Altar of Zeus in parchment description. School encyclopedia

Altar of Zeus in Pergamon. General form. Reconstruction.

The kingdom of Pergamum - one of the fragments of the empire of Alexander the Great that fell apart - occupied the northwestern part of Asia Minor (). Starting from the middle of the 3rd century. BC this state was experiencing extraordinary economic growth and cultural flourishing. Rich incomes allowed local kings to carry out large-scale construction. It was especially stormy during the reign of Eumenes II (). It was under him in the 180-160s. BC To commemorate the victories won by Pergamon over the Galatians (Gauls), the construction of one of the most majestic monuments of the Hellenistic era was carried out - the altar of Zeus, then recognized as one of the “seven wonders of the world”.

The altar was a structure, almost square in plan, measuring 36 by 34 m. On a high plinth rested a monumental frieze with relief images of gigantomachy - the battle of gods with giants. The total length of the frieze was 120 m with a height of 2.3 m. On one side the base was cut through by a wide open staircase leading to the upper platform where the altar was located. A group of sculptors from Pergamon and Athens worked on decorating the altar. The names of some of them are known - Dionysad, Orestes, Medanippus, Menecrates. It is unknown who was at the head of the entire project.

Giants, by Greek mythology, were the sons of Gaia-Earth. Seeking to seize power over the world, they rebelled against the heavenly gods, led by Zeus. On the large frieze of the Pergamon Altar, the battle between the gods and the giants is depicted at the moment of its highest tension. The outcome of the battle between powerful opponents is already predetermined - the gods win, the giants die. The forces of light triumph over the dark elements (this victory, in turn, marked the victory of the Pergamians over the Galatians).

The composition of the frieze, imbued with unity of action, is divided into numerous groups of fighting opponents, and within each of them there is a hot battle to the death. The rhythmic alternation of many groups created a chain of infinitely varied links. In total, the frieze depicted about fifty figures of gods and the same number of giants. And they are all extremely diverse. The sculptors' imagination in conveying individual images and episodes was truly limitless. One goddess fights on a horse, the other on a lion, the sun god Helios races on a chariot drawn by four horses, Poseidon on sea horses. Some are armed with torches, others with a shield and sword. The horsemen alternate with groups on foot, some rushing to the right, others towards them. Even details such as shoes are never repeated: all shoes are different in shape and ornamentation.

The monumentality of the frieze, the amazing knowledge of nature, the strength of the passions expressed in the figures, the dramatic nature of the plot, deep realism - everything fascinates the viewer. The figures are shown in the most complex turns and violent movements, which are emphasized by picturesquely developing clothes, sharp contrasts of light and shadow (). There is something amazing in these intense angles of classically beautiful bodies, in their titanic power and tragic pathos ().

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"There is no more beautiful song of the winds!
And for poets - a reward is more desirable,
Than the pearl network of islands
And the Corinthian curls of Hellas -

There is no more destructive poison in the world,
Than the words of those who saw in a dream
Doomed eternal spring -
Hellas, golden like a torch!"

Roald Mandelstam (1932-1961)

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The Galatians were a warlike Celtic tribe that invaded Asia Minor from Europe. The powerful Syrian kings, who considered themselves heirs of Alexander the Great, preferred to pay tribute to the Galatians rather than risk battle. The hordes of Galatians chose as their next victim the small but very rich state of Pergamum, which seemed to them a sure and easy prey. In terms of numbers, the Pergamon army was inferior to the troops of Seleucid Syria and Ptolemaic Egypt, but in terms of technical equipment it was clearly superior even to them, not to mention the barbarian hordes of the Galatians. King Attalus I refused to pay tribute to the Celtic newcomers. In the battle at the source of Caicus, the Pergamians utterly defeated the Galatians, after which Attalus took the cult name “savior”. For some time, the small state became so influential that Attalus intervened in the struggle for the throne in the Seleucid kingdom and achieved certain success in this endeavor.

The intelligence and civilization of the Pergamians prevailed over the superior numbers of the Galatians and the blind lust for plunder. In memory of the great victory, the Pergamians erected in the middle of their capital, the city of Pergamum, the altar of Zeus - a huge stone platform for sacrifices. The relief surrounding the platform on three sides was dedicated to the battle of gods and giants. Giants are the sons of the earth goddess Gaia, creatures with a human body, but snakes instead of legs, according to myths, they 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.

The figure of Zeus surpasses the others in size and strength. His entire body, every muscle, is permeated with passion. The supreme god, armed with lightning, fights three giants at once. One of them is facing the viewer sideways, the other is facing forward, the third, the main one - the leader of the giants Porfirion, turned his mighty back to the viewer. This is a worthy rival of Zeus, just as angry, just as hating. But if Zeus, like the other gods, is a strong and beautiful person, then Porphyrion and the giants are bearers of brute, primitive, almost animal strength, stupid and also animal malice.

His beloved daughter Athena fights near Zeus. Grabbing the hair of the young four-winged giant with her right hand, she tears him away from mother earth. The sacred serpent, Athena's inseparable companion, sunk its teeth into the giant's body. The goddess Cybele, riding a lion, pursues a giant with an animal head. The sun god Helios tramples enemies under the hooves of his fiery horses. Hercules finishes off opponents with a club, and Phoebe uses a heavy spear.

By the end of the 2nd century BC. e. Pergamum was conquered by the Romans. They took many sculptures from Pergamon, and Emperor Claudius took a library second only to the one in Alexandria, and presented thousands of scrolls to Queen Cleopatra. And yet, until the 8th century, Pergamum continued to flourish, until it fell under the onslaught of the Arabs. Further destruction was continued by the Byzantines, who transported fragments of temples to Constantinople, and at the beginning of the 14th century, Pergamon was captured by the Ottoman Turks, who turned it into ruins. The hordes of the lame Timur completed the destruction of the city in 1362, after which Pergamon ceased to be mentioned in historical chronicles.

Already in ancient times, the Pergamon Altar began to acquire an aura of notoriety. The Apostle John the Theologian wrote in his Revelation: “And write to the Angel of the Church of Pergamon: Thus says He who has a sharp sword on both sides: I know your works, and that you live where the throne of Satan is, and that you keep My name and have not even denied My faith in those days in which among you, where Satan dwells, My faithful witness Antipas was put to death.”

In the 14th century, after the Fourth Crusade, the Pergamon Altar allegedly became the object of worship for some time by a certain secret neo-pagan sect operating within the spiritual knightly order of the Hospitallers, better known as the Order of Malta. At this time, human sacrifices were allegedly performed on the altar.

