LATE 19TH CENTURY, AFTER THE ANTIQUE

The Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, now known as the Pergamon Altar, was built during the reign of King Eumenes II during the first half of the 2nd Century BCE on the Acropolis of the Pergamene capital Pergamon. It signified the kingdom’s maturation as a center of Greek culture. The high relief sculptures on the base's exterior depicted the battle between the Olympian gods and the Giants known as the Gigantomachy. The interior frieze depicted the Life of Telephus, legendary founder of Pergamene.

In 1878, German engineer Carl Humann began excavation of the Pergamon Acropolis and later received permission from the Turkish government to move the frieze fragments to Berlin and eventually to Berlin’s Museum Island.