Faculty of Classics - University of Cambridge

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Herakles finding Telephus

This is part of the smaller relief that decorated the Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, in western Turkey. The altar was built by King Eumenes II, between 180 and 159 BCE.

Telephus was revered by the inhabitants of Pergamon as the mythical founder of their city. He was the son of Herakles and Auge, and as a child was abandoned on a mountain where he was suckled by a doe. There are various versions of the myth, but that scene is depicted here, with Herakles rescuing his son

Material: 
Marble
Location of Original: 

Berlin, Pergamon Museum

Size: 
1.08m
Accession: 

Purchased in 1884 from Berlin Museum

References: 

Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 357, pl. 129.2
Winnefeld: Pergamon III.2 (1910), 170, pl. 31.6
Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler Griechischer und Römischer Skulptur, pl. 485
Reporter: 19 June 1885, 894, no.490

Date: 
Early C2 BCE
Provenance: 

Found on site at Pergamon

Number: 
383

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