represents the mythical fight of the Olympic gods against the Giants who, quite unorganised, but armed with enormous rocks and tree trunks, wanted to assault the divine abode. The battle ended with the defeat of the Giants. In the fight, all the gods participated , as we can see them in the upper part of the picture, organized and well armed , with Zeus leading his squad, carrying the thunder. Although he was not a god, Heracles played a crucial role in this fight; he was chosen by the Lord of the Olympus among all heroes , as they needed a mortal to fight within the gods, in order to end the rebellion of the Giants. This relief makes a pair with another one dedicated to the Centauromachy; in both, the artist wants to show the violent movement of the figures of the Giants, and some foreshortened figures. Gigantomachy often appears in Greek sculpture and it is the theme represented by the frieze of the great altar of Pergamum, kept at the Peragamum Museum in Berlin. In modern times it can be seen in paintings and engravings of C.V. Haarlem, J.W. Baur, V.Solis, etc.
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