to explore the “lives” of idols and cult images – how they were created, housed in temples, used and worshipped, and eventually destroyed or buried. He also shows how the status of cult images could change, how new idols and other cult images were being continuously created, and how, in each phase of their lives, we ﬁnd evidence for the signiﬁcant power of idols.

Philip Kiernan is Associate Professor of Art History at Kennesaw State University. He is the author of Miniature Votive Offerings (2009) and has also published numerous articles on Roman art, artefacts, numismatics, and religion. His archaeological excavations have included a Hellenistic- Roman market building at Alexandria Troas, a Bronze–Iron Age tumulus at Haßloch, and most recently a Romano-Celtic temple at Wareswald.

ROMAN CULT IMAGES

THE LIVES AND WORSHIP OF IDOLS FROM THE IRON AGE TO LATE ANTIQUITY

PHILIP KIERNAN Kennesaw State University

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www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108487344 doi: 10.1017/9781108766555 © Cambridge University Press 2020 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2020 Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd, Padstow Cornwall A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data names: Kiernan, Philip, 1979– author. title: Roman cult images : the lives and worship of idols, from the Iron Age to late antiquity / Philip Kiernan, Kennesaw State University, Georgia. description: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. identiﬁers: lccn 2019053911 (print) | lccn 2019053912 (ebook) | isbn 9781108487344 (hardback) | isbn 9781108720090 (paperback) | isbn 9781108766555 (epub) subjects: lcsh: Idols and images–Rome. | Rome–Religion. classiﬁcation: lcc bl805 k54 2020 (print) | lcc bl805 (ebook) | ddc 292.2/18–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019053911 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019053912 isbn 978-1-108-48734-4 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate

Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the von Bothmer Publication Fund of the Archaeological Institute of America.

CONTENTS

List of Figures page vii List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii List of Abbreviations xv

1 INTRODUCTION: IDOLS AND OTHER CULT IMAGES 1

2 THE BIRTH OF CULT IMAGES: EARLY ROME AND THE IRON AGE 24

3 THE BIRTH OF CULT IMAGES: CONTINUITY AND INNOVATION IN THE IMPERIAL PERIOD 85

4IDOLSATHOME 146

5IDOLSINACTION 196

6 THE END OF IDOLS 222

7 CONCLUSION 272

Appendix 281 Notes 291 Bibliography 321 Index 347

FIGURES

2.1 Terracotta Minerva from Lavinium page 29 2.2 Dea Mefitis (?), from the Ansanto Valley 31 2.3 The Menhir of Kernuz 43 2.4 The relief carvings on the Menhir of Kernuz 43 2.5 Illustration from Abraham Ortelius’ Imago aurei saeculi (1596) 46 2.6 The Hirschlanden Warrior 49 2.7 The Lord of the Glauberg 50 2.8 Hallstatt period statues with mistletoe headgear 52 2.9 The limestone statues from the ritual enclosure at Vix Les Herbues 54 2.10 Seated warrior from Roquepertuse 56 2.11 The seated warrior from Glanum 57 2.12 Examples of the later Iron Age buste-socles statue type 60 2.13 Buste-socle from Nîmes, Tour Magne as excavated in 1961 62 2.14 The God from Euffigneix 63 2.15 The God from Bouray 65 2.16 The bronze Warrior from Saint-Maur (Oise) 66 2.17 The Gundestrup Cauldron 68 2.18 The wooden figures from Braak shortly after their discovery 71 2.19 The wooden figures from Braak 72 2.20 Original and reconstruction of the Diana of Oberdorla 73 2.21 The wooden man from Rude Eskildrup 74 2.22 Iron Age wooden statues from Switzerland 76 2.23 Fellbach-Schmiden wooden sculptures 77 3.1 La-Vraie-Croix (Morbihan) Iron Age buste-socle and associated Roman altar 92 3.2 Plan of the Romano-Celtic temple at Triguères 93 3.3 Wooden statues depicting pilgrims or divinities from Montbuoy 96 3.4 Wooden image of a pilgrim from Eschenz (Switzerland) 97 3.5 Wooden busts with torcs. Gods or pilgrims? 98 3.6 Wooden post-like figure from Oedenburg 99 3.7 The seated god from Crêt-Châtelard 100 3.8 The wooden Epona from Saintes 101 3.9 The Epona from Saint-Valérien (Yonne) 103 3.10 The Sirona of Pforzheim 104 3.11 The Pillar of the Sailors, Paris 106 3.12 The god Cernunnos on the Pillar of the Sailors 107

