Pergamon Altar
Encyclopedia
Eumenes II
Eumenes II of Pergamon was king of Pergamon and a member of the Attalid dynasty. The son of king Attalus I and queen Apollonis, he followed in his father's footsteps and collaborated with the Romans to oppose first Macedonian, then Seleucid expansion towards the Aegean, leading to the defeat of...
in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient city of Pergamon
Pergamon
Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC...
in Asia Minor
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
.
The structure is 35.64 meters wide and 33.4 meters deep; the front stairway alone is almost 20 meters wide. The base is decorated with a frieze in high relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
showing the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods
Twelve Olympians
The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon , in Greek mythology, were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, residing atop Mount Olympus. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades were siblings. Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Athena, Apollo, and Artemis were children of Zeus...
known as the Gigantomachy
Gigantomachy
In Greek mythology, Gigantomachy was the symbolic struggle between the cosmic order of the Olympians led by Zeus and the nether forces of Chaos led by the giant Alcyoneus...
. There is a second, smaller and less well preserved high relief frieze on the inner court walls which surround the actual fire altar on the upper level of the structure at the top of the stairs. It depicts, in a series of consecutive scenes, events from the life of Telephus
Telephus
A Greek mythological figure, Telephus or Telephos Telephus was one of the Heraclidae, the sons of Heracles, who were venerated as founders of cities...
, legendary founder of the city of Pergamon and son of the hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
and Auge
Auge
In Greek mythology, Auge a daughter of Aleus and Neaera and priestess of Athena Alea at Tegea, bore the hero Telephus to Heracles. Her father had been told by an oracle that he would be overthrown by his grandson. She secreted the baby in the temple of Athena...
, a daughter of the Tegea
Tegea
Tegea was a settlement in ancient Greece, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tripoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Its seat was the village Stadio....
n king Aleus
Aleus
Aleus was in Greek mythology a son of Apheidas, and grandson of Arcas. He was king of Tegea in Arcadia, and married to Neaera or Cleobule, and is said to have founded the town of Alea and the first temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. He had a son, Lycurgus, and two daughters, Auge and Alcidice. He...
.
In 1878 the German engineer Carl Humann
Carl Humann
Carl Wilhelm Humann was a German engineer, architect and archaeologist...
began official excavations on the acropolis of Pergamon, an effort which lasted until 1886. His chief purpose was to rescue the altar friezes and expose the foundation of the edifice. Later, other ancient structures on the acropolis were brought to light. In negotiations with the Turkish government, which participated in the excavation, it was agreed that all frieze fragments found at the time become the property of the Berlin museums.
In Berlin, Italian restorers reassembled the panels comprising the frieze from the thousands of fragments which could be recovered. In order to display the result and create a context for it, a new museum was erected in 1901 on Berlin's Museum Island. As this first Pergamon Museum proved to be both inadequate and structurally unsound, it was demolished in 1909 and replaced with the much larger present museum, which opened in 1930. Although it housed a variety of collections, not least a famous reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate
Ishtar Gate
The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II on the north side of the city....
of ancient Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
, the city's inhabitants also named the new museum the Pergamon Museum
Pergamon Museum
The Pergamon Museum is situated on the Museum Island in Berlin. The site was designed by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann and was constructed in twenty years, from 1910 to 1930. The Pergamon houses original-sized, reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate...
after the friezes and reconstruction of the west front of the altar. The Pergamon Altar is today the most famous item in the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities
Antikensammlung Berlin
The Antikensammlung Berlin is one of the most important collections of classical art in the world, now held in the Altes Museum and Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany. It contains thousands of ancient archaeological artefacts from the ancient Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Cypriot civilizations...
, which is on display in the Pergamon Museum and in the Altes Museum, both on Museum Island.
Historical background
Philetaerus
Philetaerus was the founder of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon in Anatolia.- Early life and career under Lysimachus :...
at the beginning of the 3rd century BC was initially part of the Hellenistic Seleucid empire
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
. Attalus I
Attalus I
Attalus I , surnamed Soter ruled Pergamon, an Ionian Greek polis , first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the second cousin and the adoptive son of Eumenes I, whom he succeeded, and was the first of the Attalid dynasty to assume the title of king in 238 BC...
, successor and nephew of Eumenes I
Eumenes I
Eumenes I was dynast of the city of Pergamon in Asia Minor from 263 BC until his death in 241 BC. He was the son of Eumenes, the brother of Philetaerus, the founder of the Attalid dynasty, and Satyra, daughter of Poseidonius...
, was the first to achieve full independence for the territory and proclaimed himself king after his victory over the Celtic Galatians
Galatia
Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...
in 228 BC. This victory over the Galatians, a threat to the Pergamene kingdom, secured his power, which he then attempted to consolidate. With conquests in Asia Minor at the expense of the weakened Seleucids he could briefly increase the size of his kingdom. A Seleucid counteroffensive under Antiochos III reached the gates of Pergamon but could not put an end to Pergamene independence. Since the Seleucids were becoming stronger in the east, Attalos turned his attention westward to Greece and was able to occupy almost all of Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
. His son, Eumenes II, further limited the influence of the Galatians and ruled jointly with his brother Attalos II, who succeeded him. In 188 BC, Eumenes II was able to conclude the Treaty of Apamea
Treaty of Apamea
The Treaty of Apamea of 188 BC, was peace treaty between the Roman Republic and Antiochus III , ruler of the Seleucid Empire. It took place after the Romans' victories in the battle of Thermopylae , in the Battle of Magnesia , and after Roman and Rhodian naval victories over the Seleucid navy.In...
in alliance with Rome, thus reducing the influence of the Seleucids in Asia Minor. The Attalids were thus an emerging power with the desire to demonstrate their importance also to the outside world through the construction of imposing buildings.
The endowment, dating and function of the altar
As is the case with most young dynasties, the Attalids sought to anchor their legitimacy with endowments and monumental construction projects. The imposing altar accordingly had also a political dimension.Up until the second half of the 20th century it had been assumed by some scholars that the altar was endowed in 184 BC by Eumenes II after a victory over the Celtic Tolistoagian tribe and their leader Ortiagon. In the meantime, later datings relating the altar to archaeological findings and historical events are under discussion. It is not imperative to connect the altar endowment with specific military events such as the Roman victories over Antiochos III in 184 BC in alliance with Eumenes II, or Eumenes II's own victory over the Galatians in 166 BC. Investigation of the altar's construction and friezes has led to the conclusion that it was not conceived as a monument to a particular victory. The design of Pergamene victory monuments is known from the literature and monument relics. The most famous are Roman copies of bronze statues of the "Great Gaul", representations of defeated Celts after the victory of Attalos I over the Tolistoagians, or reliefs showing booty weapons from the halls of the Pergamene Athena sanctuary, which was dedicated by Eumenes II to the goddess who brought victory after the triumph over the Seleucids and their allies in 184 BC.
