| History |  |
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The Pergamene Altar, which consisted of a stepped square podium and an Ionic colonnade, synthesized in an innovative way two features of Ionian architecture and cult practice: the monumental open-air altar block raised on a podium, with Egyptian precedents, combined for the first time with features of the Ionic funerary monument or heroon of heroic ancestor-cult. The peristyle raised on a high podium. It forms the traditional fixed point against which the chronology of Hellenistic sculpture styles has been based.
Unfortunately the date of the Altar is not secure. Its two friezes differ in their stylistic character, an anomaly that has been explained on the basis of their presumed chronological difference of twenty years (180-160 BCE). When the initial excavations were made, the chronology of Hellenistic pottery types had not yet been established. Another excavation in 1961 yielded some more ceramic material, which, if they are interpreted as downdating the altar's first construction to ca. 165 BC, would associate it with Eumenes II's victories against Galatia in 167-166.
Further test trenches in 1994 yielded yet more ceramic fragments, which were dated to just after 172 BC, which would associate with the date of the recovery of Eumenes II from a reported assassination attempt at Delphi that almost cost him his life. Prevailing cautious opinion leaves its construction date open. Construction of the monument may have started as early as ca. 160 BC. |
| Description | |
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Graceful columns with Ionic capitals form an upper gallery and surround the upper building. The inner altar courtyard contains a smaller frieze, which tells the story of the life of Telephus, Hercules' son, and hero of the city. Hercules is also one of the central figures in the great frieze. Only through his intervention as a mortal, were the gods able to triumph over the sons of earth, the giants. Mythology creates a link here between both friezes. The Telephus frieze is constructed like a literary narrative, more calm in its language pattern. On the roof of the altar were smaller figures: pairs of gods, tritons, centaurs, griffins and teams of horses.
The great frieze, which encircles the altar like a precious band, is of highest artistic quality. Crowding together in dramatic action these practically freestanding figures seem to jostle one another and strain the boundaries of their architectural framework.
Gods battle giants with highest tension and fierce movements. The numerous goddesses seldom show physical effort, but coolly dominate their enemies through divine appearance. In contrast, the spiritual agony, pain and relentless cruelty of their destruction are depicted with unsparing realism on the bodies and faces of the giants.
No struggling group resembles another: differences in clothing, hair, and even footwear are elaborated down to the smallest detail. For this reason, we believe an artist of exceptional creativity must have designed the entire relief. Working next to him in Pergamon were experienced master craftsmen and specialists from various workshops of the leading artistic centres in the Hellenistic world.
The names of some sculptors working on the project are known from inscription fragments. However, we do not know who the creators of the scholarly concept and the frieze design were. Connections to the famous sculptural school in Rhodes have been suspected; or Phyromachos, the brass-founder of Attica, has been suggested as creator of the high Hellenistic altar style.
The battle of the gods and the giants was a popular theme in Greek art: it was woven into the cloak of the statue of Athena Parthenos in Athens, and was depicted in the metopes of the Parthenon. Such battles had become a symbol of the states of Attica, just like the mythological fights between Greeks and Amazons, a visible sign of Athens' victory over her enemies. This thought will also have played a role in Pergamon when this theme was recalled and, through it, the victory over Pergamon's foes was immortalized.
The poet Hesiod had already described in detail the myth of the Battle of Giants in his Theogony ("Creation of the Gods"). The version depicted in the Pergamon frieze, however, was derived from contemporary Hellenistic epics and poetry in addition to this older narrative.
The battle of the gods and giants rages over the four sides of the altar, always understood as a simultaneous occurrence. Genealogical references draw the narrative around the frieze and give it continuity: on the southeast corner (CB), the goddesses Asteria and Phoebe, Hekate and Leto, appear, on the corner (DA), Triton and Poseidon, the gods of the sea. An ingenious placement of about 100 larger than life figures was thus ensured.
The eastern frieze (B) is reserved for the Olympians, where Hera guides the chariot of Zeus into battle, to the right of Herakles (name inscription on the cornice). Thereupon follow Zeus, Athena and the war chariot of Ares.
The gods of day and night — Eos (the goddess of the dawn), Helios (the sun god), and Selene (the goddess of the moon) — wage war on the southern frieze (C). On the northern frieze (A) the dramatic events are dominated by the fates (the goddesses of destiny), after Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty) and the followers of Ares (the war god). |
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