Jupiter Monument (Jupitersäule), Mainz

The Jupiter Monument (Jupitersäule) in Mainz is a Roman-era civil monument dedicated to the god Jupiter. Erected in the second half of the 1st century AD in the Roman city of Mogontiacum, now modern-day Mainz, it is the oldest, largest, and most elaborate Jupiter column discovered in any German-speaking region. The monument served as an inspiration for similar Jupiter columns constructed in the Roman provinces of Germania inferior and Germania superior in later centuries.

Standing at 12.5 meters tall, including the figure of Jupiter, the column itself was made from Lorraine limestone. It features a two-tiered base and five drums that narrow slightly as they rise, adorned with depictions of 28 deities from Roman Celtic mythology. The richly ornamented Corinthian capital at the top once supported the figure of Jupiter. The column originally stood as a testament to the prosperity of Mainz’s civilian settlement, with its construction financed by the residents of a vicus, or civilian settlement, near the Rhine. A dedicatory inscription on the base of the column honors the Roman Emperor Nero and acknowledges the two curators responsible for the monument's consecration: Quintus Iulius Priscus and Quintus Iulius Auctus. The column was likely sculpted by local Celtic craftsmen.

Although destroyed during the late Roman Empire, the monument was rediscovered in 1904-1905, and its remains can now be viewed in the State Museum of Mainz. Copies of the Jupiter Monument exist in other locations such as Saalburg Castle, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and Rome, underscoring its historical and architectural significance.