Page 112
81 Section 3. BERLIN. W. Asiatic Antiquities.
The following are the more important groups and figures, beginning
at the steps and proceeding from left to right. On the Front: Dionysos.
On the Right Side: Various deities, including Cybele mounted on a lion,
in combat with a monster in the form of a bull; Selene on horseback;
Helios in floating drapery in his chariot; Aurora riding through the
heavens; a lion-headed giant being strangled by a youth; Phrebe and
her opponents; Asteria supported by a dog. On the Back: Bearded giant
in combat with the triple-headed Hecate; Artemis and the youthful Otos;
Tityos hard pressed by the torch of Leto; magnificent torso of Apollo
in the background. Further towards the end are the main groups: Zeus
destroying three opponents with thunderbolts, and Athena grasping Al-
kyoneus (son of Gaea, the earth-goddess) by the hair (the Alkyoneus is
interesting on account of the resemblance to the Laocoon). On the Left
Side: Castor defending himself against Idas; Nyx hurling a vessel en¬
circled by a serpent; a goddess, supposed to be Medusa, supported by a
lion. On the Front and on the adjacent side-wall of the staircase are marine
deities, including the fantastic form of Triton, and the mighty Oceanus.
On the platform at the top of the flight of steps stood the
sacrificial altar, which was surrounded by a low colonnade, with
elegant Ionic columns. The inner side of the rear-wall was decor¬
ated with the Telephos Frieze, 5 ft. in height, depicting the
history of Telephos, the mythical founder of Pergamon. The
numerous and in part uninterpreted fragments are exhibited on
the entrance-wall of the gangway (beginning beyond the corner to
the right of the entranee; inscriptions below the reliefs). — On the
other walls are other sculptures discovered at Pergamon, frag¬
ments of architecture, and inscriptions. A series of large Female
Figures is noteworthy, and still more so a beautiful ^Female Head
(opposite the E. wall of the altar, near the left corner), recalling
the Venus of Milo.
The Inner Court (closed), within the reconstructed large altar,
contains architectural fragments illustrating the more important
buildings. By the entrance-wall and rear-wall are fragments from
Pergamon (by the entrance-wall a fragment of the sacrificial altar
also); to the left, fragments from Magnesia; and to the right those
from Priene. Here too, opposite the entrance, is a large marble
copy from Pergamon of the statue of Athena Parthenos by Phidias.
— Outside the entrance to the Museum is a semicircular marble
bench from Pergamon.
The Collection of Antiquities from Western Asia is
exhibited in a separate building near the Pergamon Museum. Ad¬
mission on week-days 11-1.30, by application to the Director.
Ground Flook (mostly originals). To the left are Assyrian Alabaster
Slabs from the palaces of King Assur-Nasir-Pal (885-860 B.C.) and Sen¬
nacherib (705-681 B.C.) at Kalah and Nineveh (the modern Nimroud and
Kouyunjik), with reliefs of winged deities, kings, hunting and battle scenes,
and processions. Niche A: Early Babylonian inscriptions (ca. 3000 B.C.)
and statuettes; objects from S. Babylonian crematoria. Niche B: Baby¬
lonian , Assyrian, and Persian stone seals (the earliest in the shape of
cylinders); documental stone of the Babylonian King Merodachbaladan
(714). Niche C: Assyrian bell; monument to King Sargon (722-705),
from Cyprus. Niche D, in a case, Relief of Sennacherib and his favourite