Throne of Satan. The Pergamon Altar - an amazing story The Altar of Satan
The most outstanding exhibit of the ancient collection is the Pergamon Altar, after which the museum is named. The altar is decorated with a grandiose frieze depicting the battle of gods with giants.
This is what the Pergamon Altar looks like in the museum hall (photo from Wikipedia)
Around 180-159. BC e. Marble. Altar base 36.44 × 34.20 m
What is this altar, why is it called that and how did it end up in the museum in Berlin? This is what I wanted to find out after I saw him with my own eyes. The Internet and Wikipedia helped me with this.
Pergamon- an ancient city off the coast of Asia Minor (now the territory of Turkey), the former center of an influential state of the Attalid dynasty. Founded in the 12th century. BC e. immigrants from mainland Greece.
Here is a very interesting article by N.N. Nepomnyashchy about how this city was formed, what it was like and what happened to it. http://bibliotekar.ru/100velTayn/87.htm
In memory of the great victory over the barbarian tribe, which was called the “Galatians” (in some sources - Gauls), the Pergamians erected the altar of Zeus in the middle of their capital city of Pergamum - a huge marble platform for sacrifices to the supreme god of the Greeks.
The relief surrounding the platform on three sides was dedicated to the battle of gods and giants. The giants, as the myth went, - the sons of the earth goddess Gaia, creatures with a human body, but with snakes instead of legs - once went to war against the gods.
The sculptors of Pergamon depicted on the altar relief a desperate battle between gods and giants, in which there is no place for doubt or mercy. This struggle between good and evil, civilization and barbarism, reason and brute force was supposed to remind descendants of the battle of their fathers with the Galatians, on which the fate of their country once depended.
In Pergamon, this structure was located on a special terrace on the southern slope of the Acropolis mountain, below the sanctuary of Athena. The building consisted of a base raised on a five-stage foundation, in the western side of which an open staircase 20 m wide was cut in. The upper tier was surrounded by a slender colonnade, inside of which there was an altar courtyard, and in it - an altar for sacrifices. The altar building, measuring 36 × 34 m, rested on a four-stage base and reached about 9 m in height. A relief frieze 2.30 m high and 120 m long covered the high smooth wall of the basement and the side walls of the staircase. A crenellated cornice completed the upper edge of the frieze.
The legend tells how the giants, the sons of the earth goddess Gaia, once decided to attack Olympus and overthrow the power of the gods. According to the oracle, the gods could only win this fight if mortal man were on their side. Hercules, the son of the god Zeus and the earthly woman Alcmene, is called to participate in the battle.
The large frieze of the Pergamon Altar amazes not only with its grandiose scale and colossal number of characters, but also with a very special compositional technique. The extremely dense filling of the surface of the frieze with high relief images, leaving almost no free background, is a remarkable feature of the sculptural composition of the Pergamon Altar. The creators of the altar seemed to be trying to give the picture of the martial arts of gods and giants a universal character; throughout the entire frieze there is not a single segment of sculptural space that is not involved in the active action of a fierce struggle.
The altar with its famous frieze was a monument to the independence of Pergamon. But the Pergamians perceived this victory deeply symbolically, as a victory of the greatest Greek culture over barbarism.
This is how M.L. Gasparov describes these events in his book “Entertaining Greece”:
It was an impregnable city on a steep mountain, where once King Lysimachus deposited his treasures and left with them a faithful man from the Attalid family. Lysimachus died, the Attalids became princes of Pergamon, built it with beautiful temples and porticos using Lysimachus’ money, and established the second library in the world with its parchment books. The wealth of Pergamum haunted the Gauls: they went to war against Pergamum and were defeated by Prince Attalus. And this victory was immortalized in a royal way: the son of Attalus Eumenes erected an altar of unprecedented size in Pergamon with the inscription “To Zeus and Athena, the giver of victory, for the favors received.” It was a building half the size of the Parthenon; on top there was a colonnade surrounding the altar, to which a staircase twenty steps high and twenty steps wide led, and below there was a relief frieze as tall as a man, an endless stripe going around the building, and this frieze depicts the same thing that was woven on the veil of the Parthenon Athena , - the struggle of gods with giants, the victory of rational order over irrational elements. Here hands clash, bodies arch, wings stretch, serpentine bodies wriggle, faces are distorted with agony, and among the crowded bodies emerge the mighty figures of Zeus, throwing lightning, and Athena, overthrowing the enemy. This was the Pergamon Altar - all that was left to us from the Gallic invasion.
This frieze fragment depicts The fight between Athena and Alcyoneus
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(Fragment of the eastern frieze of the Pergamon Altar).
Athena is the daughter of Zeus. The inscription on the cornice tells us her name. The goddess is dressed in a wide peplos, belted with two snakes. An amulet with the head of Medusa the Gorgon, which wards off evil forces, is placed on Athena's left chest. Armed with a large round shield, she holds it so that we can see its inner side. The goddess entered into a fight with the winged giant Alkyoneus, grabbed him by the hair and tried to tear him away from the ground, from contact with which he draws strength. Tormented by unbearable pain, the young man stretches out his left hand and left leg towards his mother, Gaia. With eyes full of sorrow, she begs Athena to spare her beloved son. But the snake has already sunk its deadly teeth into the giant’s body, and the goddess of victory Nike is already flying to Athena and crowning her with a laurel wreath.
These are fragments of the altar frieze that I photographed in the museum
What happened to the altar of Zeus in Pergamon?
Anastasia Rakhmanova wrote about this in magazine No. 11 “Around the World” for November 2006:
The kingdom of Pergamon fell, the temples were destroyed, the frieze was broken.
For more than one and a half thousand years, its fragments lay in clayey soil near the city of Pergamon (modern Bergama) in Turkey. Local residents slowly dug up pieces of old marble to burn them into lime in chalk stoves. And in 1878, an expedition of German archaeologists led by engineer Karl Human arrived in Pergamon. Over several seasons of excavation, she removed powerful columns of the ancient temple from underground. The broken pieces of the frieze - the arms, legs, heads and tails of the titans - were put into wooden boxes and sent to Berlin. Moreover, as the Germans never tire of repeating, with the personal permission of the then Sultan.
By the way, while scouring various sites in order to better understand what exactly I saw in the Pergamon Museum, I discovered that the parchment also comes from Pergamon, and here is a little about it from the site
http://maxbooks.ru/parchment.htm
Parchment is a writing material made from tanned animal skin, usually calf, sheep or goat skin.
In the production of parchment, the skins were not tanned, but were carefully cleaned, scraped and dried under stress, producing sheets of thin and durable leather of a white or yellowish color.
Although tanned animal skin was used for writing before, the invention of parchment is usually associated with the name of the king of Pergamum, Eumenes II (197-159 BC). According to the historian Pliny, the Egyptian kings, wanting to maintain the prestige of the Library of Alexandria, banned it in the 2nd century. BC e. the export of papyrus outside Egypt, and the Pergamon Library, the second largest library of the ancient world, had to develop an alternative option for the production of writing material and improve ancient methods of processing leather. Thus, parchment became an alternative to papyrus not only in Pergamum, but throughout the Mediterranean, the main material for books in the Middle Ages, and continued to be used even after the invention of printing in the mid-fifteenth century.