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viii LIST OF FIGURES

3.13 The Reims Cernunnos 109 3.14 The cross-legged god from Verteuil 111 3.15 The cross-legged god from Argentomagus, temple 3 112 3.16 Reconstruction of the Neronian Jupiter column of Mainz 114 3.17 The recently discovered Jupiter Column from Heidelberg-Neuenheim 116 3.18 Jupiter-Giant group from Butterstadt (Main-Sinzig-Kreis) 117 3.19 The four sides of a pillar from Cologne 121 3.20 Mother Goddess from temple 24 at Trier Altbachtal 123 3.21 The altar of Q. Vettius Severus from Bonn 125 3.22 The votive altar of Q. Caldinius Celsus for the Matronae Aufaniae in Bonn 126 3.23 Epona from Trier Altbachtal 128 3.24 Enthroned Epona from Köngen 129 3.25 Altar with dedication to and representation of Mercury Arvernus from Horn, Netherlands 131 3.26 The colossal Mercury from Lezoux with votive inscription 132 3.27 Reliefs depicting Hercules from the sanctuary of Hercules Salutaris at Deneuvre 134 3.28 Sculptural group from Schneidershecke watchtower sanctuary 135 3.29 A colored reconstruction of the tauroctony from Mithraeum 1 at Frankfurt Nida 139 3.30 Altars with reliefs depicting Sol and Luna and Luna from the Mithraeum at Mundelsheim 141 4.1 A reconstructed Romano-Celtic temple with open gallery at the Martberg, Pommern 152 4.2 Trier Altbachtal sanctuary complex 153 4.3 The Thun-Allmendingen sanctuary 154 4.4 Plan of the cella at Crain 156 4.5 Trier Altbachtal: the “Mercury chapel” (structure 4) under excavation 160 4.6 The idol from the Mercury Temple at Trier Altbachtal 161 4.7 Reconstruction of Trier Altbachtal temple 4, the Mercury Temple 162 4.8 Trier Altbachtal, the “Stierkapelle” (structure 23) during its excavation with the idol replaced on its pedestal 162 4.9 The idol of the “Stierkapelle” 163 4.10 Excavation plans from the mother goddess temple in the Mars Lenus Sanctuary, Trier 166 4.11 Interior of the mother goddess temple during its excavation 167 4.12 The remains of the idol from the mother goddess temple 168 4.13 Reconstruction of the mother goddess temple in the Mars Lenus sanctuary complex 169 4.14 Reconstruction of the sanctuary at Puy Lautard 171 4.15 Interior of southern and northern cellae at Puy Lautard 172 4.16 Puy Lautard with the repaired pathway inside the gallery and distribution of ﬁnds 173 4.17 Proposed reconstruction of a roadside enclosure with Jupiter column in the vicus of Grinario 176

