This is but a brief description of a sculpture depicting two figures, which is part of a monument which used to adorn an altar funded by King Attalus I from Pergamum, after a victorious battle (230 B.C.), against the Gauls, who settled in Asia Minor. The monument made in bronze consisted of multiple sculptures. Thanks to two Roman copies, most likely created in the I century A.D. we can at least to some degree become familiar with this monument of commemoration, which in a paradoxical way glorifies the victors, by showing the bravery and courage of their enemies. However, does it not seem that it was more a monument of glory to the defeated enemy? One of the aforementioned copies is this one – an excellent example of the work of a Hellenistic sculptor, depicting the Gaul general, who in face of an obvious slavery, first kills his wife, then committing suicide. The group described herein must have been located in the central part of the monument, while around it there were lying figures of the defeated Gauls including Dying Gaul. Unfortunately, we are not able to reconstruct the monument and identify other statues which were part of it in the past, apart from these two found in Rome.

A characteristic feature of this sculpture is the fact that we can view it from different sides, walking around it, and from each side it is presented in a different dramatic view. We see the bulging muscles of Gaul and his nude, athletic body, then seeing his almost trepidation, when he turns his head, as if fearing, that he may be too late and will be captured. The act of the woman’s body falling to the ground is equally moving – we almost feel, how life leaves her body and her muscles weaken. She is about to be dropped by her husband and fall under her own weight. The author of this moving work created an almost conceptual creation – he set its action between the sounds of the approaching victors, the moment of life symbolized by the muscular, straightened body of Gaul, and the moment which we can imagine , when the warrior’s body will drop to the ground and bereft of life, settle next to the corpse of his wife. The exact moment of dying was captured here precisely in two phases – the still full of life body of a man sort of finds its “continuation” in the body, which is lifeless and numb. Thanks to such a creation in a strange way we understand and accept this, after all, murderous deed. More than that, we believe that, such an act is honorable and brings no shame – for it is better to die by your own hand, killing your own family, than be captured, humbled and enslaved. The ethos of a suicidal death in face of enslavement is one of the oldest and still today widely accepted. Perhaps, that is why death of this, cruel after all mercenary, looting, pillaging, extorting, since that is what Gauls in Asia Minor did at the time, as well as the murder of a woman, who accompanies him, arouse compassion. Yet, perhaps they should instill completely different emotions? How would we treat this scene, if it was an act of murdering a wife by a husband, preceding his own death? Even the ancients, knew that it would not have been so worthy of praise and nobilitating. They wanted to show the enemy in the most noble way possible and it would seem that in this case they succeeded.

We may ask ourselves how did sculptures from Pergamum find their way to Rome? Here, the answer is not so simple. According to some researchers it was because of Nero, who according to the chronicler Pliny ordered valuable Greek sculptures from across the empire to be brought to Rome in order to decorate the city. And it is most likely at that time when the bronze sculpture groups from Pergamum came to the city on the Tiber. Smelted in later times, just as numerous other sculptures, they were preserved, thanks to copies made out of marble. And thus, the barbaric act of Emperor Nero saved them from total annihilation. But is that really the truth?

The sculpture was found at the beginning of the XVII century during works conducted on the premises of the estate of Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (Villa Ludovisi), which in ancient times was part of the Gardens of Sallust. It became, similarly to the Dying Gaul, a decoration of the famous Ludovisi collection, to later become part of the collections of the museum located at Palazzo Altemps.