After the art of Rhodes that of Pergamon was important. When Attalus I., King of Pergamon, gained his victory over the Gauls, in B.C. 229, the Greek artists were aroused to new efforts to record in sculpture the great deeds of Attalus and to place him on a level with the glorious heroes of their nation who had preceded him. It is recorded that the conqueror himself offered four groups of statues at Athens, and that they stood on the southern wall of the Acropolis. The subjects were: "The Battle of the Gods and Giants," "The Battle of Athenians and Amazons," "The Battle of Marathon," and "The Destruction of the Gauls in Mysia by Attalus." Thus the different epochs of Greek history were represented, and Attalus placed himself near the other great warriors who had preserved the honor and freedom of their nation. These groups consisted of many figures, and are estimated to have been from sixty to eighty in number. It is believed that at least ten of them are now in European collections--that is, three in Venice, four in Naples, one in Paris, one in the Vatican, and the last in the Castellani collection in Rome. This picture of one of those in Venice seems to represent a warrior who has been suddenly thrown down; his weapons and shield--which last was probably held in the left hand--have been dropped in the violence of the shock which has prostrated him (Fig. 53). His face and hair are of the barbarian type, and the power and elasticity of his powerful frame are manifest even in this moment of his defeat. He is yet unwounded, but the weapon of his adversary may be before his eyes, and in another moment he may sink back in the agony of death. [Illustration: FIG. 54.--THE DYING GAUL.]