And Wikipedia states that the altar was destroyed by an earthquake.
Shchusev A.V. Project of a temporary mausoleum at the grave of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. // Construction industry. M., 1924. N4, p. 235.
The mausoleum, although wooden, of a temporary nature, but intended for Lenin’s grave on Red Square, required intense attention for its composition, both from the type and from the form of a small structure standing on a large square in front of the mighty historical Kremlin wall .
If you start thinking historically, then examples of monumental structures of monuments and altars near large walls and towers of city or fortifications existed even in the most ancient times of the ancient world. Let's start with the famous Bergamo [Pergamon] altar to Zeus, now in the Berlin Museum, with bas-reliefs of the battle of the gods with the Titans. According to Schliemann's excavations, this altar was found near the wall of the Trojan castle. It is low and flat, but, like an elegant contrast, it attracts attention and, without competing with the wall, does not disappear on its own.
From http://www.digital-images.net/Images/Rome/Pyramid_ofCestius_6832M.jpg Another example is the Pyramid of Cestius in Rome near porta St. Raolo - despite its miniature scale in relation to the walls, stands out for the clarity of its pyramidal shape. We see the same thing on the famous Roman Via Arria, where entire groups of small monuments were linked to gigantic masses of walls.
From http://www.veneziatiamo.eu/pictures/LoggettadelSansovino_SANMARCO_02.jpg From examples of the Renaissance, we see Logett at Sansovino in Venice at the bell tower of St. Mark, a small elegant structure standing at the foot of the majestic bell tower and also playing with contrast. But this is the past, the present obliges us to do something new, but the past still teaches us. ..
To give the tree monumental forms and not turn into a prop - this was the task of a real mausoleum. The general shape was adopted as that of a truncated pyramid, the top of which, in the form of a coffin lid, was raised on small black wooden posts. This motif completes the volume of the entire structure, allegorically expressing the idea of a crown in the form of a colonnade.
Such a top rests on a stepped structure that turns into a cube enclosing the crypt, to which one descends via stairs, which is expressed by the shape of the extensions and where the middle door leads.
The facade is covered by two stands - this is the grave of the people's tribune. The calm, simple inscription “Lenin” indicates who is buried here. The proportions and divisions of the parts of the project are divided into the shape of the so-called Egyptian triangle with side ratios of 3X4X5.
The planking is vertical and stepped; fastening with special massive nails. The roofs are copper, the covering of the roof steps is the same. Painting - light gray tone of drying oil to protect the wood from damage; drafts, doors and columns of black oak.
There are several lawns around the monument, connecting it with the general cemetery.
The completion date for construction is April 15th of this year.
Astafieva-Dlugach M.I. Stories about the architecture of Moscow. M., 1997. p. 58-59
(p. 58)
[From the story of academician. A.V. Shchusev to students of the Moscow Architectural Institute in 1946. RGALI, f. 2466, op. 1, d. 10, l. 2 - 12 rev.]
From http://arx.novosibdom.ru/story/sov_arx/sovarch_051_01.jpg The task was set that it was unknown whether the mausoleum should be temporary or permanent... When Lenin died, and his body lay still in the House of Unions, the Politburo met right there in the office, and at about 12 o’clock at night a car came for me so that I could immediately was on his way to a meeting. I arrived and also sat down at the round table. Those sitting here, some knew me, some did not. And so, they say that it is necessary to make a mausoleum so that Lenin’s body can be approached and exited through a different entrance. Maybe it will be a permanent mausoleum, or maybe we’ll burn the body later. They told me that the project needed to be done in one night... They told me: we will give you the tool, go and work. I invited the late L.A. to my place. Vesnina. It was winter, the ground was frozen, they tried blasting. And so I started designing. I give you a hall where there is a coffin. You go around it and go out the other door. Arches had to be made for the wreaths. I did everything. Spring has come. They called me again and said that a lot of people come to see Lenin, and we want to make a permanent mausoleum...
I began to remember how the Egyptians made pyramids, but here nearby stood St. Basil’s Cathedral in the square. They tell me that I must give a mausoleum higher than St. Basil (p. 59) the Blessed. I started going over it in my head, remembering everything, and found in the excavations that under the walls of Troy stood a small thing, but significant. And so I did this. Some said it was no good, and some agreed with me. Mayakovsky then attacked me and said that we need to set up something like a Mosselprom factory. I was offended, complained to the government that they were preventing me from working and asked them to stop writing about me in the newspapers. I made a wooden structure. A competition was announced. Projects were presented. I haven't seen them. Five years have passed, and they tell me that my mausoleum has become known to the whole world. And they propose to make it in granite, and that this mausoleum should be a platform where leaders stand and greet demonstrations...
This is the idea of my thinking. Life justified this idea. And it seems to give the right image, maybe someone could have suggested another idea, but I decided that this image is simple, massive and alive.
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| From http://www.alyoshin.ru/Photo/afanasyev/afanasyev_shchusev_79.jpg |
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| From http://imgv2-1.scribdassets.com/img/word_document/36153255/255x300/d176d6b571/1341961861 |
In fact, Wurmbrand is quite a prolific author. In his book Marx, Prophet of Darkness: Communism's Hidden Forces Revealed (1st ed. 1983, 2nd, supplemented 1986), pp. 96-97:
The German translation of the same book, Das andere Gesicht des Karl Marx (7th ed., 1987, p. 107; 1st ed. 1975) also states:
Svenska Dagbladet (Stockholm) for 27 January 1948, reveals that:
1) The Soviet Army after the conquest of Berlin, carried off the Pergamos altar from Germany to Moscow. This tremendous structure measures 127 feet long by 120 feet wide by 40 feet high. (...)
2) The architect Stjusev, who built Lenin's mausoleum, used this altar of Satan as a model for the mausoleum in 1924.
Stjusew erhielt damals die otwendigen Informationen von Frederik Poulsen, einer autoritat in archaologischen Kreisen.However, in the bibliography, Wurmbrand gives a reference to Svenska Dagbladet not from the 27th, but from January 17, 1948, the title of the article (in the English translation) An Unforgettable Night, (in the German translation) Eine unvergeßliche Nacht - i.e. in Russian An unforgettable night.
Be that as it may, Shchusev absolutely unambiguously indicated the prototype of Lenin’s first wooden mausoleum - the Pergamon Altar.
In this regard, several questions arise:
– what reconstruction of the Pergamon Altar he saw, and where; in my opinion, the first wooden mausoleum of Shchusev and his sketches do not quite resemble the modern reconstruction of the Pergamon Altar;
- why did Shchusev mention the Danish archaeologist Frederik Poulsen - although he mentioned the Pergamon Altar in his book Der Orient und die fruhgriechische Kunst, he was himself a specialist in Etruscan art;
– why Shchusev writes about the Pergamon Altar as found by Schliemann near the walls of Troy. In fact, the excavations in Pergamum were carried out by the archaeologist Karl Human.
