Athena-gruppen. Athena, Alkyoneus, Ge og Nike

The altar was built to commemorate King Eumenes II’s victory over the Celtic Galatians and other tribes. The sides of the altar show a merciless struggle between gods and giants. We see Athena holding the giant Alcyneus by the hair while she commands a snake to bite the terrified giant’s exposed throat. The giant’s mother Ge, Mother Earth herself, watches helplessly on the other side of Athena, and the goddess of victory, Nike, is already on her way to pay homage to the winner. German archaeologists excavated the altar from 1878 onwards and brought all their finds back with them to Germany where the altar still resides today in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Its figures may have been executed by the same artists who created the Laocoön group (no. 17 in this guide). The Bible makes a reference to the altar (Revelations 2:13), describing it as the “Throne of Satan”. Adolf Hitler’s architect, Albert Speer, incorporated several features of the altar in the “Zeppelin Tribune” in Nuremberg.