God of Étang-sur-Arroux

The God of Étang-sur-Arroux (or Autun statuette) is a Gallo-Roman bronze statuette, probably found in the commune of Étang-sur-Arroux, not far from Autun, France. The statuette is of a bearded figure sat in lotus position with two ram-headed, fish-tailed serpents feeding from a basket in his hands. The horned serpents and holes in the head for antlers identify this as a representation of the Gaulish stag god Cernunnos. One peculiar feature, the presence of human faces above each ear, has been commented on.

The statuette is in the collection of the National Archaeological Museum, France.

Discovery

The statuette was found in 1840. Its exact findspot is uncertain. J.-G. Buillot (writing in 1889) indicated that it was found near a ford, known as gué de la Perrière, of the river Arroux (in the commune of Étang-sur-Arroux, Saône-et-Loire). The inventory of the National Archaeological Museum indicates, on the contrary, that the findspot was in Savigny (in the commune of Curgy, Saône-et-Loire). Savigny is not implausible, as there is evidence of a very ancient road through the town. However, the authors of the Carte archéologique de la Gaule lean towards the Perrière provenance, as a find of a similar nature (a bronze boar with some Gallic and Roman coins) is recorded a few hundred meters further south.^[1]

The statue was acquired in 1870 for the National Archaeological Museum.^[2]^: 185

Description

The back and profile of the God of Étang-sur-Arroux. Observe the fish tails and the face above the left ear.

The statuette is cast from bronze. It measures 108mm tall and 57mm wide.^[3]^: 174 The statuette is on a molded base, with four small cubes serving as feet. It is well-preserved, but has a patina.^[2]^{: 185–187}

The statuette is of a male figure sat in lotus position on a cross-hatched cushion. The figure is aged, with a high forehead, beard and moustache. His hair is rendered in individual locks. He wears a torc around his neck and a sleeveless tunic, fastened to each shoulder by a fibula. Two serpents, with ram heads and fish tails, are wrapped around his waist. He holds a basket in his hands, from which the two serpents appear to feed or drink. A second torc is balanced atop the basket. Two small holes (about 4mm deep), made after the statuette was cast, are present at the top of the head.^[3]^: 174^[4]^[5]^: 45 These holes have traces of lead, probably used to fix whatever was placed in them.^[6]^: 146

Two small bearded faces are visible above the right and left ears of the figure. The face above the right ear is almost entirely obscured by oxidation, excepting the beard. The face above the left has a damaged beard. A slight protuberance on the back of the head perhaps suggests a third face (damaged beyond recognition).^[4]

Interpretation

The lotus pose, holes for the insertion of antlers, torcs, and ram-headed serpents are all characteristic of depictions of Cernunnos.^[5]^: 34 The aged appearance of Cernunnos here has its best parallel in the famous Pillar of the Boatmen from Lutetia.^[7]^: 248 A Gallo-Roman statue of Cernunnos found at Sommerécourt (Haute-Marne) similarly has the god feeding two horned serpents from a bowl in his hands.^[8]^: 232^[9]

The statuette is Gallo-Roman in date. However, unlike much Gallo-Roman religious sculpture, which assimilated Gaulish gods with Graeco-Roman deities, this statuette seems to have "retained [its] Celtic individuality unimpaired".^[10]^: 84 Art historian Phyllis Pray Bober sees a strong resemblance between the God of Étang-sur-Arroux and the God of Bouray (a bronze statuette perhaps also of Cernunnos) and has suggested that they are contemporary.^[5]^: 34 This is of little help when it comes to further specifying the date of the God of Étang-sur-Arroux, as the dating of the God of Bouray is so uncertain.^[3]^: 181

The two (perhaps three) small faces around the statuette's head are a peculiarity.^[a] However, three-faced or three-headed depictions of Cernunnos are not unknown. Examples of such depictions of Cernunnos are found at Les Bolards [fr] (Côte-d'Or), Langres (Haute-Marne), and Condat (Dordogne).^[11]^: 46 Bober suggests that these represent a late assimilation of Cernunnos with the tricephalic god known throughout Gaulish art (sometimes identified with Lugus).^[5]^: 34 David Fickett-Wilbar makes a similar point.^[12]^: 99 Hélène Chew demurs, instead suggesting that these small faces "perhaps rather illustrate a mythological episode [involving Cernunnos] which is unknown to us".^[4]^[b]

Notes

^ This feature is not, however, without parallels. A Gallo-Roman bronze head of a woman (8cm in height) discovered at Cebazat (Puy-de-Dôme) has two small faces applied above the ears. The head is perhaps intended to be the Roman goddess Diana, but Bober has suggested that it represents the female partner of Cernunnos as the head has two small holes (perhaps for antlers) behind its diadem.^[5]^{: fn 160}
^ Original French: "peut-être illustrent-ils plutôt un épisode mythologique ignoré de nous".^[4]

References

^ Rebourg, Alain (1994). "474. Étang-sur-Arroux". Saône-et-Loire. Carte archéologique de la Gaule. Vol. 71/4. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. pp. 413–414. ISBN 978-2877540407.
^ ^a ^b Reinach, Salomon (1894). Bronzes figurés de la Gaule romaine. Antiquités nationales: description raisonnée du musée de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Vol. 2. Paris: Firmin-Didot.
^ ^a ^b ^c Guillaumet, J.-P. (2003). "Les personnages accroupis: essai de classement". In Buchsenschutz, O.; Bulard, A.; Chardenoux, M.-B.; Ginoux, N. (eds.). Décors, images et signes de l’âge du Fer européen. Supplément à la Revue Archéologique du Centre de la France. Vol. 24. Tours. pp. 171–82.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Chew, Hélène (1998). "Statuette de Cernunnos d'Étang-sur-Arroux". In Deyts, Simone (ed.). A la rencontre des dieux gaulois. Un défi à César. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux. p. 89. ISBN 978-2711838516.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Bober, Phyllis Pray (January 1951). "Cernunnos: Origin and Transformation of a Celtic Divinity". American Journal of Archaeology. 55 (1): 13–51. doi:10.2307/501179. JSTOR 501179.
^ Thévenot, Émile (1968). Divinités et sanctuaires de la Gaule. Paris: Fayard.
^ Hollard, Dominique; Gricourt, Daniel (2010). Cernunnos, le dioscure sauvage: Recherches comparatives sur la divinité des Celtes. Paris: Editions L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2296135963.
^ Green, Miranda (1992). Animals in Celtic Life and Myth. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415185882.
^ "Dieu et déesse au serpent de Sommerécourt au MUDAAC d'Épinal". Le Pays Natal de JLJ: La Lorraine. August 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ Newell, A. N. (February 1934). "Gallo-Roman Religious Sculpture". Greece & Rome. 3 (8): 74–84. JSTOR 640758.
^ Deyts, Simone (1992). Images des dieux de la Gaule. Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 978-2877720670.
^ Fickett-Wilbar, David (2003). "Cernunnos: Looking a Different Way". Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium. 23: 80–111. JSTOR 25660728.