[[romano-celtic]], [[columns]], [[serpent-worm-eel-snake]] --- ## Biblio - [[green-mi1990]]: "The snake's earthbound nature, its carnivorous feeding-habits and its ability to kill gave it powerful chthonic symbolism. This is displayed most clearly in the iconography of the Jupiter-columns, where the monster of darkness is represented by a Giant with serpents replacing his legs." - "the association between the sun and war, noted in the Iron Age, continues in the Romano-Celtic phase, when a distinctive group of images displays the solar/sky-god in battle against the forces of darkness and evil....'Jupiter-Giant columns'...Although the iconography of the victor riding down the foe may have its origins in Roman art, the images on the summit of these columns nonetheless depict a Celtic religious tradition, where the god of light and life is mounted on horseback, brandishing his protective solar wheel like a shield and his thunderbolt as a weapon, riding down the chthonic forces personified as a snake-limbed giant. [This association is also seen in] The north British war-god Belatucadrus has a name meaning 'Fair Shining One'; the Gaulish Mars Loucetius, invoked with his consort Nemetona at Bath, also bears a surname evocative of light." [[green-mi1990]]