In 1864, the Turkish government entered into a contract with German engineer Karl Humann to build a road from the small town of Bergamo to Izmir. While inspecting the site of future construction, the engineer noticed on the eastern outskirts of the town a steep rocky hill more than three hundred meters high. Climbing it, Humann discovered the remains of two rings of fortress walls. He managed to talk to the workers hired in the surrounding villages to build the road. One of them stated:

Efendi! You can't dig here. White devils and red devils live in the mountain. Allah has punished those who mined stone here more than once. They became covered with scabs and then became paralyzed. And the mullah punishes those who dig here.

Others said:

At night, the disembodied spirits of pagan devils come out and perform demonic dances. If they are disturbed during the day, as our grandfathers said, an earthquake will begin.

The mountain is magical, it hides the gods of a very ancient pagan country. Their curse over Bergamo lasts thousands of years. But if they are dug up and taken away, our city will flourish again. I heard this in the mosque.

Humann realized that there had once been a city here. Historians have forgotten about him, but he continues to live in folk legends. After analyzing the stories of workers and historical works urgently ordered from Berlin, Humann came to a firm conviction: the hill hides ancient Pergamon with its famous altar. Having started excavations, he, among other things, discovered parts of the relief painting of the altar, from which it was gradually possible to restore the complete appearance of the Titanomachy.

Parts of the altar, donated to Berlin museums, were first put on public display in complete form with all the friezes and columns in 1880 in a temporary building. The great Russian writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev visited him and spent hours watching the scenes of the fierce battle of gods and giants. The writer could not forget his deep delight until the end of his life. In his diary, Turgenev noted: “How happy I am that I did not die without living to see these impressions. I saw it all!”

Construction of the permanent building began only in 1912, and even by 1924 it was hardly even half ready. In the special museum that was eventually built, the altar of Zeus was displayed for 12 years - until 1941, when the fascist authorities ordered it to be buried in damp clay soil under a military warehouse, which burned down during the next bombing of the German capital. 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. In 1958, the altar of Zeus returned to Berlin.

All this time, members of occult societies and openly satanic sects showed keen interest in the restored historical and architectural monument. The altar was examined with interest by one of the leaders of the secret society “Golden Dawn of the Outer World,” Samuel Mathers, and a member of the same hermetic organization, writer Mary Violetta Fet, who published under the pseudonym Dion Fortuna. At the end of the 20s of the 20th century, another adherent of the “Golden Dawn”, a magician and Satanist, the creator of the anti-Christian doctrine of “Theleism”, Aleister Crowley, was also interested in the Pergamon Altar. Crowley himself did not see the altar, but on his instructions, Leah Hirag, known in occult circles as the Harlot in Purple, standing in front of the ancient shrine, mentally performed a certain secret rite designed to “release the fluids of the ancient natural gods.”

A little later, the Pergamon Altar was subjected to a real invasion by German occultists from the O.T.O., a society that had a significant influence on the formation of the occult world of National Socialism. Among them was a certain Martha Künzel, who for some time acted as a liaison between the German and British occult organizations. In the thirties, the altar was also examined by the famous neo-pagan Karl Maria Willigut, personal magician and mentor in the occult teachings of Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler. The Pergamon altar generally seemed to attract those close to the SS chief. For example, it was studied by Walter Darre, one of the founders of the Ahnenerbe Institute. Himmler's favorite journalist, Helmut d'Alkuen, editor of the SS newspaper Black Corps, also admired the altar. It is curious that a number of researchers believe that the Bolshevik occultists also used architectural ideas and elements of the Pergamon Altar during the construction of the Mausoleum of V. I. Lenin, thanks to which the dead leader of the world proletariat continued to live mystically among the living.

Victor BUMAGIN

#rainbow#paper#countess#Dubarri

TO HOMENEWSPAPER RAINBOW

(2nd century BC)

The Altar of Zeus in Pergamon is one of the most remarkable creations of the Hellenistic period.

The Pergamon state reached its greatest prosperity in the middle of the 3rd century BC, when kings from the Attalid dynasty ruled there. Using income from trade and taxes, the Attalids launched a gigantic construction activity. The central part of the state capital, its acropolis, towering 270 meters above the surrounding territory, was built up with numerous buildings. All these structures were arranged in a fan-shape and formed one architectural ensemble. Among them, the royal palaces, famous for their magnificent mosaic floors, a theater with ninety rows, a gymnasium, a temple of Athena, and a library with halls decorated with sculptural portraits of famous historians and poets, stood out. The Pergamon library was a rich collection of manuscripts - up to two hundred thousand scrolls. The Library of Pergamon competed with the Library of Alexandria.

The Pergamum school, more than other schools of that time, gravitated toward pathos and drama, continuing the traditions of Skopas. Its artists did not always resort to mythological subjects, as was customary in the classical era. On the square of the Pergamon Acropolis there were sculptural groups that perpetuated the victory over the “barbarians” - the Gaul tribes who were besieging the Kingdom of Pergamon. In works full of expression and dynamics, the artists pay tribute to the vanquished, showing them both valiant and suffering.

In their art, the Greeks did not stoop to humiliate their opponents. This feature of ethical humanism appears with particular clarity when the “barbarians” are depicted realistically. Moreover, after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, much has changed in relation to foreigners. As Plutarch writes, Alexander saw himself as the reconciler of the universe, “causing all to drink… from the same cup of friendship, and mixing together lives, manners, marriages, and forms of life.”

Morals and forms of life, as well as forms of religion, did indeed begin to mix during the Hellenistic era, but peace did not reign. Discord and war continued. The wars of Pergamum with the Gauls are just one of the episodes. When, finally, the victory over the “barbarians” was finally achieved, the altar of Zeus was erected in honor of it, completed in 180 BC.

Among the ancient authors, the Roman writer of the 2nd - 3rd centuries Lucius Ampelius briefly mentions the altar of Zeus in his essay “On the Wonders of the World.” In 1878, German archaeologists excavating the site of ancient Pergamon managed to find the foundations of the altar and many slabs with reliefs that once adorned the Pergamon altar. After the completion of the excavations, all the found slabs were transported to Berlin, restored and in 1930 included in the reconstruction of the altar.

The altar was a structure with the following dimensions: length - 36 meters, width - 34, height - 9 meters. Twenty steps of a majestic staircase led to the second-tier platform, surrounded on three sides by a double Ionian colonnade. The platform of the second tier was limited on three sides by blank walls. These walls were decorated with a meter-long small frieze.

On it you can see scenes from the life of the local hero Telephus, the son of Hercules. The figures of this frieze were depicted against the background of a landscape. 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.

In the center of the colonnade there was an altar of Zeus 3-4 meters high. The roof of the building was crowned with statues. The altar building, its statues and sculptural friezes were made of local Pergamon marble.

