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.
Facts
Origins
CreationSourced to the subject's own account Date of CreationSourced to the subject's own account CountrySourced to the subject's own accountGermany (originally Pergamon, modern-day Turkey) 1 Custody
Current LocationSourced to the subject's own accountPergamon Museum, Berlin 1 Current CustodianSourced to the subject's own accountStaatliche Museen zu Berlin 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightSourced to the subject's own accountThe 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
MediumSourced to the subject's own accountCarved marble, high relief 1 DimensionsSourced to the subject's own accountFrieze panels 2.3 m tall; full frieze 113 m long 1 Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectSourced to the subject's own accountGaia 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)
- Пергамски олтар
- Aoter Pergamon
- Altar de Zeus a Pèrgam
- Pergamonský oltář
- Pergamonaltret
- Pergamonaltar
- Βωμός της Περγάμου
- Altaro de Pergamo
- Altar de Pérgamo
- Pergamoni altar
- Pergamoko aldarea
- محراب پرگامون
- Pergamonin alttari
- Grand Autel de Pergame
- Altar na Pergamon
- מזבח פרגמון
- Pergamski oltar
- Pergamon-oltár
- Altar Pergamon
- Altare di Zeus
- ペルガモンの大祭壇
- პერგამონის საკურთხეველი
- Pergamono altorius
- Pergamonalteret
- Ołtarz pergamoński
- Пергамский алтарь
- Pergamski žrtvenik
- Pergamský oltár
- Pergamonski oltar
- Пергамонски жртвеник
- Bergama Zeus Sunağı
- Пергамський вівтар
- Bệ thờ Pergamon
- 帕加马祭坛
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
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..."
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..."
Gaia, Figures This source names Gaia directly: "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."
Belongs to Tradition
Depicts
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