ALTAR TO JUPITER TANARUS, CHESTER Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHLI ANChandler.3.1.xml 154945 Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANChandler.3.1 AshLI 01

A red sandstone altar, carved in relief, with a focus on top (0.97 0.45 0.43). The altar is divided up into three main sections. On all sides, the topmost section is itself divided into three, with cylindrical bolsters followed by a border of egg-and-dart and then by another border depicting pairs of leaves. The central section is framed by an ornamental moulded frame, and on its four sides are the following: inscription (front); a small five-petalled flower inside a circular garland, or perhaps a libation-dish (rear); jug (left side); six-petalled flower (right side). The base section consists of another border depicting pairs of leaves and a roughly finished base. Horsley (1732: p.315) noted that there were remains of a piece of iron on its top surface, and supposed that something had been added to it in post-Roman times; Henig suggested (2004: p.8) that this may date from the period when the altar was displayed in Tyrer’s garden (see below, on locations).

Inscription on the front face, within rectangular moulded frame ( 0.27 0.285). The inscription has been in a very poor condition ever since the altar was discovered, because of the crumbling nature of the sandstone from which it is made. This was then not improved by the fact that after its initial discovery it remained exposed in a garden for some years (Grenehalgh (1722) in Bodl. MS. Rawl.). Already in 1763, it seemed illegible to Chandler (1763: ‘Syllabus. Pars tertia’). Watkin (1886) made engravings of the stone based upon photographs taken in 1884, which show some traces of lettering. When examined by Hübner for CIL only a few faint traces of lettering were visible, and it now seems almost totally illegible to the naked eye, but RTI has enabled us to read some letters. These confirm the accuracy of much of Grenehalgh’s initial report, but support the reading CLVNIA (as suggested by Kubitschek) rather than GVNTA or GVNTIA at the end of line 3. Line 7 is centred, to judge from the placement of the M.

 0.03 (lines 1-4), but with some variation in height in line 1, with the letters at the end appearing shorter: whereas the initial I is 0.035, at the end of the line A is 0.025, whilst R and O are 0.03. At the start of line 2, an upright stroke can be seen (0.03). Line 3: P and N, 0.03; ligature (NI); letter A at the end of the line is short (0.02). Letters in lines 5-6 appear smaller on RTI, but are not visible enough to be measured from the stone. Line 6: possibly N visible in RTI. Line 7: M, 0.01. The altar was found intact in Foregate Street, Chester in 1653 (1648, according to Hearne, Bannister, Williams, in error, following Aubrey, who stated that it was found in 1648 at The Greyhound inn, Fore Street, in digging a cellar). AD 154, consular date.

The altar was found intact in Foregate Street, Chester in 1653 (1648, according to Hearne, Bannister, Williams, in error, following Aubrey, who stated that it was found in 1648 at The Greyhound inn, Fore Street, in digging a cellar). Its discovery was witnessed by chance by John Grenehalgh, Chief Master of the Free School, who recorded (Grenehalgh, Bodl. MS. Rawl.; Lansdowne MS. 843) that the exact findspot was Forrest-Street, in the house of Richard Tyrer, beyond the city’s east gate. Grenehalgh immediately realised its Roman origins, and returned the next day to transcribe its text, but was not over-confident of the accuracy of his transcription. Although the MS recounting his first encounter with the altar is now missing from Chester Chapter Library, MSS. in the Bodleian (Bodl. MS. Rawl. D. 1173 ff. 17-30 and Bod. MS. Eng. b. 2042 ff.95-97), together with Lansdowne MS. 843 in the British Library, preserve copies of Grenehalgh’s notes: in a postscript to MS Rawl., Grenehalgh explained that his original manuscript transcription of the inscription which he had made shortly after its discovery had become illegible by being handled so much, and so at the request of friends he had produced a new copy. For an assessment of Grenehalgh’s account, see Collingwood (1925).

