Listed 7 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "PERGAMOS Ancient city TURKEY".
Pergamon. The site is 110 km to the N of Smyrna (Izmir) on the N shore of the
basin of the Caicus (Bakir-Cay). The place became important under the Hellenistic
dynasty of the Attalids (282-133 B.C.) when it was the center of an empire which
at times covered almost all of W and S Asia Minor as well as including the Thracian
Chersonese and, as a foreign possession, the Island of Aigina. The dynasty was
founded by Philetairos, who was appointed by King Lysimachos to guard a war treasure
in Pergamon. With his desertion of Lysimachos (282 B.C.) he laid the foundations
of Pergamon's greatness. After him ruled Eumenes I (263-241), Attalos I, who was
the first to take the title of king (241-197), Eumenes II (197-159), Attalos II
(159-138), and Attalos III (138-133). The political and military successes of
the Attalids consisted of their successful struggles against the Celtic peoples
of Asia Minor and in the way they maintained themselves against the rival great
powers of the Seleucids and the Macedonians. This was managed in part by a clever
policy of alliance with Rome, which shortly after 133 B.C., incorporated the central
areas of Pergamon in its territory as the province of Asia. At the time of the
Attalids the art, literature, and science of Pergamon were of outstanding importance.
The architecture and the sculpture of this period deeply influenced subsequent
art. Pergamon went through a period of cultural renaissance in the 2d c. A.D.,
shown by the importance of the Sanctuary of Asklepios. Already in the 2d c. A.D.
the city had a bishop. In 716 it was overrun by the Arabs.
To the W Pergamon was connected with the Aegean coast by the valley
of the Caicus while up the valley to the E near Thyatira (Akhisar) lay the Persian
Royal Road joining Kyzikos with Sardis. Near the mouth of the Caicus the town
of Elaea served as her port. The Hellenistic city lay on the ridge of a mountain
(355 m above sea level) which runs from NW to SE and is surrounded by the tributaries
of the Caicus, the Selinus (Bergama-Cay) on the W and the Cetius (Kastel-Cay)
on the E. The main part of the Hellenistic city lay on the summit and the S slope
of the ridge. The earliest enclosure wall, probably of the 4th c., surrounds the
upper part of the hill. In the first half of the 3d c. this was extended towards
the S to a point above the Sanctuary of Demeter and the gymnasium. Under Eumenes
II a new and stronger fortification wall was built which enclosed the greatest
part of the slopes of the hill to the S and W. The main gate lay on the SW terrace
turned toward the thoroughfares of the Caicus valley. On the inside it had a fortified,
square court. From this point the paved principal road rose in sharp bends to
the summit of the mountain. Already in the 2d c. parts of the city lay outside
the wall of Eumenes on a small plateau (Musala Mezarllk) directly W of the Selinus.
Three pylons and one arch (8.1 m span) survive of a Hellenistic bridge over the
river at the SW foot of the acropolis. Farther S at Kizil Avlu (see below) is
a Roman bridge which crosses the river in two arches. During the Empire the city
stretched out over the plain lying to the W of the acropolis (the area of the
modern town of Bergama). A fortification wall of the 3d c. A.D. built against
the threats of attack by the Goths follows for the most part the wall of the 3d
c. B.C.
The steepness of the mountain on which the city is built made necessary
the creation of extensive systems of terraces and retaining walls. In the upper
city can be seen a harmonious grouping of buildings well adapted to the difficult
terrain. There the open spaces spread out like a fan around a small terrace, above
which lies the cavea of the theater.
