download article as .pdf: Il ciclo troiano dello Smintheion di Chryse
.
.The Great Altar is surely the most magnificent evidence of Attalid propaganda entrusted to the images in order to exalt Pergamon supremacy also in cultural and artistic field. In particular, the Altar sculptural decoration shows the interest of the Attalid dynast in encouraging philological activity, re-elaborating and editing the prestigious Hellenic epic heritage for promoting the dynastic ideology. In order to evaluate the ideological potential of epic themes represented in monumental buildings of Hellenistic Asia Minor, this paper is focused on the Trojan cycle of frieze and columnae caelatae in the temple voted to Apollo Smintheus at Chryse in Troad. The topographical, cultural and chronological (middle of the 2nd cent. B.C.) background of Smintheion, in fact, which emphasizes the link with the Homeric literary tradition, suggests to reconnect the representation of Trojan myth to the fervent activity of philologists at the Pergamon court. In this perspective, the promotion of the Homeric poetry had a central role as well in term of iconography on order to transmit and divulgate the key-concepts of Attalid cultural and religious policy.