The decoration of the altar of Zeus and its main attraction is the so-called large frieze that adorned the marble walls of the altar. The length of this remarkable sculptural frieze reached 120 meters.

Here, the long-term war with the “barbarians” appeared as a gigantomachy - the struggle of the Olympian gods with the giants. According to ancient myth, giants - giants who lived far in the west, the sons of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky) - rebelled against the Olympians. However, they were defeated by them after a fierce battle and buried under volcanoes, in the deep bowels of mother earth. They remind us of themselves with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Particularly impressive is the group in which the fighting goddess of the hunt, Artemis, is represented. Artemis, a slender girl with a bow in her hands and a quiver over her shoulders, tramples with her right foot the chest of the giant, whom she has thrown to the ground. The goddess of the hunt is preparing to enter into a decisive battle with the young giant standing to her left.

The central figure of the composition is Zeus, surpassing everyone in size and power. Zeus fights three giants at once. Mighty bodies are piled up, intertwined, like a ball of snakes, the defeated giants are tormented by shaggy-maned lions, dogs bite their teeth, horses trample under their feet, but the giants fight fiercely, their leader Porphyrion does not retreat before the thunderer Zeus.

Next to Zeus is his beloved daughter Athena. With her right hand she grabbed the young giant's hair and pulled him away from mother earth. In vain does the earth goddess Hera ask to spare the youngest of her sons. The face of Athena's enemy is distorted by death throes.

Although battles and fights were a frequent theme in ancient reliefs, they had never been depicted as on the Pergamon Altar - with such a shuddering feeling of a cataclysm, a battle for life and death, where all the cosmic forces, all the demons of the earth and sky. The structure of the composition has changed, and it has lost its classical clarity.

In the Pergamon frieze, the opponents are fighting so closely that the mass has overwhelmed the space, and all the figures are so intertwined that they form a stormy mess of bodies, albeit still classically beautiful. The Olympians are beautiful, and so are their enemies. But the harmony of the spirit fluctuates. Their faces are distorted by suffering, deep shadows are visible in the eye sockets, hair fluttering like a snake... The Olympians still triumph over the forces of the underground elements, but this victory does not last long - the elemental principles threaten to blow up the harmonious, harmonious world.

The Russian writer I. S. Turgenev, having examined the fragments of the relief in 1880, which had just been brought to the Berlin Museum, expressed his impressions of the Pergamon Altar like this: “In the middle of the entire pediment, Zeus (Jupiter) strikes with a thunderous weapon, in the form of an overturned scepter, a giant who falls headlong, with his back to the viewer, into the abyss; on the other hand, another giant rises, with rage on his face, obviously the main fighter, and, straining his last strength, reveals such contours of muscles and torso that Michelangelo would be delighted. Above Zeus, the goddess of victory soars, expanding her eagle wings, and raises high the palm of triumph; the god of the sun, Apollo, in a long light tunic, through which his divine, youthful members clearly protrude, rushes in his chariot, driven by two horses, as immortal as himself; Eos (Aurora) precedes him, sitting sideways on another horse, in flowing clothes intercepted on his chest, and, turning to his god, calls him forward with a wave of his naked hand; the horse under her also - and as if consciously - turns his head back; a crushed giant dies under the wheels of Apollo - and words cannot convey the touching and tender expression with which approaching death illuminates his heavy features; his dangling, weakened, also dying hand alone is a miracle of art, to admire which would be worth 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.”

By the end of the 2nd century BC, the Kingdom of Pergamon, like other Hellenistic states, entered a period of internal crisis and political subordination to Rome. In 146 BC, Carthage fell. That was a turning point. Rome later took over Greece, completely destroying Corinth. In 30 BC, Egypt also became part of the Roman Empire. From this time on, the culture of the Pergamon state no longer bears such rich fruits, since it descends to the position of one of the Roman provinces.

Laocoon

(1st century BC)

According to Pliny, Laocoon was in the house of Emperor Titus. This work of three Rhodian sculptors: Agesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus, in his opinion, is “the best of all works of painting and sculpture.”

Since there was no other ancient information about Laocoön other than Pliny, to clarify the question of the lifetime of the creators of the group, we had to take a roundabout route. Using the inscriptions, the Germans Förster and Hiller von Gertringen obtained a fairly accurate lifetime of the authors of Laocoon. A comparison of their names in the inscriptions with the names of famous Romans: Moray, Lucullus, Lentulus allowed us to make the final conclusion that the artists lived at the beginning of the 1st century BC.

The plot of Laocoön is drawn from the tales of the Trojan War and is very impressively set out in the Aeneid by the Roman poet Virgil. They even thought that the sculpture illustrates Virgil’s text, but, apparently, it precedes it: “The Aeneid” was written later. The Trojan priest Laocoon suffered a terrible punishment from the gods who patronized the Greeks for convincing his fellow citizens not to trust the Greeks and not to bring into the city the wooden horse they had left behind (“Fear the Danaans who bring gifts!”). For this, the gods sent huge snakes against him, strangling the sons of Laocoon and himself. The sculpture depicts the desperate and clearly futile efforts of the hero to free himself from the clutches of the monsters, which wrapped tightly around the bodies of the three victims, squeezing and biting them. The futility of struggle and the inevitability of death are obvious.

The famous antique marble group was found in 1506 by the Italian F. de Freddi in his vineyard on the Esquiline, in Rome. Pope Julius II soon acquired this group, ceding to de Freddi the proceeds from the Porta San Giovanni outpost for life. The lucky author of the find received annually up to 600 gold ducats (about 3,000 gold rubles). In the Vatican "courtyard of statues", or Belvedere, a special niche was designed for Laocoon by the architect G. Di San Gallo. Somewhat later, Bramante made the first bronze copy of Laocoon based on a wax model by Jacopo Sansovino. Then Michelangelo, after carefully studying Laocoon, pointed out that the group was not made from one block of marble, as Pliny says. When Francis I, after the victory at Marignano (1616), demanded the group from Leo X as a gift, the pope, to satisfy the French king, ordered Baccio Bandinelli a copy of the statue. This copy is now in the Uffizi Museum, Florence. Bandinelli also became the first restorer of Laocoon, which was found without the right hands of the father and youngest son and without the right hand of the eldest son. But he did not make his restoration to the original, but only made it in the mentioned copy.

When soon the pope wished to restore the original itself, Michelangelo recommended to him for this purpose his student and assistant Montorsoli, who took up this work. Several designs have apparently been proposed for Laocoön's right, upraised hand. But the restored parts attached to the original, from the knock, belong to the 18th century sculptor Augustus Cornacchini.