J. Schafer, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
A celebrated city of Asia Minor, the capital of the kingdom of Pergamum, and afterwards of the Roman province of Asia, was situated in the district of South Mysia called Teuthrania, on the north bank of the river Caicus, about twenty miles from the sea. The kingdom of Pergamum was founded about B.C. 280 by Philetaerus, who had been intrusted by Lysimachus with the command of the city. The successive kings of Pergamus were: Philetaerus, b.c. 280-263; Eumenes I., 263-241; Attalus I., 241-197; Eumenes II., 197- 159; Attalus II. Philadelphus, 159-138; Attalus III. Philometor, 138-133. The kingdom reached its greatest extent after the defeat of Antiochus the Great by the Romans, in B.C. 190, when the Romans bestowed upon Eumenes II. the whole of Mysia, Lydia, both Phrygias, Lycaonia, Pisidia, and Pamphylia. It was under the same king that the celebrated library was founded at Pergamus, which for a long time rivalled that of Alexandria, and the formation of which occasioned the invention of parchment, charta Pergamena. This library became the centre of a school of great importance in the history of ancient learning; amoung its leaders were such distinguished men as Crates of Mallos, who introduced philological studies into Rome. The Pergamene Library was afterwards presented by Antony to Cleopatra and united with the Alexandrian. On the death of Attalus III., in B.C. 133, the kingdom, by a bequest in his will, passed to the Romans. The city was an early seat of Christianity, and is one of the Seven Churches of Asia to which the Apocalyptic epistles are addressed. Among the celebrated natives of the city were the rhetorician Apollodorus and the physician Galen. The place is now called Bergama; and here were excavated in 1875-86, by Humann, Bohn, Conze, and others for the German government, many remains of magnificent buildings, such as temples, porticoes, theatres, baths, etc.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Pergamon: Eth. Pergamenos, Pergamenus. Sometimes also called Pergamus (Ptol. v. 2. § 14, viii. 17. § 10; Steph. B. s. v.), an ancient city, in a most beautiful district of Teuthrania in Mysia, on the north of the river Caicus. Near the point where Pergamum was situated, two other rivers, the Selinus and Cetius, emptied them-selves into the Caicus; the Selinus flowed through the city itself, while the Cetius washed its walls. (Strab. xiii. p. 619; Plin. v. 33; Paus. vi. 16. § 1; Liv. xxxvii. 18.) Its distance from the sea was 120 stadia, but communication with the sea was effected by the navigable river Caicus. Pergamum, which is first mentioned by Xenophon (Anab. vii. 8. § 8) was originally a fortress of considerable natural strength, being situated on the summit of a conical hill, round the foot of which there were at that time no houses. Subsequently, however, a city arose at the foot of the hill, and the latter then became the acropolis. We have no information as to the foundation of the original town on the hill, but the Pergamenians believed themselves to be the descendants of Arcadians, who had migrated to Asia under the leadership of the Heracleid Telephus (Paus. i. 4. § 5); they derived the name of their town from Pergamus, a son of Pyrrhus, who was believed to have arrived there with his mother Andromache and, after a successful combat with Arius, the ruler of Teuthrania, to have established himself there. (Paus. i. 11. § 2.) Another tradition stated that Asclepius, with a colony from Epidaurus, proceeded to Pergamum; at all events, the place seems to have been inhabited by many Greeks at the time when Xenophon visited it. Still, however, Pergamum remained a place of not much importance until the time of Lysimachus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great. This Lysimachus chose Pergamum as a place of security for the reception and preservation of his treasures, which amounted to 9000 talents. The care and superintendence of this treat sure was intrusted to Philetaerus of Tium, an eunuch from his infancy, and a person in whom Lysimachus placed the greatest confidence. For a time Philetaerus answered the expectations of Lysimachus, but having been ill-treated by Arsinoe, the wife of his master, he withdrew his allegiance and declared himself independent, B.C. 283. As Lysimachus was prevented by domestic calamities from punishing the offender, Philetaerus remained in, undisturbed possession of the town and treasures for twenty years contriving by dexterous management to maintain, peace with his neighbours. He transmitted his principality to a nephew of the name of Eumenes, who increased the territory he had inherited, and even gained a victory over Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, in the neighbourhood of Sardes. After a reign of twenty-two years, from B.C. 263 to 241, he was succeeded by his cousin Attalus, who, after a great victory over the Galatians, assumed the title of king, and distinguished himself by his talents and sound policy. (Strab. xiii. pp. 623, 624; Polyb. xviii. 