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Nautae Parisiaci Pillar

The Nautae Parisiaci Pillar is a monument featuring depictions of various deities from Roman and Gallic mythology. It is dated by its dedicatory inscription to the first quarter of the 1st century AD and was likely originally placed in a sanctuary in the Gallo-Roman civitas of Lutetia, now Paris. The pillar is one of the earliest examples of inscriptions in figurative Gallic art. Today, it is held in the Musée national du Moyen Âge.

The Nautae Parisiaci Pillar, a tall stone monument with stacked carved blocks and relief figures.
The Nautae Parisiaci Pillar shown with its tiered carved relief panels and inscriptions.
© Renou, Laurent (Paris, 1947), maquettiste · CC0
Relief carving from the Nautae Parisiaci Pillar showing a muscular bare-chested figure holding a large club over his left shoulder.
Relief from the Nautae Parisiaci Pillar showing a muscular figure with a club over his shoulder.
1918 © · No restrictions
Pencil drawing of carved stone reliefs from the Nautae Parisiaci Pillar, including figures labeled Jovis and Cernunnos and a larger seated figure with listeners below.
Drawing of carved reliefs from the Nautae Parisiaci Pillar, with mythological figures and a larger seated scene below.
· Public domain
Engraving of the Nautae Parisiaci Pillar fragments, showing carved stone blocks, Latin inscriptions, relief figures, and associated ancient pieces arranged in a grid.
Engraved plate showing fragments of the Nautae Parisiaci Pillar, including inscribed blocks and sculpted reliefs.
© · Public domain
Stone fragments from the Nautae Parisiaci Pillar with carved figures, animals, and Latin inscriptions, stacked beneath an inscribed wall marked \
Carved fragments associated with the Nautae Parisiaci Pillar, shown stacked beneath an inscribed wall in the illustration.
February 2016 © Adolphe Martial Potémont · Public domain

Identification

TitlePillar of the Boatmen
NamesPfeiler der Nautae Parisiaci; Pariser Nautenpfeiler; Pilier des nautes; Il pilastro dei nauti; El Pilar de los Nautas; Pilier des Nautes
TypeMonumental Gallo-Roman column

Historical context

Date1st century AD, probably during the reign of Tiberius
Original locationProbably a sanctuary in Lutetia (present-day Paris)
DiscoveryFound in the 18th century during excavations under Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, re-used in the 4th-century city wall on the Île de la Cité

Discovery and provenance

Discovery date15 or 16 March 1711
Discovery contextUnearthed during construction of a crypt under Notre-Dame Cathedral in excavations undertaken to fulfill a vow of Louis XIII
Publication/reportingReported by Baudelot, who described the discovery in a work on the bas-reliefs found in the cathedral

Creator

DedicatorThe Nautae Parisiaci, the guild of boatmen/shipowners of Lutetia
Dedicated toJupiter Optimus Maximus
Associated peopleThe Nautae were a brotherhood of shipowners and river mariners of the Parisii, probably fairly wealthy shipowners or merchants

Materials

MaterialSaint-Leu-d'Esserent limestone (Oise stone)

Physical characteristics

ConditionThe pillar is fragmentary; one level survives intact, and of the other three levels only the upper half remains
StructureOriginally four stacked square blocks or altars, tapering upward; the exact arrangement of the blocks is uncertain and an alternative interpretation is that they were two pairs of altars
Top width0.74 m
Base width0.91 m
HeightAbout 5.24 m

Technique

DecorationBas-reliefs on all four faces; one block bears a dedicatory inscription

Iconography and meaning

Depicted subjectsRoman and Gaulish deities, including Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Fortuna, Esus, Smertrios, Tarvos Trigaranos, Cernunnos, Castor and Pollux, plus other unidentified figures
Inscription languageLatin with Gaulish features
Inscription contentThe inscription dedicates the monument to Jupiter and names Tiberius; it also includes the names of the Nautae, publice posierunt
Inscriptions on figuresNamed figures include Iurises/Eurises, Senani U[s]eiloni, and Cernunnos, the only undisputed ancient attestation of that divine name
InterpretationThe Gaulish divine names appear as deity names in their own right, not as epithets for Roman gods
Figure scenesCernunnos with antlers and torcs, likely seated cross-legged; Smertrios attacking a snake with a club or sickle; Castor and Pollux beside their horses with spears; Jupiter with spear and thunderbolt; Esus cutting a willow tree with an axe or sickle; Tarvos Trigaranos as a bull with cranes; Vulcan with smith's tools; Mars with spear and sword; Mercury with caduceus; Fortuna and other female companions

Location and ownership

Current locationMusée de Cluny, displayed in the frigidarium of the Thermes de Cluny

History and restoration

Later reuseIn the 4th century the stone blocks were broken and reused to reinforce the foundations of the walls along the Seine
ReconstructionThe monument has been reconstructed in modern scholarship, including a stacked pillar reconstruction by Jean-Pierre Adam

Significance

Historical significanceOne of the earliest pieces of representational Gallo-Roman art to carry a written inscription; regarded as the oldest dated indigenous monument in Paris and the first known society attested in Paris

Other

Language of article fragmentGerman