The Igel Column

Depicted is the so-called Igel Column, one of the few Roman funerary monuments from the 3rd century AD that has been preserved in situ in German-speaking countries. The enormous height of the building of around 23 m is underlined by the figure looking up at its feet in contemporary costume. The design features of the so-called pillar monuments can be seen, a type of tomb that was widespread in the Rhineland in Roman times and whose most famous example is the so-called Igel Column shown here. The main features are the lack of free-standing columns on the upper floor and the information about the deceased in relief - in this case the wealthy cloth merchant family of the Secundinii. In the copper engraving, the inscription is reproduced in great detail both on the monument itself and including its missing parts and the ashlar joints at the lower edge of the image - as accurately as possible (quam accurate fieri potuit), as Ortelius and Vivianus emphasise in the accompanying description.