24; Liv. xxxiii. 21.) He espoused the interests of Rome against Philip of Macedonia, and in conjunction with the Rhodian fleet rendered important services to the Romans. It was mainly this Attalus that amassed the wealth for which his name became proverbial. He died at an advanced age, irs B.C. 197, and was succeeded by his son Eumenes II., from B.C. 19.7 to 159. le continued his friendship with the Romans, and assisted them against Antiochus the Great and Perseus of Macedonia; after the defeat of Antiochus, the Romans rewarded his services by giving to him all the countries in Asia Minor west of Mount Taurus. Pergamum, the territory of which had hitherto not extended beyond the gulfs of Elaea and Adramyttium, now became a large and powerful kingdom. (Strab. l. c.; Lie. xxxviii. 39.). Eumenes 1111. as nearly killed al; [p. 576] Delphi by assassins said to have been hired by Perseus; yet at a later period he favoured the cause of the Macedonian king, and thereby incurred the ill--will of the Romans. Pergamum was mainly indebted to Eumenes II. for its embellishment and extension. He was a liberal patron of the arts and sciences; he decorated the temple of Zeus Nicephorus, which had been built by Attalus outside the city, with walks a.nd plantations, and erected himself many other public buildings; but the greatest monument of his liberality was the great library which he founded, and which yielded only to that of Alexandria in extent and value. (Strab. l. c.; Athen. i. p. 3.) He was succeeded by his son Attains II.; but the government was carried on by the late king's brother Attalus, surnamed Philadelphus, from B.C. 159 to 138. During this period the Pergamenians again assisted the Romans against the Pseudo-Philip. Attalus also defeated Diegylis, king of the Thracian Caeni, and overthrew Prusias of Bithynia. On his death, his ward and nephew, Attalus III., surnamed Philometor, undertook the reins of government, from B.C. 138 to 133, and on his death bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans. Soon after, Aristonicus, a natural son of Eumenes II., revolted and claimed the kingdom of Pergamum for himself; but in B.C. 130 he was vanquished and taken prisoner, and the kingdom of Pergamum became a Roman province under the name of Asia. (Strab. l. c., xiv. p. 646.) The city of Pergamum, however, continued to flourish and prosper under the Roman dominion, so that Pliny could still call it longe clarissimum Asiae Pergamum; it remained the centre of jurisdiction for the district, and of commerce, as all the main-roads of Western Asia converged there. Pergamum was one of the Seven Churches mentioned in the book of Revelations. Under the Byzantine emperors the greatness and prosperity of the city declined; but it still exists under the name of Bergamah, and presents to the visitor numerous ruins and extensive remains of its ancient magnificence. A wall facing the south-east of the acropolis, of hewn granite, is at least 100 feet deep, and engrafted into the rock; above it a course of large substructions forms a spacious area, upon which once rose a temple unrivalled in sublimity of situation, being visible from the vast plain and the Aegean sea. The ruins of this temple show that it was built in the noblest style. Besides this there are ruins of an ancient temple of Aesculapius, which, like the Nicephorion, was outside the city (Tac. Ann. iii. 63; Paus. v. 13. § 2); of a royal palace, which was surrounded by a wall, and connected with the Caicus by an aqueduct; of a prytaneum, a theatre, a gymnasium, a stadium, an amphitheatre, and other: public buildings. All these remains attest the unusual splendour of the ancient city, and all travellers speak with admiration of their stupendous greatness. The numerous coins which we possess of Pergamum attest that Olympia were celebrated there; a vase found there represents a torch-race on horseback; and Pliny (x. 25) relates that public cock-fights took place there every year. Pergamum was celebrated for its manufacture of ointments (Athen. xv. p. 689), pottery (Plin. xxxv. 46), and parchment, which derives its name (charta Pergamena) from the city. The library of Pergamum, which is said to have consisted of no less than 200,000 volumes, was given by Antony to Cleopatra.m was celebrated for its manufacture of ointments (Athen. xv. p. 689), pottery (Plin. xxxv. 46), and parchment, which derives its name (charta Pergamena) from the city. The library of Pergamum, which is said to have consisted of no less than 200,000 volumes, was given by Antony to Cleopatra.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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