Also, it would be great if one of the readers found the opportunity to take a photo of the reconstruction of the Tower of Babel proposed by Theodor Dombart in his book Zikkurrat und Pyramide.
But he is still far from the truth, and only Professor Koldewey, on the basis of a thorough analysis of the Anubelshunu table and his own excavations in Babylon, which discovered the preserved remains of the base of the tower and the beginning of the grandiose staircases, was able to give a complete and accurate picture of the structure of the Tower of Babel, the Etemenanka cyclurat [see. perspective view of the Tower of Babel, drawn by prof. Koldewey, fig. 65 on p. 61].
labas was able to get hold of Georgy Marchenko’s book “Karl Marx” (in Russian, published around 1976 according to the library mark), in which on p. 77-78 Shchusev’s interview is mentioned (Marchenko’s knowledge of history leaves much to be desired, but here I will quote him without comment):
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AltarZeus from Pergamon...It would seem that what new can be said about a structure that has been striking the minds of observers for two thousand and two hundred years, impressing and delighting? The altar is rightfully considered one of the pearls of Museum Island in Berlin. It is kept in the Pergamon Museum, the building of which was erected specifically to accommodate this amazing structure. I will talk about what the visitor sees in the first hall of the exhibition of classical antiquities, about the logic of the decoration of the Altar and about the second life that the Altar has received in our days. Therefore, if you like the romance of amazing archaeological discoveries and the characters of ancient Greek myths familiar from childhood,
follow me, reader!
When you stand at the foot of a huge marble staircase in a spacious museum hall with a glass ceiling, the first thing that comes to mind is the question, where is the altar itself? And, having just gotten a little used to it, you understand that all this marble splendor with columns, steps and the intricate interweaving of frieze bodies is he. Of course, the altar, the table on which offerings were burned, was located inside, but it has not been preserved, and the entire monumental structure is conventionally called the Altar. Let me make a reservation right away: this is only a full-scale reconstruction, and it will take some imagination to imagine what the Altar once was like. In the museum hall it is only half assembled, but thanks to the mirror wall, the viewer gets the feeling that he sees the entire monument in front of him.
In the original, its massive platform was almost square: 36.44 meters wide and 34.20 meters long. In the reconstruction, five steps rising from the platform support a monumental pedestal, the sides of which are covered with a frieze. This grandiose sculptural frieze is 120 meters long and once framed the entire perimeter of the altar. Above the frieze rises a colonnade consisting of exquisite columns withIonic capitals andprofiled bases, the columns support an entablature decorated with ornaments. Initially, the roof was crowned with sculptures of galloping quadrigas, griffins, centaurs and figures of gods.
Pergamon Altar, reconstruction.
Historical reference:
The Pergamon Altar was erected in honor of the victory won in 228 BC. the army of King Attalus I over the barbarian Gauls (Galatians). The Gauls were a militant Celtic tribe that invaded Asia Minor from Europe. The powerful Syrian kings, who considered themselves heirs of Alexander the Great, preferred to pay them tribute in order not to risk battle. The Gauls chose Pergamum as their next target, a small but very rich state that seemed to them an easy prey. The Pergamon king Attalus I, refusing to pay tribute to the Gauls, led his army and gave them battle. Although the Pergamians were inferior to the Gauls in numbers, their technical equipment was much better. Therefore, in the battle that took place at the source of Caique, they completely defeated the Gauls.
The logic behind the decoration of the Altar is that King Attalus I, whose glorious victory the Altar immortalized, belonged to the Attalid dynasty. The ancestor of this dynasty was considered Telephus, who was the son of Hercules, famous in myths. The rulers of Pergamon revered Telephus as their ancestor; From his mythological deeds, and his role as the founder of the kingdom of Pergamon, they derived their legitimacy as rulers. The Small Frieze of the Altar, located in the inner sanctuary, is dedicated to the plot of the myth of Telephes. I'll tell you more about it below.
The large frieze that framed the Altar is 2 meters 30 cm high and is entirely covered with scenes of gigantomachy - the battle of the Olympian gods with giants. Gigantomachy was a popular subject for works of Greek art during the Hellenistic period. As you know, the outcome of this grandiose battle was influenced by the participation of Hercules in it, therefore he, as the son of Zeus and the father of Telephus, is the key link here, logically connecting both friezes.
Let's take a closer look at the Great Frieze. Unfortunately, time has not preserved all of its fragments, so we can only imagine what the frieze might once have looked like.
A fragment of the eastern frieze, the high relief depicts (from left to right) Alcyoneus, Athena, Gaia and Nike.
A characteristic feature of the frieze is the simultaneity of the captured events. Grandiose figures intertwined in battle seem to be captured in a single moment, all scenes are full of dramatic tension and increasing movement. First of all, this frieze is interesting because almost any character, and there are more than a hundred of them, can be recognized. Let me remind you that the gods of Olympus, led by Zeus, fought with the giants, the children of Gaia, whom she gave birth to from drops of the blood of Uranus, overthrown by Cronus. These were monstrous snake-footed giants, possessing terrible power, who wanted to take away their power over the world from the Olympian gods. Gaia made her children invulnerable to the weapons of the gods, and only a mortal, according to myth, could take the life of a giant. Hercules became such a mortal, whose participation in this battle decided its outcome. The son of Zeus, he fought on the side of the gods, shoulder to shoulder with his father. His arrows, filled with the poison of the Lernaean Hydra, claimed the lives of many giants. Unfortunately, the figure of Hercules has not survived. We know that he was depicted on the eastern side of the frieze only thanks to a fragment of the skin of the Nemean Lion, a trophy of the first labor, in which he was depicted.
East frieze, view from the stairs.
The frieze continues on the sides of the grand staircase, tapering as the steps rise. Here we find an interesting detail: the staircase seems to be built into the plot of the frieze. Gods and giants literally climb the steps, lean on them with their knees, or lie on them.
Fragment of the Western frieze, staircase.
Not a single group of figures here is similar to another, their poses are different, and the clothes, hairstyles and even the details of shoes are worked out to the smallest detail. Unfortunately, the name of the master who designed this amazing frieze has not reached us. A single inscription on the south side of the steps gives the name of Theoret, who may have worked on the relevant fragment. The surviving names of the other artists who created the Altar tell us that they came from the leading art centers of the Hellenistic world. Obviously, the masters were helped by their students, priests and those who developed the thematic and compositional structure of this unusually long frieze.
And now I suggest you move to Moscow, to the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin, where a very interesting project by Andrei Alexander, dedicated to the subjects of the Pergamon Altar, is currently being presented to the attention of visitors. The author, artist and mime, positions his project as a multifaceted artistic reconstruction, which is an attempt to recreate the relief of the East Frisia. The project, titled "Giants vs. Gods," allows viewers to see how majestic the frieze might once have looked.
I will talk about the plots of the East Frieze using the example of these reconstructions.