In 1803, Laocoon was placed in one of the four cabinets added to the corners of the Belvedere courtyard. In addition to the famous group, several fragments of more or less close copies of it have been preserved in different places, including the head of Laocoon in the Hermitage.

The restoration should be considered successful. Overbeck and behind him, most classical archaeologists prefer to see Laocoon and his youngest son with their right hands behind their heads, the first in pain, the second in death agony. Laocoon is already doomed to death and no longer consciously fights, being entirely under the influence of the terrible pain from the snake bite that strikes him like lightning. Tensing his whole body, Laocoon fights the snake. With his left hand he strangles the snake. All restorers and artists in general quite correctly demanded the same from the right hand, based on the simplest law of parallelism of movement and instinctive action of the arms and legs. The right hand of the youngest son was also not thrown back, but was looking for a point of support, since his body had lost support and was raised by the coils of the snake.

Everything that is said about the beautiful pyramidal structure of the group during the mentioned restoration is incorrect, since the head of Laocoon is not at an equal distance from the heads of his sons. Laocoon is presented naked, probably leaning on an altar on which his clothes have fallen.

On either side of him are his two sons, of different ages, also almost completely naked. All three figures are entwined with two huge snakes. One bites Laocoon on the left thigh. The second bit into the right side of the chest of the youngest son, standing to the right of his father on the steps of the dais, but raised by a snake ring that tied his right leg to right leg father. Laocoon writhes in pain and rushes in the direction opposite to the bite, trying at the same time to instinctively tear apart the snakes that entangled him with both his hands and feet. The head follows the general convulsive movement of the body. The face is distorted with suffering, the mouth is half open. But, according to the German physiologist Genke, he does not scream, but, as indicated by the raised chest and folds of the abdomen, takes in air for further energetic struggle.

In any case, the loss of strength and helpless fall on the altar is still a long way off. Younger son although he is bitten by a snake, he is not yet dying: his face does not express the calmness of death, but, on the contrary, horror is read there. Right hand he instinctively seeks support in the air, and with his left hand he squeezes the head of the snake that has bitten him, and, apparently, lets out a scream. The eldest son is still in the best position. That he will not escape either, the artists hinted at this with the knot that the snake formed around his left leg. With his left hand he tries to free himself from this knot, and with his right hand, also entangled in a snake ring, he apparently calls for help. His face expresses mainly compassion for his father and brother.

As for the artistic assessment of Laocoon, this excellent group is fully worthy of the admiration for which it has been the subject of for centuries. Excellent knowledge of anatomy and the masterly ability to show it in the most unnatural positions of the figures, the pathos of movements, the expressiveness of faces and gestures - all this proves that the authors of Laocoön are outstanding sculptors.

The group is conceived with one point of view in mind and through this approaches a relief composition. The artists unconsciously or deliberately gave the sons of Laocoon the proportions not of children, but of adults, but much smaller in size than the main figure. Therefore, the father figure first of all attracts attention.

Poems were written on the plot of Laocoon. El Greco, the famous Spanish artist, interpreted it in a rather unique way in a painting of the same name, and the head of Laocoön closely replicates the head of the ancient statue, although the angles of the bodies are different. The great German educator Lessing devoted a special study to Laocoon in the mid-eighteenth century. He drew attention to the fact that the sculptors, even conveying severe pain, managed to subordinate the statue to the requirements of beauty. Laocoon is depicted not screaming, but only moaning, unlike Virgil, where the unfortunate priest makes piercing screams. A sense of proportion, as well as the traditions of Greek plastic art in general, are preserved in this work. However, the choice of plot and its interpretation are deeply pessimistic. Greek art had depicted the death of heroes before, but it was death in struggle. Here we have before us the cruel execution of innocent people. Laocoon's whole crime was that, while fulfilling his duty, he warned the Trojans. Moreover, his children are not to blame for anything.

The traditional Greek idea of ​​the power of fate is now mixed with the idea of ​​human helplessness. At the end of the Hellenistic era, little remains of the ideal of a free, almost god-like man - there is no longer any faith in the rationality of the world order. It becomes clear: resistance to alien force is as useless as fighting against giant snakes who strangled Laocoon

Augustus statue

(1st century BC)

Gaius Octavius ​​was born on September 23, 63 BC in Rome. He lost his father early, and his relationship with Julius Caesar played a decisive role in his life. Octavius ​​was the grandson of Caesar's sister.

Octavius ​​received a good upbringing. His mother Atia closely monitored her son's behavior even when he reached adulthood and officially put on a man's toga - the national clothing of a Roman citizen. Octavius ​​led a sober and abstinent lifestyle.

Julius Caesar, who had no legitimate sons and had lost his only daughter, was kind to his great-nephew, who was not only distinguished by exemplary behavior, but also showed intelligence. Going to war with the sons of Pompey, Caesar took him with him to Spain, and then sent him to the city of Allolonia Illyria (Eastern Adriatic) to prepare a campaign against the Dacians and Parthians. In Allolonia, nineteen-year-old Octavius ​​received news from his mother of the murder of Julius Caesar, who, as it turned out when his will was opened, adopted his great-nephew and left him three-quarters of his property. After the official adoption, Octavius ​​began to be called Octavian.

Despite the murder of Caesar, Anthony managed to achieve reconciliation with the murderers and, without intending to take revenge on them, became the de facto master of Rome. However, it took Octavian about fifteen years to achieve victory over his main opponents - Cicero and Mark Antony.

After this, Octavian laid the foundations of such a state, which was actually a monarchy, but had a republican appearance. All republican institutions and government positions were retained.

Octavian officially refused to be dictator and consul for life, contenting himself with the honorary title of Princeps of the Senate. The princeps was the one who was first on the list of senators. Formally, the princeps had no power, he only enjoyed authority, but he had the precious right to be the first to express his opinion in the Senate. Octavian retained this right forever.

The Senate awarded Octavian the honorary title Augustus (“exalted by the gods”). From that time on, the ruler of the Romans began to be called Emperor Caesar Augustus. During his long reign, Augustus received the honorary military title “emperor” 21 times, which was not yet synonymous with supreme authority. Name August from

The honorary designation turned into a title conveying the highest, god-sanctified status of the ruler. The name of Augustus, as the name of a deity, could be used to seal oaths. A particularly broad concept of Augustan divinity was widespread in the eastern provinces, in which the deification of a supreme ruler, such as a Hellenistic king, was traditional and customary. However, being careful, Augustus did not formulate the process of his personal deification and preferred to combine his sacred name Augustus with the cult of the goddess Roma, deified by the Roman authorities.