LIST OF FIGURES ix

4.18 Plan of Mithraeum 3 at Frankfurt Heddernheim (Nida) 178 4.19 Reconstruction drawing of the interior of Mithraeum 3 at Frankfurt-Nida 180 4.20 Trier Altbachtal 183 4.21 Plan of the sacred enclosure at Nettersheim with votive monuments 185 4.22 Deneuvre sanctuary site reconstruction 186 5.1 Relief from Keltern-Weiler 198 5.2 Thun-Allmendingen, the interior of temple 6 202 5.3 Votive altar of Nehalennia from Colijnsplatt (Holland) 206 5.4 Altars dedicated to Nehalennia from the Colijnsplatt, Netherlands 208 5.5 Votive relief dedicated to Epona from Öhringen 210 5.6 An Augustan period terracotta relief showing an image of Sol 214 5.7 Horse at Neuvy-en-Sullias 217 6.1 The Jupiter column from Ladenburg 227 6.2 Altbachtal. Relief of Hercules 246 6.3 Plan of the destruction of the cult images at Strasbourg Königshofen 248 6.4 The tauroctony from Osterburken 249 6.5 The larger Apollo Citharoedus and Sirona from Hochscheid in high relief 251 6.6 The smaller, relatively intact Apollo Citharoedus from Hochscheid 252 6.7 Bust of Mercury from Tawern 254 6.8 The marble Venus from Saint Matthias in Trier 256 6.9 The bust from an acrolith of Minerva from insula 23 at Avenches 261 6.10 Pits 1, 20 and 21 from Le Bernard 263 6.11 Sculptural ﬁnds from the pits at Le Bernard 265 6.12 Bronze bust from a well at Mainz Finthen 266

TABLES

1 Idolatrous beliefs according to Arnobius of Sicca page 11 2 The earliest cult images of Rome 32 3 Iron Age monuments mentioned in Chapter 2 48 4 Roman temples with evidence for idol placement 282

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Much like idols and other cult images, books also have a biography. This book was conceived toward the end of my time as a postdoctoral fellow of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada at the Uni- versity of Vancouver. My stay in Vancouver was generously hosted by Profes- sor R. J. A. Wilson, with whom I enjoyed many lively conversations about Roman provincial art and archaeology, and from whom I received much sound advice and support. Between 2010 and 2014, the book grew slowly, for as an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo I was charged with directing and organizing new excavations for students at the Götzenbühl tumulus in Haßloch, and at a Roman villa site in Katzenbach. During this period, both the book and the excavations benefited greatly from extended visits to the Römisch- Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM) in Mainz in 2013 and 2014,both generously supported by Professor Markus Scholz, who has since become Professor of Roman Provincial Archaeology at the University of Frankfurt. I am also indebted to Martin Schönfelder and Wolfram Ney for their comments on Iron Age sculpture during my visits to the RGZM. In May 2014, Ibenefited from a month-long visiting fellowship at the Römisch-Germanische Kommission of the German Archaeological Institute in Frankfurt, thanks to a kind invitation from Dr. Julia Koch. The easy access I enjoyed in Mainz and Frankfurt to archaeological publications that are difficult or impossible to find in North America, confirms, in my mind, the enormous value of these two institutions to international archaeological scholarship. While in Buffalo, I enjoyed many pleasant conversations with Steve Dyson, Brad Ault, and Roger Woodard on the ancient world in general, but the entire text of this book was very kindly, carefully, and patiently read over by Professor Carolyn Higbie, whose comments, corrections, friendship, and constant moral support were immensely valuable and deeply appreciated. The completed manuscript was submitted to Cambridge University Press in the autumn of 2015, and the bulk of the bibliography of this book ends at this point. I am most indebted to the anonymous reviewers for their positive and helpful comments, but the incorporation of their comments into the text, and the lengthy process of seeking image permissions, was delayed by my

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xiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

acceptance of a new position at Kennesaw State University. A few important and very recent items have been added to the bibliography in this revision and ﬁnal editing phase. Any errors or omissions that remain are entirely my own. A number of students have assisted in the various stages of this project. In Buffalo, my former doctoral student, now Dr. Davide Salvo, undertook a very careful correction of the Greek and Latin texts, as well as the footnotes and bibliography. At Kennesaw, help with some technical aspects of the illustra- tions was kindly provided by Sarah Sigg and Chloe Redstone. Many European archaeologists, archivists, museum curators, and staff answered my queries about images and reproduction rights. They are far too numerous to be listed individually here, but I wish nonetheless to express my thanks to them collectively. From personal experience, I know that such individuals answer to many demands on their time, and so I appreciate all the more their prompt replies to my requests. The School of Art and Design at Kennesaw State University very kindly agreed to pay the reproduction fees for some of the images in this book. On the whole, my new colleagues here in Art History, and in our young program in Classical Studies, have been exceptionally supportive. I would like to thank in particular Geo Sipp, Jessica Stephenson, Brian Swain, and Joe Thomas. The printing costs of this book were generously subsidized by the award of a 2019 Publication Grants of the Archaeological Institute of America. As the book has grown, over the course of some not uneventful years, I have enjoyed the love and support of Anke, to whom this book is dedicated.