Let's start from the left edge and move along the frieze to the right. Here the three-faced Hecate, the goddess of paths and crossroads, witchcraft and magic, accompanied by one of her dogs, armed with a torch, sword and spear, fights against the snake-legged giant Clytius, who raised a block of stone above his head. On the right, armed with a bow and arrow, the hunting goddess Artemis confronts a naked giant, presumably Otu, armed with a sword and shield. Between them, Artemis's hunting dog bites another giant on the neck.
Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, armed with a flaming torch, beats a giant with animal features in his appearance. On the right, Apollo, the god of healing and divination, wounded the giant Ephialtes with his arrow.
The fertility goddess Demeter, armed with a torch, whose image on the original frieze is lost, most likely occupied this place.
Zeus's wife Hera rules the quadriga (according to the attribution of the Pergamon Museum). Her winged horses were associated with the four winds: Not, Boreas, Zephyr and Eurus. According to Alexander's plan, Iris rules the quadriga, and Hera, armed with a spear, slays the giant.
I think the choice of the eastern frieze is not accidental - after all, it is here that Hercules appears, the character that unites both friezes of the Altar. The one whose figure on the original frieze is almost completely lost, pulls the string of his bow. He aims at the chest of Alkyoneus, the mightiest of the giants, held by Pallas Athena (we will see them later). According to myth, the battle took place on the Phlegrean fields, which lay on the Chalcis peninsula of Pallene. Gaia, the mother of the giants, gave them a healing remedy that made them invulnerable to the weapons of the gods. Only a mortal could kill a giant, which at that time was Hercules. Alcyoneus, struck by his arrow, could not die on Pallene; here he was immortal. Hercules had to put him on his shoulders and carry him away from Pallena, outside of which he died.
To the right of Hercules, the thunderer Zeus, armed with lightning, fights against the leader of the giants Porphyrion and his two younger companions. Zeus is helped by his eagle.
Athena, the daughter of Zeus, holds the giant Alkyoneus by the hair, whom Hercules is ready to kill with an arrow. Athena's task is to tear the enemy off the ground, thereby depriving him of invulnerability. On the right is Gaia, who asks Athena to spare her son. Above her is the winged figure of the goddess of victory Nike.
Ares, the god of war, drives a chariot, his horses rearing over the reclining figure of a winged giant.
The completeness of the picture, even if it is an artistically recreated eastern frieze, is no less impressive than the altar itself. This wonderful canvas, 25 meters long, can be seen at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin until July 21, 2013.
By the way, at the Pushkin Museum. Pushkin there are several casts made from the Great Pergamon frieze. In 1941, the National Socialist authorities ordered it to be buried in damp clay soil under a military warehouse, which burned down during the next bombing of Berlin. In 1945, the Soviet occupation authorities took(!) the Pergamon Altar to the USSR, but not as a trophy, but as an exhibit requiring urgent restoration, which was carried out by Hermitage specialists. From 1945 to 1958 the Altar was kept in the Hermitage. And in 1958, the altar of Zeus, like many other things, was returned to Germany as a gesture of Khrushchev’s goodwill, and returned to Berlin. At the same time, an agreement was reached that a plaster copy would be made especially for the USSR.
Now let's return to Pergamon. Nowadays, anyone can climb the majestic marble steps to the top of the sanctuary where the altar once stood. However, previously, during religious ceremonies, this was only allowed to a select few (priests, members of the royal house and emissaries). At the top, behind the colonnade, there is an open courtyard where the altar once stood, now the center of which is decorated with a superb mosaic floor.
Although such interior spaces were usually covered with frescoes, here, as has already been said, is the Small Frieze, or Frieze of Telephus, which, like a huge stone book, tells the story of the founding father of Pergamon.
Although there were several versions of this legend, modern Hellenistic mythologists propagated the version that made the Pergamon version the most interesting. The meaning of the myth was part of a carefully structured propaganda designed to emphasize in the eyes of contemporaries the inextricable connection between the events of the myths and their own history. The inhabitants of Pergamon called themselves "Telephides", descendants of Telephus.
Despite the fact that many fragments of the Little Frieze are also lost, relying on ancient versions of this story, we can restore the sequence of events.
The Myth of Telef
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One day, the oracle of Apollo in Delphi predicted to the king of Arcadia Aley that the descendants born of his daughter could harm him. In order to avoid this danger, Aleus made his daughter Auga a priestess of Athena, threatening her with death if she lost her chastity. Hercules, who was visiting Aleus, managed to seduce Auga, and as a result of their secret relationship, a boy was born, who was given the name Telephus. In order to prevent the evil predicted by the oracle, Aley had to renounce his daughter. Auga was put in a boat with a sail and given up to the will of the waves. Eventually the boat landed on the shores of Mysia, where it was seen by the servants of the king of Mysia, Tevphrant. Teufrant accepted Auga and made her his adopted daughter, and in gratitude for her miraculous salvation, he founded the cult of Athena in Mysia.
At this time, Alei, faced with the problem of what to do with his little son, taken away from Avga, did not find anything better than to leave him in the plane tree grove near the temple. There the boy was discovered by Hercules.
Having matured, Telephus fulfilled the terrible prediction of the Oracle and one day killed his mother’s brothers, the children of Aley. The king recognized him as the son of his daughter and Telephus, showered with curses, was forced to leave the country. Finally, he arrived at the court of Tevphrant in Mysia, where he helped Tevphrant expel the apharetid Idas, who claimed the throne of Mysian Tevphrania, and for this service Tevphrant gave him Auga as his wife. She did not recognize Telef, and he also did not recognize her as his mother. During his wedding to Auga, a sacred snake sent by Athena revealed the truth that they were mother and son. Then Teufrant gave his daughter to Avgi’s son as a wife and made him heir to the throne.
Telef and Auga, fragment of the Small Frieze.
Subsequent scenes of the bas-relief tell of the deeds of Telephus as king of Mysia.
Among other things, the Greeks, during the reign of Telephus, sailing at random to Troy, sailed to Mysia, where they landed and began to devastate the country, mistaking it for Troas. Telef put up fierce resistance to the aliens and even put them to flight. Then Achilles and Patroclus came to the aid of their comrades, and upon their appearance Telephus left the battlefield. Before sailing from Aulis, the Greeks made sacrifices to Dionysus, but Telephus did not have time to do this. A vine unexpectedly growing from the ground caused him to stumble and fall, and Achilles, taking advantage of this, wounded Telephus in the thigh with his famous spear - Chiron’s wedding gift to his father Peleus.