The so-called Gigantomachy frieze on the outside walls of the Pergamon altar avoids to a great extent any direct references to contemporary military campaigns — except for the "Star of Macedonia" on the round shield of one of the giants on the eastern frieze, or a Celtic oblong shield in the hand of a god on the northern frieze. The struggle of the Olympian gods, supported by Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
, the astrological deities governing the days and hours and originating in the ancient race of the Titans
Titan (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
, personifications of the forces of war and fate, sea creatures, and Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
with his followers, appears much rather to be a cosmological event of general ethical relevance. It can perhaps be interpreted in the sense of stoicism
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...
, and was certainly not designed without political considerations, as was the case with all artistic image metaphors depicting the struggle between the good and just principle — the Olympian gods and their helpers — and evil — the chaotic forces of nature in the form of the earthbound giants. The scanty remnants of the dedicatory inscription also seem to indicate that the altar was consecrated to the gods because of "favors" they had bestowed. The divine addressees could be especially Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
, father of the gods, and his daughter Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
, since they appear in prominent locations of the Gigantomachy frieze. An important dating criterion is also the incorporation of the altar from the perspective of city planning. As the most important marble edifice of the Hellenistic residence and indeed erected in a prominent position, it was assuredly not begun only at the conclusion of numerous initiatives to upgrade the acropolis of Pergamon under Eumenes II.
That events from the last years of Eumenes II's reign, the increasing uncoupling from the Romans, and the victory over the Celts in 166 BC at Sardis are reflected in the two friezes of the Pergamon Altar is merely speculation that does not provide a sufficient foundation for a late dating of the altar. The inner Telephus frieze relates the legendary life of Heracles’ son Telephus and is meant to convey the superiority of Pergamon compared with the Romans. Thus the founder of Rome, Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
, was traditionally nursed only by a she-wolf, whereas Telephus, to whom the Attalids trace their ancestry, is shown in the frieze being suckled by a she-lion. It is estimated that the frieze was constructed between 170 BC and at least the death of Eumenes II (159 BC).
One of the last suggestions for dating the construction of the altar comes from Bernard Andreae. According to his findings, the altar was erected between 166 and 156 BC as a general victory monument commemorating the triumphs of the Pergamenes, and especially of Eumenes II, over the Macedonians, the Galatians and the Seleucids, and was designed by Phyromachos, the seventh and last of the greatest Greek sculptors, who included Myron
Myron
Myron of Eleutherae working circa 480-440 BC, was an Athenian sculptor from the mid-5th century BC. He was born in Eleutherae on the borders of Boeotia and Attica. According to Pliny's Natural History, Ageladas of Argos was his teacher....
, Phidias
Phidias
Phidias or the great Pheidias , was a Greek sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all sculptors of Classical Greece: Phidias' Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World...
, Polykleitos
Polykleitos
Polykleitos ; called the Elder, was a Greek sculptor in bronze of the fifth and the early 4th century BCE...
, Scopas
Scopas
Scopas or Skopas was an Ancient Greek sculptor and architect, born on the island of Paros. Scopas worked with Praxiteles, and he sculpted parts of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, especially the reliefs. He led the building of the new temple of Athena Alea at Tegea...
, Praxiteles
Praxiteles
Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue...
and Lysippos
Lysippos
Lysippos was a Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC. Together with Scopas and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the three greatest sculptors of the Classical Greek era, bringing transition into the Hellenistic period. Problems confront the study of Lysippos because of the difficulty of...
. In the foundation of the altar a pottery shard was found which could be dated to 172/171 BC; the building must accordingly have been erected later. Since large amounts of money had to be spent on warfare until 166 BC, it is likely that construction of the altar could only start from this date.
Contrary to popular belief, the Pergamon Altar is not a temple, but probably the altar of a temple, although altars were generally located outdoors in front of their temples. It is supposed that the Athena temple located on the acropolis terrace above it may have been its cultic point of reference, and the altar possibly served solely as a place of sacrifice. This theory is supported by several statue bases and consecrating inscriptions found in the vicinity of the altar and whose donors named Athena. Another possibility is that both Zeus and Athena were jointly honored. It could also be that the altar had an independent function. In contrast to a temple, which always had an altar, an altar did not necessarily have to have a temple. Altars could, for example, be quite small and placed in houses or, less commonly, have gigantic dimensions as in the case of the Pergamon Altar. The few remnants of inscriptions do not supply enough information to determine to which god the altar was dedicated.
No research is undisputed concerning this most famous artistic masterpiece of Pergamon, neither the builder nor the date nor the occasion nor the purpose of the construction. --Wolfgang Radt
Just as uncertain is the nature of the sacrifices made there. Judging from the remains of the actual, relatively small fire altar inside the huge altar edifice, it can at least be concluded that its shape resembled a horseshoe. It was apparently an altar with two projecting side wings and one or several steps in front. Possibly the thighs of sacrificial animals were burned here. But it is just as possible that the altar served only for libations — the offering of sacrifices in the form of incense, wine and fruits. It is likely that only priests, members of the royal household and illustrious foreign guests were allowed access to the fire altar.
Already Attalos I began to remodel the acropolis of Pergamon. In the course of time the original structures were augmented by a Dionysus temple, a theater named after Dionysus, a heroon
Heroon
A heroon , also called heroum, was a shrine dedicated to an ancient Greek or Roman hero and used for the commemoration or cult worship of the hero. It was often erected over his supposed tomb or cenotaph....
, an upper agora
Agora
The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states. Early in Greek history , free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the Agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the Agora also served as a marketplace where...
for the city, and the great altar known today as the Pergamon Altar. There were also several palaces, and a library in the Athena sanctuary.
The altar until the close of antiquity
Probably in the 2nd century, the Roman Lucius Ampelius recorded in his liber memorialis ("Notebook"), in Chapter VIII (Miracula Mundi), "At Pergamum there is a great marble altar, 40 feet (12 m) high, with colossal sculptures. It also shows a GigantomachyGigantomachy
In Greek mythology, Gigantomachy was the symbolic struggle between the cosmic order of the Olympians led by Zeus and the nether forces of Chaos led by the giant Alcyoneus...
".
