Sacred Art & Iconography

Gaia and Alcyoneus, Pergamon Altar Gigantomachy Frieze

Greco-Roman Art

A high-relief marble panel from the eastern side of the Gigantomachy frieze on the Pergamon Altar, the great Hellenistic monument built for King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC. The scene shows Athena breaking the giant Alcyoneus's contact with the ground, the source of his immortality, while Gaia, mother earth and mother of the giants, rises bodily from the soil to plead for her son as Athena's serpent poisons him. The panel is part of a frieze that runs 113 metres in total, carved in relief so deep the figures cast real shadows, and is the longest surviving frieze from Greek antiquity after the Parthenon's. It has been on permanent display, following a restoration completed in 2004, in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts

Origins

Creationthe subject's own account

166 BCE to 156 BCE 1

Date of Creationthe subject's own account

About 166 to 156 BC 1

Countrythe subject's own account

Germany (originally Pergamon, modern-day Turkey) 1

Classification

Object Typethe subject's own account

Sculpture or Statuary 2

Medium (class)the subject's own account

Sculpture 2

Custody

Current Locationthe subject's own account

Pergamon Museum, Berlin 1

Current Custodianthe subject's own account

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin 1

Rights and Reproduction

Reproduction and Copyrightthe subject's own account

The frieze itself is far past any copyright term, but a specific modern photograph of it carries its own separate copyright. This atlas describes and cites the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 2

Physical Form

Mediumthe subject's own account

Carved marble, high relief 1

Dimensionsthe subject's own account

Frieze panels 2.3 m tall; full frieze 113 m long 1

Subject Matter

Depicted Subjectthe subject's own account

Gaia rising from the earth to plead for her son, the giant Alcyoneus, as Athena breaks his contact with the ground and her serpent poisons him. 2

In Other Languages (34 names)

Connections

Associated With

Athena

This source names Athena directly: "The scene shows Athena breaking the giant Alcyoneus's contact with the ground, the source of his immortality, while Gaia, mother earth and mother of the giants, rises bodily from the soil to plead..."