Realizing their mistake, the Greeks again went to sea, where their fleet was scattered by a terrible storm sent by Hera, after which, finding themselves alone, each ship set off for their native shores. Telephus’s wound did not heal, causing enormous suffering, and Apollo announced to him that only the one who wounded him could cure him. Then Telephus, disguised as a beggar, went to Mycenae, where the Greek leaders were preparing for a new campaign against Troy. On the advice of the Mycenaean queen Clytaemestra, whom Telephus trusted, he snatched her little son Orestes from the cradle and, threatening to kill the baby, demanded help from Agamemnon. Earlier, the oracle warned the Mycenaean king that the Greeks could reach Troy only with the assistance of Telephus, so he willingly agreed to help him, but on the condition that he lead the Greek fleet to Troy. Agreement was reached, and Agamemnon turned to Achilles with a request to heal Telephus. Achilles said that he did not know how to heal, but Odysseus guessed that Apollo did not mean Achilles, but his spear. Then Achilles scraped the rust off his spear and sprinkled it on the wound, and after a few days it completely healed. Telephus showed the Greeks the sea route to Troy, and upon returning home he founded Pergamon.
The Altar of Zeus has impressed descendants for many centuries. The Roman Lucius Ampelius in his “Book of What is Worth Remembering (Liber memorialis 8.14)” described the Great Altar of Pergamon as follows: “Pergamo ara marmorea magna, alta pedes quadraginta cum maximus sculpturis; continent autem gigantomachiam." - (“In Pergamon there is a large marble altar, forty feet high (?), with amazing sculptures, and it is entirely surrounded by scenes of the battle of giants”). When Ampelius wrote these lines, the Altar was already about four hundred years old.
However, just a few centuries later, nothing reminded anyone of this amazing structure. And only the ruins remaining from the upper and lower cities could impress an eccentric traveler who decided to include a visit to Pergamon in his itinerary.
Model of Pergamon, reconstruction.
The altar was rediscovered in 1871 by the German engineer Karl Humann, who was working at the invitation of the Turkish government on road construction at the time. He sent to Berlin several reliefs he had discovered, which he believed depicted battle scenes “with men, horses and wild animals,” and were created, in his opinion, for the Temple of Minerva in Pergamon.
The sent reliefs initially went virtually unnoticed in Berlin. In the end, they attracted
the attention of the archaeologist and director of the sculpture collection of the Royal Museums of Berlin, Alexander Conze, who became interested in them, but only over time understood the connection between the description of Ampelius and the relief fragments stored in the so-called Hall of Fame of the Old Museum. Conze immediately sent a message to Humann that he should look for other reliefs. A year later, in September 1878, the Berlin Museum, officially authorized by the Turkish authorities, began excavating the citadel of Pergamon, and Karl Humann, the man who rediscovered Pergamon, was appointed head of the mission, but that is another story...
I hope that my story has provided some insight into the Altar for those who have not yet had the chance to see it, and perhaps will inspire someone who, with a few free hours in Berlin, wants to visit the Pergamon Museum.
), built specifically for this purpose.
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✪ Pergamon Altar, ca. 200-150 BC e.
✪ Altar of Peace
✪ 11 Pergamon Museum Ancient monuments within modern walls
Subtitles
I love Greek sculpture. I like the archaic, I like the classics, its restraint and harmony, but, to be honest, I adore Hellenism. And all because of two fragments of a beautiful frieze from Pergamon. In the center of the first fragment is Athena, and the second is Zeus. I can understand why you like these sculptures so much. They combine the most beautiful thing in ancient Greek sculpture - love for the human body, as well as the expression and drama characteristic of the Hellenistic period. Hellenism is the last period, the last phase of Greek art, which came after the death of Alexander the Great. Alexander was the son of the king of Macedonia, in northern Greece. He managed to subjugate all of Greece, and then captured many lands that went far beyond the Greek borders. Thus, the influence of Greek culture spread over a large area. Yes. Alexander in some way Hellenized these lands and made them Greek. The territory of his empire extended from Ancient Egypt to the border between Persia and India, all the way to the Indus Valley. It was a huge area. But after the death of Alexander, the empire was divided among 4 military leaders. One of them once saw a hill not far from the coast of what is now Turkey. He considered it an advantageous defensive position, and founded the fortress of Pergamon there, which became the center of the Kingdom of Pergamon. These people built a beautiful altar and created a stunning frieze depicting the battle of giants with the Olympian gods. A divine battle of unimaginable proportions is unfolding before our eyes. This is the legendary great battle in which giants fought with gods for power over the entire world. Let's take a closer look at the frieze. Let's start with the fragment where Athena is in the center. She is elegant and beautiful even in the heat of battle with a cruel giant, a titan. It is already clear who will win. Athena is in complete control of the situation. She grabbed Alkyoneus by the hair and pulled him out of the ground, depriving him of his strength. On the other side of Athena is the mother of the giant. She can do nothing to help him, although she is insanely afraid of what awaits her son. Pay attention to how the sculptor, whoever he was, built the composition. First, my gaze falls on Athena herself - where her head should be. Then the gaze slides down the beautiful hand, where Alcyoneus gently intercepts it. Then your gaze goes around his elbow, over his face and down his chest. Then I notice that one of Athena’s snakes is biting him on the right side. Then my gaze follows the luxurious curve of the giant’s body, moving from the torso to the legs, but slows down due to the staccato deep folds of the cape belonging to Athena. And from there the gaze moves to the mother of Alcyoneus. It turns out that Athena - a powerful, reserved goddess - is surrounded on both sides by passionate, maddened creatures who are defeated, while Athena is crowned by the winged Nike, who flies from behind. That is, the figures appear here from different sides: from behind, from below. There are many of them, they are constantly moving, creating an incredible sense of drama. It feels as if the entire marble surface is rotating counterclockwise around the shield of Athena in the very center of the composition. The many diagonals give the sculpture dynamism. The high relief creates a magnificent contrast between the light bodies pushed forward and the dark shadows behind them. I am also amazed by the complex poses of the figures themselves. Athena moves to the left but extends her hand to the right, Alcyoneus raises his head, arches his shoulders, and his legs are still behind. Here we can safely talk about a masterly depiction of the human body. Just imagine how it all looked when painted. We often think that Greek sculptures were simply made of wonderful white marble. But we must remember that they were beautifully painted. Let's now look at the fragment with Zeus in the center. Like Athena, he is in complete control of himself and the situation, although he rushes forward. There is no doubt that he is a winner. The figure of Zeus is incredibly powerful. Look at the magnificent naked chest and belly, and the fluttering, almost flown drapery that hugs his legs. Zeus also fights not one, but three giants at once. Luckily, he is the king of the gods, so he has eagles and lightning bolts to help him. Right. In the upper right corner you can see how the eagle, the symbol of Zeus, attacks the elder titan. While the eagle distracts him, Zeus can focus on the giant, who is already kneeling at his feet and will soon be defeated. On the other side of Zeus we see another giant who seems to be sitting on a rock. His thigh was pierced by what looked like a torch. In fact, this is how the Greeks depicted the lightning of Zeus. Oh, this hurts... For sure. In this sculpture there is a feeling of heroism and harmony, but at the same time there is a sense of the moment, and a certain excitement that attracts the viewer. You know, the story of gods and giants was very important to the Greeks. It contained a set of symbols that expressed both the fears of the Greeks and their belief that they could defeat chaos. It turns out that this battle is an allegory of the victory of Greek culture over the unknown, over the chaotic forces of nature. Yes, and also the embodiment of military victories over other cultures that the Greeks did not understand and feared. Let us now ascend the steps of the altar, to its most sacred part, where a fire was burned, presumably in honor of Zeus, and sacrifices were probably performed. You have already mentioned that the figures sometimes almost separate from the wall. In my opinion, this is most clearly noticeable when you climb the stairs. In some places, individual figures in this high relief lower their knees onto the steps of the stairs, literally invading our space. For example, one of the nymphs, whose legs end in a snake tail, curled it on one of the steps. This is an amazing way to introduce sculptures into our world. It turns out that all this drama is unfolding right around us, becoming part of our space. It must have been an amazing sight back then. I wonder how these sculptures ended up here in Berlin? The answer to this question lies in the political ambitions of what was then Prussia. Prussia wanted to become equal to France and Britain, and for this it needed, among other things, excellent museums that reflected the culture of past centuries. With their help, one could become the heirs of the great classical tradition, which was so revered in the 19th century. You know, Berlin wanted to become, in some way, the new Rome. What I especially like about the Pergamon Museum in Berlin is that they didn't just hang the remains of the friezes on the walls, but instead reconstructed the altar and restored all the friezes they could. And now we can imagine what it was like to be in Pergamum in the 3rd century. BC e. So, we are in the 3rd century. BC e. We stand on the Acropolis, on top of a hill in the city of Pergamon, some 20 miles off the coast of modern Turkey. We climb the hill and see the altar of Zeus, and around it a magnificent library, which probably housed 200,000 scrolls, as well as a military garrison and the royal palace. It turns out that all this drama is unfolding right around us, becoming part of our space. Probably in the 2nd century. BC e. it was an absolutely amazing sight.