The altar attracted much attention, with an exchange of letters between William Dugdale, Gerard Langbaine (Provost of Queen’s College Oxford), and John Selden already in December 1653 (ed. Hamper 1827: pp.274-76). The text of the inscription had been sent to Langbaine by Dugdale, and he in turn sent it to Selden, who replied that he had already received five or six different copies of it. This perhaps explains Watkin’s misleading claim (1886: p.165) that the earliest description of the altar was in a manuscript of Sir William Dugdale. A transcription was also sent by Dr William Holder, sub-dean of the Chapel Royal (1674-89), to John Aubrey (1980: p.468, facsimile of 1676 ms.). Grenehalgh’s reading of the inscription formed the basis of Prideaux’s text, since already by 1675 the inscription had become very faint. Local antiquarian Randal Holme also made a transcription (1688) and gave the earliest account of the altar in print; his edition is distinctive in providing a drawing of just the altar itself, indicating reliefs and decorative features, followed by a separate drawing of the inscription.

The altar was given to Oxford University in 1675 by Sir Francis Cholmondeley, who had been awarded an MA from Brasenose in 1669 (Henning 1983), and belonged to a local landowning family from Vale Royal near Chester (Prideaux 1676: p.282). In 1931 it was on display in The Arundel Vestibule on the Ground Floor of the museum (Leeds 1931: p.21). It is currently on display in the gallery ‘From Ark to Ashmolean’. Front face. Photograph Rear face. Photograph Right side. Photograph Left side. Photograph Top surface. Photograph. Photograph: front face, colour Photograph: front face, colour
Iovi Optimo Maximo Tanaro Titus Elupius Galeria tribu Praesens Clunia princeps legionis XX Valeriae Victricis Commodo et Laterano consulibus votum solvit libens merito

To Jupiter Best and Greatest Tanarus. Titus Elupius Praesens, of the Galerian voting-tribe, from Clunia, princeps of the 20th Legion Valeria Victrix, in the consulship of Commodus and Lateranus, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.

RTI reading: Line 1, first I and final O are clear; traces of ANAR visible. Line 2: final R clear; traces of upright strokes of first letter and final LE visible. Line 3: PR clear; traces of AE; VNIA clear, with ligature of NI and small A. Line 4: PRI and interpuncts clear; traces of LEG; XX VV clear. Line 5: faint traces of some letters. Line 6: possibly trace of N. Line 7: final M visible. Grenehalgh (British Library MS. Lansdowne 843 f.22-25) (first autopsy, 1658): I O M TANARO / T ELVPIVS GALER / PRAESENS GVNTA / PRI LEG XX V V / COMMODO ET / LATERANO COS / V S L M Holme, in Harleian (Harl.) MS. 2155, 32 fol.105-07, at f.105, unusually provides a drawing of just the altar itself, indicating reliefs and decorative features, followed on f.106 by a separate drawing of the inscription. T (Grenehalgh, Aubrey/Holder, Holme, Horsley); probably L (Collingwood). ELVPIVS (Grenehalgh, Aubrey/Holder, Selden, Holme, Gibson, Horsley); ELYPIVS GALERIVS (Langbaine); FLAVIVS (Hübner conj. in CIL); BRVTTIVS, ligatured (Collingwood conj.; Henig 2000 p.7), ELVTRIVS (Birley 1966 – a printing error for ELVFRIVS, according to Birley 1986: p.208 n.19); ELVFRIVS (Birley 1986; Henig; EDCS; Malone; Glicksman); no interpunct after ELVPIVS, but added interpunct after GALER (Grenehalgh in Bodl. MS. Rawl.); TI. LVPIVS (Michael Crawford, pers. comm.). GVNTA, ligatured (Grenehalgh in Bodl. MS. Rawl., who comments on the lack of space at the line-end); GVNTIA, ligatured (drawing by Dugdale in Harleian MS. 6266 p.3; Holme in Harleian MS. 2155 fol.106; Grenehalgh in Lansdowne MS 843 f.22-25, although interpreted in the text as abbreviation for GVBERNATOR); GVNA (Prideaux, Spon, Holme); GVNIA followed by interpunct (Langbaine); GVNIA, ligatured (Aubrey/ Holder fig.); GVNIA, ligatured (Chandler, Hübner in CIL); GVNTIA (Gale, Lysons, Horsley); GANIA (Donatus); GANIA, ligatured (Aubrey/ Holder annotation); PRAESENS GANTA, ligatured (Hemingway); CLVNIA (Kubitschek, Collingwood; Henig); no interpunct after PRAESENS, but ligature in GVNTA (Grenehalgh in Bodl. MS. Rawl). PRIMIPILVS LEGIONIS VICESIMAE QVINTAE VETERANVS (Langbaine); C(enturia) VNAPRI (Spon); LEG. XXV.V (Dugdale in Harleian MS. 6266 p.3; Holme in Harleian MS. 2155 fol. 106; Grenehalgh in Lansdowne MS. 843 f.22; Aubrey/ Holder; Holme, as a stonecutter’s error) COMODO (Holme); no interpuncts (Grenehalgh in Bodl. MS. Rawl); COMODO ET / LATERANO / COSS (Aubrey/ Holder); COMMODO ET / LATERANO / COS (Dugdale in Harleian MS. 6266 p.3; Holme in Harleian MS.2155 fol. 106; Grenehalgh in Lansdowne MS. 843 f.22) two lines (Grenehalgh; Gibson; Prideaux), one line (Collingwood 1925); COSS (Prideaux)

