What is generally said about this column is that the Romans were all fired up and designed this originally (going back 2,000 years). At some point, the Roman era ended, and the locals.....probably in some peeved emotion over the crappy Roman 'bosses'....dumped the column.
So for around 1,500-odd years....it was lost. Around 1904/1905....it was rediscovered by the locals and turned into a big deal. You can imagine the newspaper folks all hyped up....some Roman-era statue found, and it's a big deal for the local Mainz crowd (at least in this modern era).
They worked up a platform and put the statue in a honored place....right behind the Landestag building near the river.
Best way to find the site? Cross the river heading south, and the Landestag is impossible to miss. Parking, I admit....is questionable. Better to be on foot.
The historical notes mostly say that the Romans came up onto the Mainz area and stayed for roughly 500 years. The statue was supposed to honor the Roman rule, Jupiter, and Nero. One can imagine a bunch of local Germans standing there as the last Roman soldier left.....fired up and using horses and ropes to yank the statue down, then drag it off to the river. Probably some cursing....some beer consumed....and some wild stories the next couple of decades as the crowd who dumped Jupiter down by the Rhine.
Condition today? In remarkably good shape and worth a ten-minute trip to note.
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