Besides a comment by Pausanias, who compares sacrificial practice in Olympia
Olympia, Greece
Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...
with that in Pergamon, this is the only written reference to the altar in all of antiquity. This is all the more surprising because the writers of antiquity otherwise wrote a great deal about such works of art and Ampelius, after all, considered the altar to be one of the wonders of the world. The absence of written sources from antiquity about the altar has given rise to a number of interpretations. One possibility is that the Romans did not regard this Hellenistic altar as important since it did not date from the classic epoch of Greek, especially Attic, art. Only this art and later evocation of the associated values were considered significant and worth mentioning. This view was held particularly by German researchers starting in the 18th century, especially after the work of Johann Joachim Winckelmann
Johann Joachim Winckelmann
Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the difference between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art...
became known. The only graphic representations of the altar are on coins of the Roman Empire, which show the altar in a stylized form.
Alcyoneus
Alcyoneus or Alkyoneus is a name that refers to several distinct figures in Greek mythology.-The Giant:Alcyoneus was the eldest of the Thracian Gigantes of Greek mythology. He was born in full armor with a spear in his hand...
, strongly resembles Laokoon in posture and portrayal. When the frieze fragment was found, a cry was to be heard, "Now we have a Laokoon too!"
From antiquity to 19th century excavations
The altar lost its function at the latest in Late AntiquityLate Antiquity
Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...
, when Christianity replaced and suppressed polytheistic religions. In the 7th century the acropolis of Pergamon was strongly fortified as a defense against the Arabs. In the process the Pergamon Altar, among other structures, was partially destroyed in order to reuse the building material. The city was nevertheless defeated in 716 by the Arabs, who temporarily occupied it before abandoning it as unimportant. It was only resettled in the 12th century. In the 13th century Pergamon fell to the Turks.
Between 1431 and 1444 the Italian humanist Cyriacus of Ancona
Judas Cyriacus
Judas Cyriacus is the patron saint of Ancona, Italy. His feast day is celebrated in the Catholic Church on May 4.-Judas Cyriacus, Bishop of Ancona:...
visited Pergamon and described it in his commentarii (diary). In 1625 William Petty, chaplain to Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel KG, was a prominent English courtier during the reigns of King James I and King Charles I, but he made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a politician. When he died he possessed 700 paintings, along with large collections of sculpture,...
, a collector and art patron, traveled through Turkey, visited Pergamon, and brought back to England two relief panels from the altar. These pieces were forgotten after the Earl's collection was dispersed and were only rediscovered in the 1960s. For this reason these two panels are lacking in the Berlin reconstruction. Other travelers known to have visited Pergamon during the late 18th and early 19th centuries were, for example, the French diplomat and classical scholar Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier
Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier
Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier was a member of the Académie Française and the Choiseul-Gouffier family, French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1784 until the fall of the French monarchy and a scholar of ancient Greece.-Life:Right from his studies at the collège...
, the English architect Charles Robert Cockerell
Charles Robert Cockerell
Charles Robert Cockerell was an English architect, archaeologist, and writer.-Life:Charles Robert Cockerell was educated at Westminster School from 1802. From the age of sixteen, he trained in the architectural practice of his father, Samuel Pepys Cockerell...
and two Germans, the archaeologist Otto Magnus von Stackelberg
Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (archaeologist)
Count Otto Magnus Baron von Stackelberg was one of the first archaeologists, as well as a writer, painter and art historian.-Early life:...
and the classical scholar Otto Friedrich von Richter. Choiseul-Gouffier was the first to propose excavations in Pergamon; the other three travelers made drawings of the city's acropolis.
The German engineer Carl Humann came to Pergamon for the first time in 1864/65. He was charged with geographic investigations and repeatedly visited the city in the following years. He urged the preservation of the antiquities on the acropolis and attempted to find partners to assist in an excavation; as a private person he was not equal to such a major task, lacking the financial and logistic resources. It was important to begin excavation work as soon as possible because the local inhabitants of Bergama
Bergama
Bergama is a populous district, as well as the center city of the same district, in İzmir Province in western Turkey. By excluding İzmir's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is largely urbanized at the rate of 53,6 per cent...
(the modern name of the ancient city of Pergamon) were using the altar and other above-ground ruins as a quarry, were looting the remnants of antique constructions in order to erect new buildings, and were burning some of the marble for lime. In 1871 the Berlin classicist Ernst Curtius
Ernst Curtius
You may be looking for Ernst Robert Curtius .Ernst Curtius was a German archaeologist and historian.-Biography:...
and several other German scholars came to Pergamon at Humman's invitation. He arranged to ship some of the finds to Berlin, including two fragments of the altar frieze. He described the reliefs as (translated) "a battle with men, horses and wild animals". These pieces were put on display but were at first largely ignored.
Alexander Conze
Alexander Conze
Alexander Christian Leopold Conze was a German archaeologist who specialized in ancient Greek art. He was a native of Hannover, and studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1863 he became a professor at the University of Halle, and from 1869 to 1877 worked at the University of Vienna, where he...
, who was appointed director of the sculpture collection of Berlin's royal museums in 1877, was the first person to connect the fragments with the Ampelius text and realize their significance. The timing was good, because the German government was anxious to match the other great powers also on a cultural level after the German Empire was established in 1871:
It is very important for the museums’ collections, which are so far very deficient in Greek originals […] to now gain possession of a Greek work of art of a scope which, more or less, is of a rank close to or equal to the sculptures from Attica and Asia Minor in the British Museum.
Conze immediately contacted Humann, who at the time was in Turkey working for a road construction company. Things then moved quickly. The German government arranged for a license to dig in Turkey and in September 1878 excavations began, headed by Humann and Conze. By 1886, large parts of the acropolis had been investigated and in the following years also scientifically appraised and published. Based on an agreement between the Ottoman Empire and the German government, starting in 1879 the relief panels from the Pergamon Alter along with some other fragments came to Berlin and into the possession of the Collection of Antiquities. The German side was well aware that by doing this a work of art was being removed from its original location and was not completely happy about this situation.
We are not insensitive to what it means to remove the remnants of a great monument from their original location and bring them to a place where we can never again provide the lighting and environment in which they were created and in which they once conveyed their full effect. But we did rescue them from a destruction that was becoming ever more complete. There was not yet an Osman Hamdi BeyOsman Hamdi BeyOsman Hamdi Bey was an Ottoman statesman, intellectual, art expert and also a prominent and pioneering Turkish painter. He was also an accomplished archaeologist, and is considered as the pioneer of the museum curator's profession in Turkey...
around, who soon became a close friend of Humann, and at the time we could not imagine what has become possible in the meantime with his help, that the ruins still at the site could be protected from the stone robbers of the modern city ...
