Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

74
lupiter-Columns
nearer to its prototype— the wooden trunk of the old Germanic
Irminsiil^.
The shaft was surmounted by a capital displaying four small
heads or busts (fig. 33)^ which have been interpreted by O. Donnervon
Richter^ and F. Hertlein^ as the four divisions of the day
Fig. 33-
Matutinus, Meridies, Vespera, Nox. Since these divisions correspond
with the main points of the compass, the series runs from
right to left. Nox always, and Meridies usually, is represented
full-face, whereas Vespera and Matutinus are more often shown in
profile.
On the top of the column thus constituted was a sculptural
group of peculiar aspect—a galloping rider supported on the
shoulders and hands of a figure that bent or lay beneath him^
The rider has normally the face of a bearded lupiter and the
costume of a Roman general (fig. 34)*^, very seldom a beardless
1 F. Hertlein Die Juppitergigantensdulen Stuttgart 1910 p. 84.
^ Fig. 33 shows the heads on the capital of the column found in 1884 at Heddernheim
{supra p. 71 n. 6) as published by O. Donner-von Richter and A. Riese Heddernhebner
Aitsgralmngen Frankfurt am Main 1885 (an Stelle des Neujahrs-Blattes des Vereins
fur Geschichte und Alterthumskunde fiir 1885 und 1886) pi. i, I— M.
^ O. Donner-von Richter and A. Riese op. at. p. 12.
* F. Hertlein Die Juppitergigantensdulen Stuttgart 19 10 pp. 87— 93
gives a careful
summary of the evidence, and succeeds in establishing his interpretation as against
previous hypotheses. F. X. Kraus in the Jahrb. d. Vereins v. Alterthumsfretind. im
Rheinl. 1878 Ixiv. 99 and A. Hammeran in the Ko7-7-espondenzhIatt der Westdeutschen
Zeitschrift 1885 iv. 3 had regarded the heads as allegorical representations of the four
seasons. E. aus'm Weerth in the Jahrb. d. Vtreins v. Alterthumsfreund. im Rheinl.
1878 Ixiv. 99 n. I had suggested that they might be the four ages of man. Haug in the
Fmidberichte aus Schwaben 1907 xv. 82 had been content to view them as merely
decorative.
^ By far the best account of this group is that given in F. Hertlein Die Jttppitergigantensduten
Stuttgart 1910 pp. i — 27 (' Verzeichnis der Gruppen des Gigantenreiters
(oder Gigantenfahrers)'), 28—50 (' Gesamtbeschreibung der Gruppe und Folgerung aus
der Darstellung'), 51—69 (' Ursprung der Gruppe aus germanischen Vorstellungen'),
70—86 ('Die Juppitergigantensaule eine Irminsaule'), though we shall see reason to
traverse his conclusion with regard to the significance of the reclining figure (injra p. 82).
^ Group in Jura-limestone (height without base 0-86"'], found at Ehrang in 1890 and
now in the Museum at Treves (F. Hettner in the Korrespondenzblatt der Westdeutschen
Zeitschrift 1891 x. 72 f with fig., id. Die roinischen Steindenkmdler des Provinzialmuseums