The altar was dedicated in AD 154 to a Romano-Celtic god by an officer of Spanish origin serving in the Roman legion XX Valeria Victrix, which from the late-first century AD was stationed at Chester, near the border with Wales in the north-west of England.

The god receiving the dedication is a god of thunder, combining Roman and Celtic forms (Much 1891; Green 1982: p.39; Green 1986a: p.130). He is otherwise unknown in Britain. Other inscribed dedications to a Celtic/Germanic thunder god in the form deo Taranucno have been found in the Rhineland and Dalmatia (CIL XIII 6478; CIL III 2804), and Lucan alludes to Taranis ara (Pharsalia 1.446) (Green 1984: pp.251-53, 359 D7; Green 1986b: esp. pp.65-67). Lysons (1810: p.428) suggested that Tanarus was a stonecutter’s error for Taranus, but this may be an unnecessary emendation, given that a parallel dedication from Dalmatia Iovi Tanaro has now been published (AE (2010) 1225). Green (1979: pp.346-47, 349, 363 no.5 with figs 2-5) has tentatively suggested that what have been described above as flowers on the altar’s rear and right sides should instead be interpreted as stylized wheels. This iconography would fit the context of an altar to Jupiter Tanarus, and would increase the Celtic flavour of the cult, by making a link to Jupiter in the guise as a Romano-Celtic wheel-god. The image on the rear of the altar, however, lacks the spokes that would normally be expected in a wheel design, whilst the design on the right side is not circular (indeed, Green later describes the images as ‘six-petalled flower’ and ‘wreath enclosing rosette’: 1984: p.359).

Kubitschek (1889: p.192) first made the plausible suggestion that the mysterious GVNIA (line 3) might in fact be Clunia, a town in Hispania Tarraconensis (northern Spain), belonging to the Galerian voting-tribe. Earlier texts read Guntia (Raetia), but Mommsen (CIL III, p.721) pointed out that Guntia did not formally exist in AD 154. Consequently, Hübner in CIL VII rejected GVNTIA, commenting that GVNIA is otherwise unattested as a place-name; he further noted that other possible candidates belonging to the Galerian tribe – Luna and Genua – both have names which are too far removed from the recorded text. A variety of other fanciful suggestions include GVNTA as an abbreviation for GVBERNATOR (Grenehalgh, Gibson) or the reading PRAESE{N}S GVNETHAE (Prideaux), neatly meaning ‘governor of Gunetha/Guinetha’ (North Wales). The suggestion by Holme (Harleian MS.) ‘in this city Guna’ is equally unlikely.

