The Pillar of the Boatmen (french: Pilier des nautes) is a monumental Roman column erected in

Lutetia The Gallo-Roman town of ''Lutetia'' (''Lutetia Parisiorum'' in Latin, in French ''Lutèce'') was the predecessor of the modern-day city of Paris. It was founded in about the middle of the 3rd century BCE by the Parisii, a Gallic tribe. Trac ...

(modern Paris) in honour of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...

by the guild of boatmen in the 1st century AD. It is the oldest monument in Paris and is one of the earliest pieces of representational Gallo-Roman art to carry a written inscription . The Roman name for the monument is ''Nautae Parisiaci'' (the sailors of the Parisii, who were a tribe of

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They sp ...

). It was found re-used in the 4th century city wall on the Île de la Cité and is now displayed in the

frigidarium A frigidarium is one of the three main bath chambers of a Roman bath or ''thermae'', namely the cold room. It often contains a swimming pool. The succession of bathing activities in the ''thermae'' is not known with certainty, but it is thought ...

of the Thermes de Cluny.

Description

The pillar is made of a type of limestone called "pierre de Saint-Leu-d'Esserent", from Saint-Leu, Oise, France. The original pillar would have been 5.24m high, 91 cm wide at the base and 74 cm wide at the top (Saragoza 2003). It is likely to have been formed in four tiers and although the order from top to bottom is reasonably certain from the relative sizes of the blocks, we do not know the rotational order in which the blocks were arranged; there are 64 possibilities. However, there is no proof that they were stacked and could also have been two pairs of altars. The guild was for relatively wealthy shipowners or traders. An indication of the power of the guild is shown by one of the sculptures of the pillar where they parade in arms with shields and spears, a privilege granted by the Romans, which is exceptional in less than half a century after the conquest of Gaul.Alexis Charniguet and Anne Lombard-Jourdan: Cernunnos, Deer god of the Gauls, Paris, Larousse, coll. "Gods, myths & heroes", 2009, , p. 15 The guild was also the first known society of Paris.

Inscription

Written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

with some

Gaulish language Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

features, the inscription mingles

Roman deities The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin litera ...

with gods that are distinctly Gallic. The pillar is dated by a dedication to ''Tiberius Caesar Augustus'', that is

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

who became

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

in 14 AD. It was set up publicly ''(publice posierunt)'' by the guild of sailors of Lutetia, from the ''

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

'' of the Parisii ''(nautae Parisiaci)''. These sailors would have been merchants who travelled along the

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...

. The main dedication is to Jupiter in the form of ''Iovis Optimus Maximus'' ("Jove Best and Greatest"). The names of the emperor and the supreme deity appear in the

dative In grammar, the dative case ( abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob ...

case as the recipients of the dedication. The remaining theonyms are

nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Eng ...

legends that accompany individual depictions of the gods. These are (in the order they appear below) Jove, Tarvos Trigaranos (the Bull with three Cranes), Volcanus (Vulcan),

Esus Esus, Hesus, or Aisus was a Brittonic and Gaulish god known from two monumental statues and a line in Lucan's '' Bellum civile''. Name T. F. O'Rahilly derives the theonym ''Esus'', as well as ''Aoibheall'', ''Éibhleann'', ''Aoife'', and ...

, Cernunnos, Castor,

Smertrios In Gallo-Roman religion, Smertrios or Smertrius was a god of war worshipped in Gaul and Noricum.Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl. 2001. ''Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes anti ...

, and

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

. The dedication (; ''RIG'' L2-1) is as follows: :Tib(erio) Caesare / :Aug(usto) Ioui Optum / :Maxsumo / :nautae Parisiaci / :publice posierunt // :Eurises // Senan U o -] // :Iouis // Taruos Trigaranus // :Volcanus // Esus // : rnunnos // Castor // --// :Smer --// :Fort na// -VS -// D - The pillar provides the only undisputed instance of the divine name '' Cernunnos'' . The Gaulish theonyms are presented as deity names in their own right, and not as epithets for Roman gods (by contrast, see the many Celtic gods syncretized with Mars). Other figures appear on the pillar without legible inscriptions, including the Roman gods Mars and Mercury, who can be identified by their conventional iconography, and other unidentified figures, mainly female.

Deities

The top tier, of which only the top half remains, depicts Cernunnos,

, and

Castor and Pollux Castor; grc, Κάστωρ, Kástōr, beaver. and Pollux. (or Polydeukes). are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri.; grc, Διόσκουροι, Dióskouroi, sons of Zeus, links=no, from ''Dîos'' ('Z ...