The Pergamon Altar in Berlin
The pieces could not initially be presented in an appropriate exhibition context and were placed in the overfilled Altes MuseumAltes Museum
The Altes Museum , is one of several internationally renowned museums on Museum Island in Berlin, Germany. Since restoration work in 1966, it houses the Antikensammlung of the Berlin State Museums...
, where especially the Telephus frieze could not be well displayed (the individual slabs were simply leant against the wall facing the altar). For this reason a new purpose-built museum was erected. The first "Pergamon Museum" was built between 1897 and 1899 by Fritz Wolff and opened in 1901 with the unveiling of a bust of Carl Humann by Adolf Brütt. This building was used until 1908 but was regarded as being only an interim solution and was accordingly called the "temporary building". Originally four archaeological museums were planned, one of them for the Pergamon Altar. But the first museum had to be demolished because of problems with the foundation. Also, it had originally been intended only for finds which could not be presented in the other three archaeological museums and thus from the beginning it was too small for the altar. After the museum was demolished, the Telephus frieze was set into the walls of the colonnade on the eastern side of the Neues Museum
Neues Museum
The ' is a museum in Berlin, Germany, located to the north of the Altes Museum on Museum Island.It was built between 1843 and 1855 according to plans by Friedrich August Stüler, a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The museum was closed at the beginning of World War II in 1939, and was heavily...
, but with windows allowing a view of the art objects.
The new building, designed by Alfred Messel, took until 1930 to construct, due to delays caused by World War I, the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the hyperinflation
Inflation in the Weimar Republic
The hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic was a three year period of hyperinflation in Germany between June 1921 and July 1924.- Analysis :...
of 1922/1923. This new Pergamon Museum presented the altar basically as it is seen today. There was a partial reconstruction in the central gallery of the museum with the frieze fragments installed on the surrounding walls. The Telephus frieze is, as in the original construction, reached via the flight of stairs, but only an abbreviated version is on display. It is not known why the complete altar was not reconstructed when the new museum was built and the frieze installed. When conceiving the exhibit, Theodor Wiegand, the museum's director at that time, followed the ideas of Wilhelm von Bode
Wilhelm von Bode
Wilhelm von Bode was a German art historian and curator. Born Arnold William Bode in Calvörde, he was ennobled in 1913...
, who had in mind a great "German Museum" in the style of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. But there was obviously no overall concept, and given the reigning idea of a major architecture museum presenting examples of all Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures, the display of the altar had to be condensed. Up until the end of World War II, only the eastern part of the museum with the three large architecture galleries was called the "Pergamon Museum".
In 1939 the museum closed because of World War II. Two years later the reliefs were taken down and stored elsewhere. At the end of the war, the pieces of the altar which had been placed in an air-raid shelter near the Berlin zoo fell into the hands of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and were taken to the Soviet Union as war trophies. They were stored in the depot of the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
until 1958. In 1959 a large part of the collection was returned to East Germany (GDR), including the altar fragments. Under the leadership of the museum's then director, Carl Blümel, only the altar was presented as it had been before the war. The other antiquities were newly arranged, not least because the Altes Museum had been destroyed. In October of that year the museum reopened. In 1982 a new entrance area was created which permitted a visit to the museum to begin with the Pergamon Altar. Previously, the entrance had been in the west wing of the building, so that visitors had to pass through the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin (Middle East Museum) to get to the Pergamon Altar. In 1990, 9 heads from the Telephus frieze, which had been evacuated to the western part of Berlin because of the war, returned to the Pergamon Museum. All these war-related events had negative consequences for the remaining altar and frieze fragments. It also turned out that earlier restorations had created problems. The clamps and fasteners which connected the individual fragments and also served to anchor the frieze and sculpture to the wall were made of iron, which had started to rust. As this rust spread it threatened to crack open the marble from the inside. Restoration became urgent after 1990. From 1994 to 1996 the Telephus frieze, parts of which had not been accessible in the 1980s, was worked on. Afterward the Gigantomachy was restored under the leadership of Silvano Bertolin. First the western frieze, then the northern and southern portions, and finally the eastern frieze were restored, an effort which cost over three million euro. On June 10, 2004 the completely restored frieze was presented for public viewing. The Pergamon altar can now be viewed in a form reflecting current scientific insights.
In 1998 and again in 2001 the Turkish Minister of Culture, Istemihan Talay, demanded the return of the altar and other artifacts. However, this demand did not have an official character and would not have been enforceable under today's standards. In general, the Staatliche Museen Berlin (Berlin state museums) as well as other museums in Europe and the USA rule out, with few exceptions, the possible return of antique objects of art. Today, most of the altar foundation as well as several wall remnants are at the original location. Also in Turkey are several smaller portions of the frieze which were found later.
Altar construction and design
Earlier versions of the altar were leveled in Pergamon, and to enhance the utility of the acropolis several terraces were laid out. The path connecting the lower part of the town with the acropolis led directly past the self-contained and now extended sacred altar area, which could be accessed from the east. Thus visitors in antiquity first saw the frieze on the eastern face of the altar, on which the chief Greek gods were portrayed. First, at the right (northern) side of the eastern frieze, HeraHera
Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her...
, Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
, Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
, Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
and Ares
Ares
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...
were shown engaged in battle. In the background to the right there was not only the wall of another terrace, presumably containing many statues; the visitor also viewed the simple Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
Athena temple which had been erected 150 years earlier on the terrace above. The western side of the altar with the stairway was in alignment with the Athena temple, despite the elevation difference. It was probably the case that the altar arose in direct relationship to the redesigning of the acropolis and was to be regarded as a primary, new construction and votive offering to the gods. In its freely accessible arrangement the altar was conceived so that visitors could walk around it. This inevitably led to further intended lines of sight.
The shape of the altar was almost a square. In this respect it followed Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
models, which specified a wall enclosing the actual sacrificial altar on three sides. On the open side the altar could be accessed via a stairway. For cultic reasons such alters were usually oriented toward the east so that those bringing sacrifices entered the altar from the west. The Pergamene altar follows this tradition, but to a truly monumental extent. The huge, almost square base was 35.64 meters wide and 33.4 meters long and included five steps surrounding the entire structure. The stairway on the western side is almost 20 meters wide and intersects with the lower level, which itself is almost six meters high. The core of the foundation is composed of intersecting tuff
Tuff
Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...
walls arranged like a grating, which increased earthquake stability. This foundation is still preserved and can be examined on site in Pergamon. The upper visible structure consisted of a pedestal, a frieze of slabs 2.3 meters in height with high relief scenes, and a thick, projecting cornice. Grey-veined marble from the island of Marmara was used, which was typical for Pergamon. In addition to the Proconnesian marble of the large frieze, the Telephus frieze and the foundation, darker marble with recognizable fossil inclusions was also used for the base; it came from Lesbos-Moria.
