Der Pergamonaltar

Narrative Struktur und herrschaftliche Ideologie

Abstract

This article discusses the conception of the Pergamon Altar as an expression of the Attalid conception of kingship under king Eumenes II. The analysis focuses on the complex relationship between the architecture and the monument´s two extensive relief friezes. Based of Andreas Scholl's recent interpretation of the Pergamon Altar as a ›palace of Zeus‹ and by analogy with comparable pictorial and literary works, I argue that from a narratological perspective the Telephos frieze was conceived as a picture within a picture. The depictions from the life of the Pergamene hero thus illustrated events that were still to come at the time of the Gigantomachy that unfurled along the sides of the monument. Based on this narratological analysis I focus on possible implications for the political interpretation of the monument as a whole. Regarding the two distinct themes of the Gigantomachy and the Telephos frieze it becomes obvious that two different sources of legitimation of authority were deliberately placed in a dialectical relationship to one another: while the Gigantomachy alluded to the charismatic legitimation of Attalid kingship, the Telephos frieze referred to the dynasty´s traditional legitimation. The narrative structure inherent in the monument thus reflects a complex strategy of legitimation, which can be understood as an expression of ›Hellenistic ideology of rulership‹.