The Dying Gaul is a Roman marble copy of a Greek original associated with the Hellenistic kingdom of Pergamon.
The lost Greek original was probably commissioned by Attalus I of Pergamon around 230–220 BC to celebrate victories over the Galatians, Celtic groups who had settled in Anatolia. The sculpture presents a defeated warrior in a dignified, vulnerable moment rather than as a caricature of a barbarian enemy.
The original was probably a bronze created for an Attalid victory monument, and the sculptor is often identified as Epigonus, a court artist of the Attalid dynasty. The surviving marble version entered Roman collections and is now displayed in Rome’s Capitoline Museums.
The title “Dying Gladiator” is a later and misleading name. The figure’s torc, moustache and shield identify him as a Gaul or Galatian warrior, not a Roman arena fighter. Pergamon was an independent Hellenistic state in western Anatolia, ruled by the Attalid dynasty until its absorption into Rome.