The frieze is 113 meters long, which makes it the longest surviving frieze of Greek Antiquity after the Parthenon
Parthenon
The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their virgin patron. Its construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although...
frieze. On the western side it is interrupted by the ca. 20 meter wide stairway, which cuts into the foundation on that side and leads to a superstructure with columns. On both sides of this stairway there are projections constructed and decorated in a manner similar to the rest of the encircling frieze. The three-wing superstructure is relatively narrow compared with the base. The pillars surrounding the superstructure have platforms with profiles and Ionic capitals. There are many statues on the roof: a quadriga
Quadriga
A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast . It was raced in the Ancient Olympic Games and other contests. It is represented in profile as the chariot of gods and heroes on Greek vases and in bas-relief. The quadriga was adopted in ancient Roman chariot racing...
of horses, lion griffins, centaurs and deities, as well as uncompleted gargoyles. The upper hall gives a spacious impression thanks to the widely-spaced columns. An additional columned hall was also planned for the inner courtyard where the fire altar itself was located, but not implemented. A frieze was installed there at eye level depicting the life of the mythical founder of the city, Telephus. Although no remains of paint have been found, it can be assumed that the entire structure was brightly painted in antiquity.
The Gigantomachy frieze
The Gigantomachy frieze depicts the struggle of the gods against the children of the primordial goddess GaiaGaia (mythology)
Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...
, who were snake-footed giants. After the new gods under the leadership of Zeus and with the help of Gaia had overcome the old gods led by Cronus
Cronus
In Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky...
, Zeus then opposed several of Gaia's children, contrary to his promise. Gaia accordingly incited several of her chi could only be victorious with the help of mortals. For this reason, Heracles and Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
, both of whom had been born of mortal mothers, took part in the battle.
The gods are depicted in the frieze in accordance with their divine nature and mythical attributes. For example, gods who lived off their strength and dynamics, such as Zeus, the father of the gods, are shown in an appropriately powerful way. Others, who lived off their skillfulness, are shown differently, like Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
with bow and arrow. The frieze sides are described below, always proceeding from left to right.
East frieze
As mentioned above, visitors first saw the eastern side as they entered the altar area. Here was where almost all of the important Olympian gods were assembled. On the left the presentation begins with the three-faceted goddess HecateHecate
Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
. She fights in her three incarnations with a torch, a sword and a lance against the giant Klytios. Next to her is Artemis, the goddess of the hunt; in keeping with her function she fights with a bow and arrow against a Giant who is perhaps Otos. Her hunting dog kills another Giant with a bite to the neck. Atemis’ mother Leto
Leto
In Greek mythology, Leto is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe. The island of Kos is claimed as her birthplace. In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes of Zeus...
fights at her side using a torch against an animal-like Giant; at her other side her son and Artemis’ twin, Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, fights. Like his sister, he is armed with bow and arrow and has just shot Ephialtes
Ephialtes
Ephialtes of Trachis was the son of Eurydemus of Malis. He betrayed his homeland by showing the Persian forces a path around the allied Greek position at the pass of Thermopylae, which helped them win the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.-Trail:The allied Greek land forces, which Herodotus states...
, who lies at his feet.
The next relief panel has barely survived. It is supposed that it showed Demeter
Demeter
In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...
. She is followed by Hera, entering the battle in a quadriga
Quadriga
A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast . It was raced in the Ancient Olympic Games and other contests. It is represented in profile as the chariot of gods and heroes on Greek vases and in bas-relief. The quadriga was adopted in ancient Roman chariot racing...
. Her four winged horses are identified as the personifications of the four winds
Anemoi
In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were Greek wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came , and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions...
, Notos, Boreas, Zephyros and Euros. Between Hera and his father Zeus, Heracles is fighting, identified only by a frieze fragment showing a paw of his lion pelt. Zeus is physically especially present and agile. He fights by hurling lightning bolts, sending rain and massed clouds not only against two young Giants but also against their leader, Porphyrion
Porphyrion
In Greek mythology, Porphyrion was a giant, one of the sons of Uranus and Gaia. After the Olympian gods imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus, Porphyrion was one of twenty-four anguipede giants who made war on Olympus....
. The next pair of fighters also shows an especially important battle scene. Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
, the city goddess of Pergamon, breaks the Giant Alkyoneus’ contact to the earth, from which the mother of the Giants, Gaia
Gaia (mythology)
Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...
, emerges. According to legend, Alkyoneus was immortal only as long as he touched the ground, where the power of his mother could flow through him. The eastern frieze concludes with Ares
Ares
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...
, the god of war, who goes into battle with a chariot and pair of horses. His horses rear up in front of a winged Giant.
South frieze
The depiction of the fighting begins here with the great mother goddess of Asia Minor, RheaRhea (mythology)
Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in Greek mythology. She was known as "the mother of gods". In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, the Great Goddess, and was later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the Olympian...
/Cybele. With bow and arrow she rides into battle on a lion. On the left can be seen the eagle of Zeus holding a bundle of lightning bolts in his claws. Next to Rhea, three of the immortals fight with a mighty, bull-necked Giant. The first, a goddess, has not been identified; she is followed by Hephaistos, who raises a two-headed hammer aloft. He is followed by another unidentified, kneeling god who thrusts a spear into the body.
Eos
In Greek mythology, Eos is the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the Sun.- Greek literature :...
, goddess of the dawn, rides sidesaddle into battle. She pulls back her horse and is armed with a torch which she thrusts forward. She is followed by Helios
Helios
Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...
, who rises up from the ocean with his quadriga and enters the battle armed with a torch. His target is a Giant standing in his way. He has rolled over another Giant. Theia
Theia
In Greek mythology, Theia "goddess" or "divine" , also called Euryphaessa "wide-shining," was a Titan...
follows, amidst her children. She is the mother of the day and night stars. Next to her mother and with her back to the viewer, the moon goddess Selene
Selene
In Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
rides on her mule over a Giant.
