Architectural Relief Depicting the Gigantomachy (Battle Between Gods and Giants)

Ancient and Byzantine Art

3rd/2nd century BC

Etruscan

As the name suggests, the Gigantomachy was the struggle between and the Giants and the Olympian gods, who were led by Zeus. In flowing robes, a god and goddess capture a Giant, depicted with wings and serpent-like features, to deliver the final blow in this epic battle. These three animated figures were probably once part of a series of ornamental covers called antefixes, which were placed along the lowest row of roof tiles on a small building, probably a temple. Etruscans often decorated their buildings with brightly colored sculptural compositions based on Greek mythology.

Currently Off View: Ancient and Byzantine Art

Culture: Ancient Etruscan
Title: Architectural Relief Depicting the Gigantomachy (Battle Between Gods and Giants)
Origin: Etruria
Date: 300 BC–101 BC
Medium: terracotta, pigment
Dimensions: 45.8 × 46 × 21.9 cm (18 1/16 × 18 1/8 × 8 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Katherine K. Adler Memorial Fund
Reference Number: 1984.2

Karen Alexander, “The New Galleries of Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Minerva (May/June, 1994), vol. 5, no. 3, p. 33, fig. 9.
Richard De Puma, Etruscan Art, Museum Studies: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago 20, no. 1 (1994), pp. 58-59 (ill).
Maria José Strazzula, “Motivi Pergameni in Etruria a Proposito di una Terracotta Architettonica con Gigantomachia a Chicago,” Archeologia Classica 43 (1991), pp. 1163-1178.
Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1983-1984, p. 47, p. 17 (ill.).

The Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 156, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 152, November 11, 2012 - present.

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