Taranis

The Altar


One description of the altar reads as follows:


 * "The altar is of red sandstone, carved in relief, with a focus on top (h. 0.97; w. 0.45; d. 0.43). It is divided up into three main sections. On all sides, the topmost section is itself divided into three, with cylindrical bolstersfollowed 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, whileon 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."

It was found intact in Foregate Street, Chester in 1653. Its discovery was witnessed by chance by John Grenehalgh, Chief Master of the Free School and also a fairly competent amateur antiquarian, who recorded that the exact findspot was "Forrest-Street" (moderm Foregate Street), in the house of Richard Tyrer, beyond the Eastgate. Grenehalgh immediately realised its Roman origins and returned the next day to transcribe the 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, 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.

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. 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 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. 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 Randle Holme also made a transcription 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, and belonged to a local landowning family from Vale Royal near Chester. In 1931, it was on display in The Arundel Vestibule on the Ground Floor of the museum. It is currently on display in the gallery ‘From Ark to Ashmolean’.

Sources and Links

 * Jupiter and Mitras;
 * Jupiter Taranis;
 * Taranis at Wikipedia;
 * Taranis in Ancient Britain;
 * "IOVI OPTIMO MAXIMO" - "Jupiter Best and Greatest";
 * RIB 452 Altar dedicated to Jupiter Tanarus Optimus Maximus;
 * Monumental Latin inscriptions from Roman Britain in the Ashmolean Museum collection;