Epigonus ( el, Ἐπίγονος) of Pergamum was the chief among the court

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s to the Attalid dynasty at Pergamum in the late third century BCE.

Biography

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

, who offers the only surviving list of the sculptors of this influential Pergamene school, attributes to him works among the sculptures on the victory monument erected by

Attalus I Attalus I ( grc, Ἄτταλος Α΄), surnamed ''Soter'' ( el, , "Savior"; 269–197 BC) ruled Pergamon, an Ionian Greek polis (what is now Bergama, Turkey), first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the fi ...

in the sanctuary of Athena at Pergamum to commemorate his victory over the

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They sp ...

Galatia Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace ...

(223 BCE). Among works there by other sculptors, Pliny attributes to Epigonos a masterful ''Trumpeter'' and "his infant pitiably engaged in caressing its murdered mother"; the male figure in his group, once part of the dedication of Attalus I at Pergamon, is probably the original of the marble copy known in modern times as ''

The Dying Gaul ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'', in the

Capitoline Museums The Capitoline Museums ( Italian: ''Musei Capitolini'') are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Pal ...

, Rome. The ''Weeping Child pitifully caressing its murdered mother'' is "associated with the so-called ''Dead Amazon'' in Naples, a copy of a group which was once part of the later, second Gallic dedication of Attalos, at Athens.... From drawings of this composition made in the Renaissance, we learn that the child was removed from the Naples statue during the sixteenth century". Another sculpture from the same monument exists in marble copy of the '' Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife'', formerly in the

Ludovisi collection Ludovisi can refer to: *Ludovisi (family), a noble Italian family **Ludovisi papacy of Pope Gregory XV **Cardinals Ludovisi *** Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, later Pope Gregory XV **** Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (the Pope's Cardinal Nephew and O ...

. Eight signed basesThe dedicatory inscriptions to Athena are translated by Stewart, ''op. cit''. from the acropolis of Pergamon have lost their sculptures of valuable bronze, which was doubtless laboriously cut apart for the sake of the metal and refounded during Christian times.

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{{Authority control Hellenistic sculptors Pergamene sculpture People from Pergamon 3rd-century BC Greek people es:Epígono

Biography

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