Local Gods and the interpretatio Romana

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Thanks to a lack of Celtic and Germanic written sources, we have little information on pre-Roman sacred spaces and the deities revered there. Likewise, we have almost no primary evidence or first hand accounts for the ritual practices and theological world views held by indigenous populations, apart from a few archaeological insights. As a result, most of our current knowledge is based on the sometimes biased accounts of Mediterranean authors and their often misguided attempts to explain the duties of foreign deities in terms of Graeco-Roman gods. The same applies to the cult images of the Roman period, which ultimately used the visual language of the Mediterranean to illustrate a Celtic pantheon which was traditionally an-iconic. In accordance with a phrase in Tacitus’ Germania (chapter 43), this process is commonly known as Interpretatio Romana, although its implied Mediterranean point of view may be occasionally wide of the mark. For example, the numerous epigraphic dedications are more likely to have originated from within groups of cult followers, increasingly exposed to and influenced by a Mediterranean value system and world view, rather than being the enforced views of outsiders. Strikingly, the functions of specific gods do not appear to be limited by their traditional Mediterranean spheres of influence, but tend to be extended by the attributes and responsibilities peculiar to the assimilated local deities. The resulting blurring of specific characteristics thus explains how the god Iovantucarus, who is particularly linked to Treveran territory, can be found as both Mars Iovantucarus and Mercurius Iovantucarus in the Imperial period.

Dedication showing Mercury as main god, flanked by eleven further deities

Apart from a Gallic predilection for Mercury as companion and guarantor of trade and wealth, something already mentioned by Caesar (de bello Gallico VI 17), the most common combined names mentioned on dedications are Mars, Apollo and Hercules (who was strictly speaking only a demi-god). Apollo, as Apollo Grannus, was equated with Grannus, the Celtic god of i.a. light and healing. Otherwise, it seems that the common choice of Hercules and Mars implies a function of the local deity as vanquisher of both the enemy in battle and more generic ‘evil’. This may reflect the warrior traditions of the Gallic tribal elites and the military cults which dominated the frontier provinces from the beginning. The extension of responsibilities, which might even reflect Mars' old Italic roots of as a god protecting agriculture, lend these deities a certain universal acclaim, as is shown by Mars/Mercurius Iovantucarus. As Lenus Mars amongst the Treveri, as Mars Loucetius amongst the Aresaces in the area around Mayence, as Mars Segomo amongst the Sequani, as Mars Cicollis amongst the Lingones and finally as Mars Caturix amongst the Helvetii, Mars fulfilled the role of tribal protector deity mentioned in his title. The prefix Deus/Dea in front of the name on an inscription apparently indicated that the god was not being referring to in its pure Mediterranean form.Within classical religious thought it was common to revere other deities in a temple dedicated to a specific god or goddess, but in the Gallic and German provinces it is particularly common to find recurring pairs of deities being formed.

Usually these combine a god with a Roman name with a goddess of indigenous origin. For example, in northern Upper Germany and amongst the Lingones, Mercury is often combined with Rosmerta, a deity who is occasionally identified on inscriptions with Maia, a similar Italic earth and fertility goddess, and other examples are concentrated in Gallia Belgica. Apollo as Apollo Borvo occurs in the spa and source sites of the civitas Lingonum, occasionally in combination with the local healing deity Damona. More commonly, especially in Gallia Belgica and northern Germania Superior, he is found associated with Sirona, another goddess of healing springs whilst, in the same area, Mars is associated with Nemetona, whose area of responsibility is poorly understood, although there are occasional hints that she was equated with Minerva.

Dedication showing Mercury and Rosmerta

Cult image of Sirona from a source sanctuary	Reliefs probably showing Mars Smertius and his cult partner Nemetona

Pairs of purely Celtic gods are also known. These include, amongst others, Sucellus and Nantosuelta who, as deities of the underworld, can occasionally be linked with Pluto and his wife Proserpina, who were otherwise revered in Upper Germany as Dis Pater and Herecura. In addition to their role as Gods and judges of the dead, they were also identified as givers of fertility and financial wealth, but how far the similarities between the Roman gods and their Celtic counterparts went in reality must remain uncertain, along with the meaning of some of the latter's attributes, such Succellus' long handled hammer.

Relief of Sucellus and his cult partner Nantosuelta	Jupiter Optimus Maximus and his wife Juno Regina on top of a Jupiter column

Apart from common combinations such as the Dioscuri or the Capitoline Triad, the most noteworthy amongst the gods who were venerated in the German provinces under their Roman names were Jupiter Optimus Maximus with his wife Juno Regina, as personifications of ultimate power and female fidelity and morality within marriage. The rare visual representations of the couple usually formed the crowning figures on Jupiter columns and may been developed through indigenous ideas. The columns themselves are a group of votive objects, whose distribution centres on the north-western provinces: particularly Gallia Belgica, southern Lower Germany and northern Upper Germany.

Distribution of Jupiter Columns	Reconstruction of a villa's Jupiter Column: drawing and identification of its composite parts

The composition of these columns was fairly standardised. Above the foundations was a high, rectangular base with an inscription, or with depictions of four gods, usually Juno, Hercules, Mercury and Minerva, on its four sides. In some cases Minerva and Mercury could be replaced by other gods, in which case, in order of popularity, these were usually Apollo, or Vulcan, Mars, Fortuna, Diana, various Genii, Jupiter, Venus, Silvanus, Sol or Luna. Above the ‘Four-Gods-Stone’, there was occasionally a secondary, multangular base, whose seven sides showed the deities for each day of the week (i.e. Saturn/Saturday, Sol/Sunday, Luna/Monday, Mars/Tuesday, Mercury/Wednesday, Jupiter/Thursday, Venus/Friday), possibly along with a dedication. Above this rose the column, usually with slightly barrel shaped shaft, which might typically carry a scale pattern or figural motifs. It was usually topped by a composite capital, a Corinthian capital or, most commonly, a figured Corinthian capital. The latter usually displayed personifications of the seasons or planets. The capital also served as the base for the monument's crowning statue, or group of statues and, in keeping with the column's dedication, this was always a depiction of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.

