2020 IB Extended Essays

9

Art Analysis

Analysis on the key Friezes ‘The Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon’ by Eumenes II (197-

159BCE)

Figure 7: ‘The Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon’ by Eumenes II (197-159 BCE). Reconstructed, Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities.

The Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon’ by Eumenes II, features a 370 foot-long marble

frieze, described as Mixture of myth, melodrama and allegory (Nicholas Ward Jackson

1995). It depicts the battle between the Olympian Gods and Giants over supremacy of

Earth and the universe. This piece is known as the ‘climax’ of Greek art during the

Hellenistic Period. Encompassing all techniques and ideals favoured in late Hellenistic

art; realistic representations in the modelling, placement, composition and expression of

human emotion evident throughout the reconstructed friezes surrounding the altar. Built

on the terraces of the citadel, it consisted of an Ionic portico with two projecting sides set

with friezes of high relief. The story of gods and giants was very important to the Greeks,

the altar represented symbols that eluded to the Greek’s fear and optimism that they