A deliberate connection was also made with Athens, whose ear-
lier defeat of the Persians was by then legendary, and with the
Parthenon, which already was recognized as a Classical monument—
in both senses of the word. The figure of Athena (FIG. 5-79), for ex-
ample, is a variation of the Athena from the Parthenon’s east pedi-
ment. While Ge, the earth goddess and mother of all the giants,
emerges from the ground and looks on with horror, Athena grabs the
hair of the giant Alkyoneos as Nike flies in to crown her. Zeus himself
(not illustrated) was based on the Poseidon of the west pediment. But
the Pergamene frieze is not a dry series of borrowed motifs. On the
contrary, its tumultuous narrative has an emotional intensity that has
no parallel in earlier sculpture. The battle rages everywhere, even up
and down the very steps one must ascend to reach Zeus’s altar (FIG.
5-78). Violent movement, swirling draperies, and vivid depictions of
death and suffering are the norm. Wounded figures writhe in pain,
and their faces reveal their anguish. When Zeus hurls his thunderbolt,
one can almost hear the thunderclap. Deep carving creates dark shad-
ows. The figures project from the background like bursts of light.
These features have been justly termed “baroque” and reappear in
17th-century European sculpture (see Chapter 24). One can hardly
imagine a greater contrast than between the Pergamene gigantomachy
frieze and that of the Archaic Siphnian Treasury (FIG. 5-19) at Delphi.
DYING GAULS On the Altar of Zeus, sculptors presented the
victory of Attalos I over the Gauls in mythological disguise. An earlier
Pergamene statuary group explicitly represented the defeat of the
barbarians. Roman copies of some of these figures survive. The
sculptor carefully studied and reproduced the distinctive features of
the foreign Gauls, most notably their long, bushy hair and mustaches
and the torques (neck bands) they frequently wore. The Pergamene
victors were apparently not included in the group. The viewer saw
only their foes and their noble and moving response to defeat.
In what was probably the centerpiece of the Attalid group, a heroic
Gallic chieftain (FIG. 5-80) defiantly drives a sword into his own chest
just below the collarbone, preferring suicide to surrender. He already
has taken the life of his wife, who, if captured, would have been sold as
a slave. In the best Lysippan tradition, the group can be fully appreci-
148 Chapter 5 ANCIENT GREECE
5-79Athena battling Alkyoneos,
detail of the gigantomachy frieze,
from the Altar of Zeus, Pergamon,
Turkey, ca. 175 bce.Marble,
7 6 high. Staatliche Museen,
Berlin.
The tumultuous battle scenes of the
Pergamon altar have an emotional
power unparalleled in earlier Greek
art. Violent movement, swirling
draperies, and vivid depictions
of suffering fill the frieze.
5-80Epigonos(?),Gallic chieftain killing himself and his wife.
Roman marble copy of a bronze original of ca. 230–220 bce, 6 11 high.
Museo Nazionale Romano–Palazzo Altemps, Rome.
The defeat of the Gauls was also the subject of Pergamene statuary
groups. The centerpiece of one group was a Gallic chieftain committing
suicide after taking his wife’s life. He preferred death to surrender.1 ft.1 ft.