In the last third of the south frieze an unidentified young god, possibly Aither, is fighting. He is holding in a stranglehold a Giant with snake legs, human body, and the paws and head of a lion. The next god is obviously elderly. It is supposed that he is Uranos
Uranus (mythology)
Uranus , was the primal Greek god personifying the sky. His equivalent in Roman mythology was Caelus. In Ancient Greek literature, according to Hesiod in his Theogony, Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth...
. On his left is his daughter Themis
Themis
Themis is an ancient Greek Titaness. She is described as "of good counsel", and is the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "divine law" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb τίθημι, títhēmi, "to put"...
, goddess of justice. At the end (or beginning, depending how the frieze is viewed) is the Titan Phoibe
Phoebe (mythology)
In Greek mythology "radiant" Phoebe , was one of the original Titans, who were one set of sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaia. She was traditionally associated with the moon , as in Michael Drayton's Endimion and Phœbe, , the first extended treatment of the Endymion myth in English...
with a torch and her daughter Asteria
Asteria
In Greek mythology, Asteria was a name attributed to the following eight individuals:-Daughter of Coeus:Asteria was the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe and sister of Leto...
with a sword. Both are accompanied by a dog.
West frieze (left side, at the north risalit)
Risalit
A risalit, from the Italian risalto for "projection", is a German term which refers to a part of a building that juts out, usually over the full height of the building. In English the French term avant-corps is sometimes used. It is common in façades in the baroque period.A corner risalit is where...
of the altar. On the western wall (risalit front) Triton
Triton (mythology)
Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the big sea. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea, whose herald he is...
and his mother Amphitrite
Amphitrite
In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea-goddess and wife of Poseidon. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea...
fight several Giants. Triton's upper torso is human; the front half of his lower torso is a horse, the back half a dolphin. On the inside wall (stairway) are to be found the couple Nereus
Nereus
In Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...
and Doris
Doris (mythology)
Doris , an Oceanid, was a sea nymph in Greek mythology, whose name represented the bounty of the sea. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and the wife of Nereus. She was also aunt to Atlas, the titan who was made to carry the sky upon his shoulders, whose mother Clymene was a sister of Doris...
as well as Oceanos
Oceanos
MTS Oceanos was a French-built and Greek-owned cruise ship which sank off South Africa's eastern coast on 4 August 1991. Launched in July 1952 by Forges Chantiers de la Gironde in Bordeaux as the Jean Laborde, it was the last of four sister ships built for Messageries Maritimes. The ships were used...
, and a fragment supposed to be Tethys
Tethys (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but not venerated in cult. Tethys was both sister and wife of Oceanus...
, all of whom are engaged in fighting Giants.
West frieze (right side, at the south risalit)
Several gods of nature and mythological beings are gathered on the south risalit. On the risalit front, DionysusDionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
, accompanied by two young satyrs joins the struggle. At his side is his mother Semele
Semele
Semele , in Greek mythology, daughter of the Boeotian hero Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. In another version of his mythic origin, he is the son of Persephone...
, leading a lion into battle. Fragments of three nymphs are shown on the stairway side. Here, too, is the only artist's signature found, THEORRETOS, on the cornice.
North frieze
AphroditeAphrodite
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....
starts off the line-up of the gods on this side, and since one has to imagine the frieze as continuous, she is to be found next to her lover Ares, who concludes the east frieze. The goddess of love pulls a lance out of a dead giant. Next to her, her mother, the Titan Dione
Dione (mythology)
Dione was a Greek goddess primarily known as the mother of Aphrodite in Book V of Homer's Iliad. Aphrodite journeys to Dione's side after she has been wounded in battle protecting her favorite son Aeneas. In this episode, Dione seems to be the equivalent of the earth goddess Gaia, whom Homer also...
, is fighting, as well as her small son, Eros
Eros
Eros , in Greek mythology, was the Greek god of love. His Roman counterpart was Cupid . Some myths make him a primordial god, while in other myths, he is the son of Aphrodite....
. The next two figures are uncertain. They are most likely the twins Castor
Castor and Pollux
In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...
and Pollux
Castor and Pollux
In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...
. Castor is being grabbed from behind by a Giant who bites him in the arm, whereupon his brother hastens to his assistance.
The next three pairs of fighters are associated with Ares, the god of war. It is uncertain who they depict. First, a god is about to hurl a tree trunk; in the middle a winged goddess thrusts her sword into an opponent, and third, a god fights a Giant in armor. The next god was long considered to be Nyx
Nyx
In Greek mythology, Nyx was the primordial goddess of the night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation, and was the mother of personified gods such as Hypnos and Thánatos...
; in the meantime it is assumed that it is one of the Erinyes
Erinyes
In Greek mythology the Erinyes from Greek ἐρίνειν " pursue, persecute"--sometimes referred to as "infernal goddesses" -- were female chthonic deities of vengeance. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath"...
, goddesses of revenge. She is holding a vessel wrapped in snakes, ready to hurl it. Next, two other personifications are fighting. The three Moirae
Moirae
The Moirae, Moerae or Moirai , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed incarnations of destiny . Their number became fixed at three...
(goddesses of fate) kill the Giants Agrios and Thoas
Thoas
Thoas , son of Andraemon and Gorge, was one of the heroes who fought for the Greeks in the Trojan War. He was a former suitor of Helen of Troy and led a group of forty ships for the Aetolians, one of the larger contingents. In the Iliad it states that he received his lordship because the previous...
with bronze clubs.
The next group of fighters shows a "lion goddess" said to be Ceto
Ceto
In ancient Greek, the word ketos - Latinized as cetus - denotes a large fish, a whale, a shark, or a sea monster. The sea monsters slain by Perseus and Heracles were each referred to as a cetus by ancient sources. The term cetacean originates from cetus. In Greek art, cetea were depicted as...
. This group does not immediately follow the Moirae; there is a gap which probably held another pair of fighters. They may have been Ceto's children, the Graeae
Graeae
The Graeae , were three sisters who shared one eye and one tooth among them. They are one of several trios of archaic goddesses in Greek mythology. The Graeae were daughters of Phorcys and Ceto...
. Ceto was the mother of several monsters, including a whale (Greek: Ketos) who rises at her feet. The north frieze closes with the god of the sea Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
, who rises up out of the ocean with a team of seahorses. The next scene in the sequence is the north risalit with the ocean gods.
The Telephus frieze
The frieze narrates in chronological order the life of TelephusTelephus
A Greek mythological figure, Telephus or Telephos Telephus was one of the Heraclidae, the sons of Heracles, who were venerated as founders of cities...
, one of the heroes of Greek mythology; the legend is also known from written records, for example in the tragedies of Aischylos, Sophocles
Sophocles
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
and Euripedes from the 5th century BC.
