This is part of the smaller relief that decorated the Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, in western Turkey. The altar was built by King Eumenes II, between 180 and 159 BCE.
Telephus was revered by the inhabitants of Pergamon as the mythical founder of their city. He was the son of Herakles and Auge, and as a child was abandoned on a mountain where he was suckled by a doe. There are various versions of the myth, but that scene is depicted here, with Herakles rescuing his son
Berlin, Pergamon Museum
Purchased in 1884 from Berlin Museum
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 357, pl. 129.2
Winnefeld: Pergamon III.2 (1910), 170, pl. 31.6
Brunn-Bruckmann, Denkmäler Griechischer und Römischer Skulptur, pl. 485
Reporter: 19 June 1885, 894, no.490
Found on site at Pergamon
