{"id":4757,"date":"2017-03-13T16:29:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T16:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/?p=4757"},"modified":"2017-03-13T16:29:51","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T16:29:51","slug":"the-altar-of-zeus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/cities\/pergamon\/the-altar-of-zeus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Altar of Zeus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Altar of Zeus<\/strong> stood on a large terrace<\/strong> measuring 36.44 x 34.20 meters<\/strong>, and is the largest known Greek altar<\/strong>.
\nOnly a few traces remain on-site today: the altar was completely rebuilt<\/strong>, complete with its original reliefs, at Berlin\u2019s Pergamon Museum in 1959.<\/strong>
\nA high raised base set atop five steps<\/strong>, over another tall base and with projecting cornices, it is decorated in high relief with scenes depicting the Gigantomachy<\/strong>, the mythological battle<\/strong> between the gods<\/strong> and the giants<\/strong>, the symbol of the victory of the Attalid<\/strong> kings over the Galatians<\/strong>, the victory of civilization over barbarity.
\nIt thus had the same political-celebratory<\/strong> nature as the temenos of Athena<\/strong>. The raised base, on the western side, forms two avant-corps delimiting a large 20-meter<\/strong> staircase<\/strong> leading to a paved courtyard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On the raised base and in front of the staircase runs an elegant Ionic colonnade<\/strong>, the back wall of which is adorned with a frieze depicting scenes from the life of Telephus<\/strong>, the hero who founded Pergamon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Photo credits by Carole Raddato<\/a> under CC-BY-SA-2.0<\/p>\n

The altar was dedicated by King Eumenes II to Zeus and Athena<\/strong> Nikephoros<\/strong>, and its construction probably took place between 181 and 159 B.C<\/strong>.; it was almost entirely completed when the plan was changed and it was decided to build a high podium around the portico wall<\/strong>, almost 100 meters long, to receive votive offerings.
\nThe frieze with the Gigantomachy<\/strong> was made up of more than 100 slabs<\/strong>: numerous sculptors took part in its making, but the composition is unitary and this is certainly thanks to a single supervising mastermind who conceived the epic battle between the gods and the giants as a cosmic event in which all the creatures of the sky, earth, sea, and Olympus<\/strong> take part.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Ephesus<\/div>\n

Do you want to know more about the history of\u00a0Ephesus and Pergamon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out our guidebook to Ephesus and Pergamon<\/a>, with detailed history and Past & Present images of their greatest historical and archaeological sites.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out our Guide Book to Ephesus and Pergamon<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

How to get to The Altar of Zeus, Pergamon<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Altar of Zeus stood on a large terrace measuring 36.44 x 34.20 meters, and is the largest known Greek altar. Only a few traces remain on-site today: the altar was completely rebuilt, complete with its original reliefs, at Berlin\u2019s Pergamon Museum in 1959. A high raised base set atop five steps, over another tall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[183,201],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4757"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4761,"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions\/4761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visionpubl.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}