The Cerne Abbas Giant was originally carved as an image of Hercules. It was used to mark a gathering center for the West Saxon armies. This is what new research from the University of Oxford concludes. This would explain the usefulness of the mysterious figure of the Cerne Abbas Giant.
Correct age
This discovery could end centuries-long debates about the function of the mysterious medieval monument. It was carved into a hillside in Dorset, in the south-west of the United Kingdom, a few kilometers from Stonehenge. It turns out that it was not created in prehistory, as many have assumed. Not at the beginning of the Modern Age, but at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Specifically in the 9th or early 10th century, when there was great interest in the classic hero Hercules. Says a new article published in the magazine Speculum.
This new research was carried out by a group of scientists from the University of Oxford. It is likely that it was made to mark a meeting point for armies on an estate belonging to an ealdorman. He was a high-ranking royal official of the West Saxons who occupied this territory shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire.
The mysterious figure of the Cerne Abbas Giant is about 55 m high. It represents a naked man. It is carved into the limestone rock of a hillside above the village of Cerne Abbas, United Kingdom.
Hercules in the background
“It has become clear that the Cerne Giant is nothing more than the most visible of a whole set of early medieval elements in the landscape.” This is stated by Dr. Helen Gittos, a researcher at the University of Oxford.
Viking attacks were frequent in the vicinity. There was access to abundant fresh water and supplies from the local farm. This made this site “an ideal place to gather West Saxon armies against the backdrop of Hercules.” In the mid-11th century, the monastery founded at the foot of the Cerne Giant had renamed it the image of Saint Eadwold. He was a saint and a convenient way to erase Hercules. They hoped to proclaim the monastery's rights over the relics of the saints, the study highlights.
