<< Our Photo Pages >> Mars-Camulus-Stein - Early Christian Sculptured Stone in Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia
Submitted by Harald_Platta on Saturday, 11 July 2015 Page Views: 2816
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Mars-Camulus-SteinCountry: Germany Land: North Rhine-Westphalia Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone
Nearest Town: Kleve Nearest Village: Rindern
Latitude: 51.813440N Longitude: 6.127968E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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It was created between 54 - 68 AD by the Cugerni, a Romanised Germanic tribe that lived in Colonia Ulpia Traiana near today`s Xanten. It is known, that the stone was endowed by citizens of Reims.
The stone was dedicated to the Celtic god Camulus, who was equated with the Roman god Mars. Therefore, the Mars-Camulus-Stein was very likely part of a Gallo-Roman sanctuary. Moreover, the first version of the stone praises Nero, whose name was later exchanged for Tiberius.
At a later time point, the stone was brought to the Roman fort Arenacum in today`s Rindern. Here, after the end of the Roman occupation and the begin of the Frankish rule, the stone was used as an altar in the St. Willibrord church, which was built on Roman foundations. The donation of the stone to the missionary Willibrord in the year 720 AD has been documented.
In order to be used as Christian altar, four cross symbols were integrated into the top of the stone.
However, because of its past as a pagan stone, the Mars-Camulus-Stein was placed outside of the church at a later time point, before it was brought to Schwanenburg castle in Kleve, where it served as decoration in the inner ward. After 174 years in Schwanenburg castle, the Mars-Camulus-Stein was brought back to St. Willibrord church and sanctified again for the use as altar in 1968.
A replica of the stone can be seen in the LVR Römermuseum Xanten.
References:
[01] Ruhr Museum (Hrsg.): Werdendes Ruhrgebiet. Spätantike und Frühmittelalter an Rhein und Ruhr (2015).
[02] Scholten, H.: Der Mars-Camulus-Stein. In: eDidact Handbuch der Religionen Ausgabe 31.
[03] Fink, J.: Der Mars-Camulus-Stein in der Pfarrkirche zu Rindern (1970).
[04] Päffgen, P.: Kleve-Rindern: St. Willibrord und der Mars-Camulus-Stein. In: Der Niederrhein zwischen Xanten und Nijmegen. Führer zu Archäologischen Denkmälern in Deutschland. Band 47 (2006).
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