Since there was only a limited amount of space available in the upper, internal courtyard where the actual fire altar was located, the Telephus frieze was sculpted on slabs that was shallower than in the case of the Gigantomachy. Its dimensions were also more modest and its arrangement was on a smaller scale. The height was 1.58 meters. The frieze was originally painted, but no significant traces of color remain. There were several technical innovations for the time: the figures are staggered in depth; architectural elements are used to indicate activities taking placed indoors, and the landscapes are lush and scenic. These new ways of depicting spatial arrangements set the tone for Late Hellenistic and Roman times.
After restoration in the mid-1990s it was discovered that the formerly assumed chronological sequence was in some cases incorrect. The installation was accordingly rearranged, but the original numbering of the 51 relief panels in the Pergamon Museum was retained. For example, the resorting led to moving what had formerly been regarded as the first panel to a location following panel 31. Not all panels survived, so there are a few gaps in the presentation of the story. (Of the original 74 panels, only about 47 whole or partial panels survived. Panels 37 and 43 are not on display as part of the frieze for lack of space.) The following list reflects the sequence after reassembly in 1995.
Panels 2,3 - 2: At the court of King Aleus
Aleus
Aleus was in Greek mythology a son of Apheidas, and grandson of Arcas. He was king of Tegea in Arcadia, and married to Neaera or Cleobule, and is said to have founded the town of Alea and the first temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. He had a son, Lycurgus, and two daughters, Auge and Alcidice. He...
; 3: Heracles catches sight of Aleos’ daughter Auge
Auge
In Greek mythology, Auge a daughter of Aleus and Neaera and priestess of Athena Alea at Tegea, bore the hero Telephus to Heracles. Her father had been told by an oracle that he would be overthrown by his grandson. She secreted the baby in the temple of Athena...
in the temple
Panels 4,5,6 – 4: The infant Telephus is abandoned in the wilderness; 5 and 6: carpenters construct a boat in which Auge is to be cast adrift.
Panel 10 – King Teuthras
Teuthras
In Greek mythology, Teuthras was a king of Mysia, and mythological eponym of the town of Teuthrania. He received Auge, the ill-fated mother of Telephus, and either married her or adopted her as his own daughter. Later on, Idas was attempting to dethrone Teuthras and take possession of his kingdom...
finds Auge stranded on the shore
Panel 11 – Auge establishes an Athena cult
Panel 12 – Heracles identifies his son Telephus
Panels 7, 8 – Nymphs bathe the infant Telephus
Panel 9 – Telephus’ childhood
Panels 13, 32, 33 and 14 – Telephus voyages by ship to Mysia
Mysia
Mysia was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia . It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lydia on the south, Aeolis on the southwest, Troad on the west and by the Propontis on the north...
in Asia Minor
Panels 16 and 17 – Telephus receives weapons from Auge
Panel 18 – Telephus goes to war against Idas
Panel 20 – Teuthras gives Auge to Telephus in marriage
Panel 21: Mother and son recognize each other on the wedding night
Panels 22-24 – Nireus kills the Amazon
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
Hiera, Telephus’ wife
Panel 51 – The fighting is interrupted for Hiera's solemn funeral
Panel 25 – Two Scythian warriors fall in battle
Panel 28 – The battle at the Kaikos springs
Panels 30, 31 – Achilles wounds Telephus with the help of Dionysus
Panel 1 – Telephus consults an oracle about the healing of his wound
Panels 34 and 35 – Telephus lands in Argos to meet Achilles, who is able to heal his wound
Panels 36 and 38 – The Argives welcome Telephus
Panels 39 and 40 – Telephus asks Agamemnon
Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
to heal him
Panel 42 – Telephus threatens to kill Orestes, whom he took hostage to force Agamemnon to heal him
Panel 43 – Telephus is healed
Panels 44-46 – The founding of cults in Pergamon
Panels 49 and 50 – An altar is erected
Panel 47, 48 – Women hasten to the hero Telephus, who lies on a kline
The collection of statues
On the roof of the altar there were various small statues of gods, teams of horses, centaurs, and lion griffins. The finds have not yet been unambiguously described by archaeologists as to their function and placement. On the north wall of the altar sanctuary a 64 meter long pedestalPedestal
Pedestal is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase....
was also found, richly adorned with statues. How extensively the altar area was furnished with bronze and marble statues is still unknown. But it is certain that the embellishments must have been extraordinarily rich and have represented a major expenditure for the donors. The upper floor above the Gigantomachy housing the Telephus frieze also had an encircling portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
. There were possibly additional statues between the columns. This theory is supported by 30-odd sculptures of women among the finds; they may have personified the cities of the Pergamene kingdom. It is assumed that there were no statues or other decorations on the actual fire altar, but a canopy was possibly installed there in Roman times.
Relationship to other works of art
At many places in the Gigantomachy frieze, other Greek works of art can be recognized as having served as models. For example, Apollo with his idealized stance and good looks recalls a classical statue by the sculptor Leochares, produced about 150 years before the frieze and famous already in antiquity; a Roman copy has survived and is now in the Vatican Museum (The Belvedere Apollo). The important group which includes Zeus and Athena moving in opposite directions recalls the scene showing the struggle between Athena and Poseidon on the western pediment of the ParthenonParthenon
The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their virgin patron. Its construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although...
. Such allusions are not accidental since Pergamon considered itself to be something like a reborn Athens.
The frieze on its part also influenced later works of classical antiquity. The most famous example is the Laokoon Group mentioned above, which was created about twenty years after the Pergamon relief, as Bernard Andreae could show. The artists who produced the statue group were in the direct tradition of the creator of the relief, or may indeed even have participated in crafting the frieze.
