Pergamon

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Pergamon

Pergamon or Pergamum (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ????aµ??, ) was an ancient Greek

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
city in modern-day Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
, in Mysia

Mysia

Mysia was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia . It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lydia on the south, Aeolis on the southwest, Troad on the west and by the Propontis on the north....
, north-western Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia or Asia Minor is a region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. It is a geographic region bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Aegean Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Iranian plateau to the east and southeast....
, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkans and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively....
, located on a promontory

Promontory

Promontory may refer to:*Promontory, a prominent mass of land which overlooks lower lying land or a body of water*Promontory, Utah, the location where the United States first Transcontinental Railroad was completed...
on the north side of the river Caicus

Caicus

Bakir?ay is the ancient name of a river of Asia Minor that rises in the Temnus mountains and flows through Lydia, Mysia, and Aeolis before it debouches into the Elatic Gulf....
(modern day Bakirçay), that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon

Kingdom of Pergamon

The Kingdom of Pergamon was an Hellenistic period kingdom founded by Attalus I in the 3rd century BC.. The Kingdom gradually expanded and reached its peak in 188 BC after the treaty of Apamea....
during the Hellenistic period

Hellenistic Greece

In the context of Ancient Greek art, architecture, and culture, Hellenistic Greece corresponds to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the Classical Greece heartlands by Roman Republic in 146 BC....
, under the Attalid dynasty

Attalid dynasty

The Attalid dynasty was a Hellenistic dynasty that ruled the city of Pergamon after the death of Lysimachus, a general of Alexander the Great. The Attalid kingdom was the rump state left after the collapse of the Lysimachus....
, 281–133 BC. Today, the main sites of ancient Pergamon are to the north and west of the modern city of Bergama

Bergama

Bergama refers to a city and its surrounding district in Izmir Province, in the Aegean Region, Turkey of the Republic of Turkey. Known for its cotton, gold, and fine carpets, the city was the ancient Greek and Roman Empire cultural center of Pergamon; its wealth of ancient ruins continues to attract considerable tourist interest today....
.

Attalid kingdom was the rump state

Rump state

A rump state is the remnant of a once-larger government, left with limited powers or authority after a disaster, invasion or military occupation....
left after the collapse of the Kingdom of Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
.

The Attalids, the descendants of Attalus, father of Philetaerus

Philetaerus

File:Attalus_I_coin_depicting_Philetairos.jpgPhiletaerus was the founder of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon in Anatolia.He was born in Tieium , a small town on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia between Bithynia to the west and Paphlagonia to the east....
who came to power in 281 BC following the collapse of the Kingdom of Thrace, were among the most loyal supporters of Rome

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
in the Hellenistic world.

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Encyclopedia

Pergamon or Pergamum (Greek

Greek language

Ancient Greece

Turkey

Mysia

Anatolia

Aegean Sea

Promontory

Caicus

Kingdom of Pergamon

Hellenistic Greece

Attalid dynasty

Bergama

History

The Attalid kingdom was the rump state

Rump state

Thrace

Philetaerus

Roman Republic

Attalus I

Attalus I , surnamed Soter ruled Pergamon, a Ionian Greek polis , first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the second cousin and the adoptive son of Eumenes I, whom he succeeded, and was the first of the Attalid dynasty to assume the title of king in 238 BC....
(241-197 BC), they allied with Rome against Philip V of Macedon

Philip V of Macedon

File:Philip_V_of_Macedon BM.jpgPhilip V was King of Macedon from 221 BC to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of Roman Republic....
, during the first

First Macedonian War

The First Macedonian War was fought by Roman Republic, allied with the Aetolian League and Attalus I of Pergamon, against Philip V of Macedon, contemporaneously with the Second Punic War against Carthage....
and second

Second Macedonian War

The Second Macedonian War was fought between Macedon, led by Philip V of Macedon, and Rome, allied with Pergamon and Rhodes. The result was the defeat of Philip who was forced to abandon all his possessions in Greece....
Macedonian Wars

Macedonian Wars

The Macedonian and Seleucid wars were a series of conflicts fought by Rome during and after the second Punic war, in the eastern Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and the Aegean Sea....
, and again under Eumenes II

