Zeus altar. Located in the city of Pergamon , (Asia Minor). It was a grandiose building ordered to be built by Eumenes II Sóter in the 2nd century AD between 164 AD and 156 AD. Discovered by German archaeologists between 1878 and 1873 .
Summary
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- 1 Great altars
- 1 Altar of Pergamon
- 2 Representations
- 3 Altar in the museum
- 2 Source
Great altars
In classical times temples dedicated to the great gods or local gods of each city were erected and altars for sacrifices were placed in front of them; the altars were minor constructions.
In the era of Hellenistic culture (Hellenistic period), great monumental altars, dedicated to a great deity, usually Zeus , became fashionable . It was both a fad and a necessity, in the wake of new philosophical tendencies that followed the teachings of the Stoics . There was great interest in Heraclitus’ ideas , for his idea that fire is the main element that combines and structures the other elements.
The supreme God is found in everything, but as an ethereal and creative fire that has the faculty to give life to all things. Among the Greek gods the one who approached this creator god almost exactly was the supreme being Zeus, god of lightning and fire . Therefore, this god had to be erected, not just a temple, but a great and colossal sacrificial altar .
Pergamon altar
Zeus Altar in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin
One of these great altars built in the Hellenistic period was the great altar at Pergamum, dedicated to Zeus or Athena . Its ruins have subsisted through the centuries and were discovered by a team of German archaeologists in the 19th century.
Today you can see the great frieze of sculptures in the German city of Berlin , in the Pergamon museum . Colossal construction raised on a podium, respecting the original vision; It was built on the second terrace of the city acropolis. The large frieze of the sculptures was not part of the entablature but of the temple podium . Above was a colonnade of the Ionic order divided into three sections, one central at the back and two lateral. The central colonnade turned its back to a quadrangular patio that was the space reserved for sacrifices in which incense was burnedAnd libations were made in honor of the gods. On the entablature of the columns were placed a series of acróteras that represented gods, centaurs , griffins and horses .
On the podium or basement was the sculptural decoration made in reliefs with 2.30 m high (approximately) and 120 m long. It was topped by a very prominent cornice, with a denticle (a parallelepiped ornament that was placed on top of a frieze. It is a Gigantomachy, the fight of the gods against the giants. The figures and scenes are treated with pathos ( emotion), the scenes are not separate but rather a continuous frieze that describes a moment of battle.The stylistic details of these sculptures, folds of the mantles, hair, shoe drawings, expressions of the gods and giants , manifest the characteristics of what has been called the Baroque Style of Greek Sculpture characterized by exaggerated expression, foreshortenings and pathetic expressions, as well as clothing sculpture that no longer conforms to anatomical forms.
A good number of precisely coordinated artisans worked in it (given the short period of time the work needed (between 22 and 28 years)), since workshops are not distinguished, the quality and the invoice being of excellent quality.
Representations
In this narration of the Gigantomachy, the triumph of Zeus and Athena over their giants is represented. In the eastern part, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, can be seen stepping on the body of a dead giant at the same time that her dog bites deadly on the neck of another giant that resists and fights against the canine, emptying its claw with one eye. Another scene represents Zeus accompanied by an eagle , fighting against three giants.
Fragment of the frieze from the altar of Zeus in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin
In the north frieze there is an unidentified goddess who draws attention to the vessel that she carries in her left hand as a throwing weapon and that is decorated with snakes. On the north face of the stairway, the gods push the giants up the stairs to corner them. The divinities of the sea appear , such as the Ocean and Amphitrite with their son Triton . The figures present their wet outfits that stick to the bodies; Nereo can even be seen with scales on his head and fins.
Altar in the museum
It is the German engineer Carl Humann, a lover of archeology, who sent to Berlin in 1871 three fragments of what he defined as a “fight”. The pieces will go unnoticed for five years in the “Altes Museum” (old museum). It will not be until 1877 that archaeologist Alexander Conze focuses his interest on the fragments and asks Humann to start the excavation. The political and economic support is total. Bismark wants to get a reference work that legitimizes his newly inaugurated empire, the laws in Greece are very strict regarding the export of antiquities, Turkey being more appropriate for Bismark’s intentions.
Negotiations take place in 1878-1879, stipulating that the findings belonging to the altar will be transferred to Berlin, which he will compensate with 20. 000 marks to the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). The search for the altar will focus on the Byzantine city wall south of the Acropolis. The elements of the altar had been used for the construction of the wall, in such a way that the relief was towards the interior. In 1880 97 plates had already been unearthed. Prospecting at the acropolis exposed the base of the altar. The move to Berlin starts already in1879 . The Pergamo Museum was inaugurated in 1930. It has always remained there, with the exception of the period between 1945 and 1959, when Soviet troops dismantled it and took it as spoils of war to the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad (today Saint Petersburg ).