The artists
Long discussed but so far unresolved is the question of how many artists participated in producing the Gigantomachy. Just as disputed is the extent to which the character of individual artists can be identified in this work of art. There is agreement that at least the basic design of the frieze was the work of a single artist. In view of its consistency down to the level of details, the plan must have been worked out to its smallest elements; nothing had been left to chance. Already in the arrangement of the fighting groups it can be noted that each group is unique and, for example, that the hairstyle and the footwear of the goddesses always differ. Each of the pairs of fighters is individually arranged. Thus, the figures in themselves reveal their distinctive character rather than this being the result of the artists’ personal styles.Although scholars have certainly ascertained differences that can be attributed to individual artists, given the coherence of the whole frieze it is remarkable that these differences are almost irrelevant when the work is viewed in its entirety. According to this interpretation, artists from all over Greece deferred to the plans of a single artist with overall authority. This is substantiated, for example, by the inscriptions of artists from Athens and Rhodes. The sculptors were permitted to sign their sections of the frieze on the lower molding, but only a few such inscriptions have been found. Thus no conclusions can be drawn about the number of participating artists. Only one inscription on the south risalit survived in a manner which permitted attribution. Since there is no lower molding at that location, the name, Theorretos (ΘΕΌΡΡΗΤΟΣ), was chiseled into the marble near the portrayed god. When analyzing the various inscriptions it could be determined on the basis of the typeface that there was an older and a younger sculptor generation at work, which makes the coherence of the entire frieze all the more remarkable. Considering the 2.7 meter distance between the existing signature and the associated έπό]ησεν inscription (έπόησεν – "made it"), it is suspected that there was possibly another sculptor's signature in this space. If that is the case, an extrapolation suggests at least 40 participating sculptors. The front side of this risalit was signed by two sculptors, but their names did not survive.
Reception
The German Empire, which subsidized the excavation not least for reasons of prestige, quickly began to monopolize the altar and other archaeological relics. The "Jubilee Exhibition of the Berlin Academy of Arts" in May and June 1886 devoted a 13,000 square meter site to archaeological acquisitions from recent excavations in OlympiaOlympia, Greece
Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...
and Pergamon. But since the Greek government had not given permission to export art treasures, no finds from Greece could be shown there. Instead, a "Temple of Pergamon" was constructed. With a true-to-scale model of the western side of the altar base containing selected copies of the frieze — including the Zeus and Athena group from the eastern frieze — an entrance area for a building was erected which resembled the Zeus temple in Olympia. Part of the exhibit was a model of the city of Pergamon in the 2nd century AD reflecting the state of knowledge at that time.
Possibly the most striking example of the reception of this work of art is the Berlin museum which has on view a reconstruction of the altar. The design of the Pergamon Museum was inspired by the gigantic form of the altar. For viewing the altar, indeed for studying this work of art in itself, the reconstruction in the Pergamon Museum came to be important. The partial reconstruction of the edifice does not however reflect what was the main side in antiquity, the eastern wall, but rather the opposite, western side with the stairway. Opinions about this reconstruction, including the installation of the rest of the frieze on the walls surrounding the central exhibition room, were not entirely favorable. Critics spoke of a frieze "turned inside out like a sleeve" and of "theatrics".
In Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
this type of architecture later served as a model worthy of emulation. Wilhelm Kreis
Wilhelm Kreis
Wilhelm Kreis was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the foundation of the Federal Republic.Kreis was born in Eltville am Rhein in Hesse-Nassau...
chose for his Soldiers’ Hall at the Army High Command headquarters in Berlin (1937/38) and for a never realized warriors’ monument at the foot of Mount Olympus in Greece a building shape which was very similar to the Pergamon Altar. But for the Soldiers’ Hall the frieze was limited to the front face of the risalit. The friezes by the sculptor Arno Breker
Arno Breker
Arno Breker was a German sculptor, best known for his public works in Nazi Germany, which were endorsed by the authorities as the antithesis of degenerate art....
were, however, never executed. Referencing this architectural form was not least in tune with the ideological concepts of the Nazis; an altar prompted ideas of being ready to sacrifice and heroic death. For the Nazis, the Pergamon Altar and Kreis' two testimonies of Nazi architecture were all "cultic buildings". The Nazis also attempted to appropriate the message behind the altar frieze, namely the victory of good over evil.
Peter Weiss
Peter Weiss
Peter Ulrich Weiss was a German writer, painter, and artist of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance....
begins his novel, The Aesthetics of Resistance
The Aesthetics of Resistance
The Aesthetics of Resistance is a three-volume novel by the German-born playwright, novelist, filmmaker, and painter Peter Weiss.Spanning from the late 1930s into World War II, this historical novel dramatizes anti-fascist resistance and the rise and fall of proletarian political parties in Europe...
, with an impressive description of the frieze. It is the most significant manifestation of the altar in a literary work.
All around us bodies emerged from the stone, massed together in groups, intertwined or blasted into fragments, their form suggested by a torso, a propped arm, a shattered hip, a corroded bulge, always in the body language of a battle, moving out of the way, springing back, attacking, protecting, extending up into the air or bending down, here and there destroyed, but nevertheless with a lone foot braced forward, a twisted back, the contour of a calf, still engaged in a single, common movement. An enormous struggle rising out from the grey wall, recalling its perfection, sinking back into shapelessness.
Weiss not only attempts to interpret the frieze in its literal meaning but lets his protagonists use works of art to justify their own standpoint arising from their opposition to the Nazis. To Heilmann and Coppi, both characters in the novel and youthful opponents of the Nazi regime, the fight of the Gods against the Giants appears to them in 1937 to be a veiled representation of the struggles of the Pergamene kingdom. They wonder what feelings the vanquished and subjugated population may have had when walking past this depiction of defeat, which had become a legend cut into stone. "Their subjection by Gauls invading from the North had turned into a triumph of noble purity over chaotic and base forces, and the chisels and hammers of the stonemasons and their helpers revealed the picture of an irrefutable order, presented to the subjects to bow down before in reverence". At the same place where those in power and those who knew what was happening viewed this work of art, the subjected population saw a depiction of their own wounds and defeats; they "could feel the blow of the paw on their own flesh". The legend, stylized as a war, is about the struggle of kings for power. The resistance fighters identify themselves with the conquered sons of the earth and expose godliness as a mask assumed by those in power.
Heading toward the narrow, low exit of the hall, and amidst the swirling movement of the crowd of visitors we often saw those red armbands glowing on the black and brown uniforms, and whenever I saw that emblem in its round, white field, rotating and hacking, it turned into a poisonous spider with bristles.
By way of retrospection Weiss’ contemplation is also extended to include the altar's origin, history, discovery, and reconstruction in the museum.
Some of the media and population criticized the use of the Pergamon Altar as a backdrop for the application submitted by the city of Berlin to host the Olympic summer games in 2000. The Senate of Berlin
Senate of Berlin
The Senate of Berlin is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the Constitution of Berlin the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to eight Senators appointed by the Governing Mayor, two of whom are appointed ...
had invited the members of the IOC executive committee to a banquet taking place in front of the altar. That called to mind Berlin's application to host the games in 1936. Also at that time the Nazi Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick was a prominent German Nazi official serving as Minister of the Interior of the Third Reich. After the end of World War II, he was tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials and executed...
had invited the members of the IOC to a banquet laid out in front of the altar.