File:The Silahtarağa statues group representing the Battle of the Gods and Giants (Gigantomachy), Istanbul Archeology Museum (44284529530).jpg

This is the so-called "Silahtarağa Statuary Group". The remains came to light during excavations for the foundations of a building on the road between the quarter Eyub and Alibeykoy near the Golden Horn. Between 1949-1950 many fragments of statues were recovered from the place, within a structural complex. That ancient structure was composed of a square-shaped room with 6 niches on the anterior and 2 small adjoining rooms. The structure, after studying the first phase of it, is thought to be a nymphaion or a large fountain connected to the sacred field of Semestra, or it could be a museion dedicated to the works of Muses. However, the 2nd phase of the use of the building occurred in the 3rd century CE. A variety of votive statues were found; therefore, the structure might well have been a sacred place. Here, this scene of statues fragments and remains depicts a battle between gods/goddesses (the deities were white in color) and giants (were carved using a black stone). The striking feature here is that the battle was depicted using separate free-standing statues to reenact the event; other battles between deities and giants (Gigantomachy) were depicted in bas-reliefs. The statues of the deities (made of marble from Aphrodisias) were brought to Byzantium from Aphrodisias in a rough and unfinished form. This group of statues dates to the 2nd century CE. Silahtarağa is in modern-day Istanbul, Turkey. (Museum of Archaeology, Istanbul, Turkey).