The Great Altar of Pergamon : the monument in its historical and cultural context
Since the day of its discovery (1878) the Great Altar of Pergamon has been evaluated for its aesthetic and stylistic contribution to Greek art. The aim of this thesis is to study the monument not merely from an art-historical point of view but within its historical and cultural context. The intention is to view the Pergamene monument as a characteristic example of the Hellenistic age and in relation to the Attalids as Hellenistic rulers. It is divided into five chapters. The first deals with the monument itself and the various theories regarding the date of its inception, the number of sculptor/s employed and the theories of interpretation so far suggested. The second chapter examines certain aspects of Attalid policies such as: military history and foreign relations, coinage, cults and festivals, ruler-cult, art and building programme, and finally patronage of learning. The third and fourth chapters deal with the friezes of the monument - the Gigantomachy and Telephos frieze respectively. They examine the iconographic tradition of the myths depicted, the current literature on the style of the friezes, some difficulties with currently accepted theories are noted and new theories advanced. The fifth and final
Faita, Antonia Stella
Greek art ; Iconography ; Hellenistic
The Great Altar of Pergamon : the monument in its historical and cultural context. Since the day of its discovery (1878) the Great Altar of Pergamon has been evaluated for its aesthetic and stylistic contribution to Greek art. The aim of this thesis is to study the monument not merely from an art-historical point of view but within its historical and cultural context. The intention is to view the Pergamene monument as a characteristic example of the Hellenistic age and in relation to the Attalids as Hellenistic rulers. It is divided into five chapters. The first deals with the monument itself and the various theories regarding the date of its inception, the number of sculptor/s employed and the theories of interpretation so far suggested. The second chapter examines certain aspects of Attalid policies such as: military history and foreign relations, coinage, cults and festivals, ruler-cult, art and building programme, and finally patronage of learning. The third and fourth chapters deal with the friezes of the monument - the Gigantomachy and Telephos frieze respectively. They examine the iconographic tradition of the myths depicted, the current literature on the style of the friezes, some difficulties with currently accepted theories are noted and new theories advanced. The fifth and final
great altar monument historical cultural_context since day discovery great altar evaluate aesthetic stylistic greek art aim_study monument merely art_historical point_view within historical cultural_context intention view monument characteristic example hellenistic age relation hellenistic ruler divide_five chapter first_deal monument various theory regard date inception number sculptor employed theory interpretation far suggest second_examines certain_aspect policy military history foreign relation coinage cults festival ruler cult art building programme finally patronage learning third_fourth deal monument respectively examine iconographic tradition myth depict current_literature style difficulty currently accept theory note new theory advance fifth final