Eumenes II

Eumenes II of Pergamon was king of Pergamon and a member of the Attalid dynasty. The son of king Attalus I and queen Apollonis, he followed in his father's footsteps and collaborated with the Ancient Rome to oppose first Ancient Macedonians, then Seleucid expansion towards the Aegean, leading to the defeat of Antiochus III the Great at th...
(197-158 BC), against Perseus of Macedon

Perseus of Macedon

File:Perseus_of_Macedon BM.jpgPerseus was the last king of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great....
, during the Third Macedonian War

Third Macedonian War

The Third Macedonian War was a war fought between Ancient Rome and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon of Macedon died and his talented and ambitious son, Perseus, took his throne....
. For support against the Seleucids, the Attalids were rewarded with all the former Seleucid domains in Asia Minor.

The Attalids ruled with intelligence and generosity. Many documents survive showing how the Attalids would support the growth of towns through sending in skilled artisans and by remitting taxes. They allowed the Greek cities in their domains to maintain nominal independence. They sent gifts to Greek cultural sites like Delphi

Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
, Delos

Delos

The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece....
, and Athens

Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
. They defeated the invading Celts. They remodeled the Acropolis of Pergamum after the Acropolis

Acropolis

Acropolis literally means city on the edge . For purposes of defense, early settlers naturally chose elevated ground, frequently a hill with precipitous sides....
in Athens. When Attalus III (138-133 BC) died without an heir in 133 BC he bequeathed the whole of Pergamon to Rome, in order to prevent a civil war.

The first Christian bishop of Pergamon, Antipas, was believed to have been martyred here in 92 AD.

The Ottoman

Ottoman

A term used to refer to the citizens of the Ottoman Empire after 1839, when the Tanzimat edict starting a period of reforms was declared . The term was started to be used more commonly especially after the empire officially became a constitutional monarchy in 1876....
Sultan Murad III

Murad III

Murad III was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death.Murad III was the eldest son of sultan Selim II and Valide Sultan Nurbanu Sultan, originally named Cecilia Venier-Baffo, a Venetian Noblewoman, and succeeded his father in 1574....
had two large alabaster

Alabaster

Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; the latter is generally the alabaster of the ancients....
urns transported from the ruins of Pergamon and placed on two sides of the nave in the Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is a former Patriarchate basilica, later a mosque, now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture....
in Istanbul.

Notable structures

The Great Altar of Pergamon

Pergamon Altar

The Great Altar of Pergamon, a massive stone podium about one hundred feet long and thirty-five feet high, was originally built in the 2nd century BCE in the Ancient Greece city of Pergamon in north-western Anatolia, 25.74 kilometers from the Aegean Sea....
is in the Pergamon Museum

Pergamon Museum

The Pergamon Museum is among the museums on Museum Island in Berlin. The site was designed by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann and was built from 1910 to 1930....
, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
. The base of this altar remains on the upper part of the Acropolis. It was this altar, believed dedicated to Zeus, that John of Patmos

John of Patmos

John of Patmos is the name given to the author of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. According to the text of Revelation, the author, who gives his name as "John," is living on the Greek island of Patmos....
referred to as "Satan's Throne" in his Book of Revelation

Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation, also called Revelation to John, Apocalypse of John , and Revelation of Jesus Christ is the last Biblical canon of the New Testament in the Christian Bible....
(Revelation 2:12-13).

Other notable structures still in existence on the upper part of the Acropolis include:

The Hellenistic Theater with a seating capacity of 10,000. This had the steepest seating of any known theater in the ancient world.
The Sanctuary of Trajan (also known as the Trajaneum)
The Sanctuary of Athena
The Library a.k.a. Athenaeum
The Royal palaces
The Heroön - a shrine where the kings of Pergamon, particularly, Attalus I and Eumenes II, were worshipped.
The Temple of Dionysus
The Upper Agora
The Roman baths complex

Pergamon's library on the Acropolis (the ancient Library of Pergamum

Library of Pergamum

Library of Pergamum in Pergamum, Turkey, was one of the most important Great libraries of the ancient world....
) is the second best in the ancient Greek civilisation. When the Ptolemies

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty was a Hellenistic Macedonian royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC....
stopped exporting papyrus

Papyrus

Papyrus is a thick paper material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland Cyperaceae that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
, partly because of competitors and partly because of shortages, the Pergamenes invented a new substance to use in codices

