The west side of the Altar: the frieze on the northern wing

The sea god’s retinue occupies the west side of the northern wing of the Altar […]. His son, Triton – a fantastical creature with a sea snake tail, horse body, and human torso – joins his mother Amphitrite, while her father Nereus appears on the frieze facing the staircase. Clothed in a long chiton, doubled mantle, and fish-skin cap, Nereus fights beside his sea-nymph consort Doris. She too wears a long robe, as well as fish-skin boots. She steps on the snake leg of a Giant in order to better pull back his head to deliver the death blow. In front of her is the muscular bearded figure of the Titan Okeanos, armed perhaps with a rudder as a weapon. The remains of a goddess wielding a tree trunk are barely visible in the background behind Okeanos; she may have represented the Titaness Tethys, mother of Doris. The pair attacks two Giants falling onto the stairs, one of them snake-legged. As on the facing frieze across the staircase, the Giants are assaulted by an eagle of Zeus in the uppermost corner.