ABBREVIATIONS

LEXICA,CORPORA,ENCYCLOPEDIAETC. The abbreviations below have been used, generally following the pattern:

[abbreviation] [volume].[section]:[pages], [catalogue no./plate] ([author of entry], [date]) In works where entries are headed by a keyword or term, it is given following s.v. – sub verbo. AASS Acta Sanctorum quotquot toto orbe coluntur. Septembris tomus quartus. Edited by J. Stultingo, C. Suyskeno, and J. Periero. New edition. Paris, 1868. CAG Carte archéologique de la Gaule. Edited by M. Provost, 1988–2013. 95 vols. Paris. CBIFR Corpus der griechischen und lateinischen Beneﬁciarier-Inschriften des römischen Reiches. Forschungen und Berichte zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Baden-Württemberg 40: Der römische Weihebezirk von Osterburken I. By E. Schallmayer, K. Eibl, J. Ott, G. Preuss, and E. Wittkopf, Stuttgart. 1990. CIL Corpus inscriptionum latinarum, Königlich Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Berlin 1893– Clemens Clemens, C., 1928. Fontes Historiae Religionis Germanicae. Fontes Historiae Religionum ex Auctoribus Graecis et Latinis Collectos 3. Berlin. CSIR Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani, 1963– (cited by name of volume’s editor, found in the bibliography) EDCS Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss – Slaby: www.manfredclauss.de Espérandieu Espérandieu, E., 1908–1938. Recueil général des bas-reliefs, statues et bustes de la Gaule romaine. 11 vols. Paris. HD Epigraphic Database Heidelberg: http://edh-www.adw.uni- heidelberg.de/home ILS Dessau, H., 1892–1916. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. 3 vols. Berlin. Labbé and Labbé, P. and G. Cossart, 1671–72. Sacrosancta Concila. 18 Cossart vols. Paris. LIMC Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. 8 vols. Zurich, Munich and Dusseldorf. 1981–99.

xvi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LTUR Lexicon topographicum urbis romae. Edited by E.M. Steinby, 6 vols. Rome, 1993. MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 1826– SRM – Scriptorum Rerum Merovingicarum. Passiones Vitaeque Sanctorum Aevi Merovingici AA – Auctories Antiquissimi Conc. – Concilia Migne Migne, J.-P. ed., 1841–55. Patrologia Latina. 217 vols. Paris. ORL Der obergermanisch-raetische Limes des Roemerreiches. Edited by E. Fabricius, F. Hettner and O. von Sarwey. 15 vols. 1894–1937. RE Real-Encyplopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Edited by A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, and W. Kroll. Stuttgart, 1893–1978. RIB The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. By R. G. Collingwood and R. P. Wright. Oxford, 1965. RGA Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. 2nd edition. Edited by H. Beck, H. Steuer, R. Müller, and D. Geuenich. Berlin, 1969–2008. Roscher, Lex. Roscher, W. H., 1884–1937. Ausführliches Lexicon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. 6 vols. Leipzig. RRC Roman Republican Coins. By M. Crawford, Cambridge, 1974. ThesCRA Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum, J. Paul Getty Museum, 8 vols. Los Angeles, 2005–14. Zwicker Zwicker, J., 1934–36. Fontes historiae religionis Celticae. Fontes historiae religionum ex auctoribus Graecis et Latinis collectos, vols. 5.1–3. Berlin.