Possessing actually monarchical power, Augustus spent his whole life trying to veil it, pretending that he was only the first among equals. He forbade calling himself master. His sophisticated mind managed to curb vanity, and he never allowed himself to revel in external signs of greatness. Although the entire Roman world kowtowed to him.

Suetonius writes: “He did not allow temples to be erected in his honor in the provinces except with double dedication - to him and to the goddess Roma (goddess of the city of Rome). And in Rome itself he flatly refused this honor. Even the silver statues that were cast in his honor, he turned them all into coins and with these funds he dedicated two golden tripods to Apollo Palatine.”

Having begun to reorganize the state after the end of the civil wars, Augustus took care to strengthen the foundations of slavery: he returned all fugitive slaves to their owners, limited the possibilities of manumission of slaves and restored the ancient law, according to which not only a slave who killed his master was subject to the death penalty, but also all the slaves who were in the house at the time of the murder.

In relation to the poor part of Roman citizens, the bulk of the plebeians, Augustus pursued a policy aimed at satisfying their thirst for “bread and circuses.” He attracted everyone's sympathy by ordering the burning of lists of long-time debtors to the state treasury.

Augustus did not have the talent of a commander, but his true talent lay in the fact that he knew how to recognize the limitations of his abilities and tried not to take on matters that he did not understand. Therefore, he took great care to have talented and devoted assistants with him. He was unshakably loyal to profitable people.

Augustus very rarely led military campaigns; he usually entrusted this to others. In military affairs, just as in all others, he tried to show great prudence and prudence. Augustus continued his traditional policy of conquest.

Augustus sharply limited military expansion. He believed that the Roman Empire should be concerned not so much with acquiring new possessions, but with protecting what it already had.

The historian Herodian writes: “Since autocracy passed to Augustus, he freed the Italians from their labors, deprived them of weapons and surrounded the power with fortifications and military camps, placing soldiers hired for a certain salary as a fence for the Roman power; he secured the power by fencing it off with great rivers, a stronghold of ditches and mountains, and uninhabited and impenetrable land.”

Augustus himself was very proud of the fact that he gave the Roman people peace, which they almost never had in their entire history.

In Rome, Augustus established a special cult of the deity in peacetime, which became known as Pax Augusta - Augustan Peace, and ordered the construction of a white marble Altar of Peace on the Campus Martius (19 - 9 BC). It is a rectangular platform, in the center of which the altar itself is placed on steps. A thick stone wall was built around it, decorated with beautifully executed reliefs depicting a procession of Roman citizens and mythological figures.

The fine art of the Principate made a noticeable step forward in the field of sculptural portraiture. Augustus was not interested in remaining in the memory of posterity as a flabby old man with flabby muscles and deep wrinkles on his face. He was much more attracted by the beautiful images of Phidias and Polykleitos, in the style of which Augustus ordered the sculptors to depict himself and members of his family. According to Roman tradition, there was still a general resemblance, but written sources claim that Octavian was not quite the flourishing young man whose marble statue is widely known as that of Augustus of Prima Porta.

Augustus is depicted in a calm, somewhat careless and at the same time majestic pose. His powerful torso is not naked, but hidden under the armor of a Roman commander. However, the shell follows the shape of the muscle protrusions and, to a certain extent, creates the illusion of a naked body. The shell itself is a work of art.

It depicts the whole world, built according to a scheme close to the Etruscans. Below lies Tellus - Earth with a cornucopia, above Sol - Sky with a veil-firmament; on either side of him are the Sun and Moon on their quadrigas. In the center is the earthly world. Here the Parthian returns to the god Mars the banners previously taken from the Romans. The world has been conquered by the princeps, and on the sides in mournful poses sit captives, personifying the conquered people.

The emperor's face is not particularly expressive. However, this paradoxically only enhances the sense of grandeur that emanates from the beautiful ceremonial statue. The God-like Emperor looks more like any of his soldiers, or even like an ordinary passerby on the street. In other words, it is precisely the position occupied in the state that can elevate even the most ordinary person to a level equal to God. With a wave of his hand, Octavian greets the Roman legions, his other hand is occupied with a heavy cloak and a rather weighty imperial staff. With the emphasized luxury of his armor and cloak, the emperor is depicted barefoot, which was done with the aim of once again reminding the viewer of Greek classical examples.

Due to the fragility of the material, sculptors provided marble statues with supports in the form of a tree trunk, column or other object suitable for the theme. The support at the feet of the statue of Augustus is made in the form of a dolphin with a small Cupid sitting on it. It is known that the model for Cupid was the emperor’s grandson Gaius Julius. The very presence of a dolphin near Octavian is important. The fact is that the dolphin is an attribute of Venus, who was considered the divine ancestor of the Roman Julius family, to which not only Octavian, but also Julius Caesar belonged. To a certain extent, the authority of the deceased ruler, popular among the people, is transferred to Octavian, the adopted son of Caesar. In imitation of Greek sculptors, the statue of Augustus was painted, which, no doubt, gave the emperor’s appearance a special vitality.

During the Principate, Rome experienced a real construction boom: Augustus built a new forum - the Forum of Augustus, several basilicas, the Temple of Mars Ultor and many other buildings. The construction of the public baths of Agrippa, the Claudius aqueduct and the Theater of Marcellus - the only ancient theater preserved here - also dates back to this time.

Augustus, by his own admission, having accepted Rome as clay, left it as marble. Roman poetry and prose flourished - during the time of Augustus lived the famous connoisseur of art, the Etruscan Maecenas, and the three greatest poets of the “Golden Latin” - Virgil, Horace, Ovid.

The state order established by Augustus turned out to be stable. Augustus himself reigned prosperously until his death. Although he was naturally in poor health, he lived to be almost seventy-six years old and died on August 19, 14. His death was easy and quick.

Augustus is buried in Rome in a huge round mausoleum about ninety meters in diameter, which he built for himself and his family on the Campus Martius. After his death, Augustus was officially ranked among the gods. Ancient tradition considered the divine Augustus the happiest of all Roman emperors.

Arch of Titus

The sculpture of the Flavian period, created both in Rome and outside it, is a most interesting gallery of portraits. They are remarkable for their plastic power, some special power and completeness and, in addition, unprecedented pathosity. Reality gave rise to such a heroic sense of self, and its stamp can be found on such outstanding monuments of Roman art as the Arch of Titus.

Triumphal arches are typical of Rome and were erected there back in Republican times. They originate from ordinary gates that delimit space - this was a transition from “alien” to “one’s own.” It must be emphasized that for all ancient peoples such a boundary was associated with the boundary of “life” and “death”. Since the arch was a symbol of the sky among the Romans, the appearance of the commander’s appearance in it was perceived as a victory of light over darkness, life over death. Arches were usually erected in honor of military victories, but not only. By the 4th century AD there were 55 of them in Rome, and about 350 throughout the empire.

