Feindbilder im Hellenismus

In the scholarship of Graeco-Roman art, one is often confronted with images of wounded, dying or dead figures. Under modern approaches there is a tendency to feel sorry for the depicted, to glorify them and to highlight them as heroes or martyrs. However, considering the monuments in their ancient context can lead to very different conclusions. That is, they show the hostile party which demonstrates the power and triumphalism of the rulers. Engel’s paper demonstrates the origin of a new image of an enemy created in the Hellenistic period, the so-called Small Dedication of the Attalids of Pergamum. On this example the modes of action of such concepts are investigated especially to show how they were implemented artistically. By comparison with other depictions both from earlier and later periods a continuity of motifs can be shown that works independently of a specific enemy. Thus, it appears that the visual medium for the presentation of such concepts of enemies as a form of political propaganda was handed down schematically through the entirety of Graeco-Roman antiquity, and consolidated to a greater and greater extent