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The Mainz Pedestals

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Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.

The Mainz Pedestals, which once supported several columns in front of the headquarters of the Roman fortress of Mainz-Kästrich, may not be what you have in mind when you think about classical art. And it is true, the human body has been rendered better by other sculptors: the heads, arms, and legs of the figures on these pedestals are not well-proportioned. However, this monument was certainly made by a great artist who compensated his lack of anatomical knowledge by something that, lacking a better expression, I call "power".

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Griffin #1	Marching legionaries	Sword fighter	Spear fighter	Fighting legionaries

Griffin #2	POW's	Germania Capta	Returning soldier	Victory

Coin of Domitian, celebrating his Germanic victories.

The pedestals belong to a building phase of the Kästrich fortress that is usually dated to the last quarter of the first century. After the Batavian Revolt, in which the base had been destroyed, soldiers of I Adiutrix and XIV Gemina rebuilt the fortress. A decade later, in 83 to be precise, the Roman emperor Domitian visited Kästrich to conduct a successful war against the Chatti, which resulted in the conquest of land on the Rhine's east bank and the construction of the Taunus limes. This victory was commemorated by the coin issue shown to the left (Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn).

The monument may commemorate this war, or war in general. On one side, we see two heaby-armed legionaries march to the front, and we see them in action. Maybe, the two men stand for the two legions. The sword fighter and the spear fighter appear to be light-armed auxiliary soldiers.

The other five slabs show the effects of peace: for example, two captives and the goddess Victory. The central scene is a mourning woman, who represents Germania, weeping because of her loss of freedom. In a civil context, we would also have expected a representation of Peace, or the gods Mercurius (trade), Ceres (agriculture), and Apollo (the arts). An example is the victory monument from Nijmegen.

But Kästrich was a military site, and the blessings of victory are shown in a different fashion: a soldier returning with a bag that must have contained some precious objects.

The Mainz Pedestals are now in the Landesmuseum.

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