Codex

A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with separate pages normally bound together and given a cover. It was a Roman invention that replaced the scroll, which was the first form of book in all Eurasian cultures....
, called pergaminus or pergamena (parchment

Parchment

Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or Goatskin . Its most common use is as the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is not tanned, but stretched, scraped, and dried under tension, creating a stiff white, yellowish or translucent animal skin....
) after the city. This was made of fine calf

Calf

File:New Forest calf.jpgA calf is the young of various species of mammal. The term is most commonly used to refer to the young of cattle. The young of bison, camels, dolphins, elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses, moose, rhinoceroses, whales, seals and yaks are also called calves....
skin, a predecessor of vellum. The library at Pergamom was believed to contain 200,000 volumes, which Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Marc Antony, was a Roman Republic politician and General. He was an important supporter and the best friend of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, being Caesar's second cousin, once removed, by his mother Julia Antonia....
later gave to Cleopatra as a wedding present. The lower part of the Acropolis has the following structures:

the Upper Gymnasium
the Middle Gymnasium
the Lower Gymnasium
the Temple of Demeter
Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
the Sanctuary of Hera
Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
the House of Attalus
the Lower Agora and
the Gate of Eumenes
Eumenes

Eumenes of Cardia was a ancient Greece general and scholar. He participated in the wars of the Diadochi as a supporter of the Macedonian Argead dynasty royal house....

Three kilometers south of the Acropolis was the Sanctuary of Asclepius

Asclepius

Asclepius is the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts, while his daughters Hygieia, Meditrina, Iaso, Aceso, Aglaea and Panacea symbolize the forces of cleanliness, medicine, and healing, respectively....
(also known as the Asclepieion

Asclepieion

In ancient Greece, an asclepieion was a healing temple, sacred to the god Asclepius.Starting around 300 BC, the cult of Asclepius became increasingly popular....
), the god of healing. In this place people with health problems could bathe in the water of the sacred spring, and in the patients' dreams Asclepius would appear in a vision to tell them how to cure their illness. Archeology has found lots of gifts and dedications that people would make afterwards, such as small terracotta body parts, no doubt representing what had been healed. Notable extant structures in the Asclepieion include:

the Roman theater
the North Stoa
the South Stoa
the Temple of Asclepius
a circular treatment center (sometimes known as the Temple of Telesphorus)
a healing spring
an underground passageway
a library
the Via Tecta (or the Sacred Way, which is a colonnaded street leading to the sanctuary) and
a propylon.

Pergamon's other notable structure is the Serapis

Serapis

Serapis was a Syncretism Hellenistic-ancient Egypt god in classical antiquity. His most renowned temple was at Alexandria,. Under Ptolemy I of Egypt, efforts were made to integrate Egyptian religion with that of their Hellenic rulers....
Temple (Serapeum

Serapeum

A Serapeum is a temple or other religious institution dedicated to the syncretism Hellenistic civilization-Ancient Egypt god Serapis, who combined aspects of Osiris and Apis in a humanized form that was palatable to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Alexandria....
) which was later transformed into the Red Basilica complex (or Kizil Avlu in Turkish), about one kilometer south of the Acropolis. It consists of a main building and two round towers. In the first century AD, the Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
Church at Pergamon inside the main building of the Red Basilica was one of the Seven Churches

Seven Churches

Seven Churches may refer to:*Seven Churches of Asia, mentioned in the Book of Revelation*Seven Churches of Saint Thomas, a tradition in Indian Christians...
to which the Book of Revelation

Book of Revelation

Notable people

Epigonus
Epigonus

Epigonus of Pergamum was the chief among the court sculptors to the Attalid dynasty at Pergamum in the late third century BCE. Pliny the Elder, who offers the only surviving list of the sculptors of this influential :Category:Pergamene sculpture attributes to him works among the sculptures on the victory monument erected by Attalus I in the s...
(3rd century BC) Greek sculptor
Aeulius Nicon
Aeulius Nicon

Aeulius Nicon was a wealthy architect and builder in 2nd century Pergamon. Nicon is known chiefly as the father of the ancient anatomist and philosopher, Galen....
(2nd century AD) Greek architect and builder
Galen
Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Ancient Rome physician and philosopher of Greek origin, and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period....
(ca. 129-200/216) Greek physician

Pergamon

History

Notable structures

Notable people

See also

Footnotes

External

Links