Reconstruction of three different Jupiter columns	Reconstruction of Jupiter and Juno crowning the column of Victorinus	Jupiter enthroned on top of a Jupiter column
Jupiter slaying the giants with the god in a chariot from the top of a Jupiter column	Jupiter slaying the giants with the god on horseback, from the top of a Jupiter column

Apart from seated groups of the god with his wife Juno Regina, Jupiter can also occur by himself, either enthroned or standing (more rarely) or as an armed horseman or charioteer defeating a giant with a fish or dragon tail. These differing images are not evenly distributed everywhere, but show regional variations. In Upper Germany the most common type is of Jupiter slaying the giants, predominately showing the god on horseback. The enthroned or standing Jupiter was less popular and restricted to vici or larger urban centres and the area has also occasionally produced, otherwise comparatively rare, depictions of Jupiter and Juno as an enthroned couple. It is commonly accepted that the Jupiter columns show a combination of Roman and indigenous Celtic elements. The monuments' format may originally have been influenced by the conception of the supreme Celtic sky god as a tree, as mentioned in the literary sources (Maximos of Tyros, Logoi 8,8), and some of the column shafts, such that found in the grounds of the villa of Brackenheim-Hausen an der Zaber (Kr.Heilbronn) / D, are indeed decorated with oak leaves or more generic vegetative decorations instead of the more usual scales.

reconstructed view of the Jupiter column and detail of the upper terminal as preserved	enthroned Jupiter with wheel symbol as the terminus of a Jupiter column	Jupiter slaying the Giants with wheel symbol as the terminus of a Jupiter column

This link with the Celtic pantheon is also underlined by the wheel symbol that occasionally accompanies the column top figure. It is debatable, however, whether this is the wheel of thunder of the sky god Taranis or, as sometimes discussed, the wheel of the sun, of a sun god or a god of light. The latter interpretation would add a strong universal component to the Mediterranean image of Jupiter, something that would be further underlined by the occasional depiction of the gods of the seasons, planets and days of the week.

This imagery is further complemented by the selection of gods on the ‘four god stones’ and occasionally on the column shaft, whose predilection for Hercules, Mercury and sometimes Apollo is clearly based on indigenous choices. In their overall composition some Jupiter columns are thus examples of cult figures documenting the universality of the theology expressed. The visual language employed in the sculptures is predominately Roman and this is particularly the case with the crowning statues, where the near naked Jupiter, whether standing or enthroned, is clearly derived from Mediterranean antecedents. The combination of Jupiter and giants, showing the god as an armoured cavalry man, is more probably of provincial origin, possibly derived from the imagery of cavalry tomb stones which show soldiers riding down the enemy, and from coins of the later 1st century AD.

The visual expressions of purely Celtic deities are undeniably evidence of a provincial origin, despite their use of Mediterranean iconography which results from the apparent lack of a native visual tradition (for a rare exception, see the rather abstract wooden sculpture of (?) Sirona from Pforzheim (Stadt Pforzheim; Baden-Württemberg) / D).

Wooden sculpture, possibly portraying Sirona	Bronze figurines showing the Celtic bear goddess Dea Artio

A case in point is the depiction of what was originally, probably, the zoomorphic bear deity: Dea Artio, (Artos (celtic) = bear). Her Romanised appearance in a group of figurines from Muri (Kt.Bern)/CH, shows her as an anthropomorphic female deity with a diadem. She is dressed in a coat and chiton, holds a patera in her left hand and has an arrangement of fruit and grain ears on her lap and in a basket on a pillar beside her. The animal attribute, a female bear, stands opposite her under an almost bare deciduous tree.

Depictions of Cernunnos on a silver cauldron (possibly made in the late 1st century BC)	Relief of Epona on horseback	Relief of Epona enthroned with fruit basket

A similar mutation probably affected Cernunnos, a multi-faceted god of nature and fertility who, in the Imperial period, was usually depicted in human form, but with antlers. The goddess Epona should also be singled out amongst the local deities of Upper Germany whose cult continued in the Roman period. As the mistress of horses and mules, she had already been adopted by Romans in the Republican period, and was usually shown seated, flanked by two horses or mules, or riding side-saddle. A further attribute, particularly common in depictions of her from eastern Gaul and the Germanic provinces, was the addition of bowls or baskets of fruit. Another series of documented seated images, belonged to the mother goddesses (Matres or Matronae), who were again shown with baskets of fruit on their laps, but these never reached the same level of popularity as they did in neighbouring Lower Germany.

	Relief of three Matres/Matrones
Terracotta statuette of a mother goddess	Statue of Diana Abnoba

Finally, the veneration of personifications of forests, bodies of water and other natural phenomena (e.g. the Alpes (the Alps) in the sanctuary of Thun-Allmendingen (Kt.Bern)/CH) certainly continued under the Roman Empire. This was occasionally expressed less directly, however, by combining local topographical terms with the names of Mediterranean deities: for example, the merging of the Roman goddess of the hunt (Diana) with the Black Forest (Abnoba Mons) to form a regional deity of forests and mountains who was venerated as ‘Diana Abnoba’.

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