The Arch of Titus was installed on the site of the main entrance to the Golden House of Nero, which was demolished by the Flavians. The arch immortalized the victorious campaign in Judea and the plunder of the main shrine of Jerusalem - the Temple of Solomon.

Titus, the eldest son and heir of Vespasian, bore the same names as his father. He went down in history under the name Titus. Vespasian took him as co-ruler back in 71. From the year 79 after the death of his father, Titus ruled independently.

Titus is a very reasonable and prudent person, and managed to win universal love. However, in his youth he loved entertainment so much that there were fears that he might turn out to be a second Nero. But Titus was too smart to become the second Nero. Suetonius speaks of Titus this way:

“He shone with physical and mental virtues even in adolescence, and then, as he grew older, more and more: beautiful appearance, in which there was as much dignity as pleasantness; excellent strength, which was not hampered by either tall height or a slightly protruding belly; exceptional memory and, finally, abilities for almost all types of military and peaceful activities. He mastered horses and weapons perfectly; delivered speeches and composed poems in Latin and Greek willingly and easily, even without preparation; was so familiar with music that he sang and played the cithara skillfully and beautifully.”

Tacitus emphasized that Titus was characterized by innate charm and subtle courtesy. The emperor was very concerned that the people receive spectacles. Titus was attentive to people and tried, if possible, to satisfy the requests of petitioners, showing great goodwill. “One day at dinner he remembered that he had not done anything good to anyone all day, and uttered his famous words, memorable and praiseworthy: “My friends, I have lost a day!”

Titus continued the construction in Rome begun by his father. Thus, under his watch, the restoration of two water pipelines built by Emperor Claudius in 52 was completed.

The double arch of these aqueducts has been preserved in Rome, on it there are three inscriptions, one of which is dedicated to Titus: “Emperor Titus Caesar Vespasian Augustus, son of the divine, Pontifex Maximus, invested with the power of tribune of the people for the 10th time, emperor for the 17th time, father fatherland, censor, consul for the 8th time, the aqueducts of the Curtians and Ceruleans, carried out by the divine Claudius and subsequently restored for the city by the divine Vespasian, his father, took care at his own expense to restore them in a new form, since they had collapsed to the ground for a long time, starting from the water sources themselves."

Alas, Titus' independent reign was not happy. It didn't last long either. He reigned for two years, two months and twenty days, and during this short period three very major natural disasters occurred: the eruption of Vesuvius, which killed Pompeii and other cities, a fire in Rome that raged for three days and three nights, and a terrible epidemic plague

“In the midst of all these worries, death overtook Titus, striking with its blow not so much him as all of humanity,” wrote Suetonius. Titus died on September 13, 81 at the age of forty-one and was deified. After the death of the emperor, in the same year, a triumphal arch was erected in his honor at the Forum, which has survived to this day.

The Arch of Titus is one of the best triumphal arches in Rome. It served as a monumental pedestal for a bronze statue of the emperor crowned by the goddess of victory Victoria.

Outwardly, it is strict and could seem modest if not for the remarkable solemnity of its proportions and architectural divisions. There is almost no sculpture on the facade, except for two symmetrical Victorias above the archivolt and the figure of the goddess of fortune Fortuna on the keystone. The reliefs are placed inside, in the passage - one on each side. They depict the triumphal entry of Titus into Rome: he stands in the quadriga, like a god, motionless towering over a noisy crowd of legionnaires. The goddess Roma herself leads him to the city. They carry trophies - poles with tables on which the names of the conquered cities are indicated, a golden table with silver pipes and a golden seven-branched candelabra from the Temple of Solomon.

The arch is richly decorated with complex compositions and decorative ornaments, and some of the reliefs were restored in the 19th century. It is interesting that the main reliefs telling about the imperial triumph are placed in a somewhat unexpected place - in the arched doorway. On one side, Titus himself is depicted on a ceremonial imperial chariot drawn by four horses, surrounded by his legionnaires and comrades. The winged goddess of victory crowns the winner with a laurel wreath (however, not preserved); the figures of the characters are full of life and movement. The triumphal procession does not pass before the viewer in a monotonous (not to say dull) line, as in the frieze of the Altar of Peace, but rushes obliquely beyond the walls, into the surrounding space.

On the other side, in the span of the Arch of Titus, soldiers of his army are placed, carrying through the very arch, on the inside of which this scene is depicted, the trophies they looted from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. With side light falling into the arched span, you can feel the spirit of military triumph, joining the noisy crowd of legionnaires. The enthusiasm that reigns here after victory creates an amazing illusion of life. These are no longer those extras on the altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus and the official figures of the “Altar of Peace” of Augustus, these are full-blooded, living participants in the triumphal procession.

In the center of the composition, surrounded by the standards of the legions that took part in the war, there is a large seven-branched manorah (menorah) - the main relic captured by Titus in Judea, while the arch itself, into which the soldiers pass, is depicted on a smaller scale than in reality - otherwise it would be the relief simply wouldn’t fit. It is known that the Romans in this era still painted, following the example of the Greeks, their sculptures and covered individual parts with gold, which gave the reliefs a special expressiveness.

In the center of the arched vault, among deep caissons - recessed niches - with luscious rosettes flickering in them, the apotheosis of Titus, deified after the death, is depicted. Once upon a time, in the attic of the arch, where the internal staircase led, there was an urn with the ashes of the emperor. Thus, the arch was a kind of mausoleum.

The inscription on the arch cannot be ignored. Inscriptions in Rome, as a rule, accompany images; there is always a word next to the image. Often it is even in the foreground - the Romans still trusted the word more than the image. However, the art of Rome most resembles the diary of its history, that is, the speech about which Alexander Blok aptly said: “The solemn copper of Latin.”

On the facade of the Arch of Titus is inscribed: “The Senate and people of Rome to Titus Vespasian Augustus, son of the divine Vespasian.”

Trajan's Column

A new era in Roman art opened with the arrival of Emperor Ulpius Trajan, a native of Spain. Trajan began his career as a simple legionnaire; he fought continuous wars: in Dacia - on the territory of modern Romania, in northern Arabia, in Parthia. Enormous production, however, could not compensate for the impoverishment

Italy, the ruin of its farmers. Under Trajan, the Senate became stronger, with which the emperor sought not to enter into conflicts, and the entire orientation of culture became republican.

In 100 AD, Pliny the Younger wrote in a eulogy to Trajan: “Let us in no case give him praise as any god or idol, for we are not talking about a tyrant, but about a citizen, not about a ruler, but about a father.” However, here the image turned out to be more precise than the words.

