Zeus and the Giants Fragment Reduction and Restoration - Item #532

 

9.5 Inches High x 6.75 Inches Wide x 2 Inches Deep

This depiction of Zeus is from a larger fragment (Zeus and the Giants Reduction and Restoration - Item #12). P.P. Caproni and Brother made a reduction and restoration of a section of the frieze from the Altar of Zeus, which is not intact. The restoration realizes the intended design as determined by art historians. The section depicts mighty Zeus, king of the Gods, fighting the Giants. Zeus is seen hurling a thunderbolt at a serpent-legged Porphyrion (far right) while two other giants are falling to the ground upon being struck by Zeus. Zeus's mighty eagle is seen at his left hand. The Altar of Zeus once stood in the ancient Greek city of Pergamon in what is now Turkey. The sculptures from the Altar that are still extant are in its reconstruction at the Pergamon Museum.

 

Artist: Unknown

Museum: Pergamon Museum, Berlin

Origin: The Great Altar of Zeus, Pergamon

Time Period: Ancient Greek - Hellenistic, 166-156 B.C.E.

 

Sources and Further Reading:

Collins, Neil. "Altar of Zeus: Pergamon." Art Encyclopedia. Visual-arts-cork.com, 2017, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/antiquity/pergamon-altar.htm.

"Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, Giant." Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases. University of Cambridge, UK, http://museum.classics.cam.ac.uk/collections/casts/great-altar-zeus-pergamon-giant. 

Harris, Beth, and Steven Zucker. "Great Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon (video)." Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/ancient-mediterranean-ap/greece-etruria-rome/v/the-pergamon-altar-c-200-150-b-c-e.