Living with gods

Around the Gallo-Roman sanctuary of the Gué-de-Sciaux

The classical temple of the Gué-de-Sciaux (Antigny): a Capitolin triad on the west tympanum?

During the first part of the 2nd century, a classical temple has been built on a podium, with a rectangular plan, more than 32 feet high and oriented to the East. Its eastern frontage had an overhang (pronaos) with two or four columns.

The back tympanum has an original sculpted composition mixing divine and military symbols and an evocation of the imperial cult.

On the left, a circular shield surmounted with an owl is framed by a cervid and a military trophy (helmet, shell and tunic).

In the central part, a wreath of oak leaves frames a spread wings eagle holding a thunderbolt. It rests on a celestial sphere and a Hercules’s knot. A belt hangs on the right of the wreath; it is surmounted by a sword in its sheath.

On the right of the tympanum, there is a piece of a circular motif and a bird’s wing. Below, a winged Amur holds a bunch of grapes in its right hand.

The eagle is the symbol of the Roman legion, the wreath of oak leaves (corona civica) is one of the vegetable military wreaths offered to officers in return for their military exploits. The Roman she-wolf with Remus and Romulus, evocation of Rome regularly used by the army, dominates the top of the tympanum. Finally, trophy and weapons refer to the shields decorating the entablature’s mouldings.

This tympanum represents the Capitoline triad, with Minerva evoked by the shield, the owl and the trophy, and Jupiter incarnated by the eagle on the sphere. The tail of the peacock evoking the goddess Juno appears in the circular motif on the right.