In one of the rooms of the Archaeological Museum in
Naples, I am confronted with a
group of statues lying on the floor. It looks like dead bodies that collapsed
on the spot. The label near the entrance reads Small Pergamese Votive Offering,
Roman copy of the 2nd century AD, from a Greek original of the 2nd century BC.
The scene makes me feel uncomfortable and I don’t know
what to think. It looks spooky. I don’t even realize the connection with the
site of Pergamon and if there is one I cannot tie it to anything.
The figures are a little less than life-size and
represent an Amazon, a Giant, a Dead Warrior, and a Wounded Gaul. More examples
of this group are, apparently, exhibited in the collections of the Vatican and Venice
in Italy, Paris
and Aix-en-Provence in France.
The statues fit the imposing reliefs of Gigantomachy
and Amazonomachy that surrounded the Altar of Zeus, created by Eumenes II in
Pergamon. This Votive Offering is a copy of the original that was placed along the
south wall of the Acropolis in Athens in 167-166 BC, probably by Attalus II.
They represent four battles, two mythical (the
Gigantomachy and the Amazonomachy) and two historical (the Battle of Marathon and the one against the Galatians). According to
recent research, discoveries near the Acropolis have led to believe that the
Athenian votives were originally made of bronze. They may even be copies of a
series located initially at Pergamon. The entire composition, which counted at
least 50 sculptures, was meant to celebrate the greatest epic battles between
gods and men, and the Pergamene victories over the Galatians, who were a
constant threat to the Attalid kingdom.
The Roman copies were based on the Athenian votives
and executed in marble. They portrayed only the victors rather than all the characters
from the Greek original, which raises the question of establishing the
historical circumstance of their creation. From the stylistic point of view,
the Neapolitan copies found in the Baths of Agrippa have been dated to the 2nd
century AD.
These votives have been leading a life of their own,
and it is not impossible that more of their history will be revealed in the
future.
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