The Telephos Frieze on the east side of the courtyard: Teuthras and Auge

Once Telephos has won the battle and starts to head for home, King Teuthras wants to make good on his promise to give Auge to Telephos as his bride. The Roman author Hyginus,retelling an Attic tragedy, wrote that Auge resisted Telephos in the nuptial chamber and even threatened him with a sword. Only when Athena sent a snake into the room did mother and son recognise each other. One relief slab (missing the upper third and parts of the bottom edge [...]) shows Teuthras leading Auge to a small temple. An archaistic statue of Athena stands atop a high archaic pillar – a reminder that Auge was said to have established the cult of Athena in Pergamon. Telephos must have stood across from his mother on the preceding slab, now lost. Swathed in thick robes, Auge has wrapped her mantle around her body so as to cover even her arms and the back of her head. She grasps the edge of her mantle and reveals her face in the typical gesture of a bride. Her ambivalence is perhaps signalled by the fact that the bearded man has to push her forward by the arm. The unusual nature of the scene is heightened by the location: not in the house, where the bride is usually given away, but before the image of Athena. A pillar at the righthand edge of the scene marks the beginning of the next. In front of it, the foot of a wedding bed has richly carved legs and soft upholstery.