An altar buried for centuries. A journey from Pergamon to Berlin. A phrase in the Book of Revelation that has never stopped provoking questions.
The Great Altar of Pergamon is one of antiquity’s most remarkable surviving monuments. Erected on the acropolis of the ancient city of Pergamon, today Bergama, Türkiye, it was later excavated in 1878 and transported to Berlin, where its monumental reconstruction became one of the defining displays of the Pergamon museum. Yet for many readers of the Bible, Pergamon also carries the enigmatic description from Revelation:
The place “where Satan has his throne.”
In this wide-ranging Ancient Origins conversation, Ioannis Syrigos speaks with Jonathan Cahn, the #1 New York Times bestselling author behind The Harbinger, The Paradigm, The Return of the Gods, and The Dragon’s Prophecy. Cahn’s books have repeatedly appeared on The New York Times bestseller lists; an Evangelical Christian Publishers Association report stated that The Dragon’s Prophecy reached No. 1 on the list in 2024.
Cahn’s new book, The Altar of Pergamon: The Mystery of the Dark Angel and the Future of the World, presents its investigation through a story-driven mystery. In the interview, he follows the documented movement of the altar and its friezes, from Pergamon to Berlin, through post-war Soviet custody, and back to East Berlin, while advancing his own theological interpretation of the connections among the altar, German history, the Cold War, and biblical prophecy.
