During the Roman Imperial period the quarries belonged to the emperors. After this time marble was used in great quantites for building and sculpture in the city. Pergamon took control of Proconnesos at the end of the 3rd century BC, and its quarries became royal property. The expense of buying and transporting marble and limestone forced Pergamese builders to become very creative with less suitable local stone such as andesite (see gallery 1, page 5). Since Pergamon did not have local marble quarries, it imported the stone mainly from Proconnesos, Ephesus and Lesbos, and to a lesser extent from Hymettos (Athens) and Thassos. The finds indicate that parts for buildings were shipped from Proconnesos in a semi-finished state, to be completed at their destination. Underwater archaeological investigations of ancient sunken ships off the Black Sea and Aegean coasts of Turkey, such as at Kizilburun, have revealed cargoes of unfinished column parts and sculptures. Proconnesian marble was used for building and sculpture at many ancient sites in Greece and Anatolia, including Pergamon, Troy, Athens and Ephesus. The name Marmara is from the Greek word for marble (μάρμαρος, shining rock). Proconnesian marble was produced on the island of Proconnesos (Προκόννησος or Προικόνησος, Prokonnesos), today known as Marmara (Μαρμαρά), the largest island in the Propontis (the Sea of Marmara), north of Pergamon. Found in 1879 in the sanctuary of Poseidon, The gods allow the waters to retreat, and on the advice of Themis, daughter of Ouranos (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth), Deucalion and Pyrrha throw stones on the ground, from which grow a new human race.ĭetail of a small ceramic votive tablet (pinax) showing Poseidon "Virtuous and justice-loving" Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha are the only humans to survive the deluge, escaping in a small boat and landing on Mount Parnassos in Phocis (above Delphi). The waters wash away most living things, and those the sea spares, lacking food, are defeated by slow starvation." The sea in unchecked freedom has buried the hills, and fresh waves beat against the mountaintops. ![]() The boar has no use for his powerful tusks, the deer for its quick legs, both are swept away together, and the circling bird, after a long search for a place to land, falls on tired wings into the water. Wolves swim among the sheep, and the waves carry tigers and tawny lions. There are dolphins in the trees: disturbing the upper branches and stirring the oak-trees as they brush against them. The Nereids are astonished to see woodlands, houses and whole towns under the water. Where lately lean goats browsed shapeless seals play. Sometimes, by chance, an anchor embeds itself in a green meadow, or the curved boats graze the tops of vineyards. One man sails over his cornfields or over the roof of his drowned farmhouse, while another man fishes in the topmost branches of an elm. There one man escapes to a hilltop, while another seated in his rowing boat pulls the oars over places where lately he was ploughing. Any building that has stood firm, surviving the great disaster undamaged, still has its roof drowned by the highest waves, and its towers buried below the flood.Īnd now the land and sea are not distinct, all is the sea, the sea without a shore. Overflowing, the rivers rush across the open plains, sweeping away at the same time not just orchards, flocks, houses and human beings, but sacred temples and their contents. "Neptune himself strikes the ground with his trident, so that it trembles, and with that blow opens up channels for the waters. Although ancient writers did not shy away from describing the god's wrathful treatment of heroes such Odysseus, it seems that sculptors took no risks and preferred to present his grandeur.Īccording to Roman poet Ovid, it was Poseidon (known to the Romans as Neptune), who caused the Great Flood when his brother Zeus decided to destroy the first human race. In comparison to the pugilistic statue of "Athena with the cross-banded aegis" on gallery 2, page 13, this statue makes the cruel sea god and seismic earth-shaker Poseidon (Ποσειδῶν), brother of Zeus, look rather beneficent. ![]() The statue is now in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, along with many other archaeological finds from Pergamon. The god originally held a trident in his raised right hand and a dolphin in his left. The statue group decorated the roof (akroterion) of the altar. Found at the Great Altar of Zeus (the "Pergamon Altar" see gallery 2, page 23) among statues of tritons. ![]() This statue was made of Proconnesian marble around 160 BC, during the reign of Eumenes II (197-159 BC). Statue of Poseidon, circa 160 BC, from the Great Altar of Zeus. My Favourite Planet > English > Middle East > Turkey > Pergamon > gallery 2 Statue of Poseidon from Pergamon - My Favourite Planet
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