The Pergamon Altar is one of the most monumental and celebrated architectural and sculptural achievements of the Hellenistic period. Commissioned by King Eumenes II of the Attalid dynasty around 170 BCE, it was erected on the Acropolis of Pergamon (modern-day Bergama in Izmir, Turkey) to celebrate the kingdom's military victories against the Galatians and to serve as a symbol of its cultural dominance.

The altar's defining feature is its massive 113-meter-long base frieze, which depicts the Gigantomachy—the mythological war between the Olympian gods and the Giants. The figures are carved in extremely high relief (alto-relievo), so deeply undercut that they appear to break out of the frieze and spill onto the altar's grand staircase, merging sculpture with architecture.

The dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, the exaggerated muscular tension, the faces contorted in agony and rage, and the swirling drapery capture the intense emotionality characteristic of Hellenistic "baroque" art, contrasting sharply with the restraint of Classical antiquity. Excavated and transported to Germany in the late 19th century under the direction of Carl Humann, the reconstructed altar now forms the centerpiece of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, remaining a central point of discussion regarding Anatolia's archaeological heritage and repatriation.