The name of the dedicator is unlikely to have been ELVPIVS, an otherwise unknown nomen (Solin and Salomies (1994: p.73), and it seems that the name was only faintly visible even when the stone was discovered. The emendation to TI. LVPIVS suggested by Michael Crawford (pers. comm.) is attractively simple. Although Hübner in CIL conjectured a corruption of FLAVIVS, Collingwood argued that Grenehalgh would have been ready to recognise this familiar name had it been inscribed here. This is persuasive, but Collingwood’s conjecture, L. BRVTTIVS, seems rather far from what the earliest readers of the stone thought they could see. Another name attested epigraphically at Clunia, L. VALERIVS, is perhaps just as possible (cf. AE 1971, 205). It may be best simply to regard the name as irrecoverable. The princeps of a legion was the second centurion in seniority, next in command after the primus pilus. The 20th legion Valeria Victrix was stationed at Chester from the Flavian period. The consular date given is AD 154; Commodus is Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, now better known as the emperor Lucius Verus.

Chester Chapter Library, Grenehalgh MS. f. 22 (1653; derived from RIB; now missing); Langbaine and Selden Letters (1653, in Hamper, ed. 1827: pp.274-76); Grenehalgh in British Library MS. Lansdowne 843 f.22-25, of 1658; Grenehalgh in Bodl. MS. Rawl. D. 1173 ff. 17-30 (written in 1671, MS. dated to 1722); Sir William Dugdale in British Library Harleian MS. 6266 pp.3-4, ‘Ara Romana nuper effossata Cestriae’, as front material before John Leyland’s Itinerary; Randal Holme, Historical Collections concerning Chester, British Library Harleian MS. 2155, 32 fol. 105-07; Aubrey (1676, ed. 1980) vol.1 pp.468-71; Prideaux (1676) p.282, no.148 (following Grenehalgh); Spon (1685) p.74; Holme (1688) III p.464; Gibson, MS collections for Camden’s Britannica vol.1 (Bod. MS. Eng. b. 2042) ff. 89-90, 94-97, 99-101, 104-105 (following Prideaux); Gibson (1695) cols 568-69; Fabretti (1702) p.338 no.510; Gale (1709) pp.52-53; Baxter (1719) p.223; Horsley (1732) p.315 + Cheshire pl. no.III; Maittaire (1732) p.34 no.45 + p.561; Hearne (1733) I Preface §4 pp.xvi-xviii, II Appendix pp.723-27; Muratori (1739) vol.1, p.331 no.6 (following Prideaux and Gale); Chandler (1763) Part 3, Pl. I.i (following Hearne and Maittaire), with drawings; Donatus (1765) p.168 no.3; Gough (1768) p.120; Gough (1789) II p.430, pl.XIII fig.2; Pennant (1810) I p.158 (following Horsley); Lysons (1810) pp.428-29; Ormerod (1819) I p.294; Orelli (1828) I no.2054; Hemingway (1831) II frontispiece map; Newton (1848) p.cxii no.58 (following Horsley); Roach Smith (1850) p.219 (following Horsley); Wright (1852) p.260; Roach Smith (1868) VI p.37 (following Horsley); CIL VII no.168 (Hübner, 1873); Watkin (1886) pp.165-68; Williams (1886) pp.13-14 no.1 (following Holme); Bannister (1887) + exchange of letters with Watkin pp.157-61; Kubitschek (1889) p.192; Hübner (1890) p.123; Collingwood (1925); ILS 4622 (1955); Wright (1955) p.13 no. ex.2 + pl.XLVI; RIB I no.452 (1965); Birley (1966) p.229; Green (1982); Green (1984) p.359 D7; Green (1986a) p.130; Birley (1986) pp.207-08; RIB I2 452 (1995); Henig (2004) = CSIR-GB-vol.I fasc.9, no.20 + plate 10; Malone (2006) p.115 no.25; Glicksman (2012)

Online: EDCS-07800732 [accessed 10/03/14]; CIL schedae SCH0000427 http://cil.bbaw.de/ [accessed 10/03/14]; GlicksmanK. 2012 ‘British Collection highlights: Chester altar (British Archaeology at the Ashmolean Museum) http://britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/highlights/chester-altar.html [accessed 17th Dec 2013]

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