A must-see
article | Reading time3 min
The statues of crouching warriors and the lintel found at Glanum and on display at the Hôtel de Sade perfectly illustrate the representation of Celtic power.
Crouching warriors
On the Glanum site, in the area of the rampart, 3 statues of squatting warriors in local limestone have been found. Of these, only one has come down to us in a good state of preservation : only the head is missing and it is 80 centimetres high.
This type of representation is fairly typical of Celtic iconography. These statues most likely depict chieftains, or at least characters corresponding to a military and aristocratic elite, since they bear the attributes (torque, biceps bracelet).
Dating of these squats is estimated at between the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C., since they appear to be more recent than those at Roquepertuse (3rd century B.C.) and necessarily predate the Greek-style assembly hall (2nd century B.C.).
Near these statues, painted stelae featuring horses and geometric motifs have been discovered.
©JLT
The human skull exhibition
In the immediate vicinity of these crouching warriors, a lintel some 2.5 metres long was discovered. Look closely : it features cephaliphorm notches at the ends. Iron spikes, used to anchor the skulls, can still be seen on two of them.
In fact, these lintels, like other pillars found on site with the same notches, were used to display the severed heads of enemies defeated in battle. Some of these skulls, perforated for nailing and discovered on the Glanum archaeological site, can still be seen at the Hôtel de Sade.
©JLT
