place

Pergamon Altar

2nd-century BC religious buildings and structuresAgamemnonAltarsArchaeological discoveries in TurkeyBergama
Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century BCClassical sculptures in the Staatliche Museen zu BerlinCollection of the Istanbul Archaeology MuseumsGigantesGreek temples by deityHellenistic architectureMarble buildingsPergamene sculpture
Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Pergamon Museum in Berlin

The Pergamon Altar (Ancient Greek: Βωμός τῆς Περγάμου) was a monumental construction built during the reign of the Ancient Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of Pergamon in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). The structure was 35.74 metres (116' 31/32") wide and 33.4 metres (109' 6 5/8") deep; the front stairway alone was almost 20 metres (65' 11/16") wide. The base was decorated with a frieze in high relief showing the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods known as the Gigantomachy. There was a second, smaller and less well-preserved high relief frieze on the inner court walls which surrounded the actual fire altar on the upper level of the structure at the top of the stairs. In a set of consecutive scenes, it depicts events from the life of Telephus, legendary founder of the city of Pergamon and son of the hero Heracles and Auge, one of Tegean king Aleus's daughters. In 1878, the German engineer Carl Humann started official excavations on the acropolis of Pergamon, an effort that lasted until 1886. The relief panels from the Pergamon Altar were subsequently transferred to Berlin, where they were placed on display in the Pergamon Museum.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Pergamon Altar (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Pergamon Altar
Çulha Sokak,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Pergamon AltarContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 39.131051 ° E 27.183931 °
placeShow on map

Address

Pergamon

Çulha Sokak
35700 , Atmaca Mahallesi
Turkey
mapOpen on Google Maps

Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Share experience

Nearby Places

Red Basilica
Red Basilica

The "Red Basilica" (Turkish: Kızıl Avlu), also called variously the Red Hall and Red Courtyard, is a monumental ruined temple in the ancient city of Pergamon, now Bergama, in western Turkey. The temple was built during the Roman Empire, probably in the time of Hadrian and possibly on his orders. It is one of the largest Roman structures still surviving in the ancient Greek world. The temple is thought to have been used for the worship of Egyptian gods – specifically Isis and/or Serapis, and possibly also Osiris, Harpocrates and other lesser gods, who may have been worshipped in a pair of drum-shaped rotundas, both of which are virtually intact, alongside the main temple. Although the building itself is of an immense size, it was only one part of a much larger sacred complex, surrounded by high walls, that dwarfed even the colossal Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek. The entire complex was built directly over the River Selinus in a remarkable feat of engineering that involved the construction of an immense bridge 196 metres (643 ft) wide to channel the river through two channels under the temple. The Pergamon Bridge still stands today, supporting modern buildings and even vehicle traffic. A series of tunnels and chambers lies under the main temple, connecting it with the side rotundas and giving private access to different areas of the complex. Various drains, water channels and basins are located in, around and under the main temple and may have been used for symbolic reenactments of the flooding of the Nile. The temple was converted by the Romans into a Christian church dedicated to St John but was subsequently destroyed. Today the ruins of the main temple and one of the side rotundas can be visited, while the other side rotunda is still in use as a small mosque.