On the marble portrait of Trajan from Ostia, the brilliant hand of the master leaves in every feature the stamp of enormous intelligence, will, and fortitude. The old veteran, as Trajan was often portrayed, turns into an emperor, a ruler - and neither the external simplicity of the style nor the imaginary return to the outward modesty of the Republicans (a short hairstyle with bangs is typical). One can say something completely different: never before has the image of an emperor risen to such a height. But Rome was never as powerful as under Trajan. Under him, it acquired the most extensive borders in its history. Subsequently, they could only be retained and preserved, but not expanded.

Trajan built a lot. It is possible that two beautiful bridges in Spain were built during his time - the aqueduct in Segovia and the bridge in Alcantara. These bridges, very proportional, based on precise engineering calculations, despite their severity, are covered with poetry and a subtle sense of nature. Near the bridge in Alcantara, a temple and a fragment of the architect’s inscription were found: “The bridge that will always remain in the centuries of constant peace, Lazer erected over the river, famous for his art.”

But in Rome itself, the best monument of Trajan's era remained his Forum - the last imperial forum. It was built according to the design of an outstanding architect, judging by the name, a Syrian - Apollodorus of Damascus.

Trajan's Forum is strikingly different from the old Roman one. Officially strict, symmetrical, ceremonial, it glorified the military exploits of the emperor. The Forum was entered through triumphal arch, which immediately set one in a solemn mood, and they found themselves in a square courtyard surrounded by a colonnade. In its center stood a gilded equestrian statue of the emperor. There was not a piece of bare ground covered with grass: the entire courtyard was paved with beautiful mosaics of precious marble. At the rear, the square was closed not by a simple portico, but by the side wall of the Basilica Ulpia. There was no temple in honor of the highest gods in the Forum. Trajan himself was revered as a god. Statues of captive Dacians, in the form of Atlanteans, among bronze shields, weapons and other trophies, reminded of the unearthly greatness of the ruler of Rome.

The column dedicated to him, built in 113, also reminded of this. Its top with a gilded eagle, later replaced by a six-meter statue of Trajan, and colored reliefs could be seen above the gilded roof of the basilica between the buildings of two libraries - Latin and Greek. The column, the ancient image of the “world axis”, is separated from the walls and faces the forum. The Roman ruler is the axis on which the world rests - a powerful, motley, multilingual empire.

Like the Arch of Titus, Trajan's Column was also a tomb - in its Base stood a golden urn with his ashes, and his tombstone, and the chronicle of his era. A scroll with a story about two campaigns in Dacia curled along it to a height of 38 meters.

Trajan appears on the column 90 times, and everywhere he is in the midst of the people. The Column is a detailed and accurate account of the emperor's military exploits. On a frieze spiraling around the trunk of a large triumphal column, like on a giant ribbon, episodes of two military campaigns to conquer Dacia are successively presented. Over two and a half thousand figures are placed on the long, two-hundred-meter tape. The continuity of the story about the events of the first and second wars in Dacia is broken by a single pause - the figure of a winged Victory with a shield on which she writes the name of the winner. This is a repetition of the Victory theme from Brescia, performed shortly before. If the Greek Nike was a winged genius, a messenger of the favor of the gods, then the Roman Victory was depicted as a pensive, writing woman. It is History itself, noting the facts and preserving the memory of them for posterity.

The sculptor depicts the events of the war without dividing them into episodes, without focusing on the climactic moments. Perhaps he does not have a definite plan, and he depicts what happened as it comes to his mind. On the high cylindrical trunk of the column, symbolizing the strength and greatness of the empire, a lively, but not sharp movement of light and shadow unfolds. Events only slightly disturb the motionless surface of the imperturbable surface of history. Focusing too closely on individual figures might have slowed the narrative down. The artist’s intentions, apparently, were precisely not to distract the viewer’s attention to details, in order to make immediately clear the real meaning of this war diary, through which the red thread runs not so much the theme of military glory as the endless succession of days with their torment and hope.

Generalized plasticity meets the requirements of psychological rather than visual perception: after all, it takes a lot of time to view the column. The wave-like movement of the edges of the relief strip follows the course of episodes subordinate to each other. It is both earth for those depicted above and heaven for events depicted below. The sculptor relentlessly monitors their continuous movement, which determines spatial and light constants. The narrative, in turn, develops in waves. It speeds up and slows down, but never stops. Despite its triumphant character, it spares no one. Victories and failures, the cruelty of the barbarians and the violence of the Romans are equally reflected in it. The artist’s goal is not to depict what he has seen or is seeing, but what he knows or has heard about.

His space never appears in the form of a landscape, captured in all its diversity and variegation. It is simply a place where certain events take place. It is important for the viewer to know that in front of the legions there is a river that needs to be forded, that further on there is a fortress that needs to be taken, or a forest that needs to be cut down to make a palisade for the camp. But the sculptor depicts not the flow of the river or its banks, but a wave sweeping the legionnaires, not a fortress, but part of the wall from which the besieged look at the attackers. Conventional proportions are no longer needed here. For plausibility, the assault on the fortress should have been depicted with a high wall, with figures swarming at its foot and looking out from above. The sculptor neglects true proportions and depicts the wall in the form of a fence slightly higher than the figures themselves. The combatants look like giants compared to her, because their role in the narrative is much more important.

Light is also made dependent on the narrative: as if the beam of a flashlight glides over the surface of the figures, picking out or smoothing out certain details. In any sculpture (especially if it should be under open air) the degree of illumination depends on weather conditions, inclination and surface reflectivity. By processing the surface in one way or another (giving it smoothness, roughness, unevenness, etc.), the sculptor determines its ability to receive, absorb, direct, reflect or scatter light, that is, he does work similar to what an artist does with paints . The element of colorism, although not expressed in colorful diversity, is thus included in the plastic structure of the form. Such, including coloristic, identification of the image becomes all the more necessary because the artist does not represent visual reality, but conveys the story he heard in visual images. At the same time, he uses all the rich experience of working from life in Hellenistic art, not because it helps him to see, but because it helps to make the depicted facts visual and increase their intelligibility.

Who was this first outstanding master of ancient Roman sculpture and where did he come from? He was clearly not a Roman, and he did not come from Greece or Asia Minor, where many of the craftsmen who worked in Rome came from. R. Bianchi Bandinelli, who recreated the image of this master, gave a deep analysis of the atmosphere permeating the artistic history of the era of Trajan created by him. “A new and highly poetic feature of this narrative was the human, almost folk, so to speak, compassion for the vanquished, the understanding of the misfortune that befell them, for they are most sympathized with by the artist himself - who achieved the greatest perfection and novelty precisely in the scenes of carrying and mourning the killed or wounded leaders of the barbarians , as well as the flight of the population expelled from their homes and homes.”