Story
It is a memorial monument erected in honor of the victory won by the Pergamon king Attalus I over the barbarian Gauls (Galatians) who invaded the country in 228 BC. e. It was after this victory that the kingdom of Pergamon ceased to submit to the Seleucid empire, and Attalus declared himself an independent king. According to another version, it was erected in honor of the victory of Eumenes II, Antiochus III and the Romans over the Galatians in 184 BC. e. , or in honor of the victory of Eumenes II over them in 166 BC.
According to the most common dating version, the altar was built by Eumenes II in the period between -159. BC e. . (year of death of Eumenes). Other options place the start of construction at a later date - 170 BC. e. . Researchers who believe that the monument was erected in honor of the last of the wars listed above choose the dates 166-156. BC e.
Traditionally it is believed that the altar was dedicated to Zeus, among other versions - the dedication to the “twelve Olympians”, King Eumenes II, Athena, Athena together with Zeus. Based on the few surviving inscriptions, its affiliation cannot be reconstructed accurately.
Messages from ancient authors
Among the ancient authors, the Roman writer of the 2nd-3rd centuries briefly mentions the altar of Zeus. Lucius Ampelius in an essay "On the Wonders of the World"(lat. Liber memorialis; miracula mundi): "In Pergamon there is a large marble altar, 40 steps high, with large sculptures depicting the Gigantomachy."
When an earthquake struck the city in the Middle Ages, the altar, like many other structures, was buried underground.
Altar Detection
| “When we rose, seven huge eagles soared over the acropolis, foreshadowing happiness. We dug up and cleared the first slab. It was a mighty giant on snake-like writhing legs, his muscular back turned towards us, his head turned to the left, with a lion's skin on his left hand... They turn over another slab: the giant falls with his back on the rock, lightning pierced his thigh - I feel your closeness, Zeus! I feverishly run around all four slabs. I see the third approaching the first: the snake ring of a large giant clearly passes onto the slab with a giant fallen to his knees... I positively tremble all over my body. Here's another piece - I scrape off the soil with my nails - this is Zeus! The great and wonderful monument was once again presented to the world, all our works were crowned, the Athena group received the most beautiful pandan... |
| Karl Human |
In the 19th century The Turkish government invited German specialists to build roads: from to gg. The work in Asia Minor was carried out by the engineer Karl Human. Previously, he visited ancient Pergamum in the winter - gg. He discovered that Pergamon had not yet been fully excavated, although the finds could be of extreme value. Human had to use all his influence to prevent the destruction of part of the exposed marble ruins in the lime-gas kilns. But real archaeological excavations required support from Berlin.
Altar in Russia
After World War II, the altar, among other valuables, was taken from Berlin by Soviet troops. Since 1945, it was kept in the Hermitage, where in 1954 a special room was opened for it, and the altar became available to visitors
General characteristics of the structure
The innovation of the creators of the Pergamon Altar was that the altar was turned into an independent architectural structure.
It was erected on a special terrace on the southern slope of the mountain of the acropolis of Pergamum, below the sanctuary of Athena. The altar was located almost 25 m lower than other buildings and was visible from all sides. It offered a beautiful view of the lower city with the temple of the god of healing Asclepius, the sanctuary of the goddess Demeter and other buildings.
The altar was intended for open-air worship. It consisted of a high base (36.44 × 34.20 m) raised on a five-stage foundation. On one side the base was cut through by a wide open marble staircase, 20 m wide, leading to the upper platform of the altar. The upper tier was surrounded by an Ionic portico. Inside the colonnade there was an altar courtyard where the altar itself was located (3-4 m high). The platform of the second tier was limited on three sides by blank walls. The roof of the structure was crowned with statues. The entire structure reached a height of about 9 m.
This building is not an absolutely identical copy of the antique altar - only the main, western side (with a staircase, colonnade, porticoes, statues and a sculptural frieze), which is cut off by the wall of the room, has been recreated. The frieze slabs of the other sides of the altar are placed in the same hall near the walls, that is, the altar is, as it were, “turned inside out.”
From the building itself in Pergamon, only the foundation and part of the walls of the basement survived. Archaeologists found numerous parts of the decor: bases, trunks and capitals of columns, slabs of cornices and ceilings, inscriptions and statues, and most importantly, relief images of both friezes (117 slabs). After the finds were delivered to Germany in the 1880s. In the Berlin museum, for a number of years, painstaking work was carried out to restore several thousand fragments, to determine whether the slabs with figures belonged to one side or another of the altar, to establish the order of the images (the arrangement of the gods on the frieze had to obey a certain genealogical principle). At the moment, fragments of high reliefs are fixed with metal pins on the base in the order approximately restored by scientists. The viewer notices large gaps (empty background), since many elements were still not detected.
The exhibition opened only in 1930, since the construction of the museum, which began in 1910 according to the design of architects A. Messel and L. Hofmann, was delayed due to the First World War.
Gigantomachy was a common subject in ancient sculpture. But this plot was interpreted at the Pergamon court in accordance with political events. The altar reflected the perception of the ruling dynasty and the official ideology of the state of the victory over the Galatians. In addition, the Pergamians perceived this victory deeply symbolically, as a victory of the greatest Greek culture over barbarism.