. Cernunnos has stag's antlers from which hang two torcs. From the amount of the body in the top half, Cernunnos is assumed to have been depicted in a cross-legged seated position as is typical of other Cernunnos depictions ; there is insufficient room for him to be seated on a chair or standing . Smertrios is shown kneeling, brandishing a club and attacking a snake. Castor and Pollux are shown standing beside their horses, each holding a spear . The second tier, which is complete, shows

, Tarvos Trigaranos and Vulcan. Jupiter is shown standing, holding a spear and a thunderbolt. Esus is shown standing beside a willow tree, which he is cutting down with an axe. Tarvos Trigaranus is depicted as a large, heavy-set bull standing in front of a willow tree. Two cranes stand on his back and a third on his head. Vulcan is shown standing, with hammer and tongs . File:Le Pilier des Nautes 06.JPG, Smertrios File:Le Pilier des Nautes 01.JPG, Esus File:Cernunnos.jpg, Cernunnos File:Le Pilier des Nautes 03.JPG, Tarvos Trigaranos File:Vulcain (Pilier des Nautes).jpg, Vulcan File:Pilier des Nautes de Jupiter with Jupiter.jpg, Jupiter

Block of dedication

Pilier des Nautes with dedication to Jupiter under Tiberius with warriors 14 to 37 CE

The third tier, the top half of which survives, bears the main dedicatory inscription on one face. Since this has a border and appears complete, the content of the bottom half of this face is unknown. The other sides show a group of three young men with shields and spears; a group of three older, bearded men with spears and shields, bearing the inscription ''Iurises''; and a group of three figures, at least one of which is female. They are unarmed, dressed in flowing gowns, and have an inscription ''Senani U iloni'' . The fourth, lowest tier is slightly wider than the upper three. Only the top half remains, and the inscriptions are badly damaged. Each face shows a pair of standing figures.

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

, with spear and sword, is accompanied by a female deity with large round ear-rings and a flowing garment which is held over one arm. Mercury, identifiable by his caduceus, is depicted with a goddess who may be Rosmerta, his frequent companion in Gallic art.

is accompanied by another female deity, perhaps Juno. Two other unidentified female deities are on the fourth face, the one to the left is naked to the waist and holds a large cloak behind her with upraised arms; the other is clothed and has large round ear-rings .

History of the Pillar

Some time in the 3rd century, the stone blocks that formed the pillar were broken into two and used to reinforce the foundations of the walls along the riverbank. Over time, the island grew slightly so that the 3rd-century wharfs are now a dozen metres from the banks of the modern river . The Cathedral of Saint Etienne was founded by Childebert in 528 AD on the site of the Gallo-Roman temple;

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Middle Ages#Art and architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris ...

was in turn built over this in 1163 AD. The pillar was found on 6 March 1710 during the construction of a crypt under the nave of

and first published by Baudelot de Dairval in 1712 . Not all of the pieces were recovered; for three of the tiers we have only the top half. After discovery, the stone blocks were taken to the Hôtel de Cluny, a medieval ecclesiastical building constructed over the remains of a 2nd-century Roman bath house. This became the

Musée de Cluny The Musée de Cluny ("Cluny Museum", ), also known as Musée national du Moyen Âge – Thermes et hôtel de Cluny ("National Museum of the Middle Ages – Cluny thermal baths and mansion"), is a museum of the Middle Ages in Paris, ...

and then, the Musée national du Moyen Age. In 2001, the blocks were restored, removing the black patina of grime that had accumulated on the surface of the stone over the three centuries since discovery . The restored stones are once again on display in the museum.

References

Bibliography

* * Entry on Notre-Dame, includes detailed photos and line drawings, plus a reconstruction of the block ordering. * * ''

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

'' (CIL), XIII ''Inscriptiones trium Galliarum et Germaniarum Latinae'' * * * * * Lejeune, Michel (1988) ''Recueil des inscriptions gauloises'', volume 2-1 ''Textes gallo-étrusques. Textes gallo-latins sur pierre''. Paris, Editions du CNRS. pp. 166–169. * Saragoza, F.; Pariselle, C.; Meyohmas, M.-E. ''et al.'' (2003) "Le Pilier des nautes retrouvé". ''Archéologia'' 398, March 2003. * Harl,Ortolf, "Kaiser Tiberius und die nautae Parisiaci: Das Pfeilermonument aus Notre-Dame de Paris und seine Stellung in Religion, Kunst und Wirtschaft Nordgalliens", Introduction by Henri Lavagne: "Le pilier des Nautes, hier et aujourd'hui"
Monuments Piot
99, 2019, p. 71-225.

External links

Dutch language site with pillar photos and relations to other objects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillar Of The Boatmen 1st-century works 1st-century inscriptions Roman Paris Gallo-Roman religion Gallo-Roman art Gaulish inscriptions Latin inscriptions