The Pergamon Altar (Ancient Greek: Βωμός τῆς Περγάμου) is a monumental construction built during the reign of king Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BCE on one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Pergamon in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.

1. Pergamon Altar Live version of this article
By the Editors of the Madain Project
The Pergamon Altar (Ancient Greek: Βωμός τῆς Περγάμου) is a monumental
construction built during the reign of king Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd
century BCE on one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of
Pergamon in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.
Overview
The structure is 35.64 meters (116' 31/32") wide and 33.4 meters (109' 6 5/8")
deep; the front stairway alone is almost 20 meters (65' 11/16") wide. The base is
decorated with a frieze in high relief showing the battle between the Giants and
the Olympian gods known as the Gigantomachy.
In 1878, the German engineer Carl Humann started official excavations on the
acropolis of Pergamon, an effort that lasted until 1886.
The Great Altar of Pergamon, dedicated to Zeus and Athena, was ornamented
on its vast sockel with reliefs depicting the struggle of the Olympian gods and the
subterranean powers. It was built by Eumenes II (197-159 BCE) in
commemoration of his victory over the Gauls in 190 BCE. The altar, ascended by
means of a stairway on its western side, enclosed an offering table within a
raised court bounded on three sides by colonnaded enclosure wall which itself

2. was ornamented on the inside with reliefs depicting the legend of Telephus, the
son of Heracles and Auge and forefather of the Pergamene royal family.
Foundation Remains
circa 130 BCE

3. The foundations Of The Great Altar Of Zeus as they stand today, the altar
itself is in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin; Pergamum, Turkey.
In Byzantine times, the temple was neglected and eventually dismantled.
Fragments of marble from the altar were built into the Byzantine defensive
walls.
In 1871, the Zeus Altar was rediscovered by the German engineer Carl
Humann, who took it back to his home country. It is now exhibited at the
Pergamon Museum in Berlin. The Turkish government is in the process of
trying to get the artifact back from Germany.

4. Gallery

7. Notes
​ Initially, the Ottoman government wanted to share the finds (2/3 to Germany 1/3 to Turkey),
but in negotiations which took place 1878/79, which were even influenced by Bismarck, an
agreement was concluded which allocated all finds to the German Empire for a payment of
20,000 goldmarks. It helped that the Ottoman Empire was at that time weak on the
domestic front and grateful for Bismarck's mediating role at the Congress of Berlin. See
Kunze, Kästner: Antikensammlung II, p. 30; Schaller: Pergamonaltar, col. 211.
​
​ Alexander Conze, quoted from Max Kunze, Volker Kästner: Antikensammlung II. Der Altar
von Pergamon. Hellenistische und römische Architektur. Henschelverlag, 2nd edition,
Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-362-00436-9.
​
​
​
​

8. ​
See Also
​ Pergamon Theatre
​
​ Seven Churches of the Apocalypse
​
​ Temple of Dionysus
​
​ Temple of Athena
​
​ Notable Exhibitions at the Pergamon Museum
​
​
References
​ Kahl, Brigitte. 2010. Galatians Re-Imagined: Reading with the Eyes of the Vanquished.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
​
​ On the use of the altar and possible ways of sacrificing see Max Kunze: Der
Pergamonaltar. Seine Geschichte, Entdeckung und Rekonstruktion. von Zabern, Mainz
1995, ISBN 3-8053-1468-X.
​
​ Dreyfus, Renée, and Ellen Schraudolph. 1996. Pergamon: The Telephos Frieze From the
Great Altar. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
​
​ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Antikensammlung (ed.): Die
Antikensammlung im Pergamonmuseum und in Charlottenburg. Also Antikensammlung
Berlin, von Zabern, Mainz 1992, ISBN 3-8053-1187-7.
​
​ Wolfgang Radt: Pergamon. Geschichte und Bauten einer antiken Metropole, Primus,
Darmstadt 1999.
​
​ Pollitt, J.J., Art in the Hellenstic Age (Cambridge 1986).
​

9. ​ Queyrel, François, L'Autel de Pergame. Images et pouvoir en Grèce d'Asie. Antiqua vol. 9.
Paris: Éditions A. et J. Picard, 2005. See Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2005.08.42.
​
​ Ridgway, B.S. 2000. Hellenistic Sculpture II. The Styles of ca. 200-100 BC, (Madison,
Wisconsin).
​
​ Bernard Andreae: Datierung und Bedeutung des Telephosfrieses im Zusammenhang mit
den übrigen Stiftungen der Ataliden von Pergamon, in: Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer (ed.): Der
Pergamonaltar. Die neue Präsentation nach Restaurierung des Telephosfrieses, Wasmuth,
Tübingen 1997.
​
​ Stewart, A. 2000. "Pergamon Ara Marmorea Magna. On the Date, Reconstruction, and
Functions of the Great Altar of Pergamon" in N. De Grummond and B.S. Ridgway, editors,
From Pergamon to Sperlonga: Sculpture and Context (Berkeley).
​
​ Hoffmann, Herbert, "Antecedents of the Great Altar at Pergamon" The Journal of the
Society of Architectural Historians 11.3 (October 1952.
​
​ De Grummond, Nancy Thomson, and Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway. 2000. 'From Pergamon
to Sperlonga: Sculpture and Context. Berkeley: University of California Press.
​
​ Bilsel, Can. 2012. Antiquity On Display: Regimes of the Authentic In Berlin's Pergamon
Museum. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
​
​ Pollitt, J. J. 2002. Art in the Hellenistic age. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge
Univ. Press.
​
​ Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo. 2000. Hellenistic sculpture. Vol. 2, The styles of ca. 200–100
B.C. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press.
​
​ Smith, R. R. 1991. Hellenistic sculpture: A handbook. World of Art. London and New York:
Thames & Hudson.