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. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48734-4 — Roman Cult Images Philip Kiernan Frontmatter More Information ROMAN CULT IMAGES THE LIVES AND WORSHIP OF IDOLS FROM THE IRON AGE TO LATE ANTIQUITY PHILIP KIERNAN Kennesaw State University © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48734-4 — Roman Cult Images Philip Kiernan Frontmatter More Information University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, ny 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. 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. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48734-4 — Roman Cult Images Philip Kiernan Frontmatter More Information 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 v © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48734-4 — Roman Cult Images Philip Kiernan Frontmatter More Information 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 vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48734-4 — Roman Cult Images Philip Kiernan Frontmatter More Information 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 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48734-4 — Roman Cult Images Philip Kiernan Frontmatter More Information 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.