“The semantic basis of the relief is a clear allegory: the gods personify the world of the Greeks, the giants - the Gauls. The gods embody the idea of an organized, orderly state life, the giants - the never-eradicated tribal traditions of the aliens, their exceptional belligerence and aggressiveness. Another kind of allegory forms the basis of the content of the famous frieze: Zeus, Hercules, Dionysus, Athena serve as the personification of the dynasty of the Pergamon kings.”
In total, the frieze depicts about fifty figures of gods and the same number of giants. The gods are located in the upper part of the frieze, and their opponents are in the lower, which emphasizes the opposition of two worlds, the “upper” (divine) and the “lower” (chthonic). The gods are anthropomorphic, the giants retain the features of animals and birds: some of them have snakes instead of legs and wings on their backs. The names of each of the gods and giants, explaining the images, are carefully carved below the figures on the cornice.
Distribution of gods:
- East side (main)- Olympian gods
- North side- gods of the night and constellations
- West side- deities of the water element
- South side- gods of the heavens and celestial bodies
“The Olympians triumph over the forces of the underground elements, but this victory is not for long - the elemental principles threaten to blow up the harmonious, harmonious world.”
| Illustration | Description | Detail |
|---|---|---|
|
"Battle of Zeus with Porphyrion": Zeus fights three opponents simultaneously. Having struck one of them, he prepares to throw his lightning at the leader of the enemies - the snake-headed giant Porphyrion. | |
|
"Battle of Athena with Alcyoneus": the goddess with a shield in her hands threw the winged giant Alcyoneus to the ground. The winged goddess of victory Nike rushes towards her to crown her head with a laurel wreath. The giant tries unsuccessfully to free himself from the goddess's hand. |
|
| "Artemis" | ||
Masters
The sculptural decor of the altar was made by a group of craftsmen according to a single project. Some names are mentioned - Dionysiades, Orestes, Menecrates, Pyromachus, Isigonus, Stratonicus, Antigonus, but it is not possible to attribute any fragment to a specific author. Although some of the sculptors belonged to the classical Athenian school of Pheidias, and some belonged to the local Pergamon style, the entire composition produces a holistic impression.
To date, there is no clear answer to the question of how the craftsmen worked on the giant frieze. There is also no consensus as to how much individual masters influenced the appearance of the frieze. There is no doubt that the sketch of the frieze was created by a single artist. Upon careful examination of the frieze, which was agreed upon down to the smallest detail, it becomes clear that nothing was left to chance. . Already broken down into the fighting groups, it is striking that none of them is like the other. Even the hairstyles and shoes of goddesses do not appear twice. Each of the fighting groups has its own composition. Therefore, it is the created images themselves that have an individual character, rather than the styles of the masters.
In the course of the research, differences were established indicating that several masters worked on the relief, which, however, had virtually no effect on the consistency of the entire work and its general perception. Craftsmen from different parts of Greece implemented a single project created by the main master, which is confirmed by the surviving signatures of masters from Athens and Rhodes. The sculptors were allowed to leave their name on the lower plinth of the fragment of the frieze they made, but these signatures were practically not preserved, which does not allow us to draw a conclusion about the number of craftsmen who worked on the frieze. Only one signature on the southern risalit has been preserved in a condition suitable for identification. Since there was no plinth on this section of the frieze, the name "Theorretos" was carved next to the created deity. By examining the outline of the symbols in the signatures, scientists were able to establish that two generations of sculptors took part in the work - the older and the younger, which makes us appreciate the consistency of this sculptural work even more. .
Description of the sculptures
| “...Under the wheels of Apollo, a crushed giant dies - and words cannot convey the touching and tender expression with which approaching death brightens his heavy features; his dangling, weakened, also dying hand alone is a miracle of art, to admire which it would be worth making a special trip to Berlin... ...All these - now radiant, now menacing, living, dead, triumphant, dying figures, these twists of scaly snake rings, these outstretched wings, these eagles, these horses, weapons, shields, these flying clothes, these palm trees and these bodies, the most beautiful human bodies in all positions, bold to the point of incredibleness, slender to the point of music - all these varied facial expressions, selfless movements of the limbs, this triumph of malice, and despair, and divine gaiety, and divine cruelty - all this heaven and all this earth - yes this a world, a whole world, before the revelation of which an involuntary chill of delight and passionate reverence runs through all veins.” |
| Ivan Turgenev |
The figures are made in very high relief (high relief), they are separated from the background, practically turning into a round sculpture. This type of relief gives deep shadows (contrasting chiaroscuro), making it easy to distinguish all the details. The compositional structure of the frieze is exceptionally complex, and the plastic motifs are rich and varied. Unusually convex figures are depicted not only in profile (as was customary in relief), but also in the most difficult turns, even from the front and from the back.
The figures of gods and giants are represented at the full height of the frieze, one and a half times human height. Gods and giants are depicted in full growth; many giants have snakes instead of legs. The relief shows huge snakes and wild beasts taking part in the battle. The composition consists of many figures arranged in groups of opponents facing off in a duel. The movements of groups and characters are directed in different directions, in a certain rhythm, maintaining the balance of the components on each side of the building. The images also alternate - beautiful goddesses are replaced by scenes of the death of zoomorphic giants.
The conventions of the depicted scenes are compared with real space: the steps of the staircase, along which those going to the altar climb, also serve for the participants in the battle, who either “kneel” on them or “walk” along them. The background between the figures is filled with flowing fabrics, wings and snake tails. Initially, all the figures were painted, many details were gilded. A special compositional technique was used - extremely dense filling of the surface with images, leaving practically no free background. This is a remarkable feature of the composition of this monument. Throughout the entire frieze, there is not a single segment of sculptural space that is not involved in the active action of a fierce struggle. With a similar technique, the creators of the altar give the picture of martial arts a universal character. The structure of the composition, in comparison with the classical standard, has changed: the opponents are fighting so closely that their mass suppresses the space, and the figures are intertwined.
Style characteristics
The main feature of this sculpture is its extreme energy and expressiveness.
The reliefs of the Pergamon Altar are one of the best examples of Hellenistic art, which abandoned the calmness of the classics for the sake of these qualities. “Although battles and fights were a frequent theme in ancient reliefs, they have never been depicted as on the Pergamon Altar - with such a shuddering feeling of a cataclysm, a battle for life and death, where all cosmic forces, all the demons of the earth participate and the sky."
“The scene is filled with enormous tension and has no equal in ancient art. The fact that in the 4th century. BC e. What was only outlined in Skopas as a breakdown of the classical ideal system, here reaches its highest point. The faces distorted by pain, the mournful glances of the vanquished, the piercing torment - everything is now clearly shown. Early classical art before Phidias also loved dramatic themes, but there conflicts were not brought to a violent end. The gods, like Myron's Athena, only warned the guilty about the consequences of their disobedience. In the Hellenistic era, they physically deal with the enemy. All their enormous bodily energy, superbly conveyed by the sculptors, is directed towards the act of punishment.”
The masters emphasize the furious pace of events and the energy with which opponents fight: the rapid onslaught of the gods and the desperate resistance of the giants. Thanks to the abundance of details and the density of filling the background with them, the effect of noise that accompanies the battle is created - you can feel the rustling of wings, the rustling of snake bodies, the ringing of weapons.