“In the time of Trajan,” emphasizes the same Bianchi Bandinelli, “the great artist, who inherited the best traditions of Hellenistic art, absorbs and melts in the crucible of his artistic searches some features of ancient Roman provincial art and creates a new artistic language, which we identify with the most typical manifestations of art of that time and which must have represented, on the one hand, the end of more than a century of painful quest, and on the other, the beginning of a new period. This period, different from the previous one, was called late antique in the history of Ancient Rome. This name usually denotes art that began at the end of the 2nd century AD and lasted until the era of Emperor Constantine and even later. The monument inaugurating this late period is the Antoninus Column. But the Antoninus Column traces its origin directly to Trajan’s Column, and it can rightfully be considered a monument heralding the beginning of the late antique period in the history of Ancient Rome.”

In essence, the democracy and republican ideals of Trajan’s time were also a semblance, a shell. Trajan did not rely on the people as such, but mainly on the army. Both his Forum and the column clearly say that in the person of Trajan, the ruler of Rome sharply elevated himself above the rest, created around himself an aura of invincible, divine power. But his strength was not a megalomaniac like Nero’s, but the strength of a far-sighted and wise commander.

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 AD. BC e. . (year of death of Eumenes). Other options place the start of construction at a later date late 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... We, three happy people, stood deeply shocked around the precious find until I sat down on the slab and relieved my soul with large tears of joy.”

Karl Human

In the 19th century The Turkish government invited German specialists to build roads: from to gg. The engineer Karl Human was involved in work in Asia Minor. 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. In 1954, the altar became available to visitors. The high reliefs were placed around the perimeter of the former stables in the building of the Small Hermitage. .

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 staircase made of marble, 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.

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.”

The most famous reliefs

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 Alkyoneus 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 Athens school Phidias, and some belonged to the local Pergamon style, the whole 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 regarding the extent to which 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 consideration of what was agreed before the smallest details frieze it becomes obvious 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 would be worth 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 height, many giants have snakes instead of legs. The relief shows those taking part in the battle huge snakes And beasts of prey. 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 balance 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, compared to 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 eyebrows 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 of Telephus, 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. It is smaller in size, its 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. Thus, the idealized pose and beauty of Apollo are reminiscent of the classical statue by the sculptor Leochares, known in ancient times, created 150 years before the Pergamon frieze and preserved to this day in the Roman copy of Apollo Belvedere. The main sculptural group - Zeus and Athena - resembles, in the way the fighting figures diverge, the image of the duel between Athena and Poseidon on the western pediment of the Parthenon. (These references are not accidental, because Pergamum saw itself as the new Athens). .

The frieze itself influenced later ancient work. The most famous example is the sculptural group "Laocoon", which, as Bernard Andre proved, was created twenty years later than the Pergamon high relief. The authors of the sculptural group worked directly in the tradition of the creators of the altar frieze and may even have participated in the work on it.

Perception in the 20th century

Perhaps the most obvious example of the reception of an altar was the building of the museum built for the Pergamon Altar. The building, designed by Alfred Messel in the -1930s, is a giant copy of the altar façade.

The use of the Pergamon Altar in the campaign to nominate Berlin as the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics caused discontent among the press and the population. The Berlin Senate invited members of the International Olympic Committee to a gala dinner in the artistic frame of the Pergamon Altar. Such a dinner at the Pergamon Altar had already taken place on the eve of the 1936 Olympic Games, to which the members of the Olympic Committee were invited by the Minister of the Interior of National Socialist Germany, Wilhelm Frick.

It is also mentioned that when creating the Lenin Mausoleum, A.V. Shchusev was guided by the shapes of not only the pyramid of Djoser and the tomb of Cyrus, but also the Pergamon Altar

), 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 AD. 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... We, three happy people, stood deeply shocked around the precious find until I sat down on the slab and relieved my soul with large tears of joy.”

Karl Humann

In the 19th century The Turkish government invited German specialists to build roads: from to gg. The engineer Karl Humann was engaged in work in Asia Minor. 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. Humann 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

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 staircase made of marble, 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.

General view of the western façade of the altar.
Exhibition at the Pergamon Museum

Reconstruction plan of the Pergamon altar. The dotted line separates the western facade, the reconstruction of which can be seen in the museum, and what was not restored

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.”

The most famous reliefs

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 Alkyoneus 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 regarding the extent to which 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 would be worth 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, compared to 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 eyebrows 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 of Telephus, 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. It is smaller in size, its 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. Thus, the idealized pose and beauty of Apollo are reminiscent of the classical statue by the sculptor Leochares, known in ancient times, created 150 years before the Pergamon frieze and preserved to this day in the Roman copy of Apollo Belvedere. The main sculptural group - Zeus and Athena - resembles, in the way the fighting figures diverge, the image of the duel between Athena and Poseidon on the western pediment of the Parthenon. (These references are not accidental, because Pergamum saw itself as the new Athens). .

"Laocoon"

The frieze itself influenced later ancient work. The most famous example is the sculptural group "Laocoon", which, as Bernard Andre proved, was created twenty years later than the Pergamon high relief. The authors of the sculptural group worked directly in the tradition of the creators of the altar frieze and may even have participated in the work on it.

Perception in the 20th century

Perhaps the most obvious example of the reception of an altar was the building of the museum built for the Pergamon Altar. The building, designed by Alfred Messel in - gg., is a giant copy of the façade of the altar.

The use of the Pergamon Altar in the campaign to nominate Berlin as the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics caused discontent among the press and the population. The Berlin Senate invited members of the International Olympic Committee to a gala dinner in the artistic frame of the Pergamon Altar. Such a dinner at the Pergamon Altar had already taken place on the eve of the 1936 Olympic Games, to which the members of the Olympic Committee were invited by the Minister of the Interior of National Socialist Germany, Wilhelm Frick. .

It is also mentioned that when creating the Lenin Mausoleum, Shchusev was guided by the shapes of not only the pyramid of Djoser and the tomb of Cyrus, but also the Pergamon Altar.

Notes

1. Pausanias, 5,13,8.
2. Steven J. Friesen. Satan’s Throne, Imperial Cults and the Social Settings of Revelation // Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 27.3, 2005. P. 351-373
3. Ch. 2. Revelation // Explanatory Bible / Ed. A. P. Lopukhina
4. Pergamon without an altar Around the world No. 8 (2599) | August 1990
5. Karl Humann. Pergamon Altar