The energy of the images is enhanced by the type of relief chosen by the masters - high. Sculptors actively work with a chisel and auger, cutting deeply into the thickness of the marble and creating large differences in planes. Thus, a noticeable contrast between illuminated and shaded areas appears. These light and shadow effects heighten the sense of intensity of combat.
The peculiarity of the Pergamon Altar is its visual transmission of the psychology and mood of those depicted. One can clearly read the delight of the victors and the tragedy of the doomed giants. The death scenes are full of deep sorrow and genuine despair. All shades of suffering unfold before the viewer. The plasticity of faces, poses, movements and gestures conveys a combination of physical pain and deep moral suffering of the vanquished.
The Olympian gods no longer bear the stamp of Olympian calm on their faces: their muscles are tense and their brows are furrowed. At the same time, the authors of the reliefs do not abandon the concept of beauty - all participants in the battle are beautiful in face and proportions, there are no scenes that cause horror and disgust. However, the harmony of the spirit is already wavering - faces are distorted by suffering, deep shadows of the eye orbits, serpentine strands of hair are visible.
Inner small frieze (history of Telef)
The frieze was dedicated to the life and deeds Telephas - the legendary founder of Pergamon. The Pergamon rulers revered him as their ancestor.
The internal small frieze of the Pergamon altar of Zeus (170-160 BC), which does not have the plastic force of a generalized cosmic character of the larger one, is associated with more specific mythological scenes and tells about the life and fate of Telephus, the son of Hercules. He is smaller in size, his figures are calmer, more concentrated, and sometimes, which is also characteristic of Hellenism, elegiac; elements of the landscape are found. The surviving fragments depict Hercules, wearily leaning on a club, the Greeks busy building a ship for the Argonauts' voyage. The plot of the small frieze featured the theme of surprise, a favorite in Hellenism, the effect of Hercules recognizing his son Telephus. Thus, the pathetic pattern of the death of giants and the randomness that dominates the world determined the themes of two Hellenistic friezes of the altar of Zeus.
Events unfold before the viewer in a continuous sequence of episodes, carefully linked to their surroundings. Thus, this is one of the first examples of the “continuous narrative” that would later become widespread in ancient Roman sculpture. The modeling of the figures is distinguished by moderation, but a wealth of nuances and shades.
Relationship to other works of art
In many episodes of the altar frieze you can recognize other ancient Greek masterpieces. So, idealized pose and beauty
We visited one of the main centers of tourist attraction - Museum Island. The northern part of the island of Spreeinsel is home to five famous Berlin museums. Among them are Pergamon Museum.
The museum was opened in 1901. But soon it was decided to completely rebuild it. The modern building was built between 1910 and 1930 according to designs by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hofmann, primarily for the Pergamon Altar discovered by Karl Human. Now the Pergamon Museum houses the collections of three museums: the Ancient Collection, the Museum of Islamic Art and the Western Asian Museum. More than a million visitors visit the Pergamon Museum every year, making it Germany's most popular museum.
Pergamon Altar
Western façade of the altar. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to photograph it entirely in the museum even with a wide-angle lens!Pergamon Altar- a famous work of art from the Hellenistic period, one of the most significant monuments of this time that has survived to this day. It received its name from the place of its creation - the city of Pergamum in Asia Minor.
The altar was erected in honor of the victory won by the Pergamon king Attalus I over the barbarian Gauls who invaded the country in 228 BC. e. It was after this victory that the kingdom of Pergamon ceased to submit to the Seleucid empire, and Attalus proclaimed himself an independent king.
Battle with giants The main theme of the relief images is the battle of gods with giants. It is believed that the altar was dedicated to Zeus. But from the few surviving inscriptions its affiliation cannot be reconstructed accurately.
Nereus, Doris and Oceanus Over the past millennia, the altar was subject to destruction: its fragments were buried in the ground or built into other structures. In 713 the city was destroyed by the Arabs. When an earthquake hit the city in the Middle Ages, the altar, like many other structures, was buried underground.
In the 19th century, the Turkish government invited German specialists to build roads: from 1867 to 1873, engineer Karl Human was engaged in work in Asia Minor. He discovered that Pergamon had not yet been fully excavated, although the finds could be of extreme value. In 1878, the director of the Berlin Museum of Sculpture provided financial support for the excavations, Human received official permission from the Ottoman side, and all finds became the property of Germany.
Reconstruction plan of the Pergamon altar After World War II, the altar, among other valuables, was taken from Berlin by Soviet troops. Since 1945, it was kept in the Hermitage, where in 1954 a special room was opened for it, and the altar became available to visitors. But in 1958 the altar was returned to Germany.
In September 2014, the hall with the Pergamon Altar was closed for renovation. It will only be reopened to the public in 2019.
Ishtar Gate
Ishtar Gate- the eighth gate of the inner city in Babylon. Built in 575 BC. e. by order of King Nebuchadnezzar in the northern part of the city.
The Ishtar Gate is a huge semicircular arch, bounded on the sides by giant walls and overlooking the so-called Processional Road, along which the walls stretched. The gate is dedicated to the goddess Ishtar and is made of brick covered with bright blue, yellow, white and black glaze. The walls of the gate are covered with alternating rows of images of sirrush and bulls. In total there are about 575 images of animals on the gate. The roof and gate doors were made of cedar. Statues of gods were paraded through the Ishtar Gate along the Processional Road on New Year's Day.
A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Road was carried out in the 1930s in the Pergamon Museum itself from material found by archaeologist Robert Koldewey. Fragments of the gate and lions that decorated the Processional Road are kept in various museums around the world. The Istanbul Archaeological Museum houses bas-reliefs of lions, dragons and bulls. The Detroit Museum of Art houses a bas-relief of a sirrush. Bas-reliefs of lions are in the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Oriental Institute in Chicago, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Museum of Islamic Art
IN Museum of Islamic Art presents the art of Islamic peoples of the 8th-19th centuries, living in the vastness of Spain to India. The exhibition is based primarily on the art of Egypt, the Middle East and Iran. Other regions are also represented by significant collectibles, such as calligraphy and miniatures from the Mughal Empire or Sicilian ivory.
The most interesting exhibits are the Frieze from Mshatta, the Aleppo Room, the Dome from the Alhambra, the Mihrab from Kashan, the Mihrab from Konya, as well as numerous carpets with images of dragons and phoenixes.
Address: Berlin, Bodestrasse 1-3.
Working hours: Mon-Sun: 10:00–18:00, Thu: 10:00–20:00.
Tickets: 11 euros (if purchased online), 12 euros (at the box office).
You can get to the Pergamon Museum by public transport: metro U-Bahn U6 (stop Friedrichstraße), S-Bahn S1, S2, S25 (Friedrichstraße), S5, S7, S75 (Hackescher Markt); bus TXL (Staatsoper), 100, 200 (Lustgarten); 147 (Friedrichstraße); trams M1, 12 (Am Kupfergraben); M4, M5, M6 (Hackescher Markt).
