1. Topography

Pergamon (or Pergamos), the modern city of Bergama, is built on the banks of the Caicus River (now Bakır or Bergama Çay), within about 28 km from the river mouth. The volcanic composition of the soil is responsible for the medicinal character of several springs bubbling up in the valley and the surrounding elevations and low mountains, such as Pindasos (Kozak) to the north and Mount Aspordenon (Yünd Dağ) to the south. The city of Pergamon is built on an elevation 335 m high consisting of andesite, which gave the city its name, a Hellenised type of a pre-Greek word meaning ‘burg’. In the Classical and Early Hellenistic period the cities of Atarneus and Pitane, as well as Elaea, which later became the seaport of Pergamon at the mouth of Caicus, thrived in the district.

2.1. Pre-Hellenistic Period: Myths and Reality

The earliest examples of habitation in the area date from the Bronze Age. In the 2^nd millennium BC the region was part of the Hittite state, while Thracian-Phrygian populations as well as Aeolian colonists settled there in the 1^st millennium BC.

According to Greek mythology, King Teuthras (Teleutas) reigned in the region. Auge, the priestess of Athena from Arcadia deserted at sea because she had had a sexual intercourse with Herakles and had given birth to a son called Telephus, was driven ashore there. Teuthras adopted Auge’s son, who later confronted the Achaeans, when they mistakenly landed on Teuthrania on their way to Troy. Telephos was considered the mythical founder of Pergamon, who helped the royal household of the Attalids stabilise.

The earliest historical evidence comes from Xenophon,¹ who says that the Greek mercenary expeditionary corps was accommodated by the female satrap Hellada, descendant of the exiled aristocratic family of the Gogylides of Eretria. After the battle of the Granicus River (334 BC) the region came under Macedonian control. Alexander fortified Pergamon, while his second wife Stateira (Barsine) with their little son Herakles lived shortly there.

Lysimachus, the ruler of Thrace, prevailed in Asia Minor after the battle of Ipsus (301 BC) among the Successors of Alexander. He made his gazophylax Philetaerus from Tieion of the Black Sea commander of the fortress of Pergamon. Philetaerus undertook to guard a great part of the loot sacked from the defeated Antigonus I Monophtalmos (One-Eyed), which amounted to 9,000 silver talents. However, in 282 BC Philetaerus together with other officers defected to Seleucus I Nicator. In 281 BC Lysimachus was killed in the battle of Corupedium and Seleucus was assassinated in the same year. Philetaerus took advantage of the vacant post and acted as an autonomous ruler of Pergamon. He never actually was awarded the title of king.²

Philetaerus extended the fortification enclosure of the city and created a new residential area. Moreover, he followed a beneficial and pan-Hellenic policy by making donations to neighbouring cities and to the Oracle of Delphi. He did not have any children of his own as, according to sources, he was a eunuch; however, he adopted his nephew Eumenes, thus laying the foundations of a subsequent dynasty.

Eumenes I ruled Pergamon –not as an official king– from 263 to 241 BC. After his decisive victory over Antiochus I, he included the largest part of Mysia in his country.³ Because he was childless, he adopted his nephew Attalus I (241-197 BC), who, after assuming power, won a crucial victory over the Galatians and was awarded the title ‘Soter’ (Saviour).⁴ The conflicts between the Attalids and the Galatians took place several times throughout the history of the kingdom and established Pergamon as a seawall against these redoubtable enemies.

One of Attalus’ political movements with long-term consequences was his alliance with the Koinon of Aetolians (Aetolian League) against Philip V of Macedonia. This made the Attalids ally with the Romans, who also supported the Koinon of Aetolians. The Koinon compensated Attalus for his help by selling him Aegina Island (210 BC), which became a naval base of Pergamon ever since.

The friendly relations of the Attalids with Rome continued until 205 BC, when Attalus intervened and the Galatians sent the baetylus of the sanctuary of Cybele from Pessinus to Rome. In 201 BC the attack of Philip V against Pergamon triggered the Second Macedonian War (199-197 BC).

Attalus was succeeded by the eldest of his four sons, Eumenes II (197-158 BC). Arts and letters flourished in his reign and Pergamon gradually followed Rome slavishly. The disputes between Pergamon and Antiochus IV Epiphanes offered the Romans the opportunity to intervene in the political matters of Asia Minor.⁵ They were benefited both territorially and politically. However, it was clear that the political life of Asia Minor was directly dependent on the disposition and expediency of Rome.

Eumenes II beautified his city. He laid the foundation stone of the magnificent altar of Zeus and the Library of Pergamon,established the Nikephoria, games held around the sanctuary of Athena, and moved to Athens, where he successfully participated in a chariot race during the Panathenaea festival.

However, the pro-Roman policy of the Attalids annoyed several Greek cities. In 172 BC Eumenes II, on his way back from Rome, was attacked at Delphi.⁶ He was seriously hurt and his rivals put it about that he was already dead. This event caused the Third Macedonian War, which ended three years later with the battle of Pydna (168 BC) and the complete defeat of Perseus. The relations between Rome and the Attalids were then faced with crisis as the Senate feared that their open alliance would lead the Greek cities to revolt and ask for Galatian help. However, a new victory of the Attalids against the Galatians in Phrygia in 166 BC reminded the Greek cities that the Galatians were still a terrible danger. Eumenes II finally died in 158 BC before appointing his 61-year-old brother Attalus as his successor.

Attalus II (158-138 BC) resumed the pro-Roman policy of his predecessors: the Roman troops helped Pergamon avoid the serious danger from the attack of Prusias of Bithynia. In return, military forces of the Attalids stood at the side of the Romans as they were conquering the Greek cities. Attalus II spent the last years of his life mainly carrying out developmental work in Pergamon. He died in 138 BC appointing his nephew Attalus III (138-133 BC) as his successor. Attalus III was a highly controversial figure⁷ and died in 133 BC. His will was a big surprise as he bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people and not to some successor!⁸

The Attalids respected several preexisting institutions established by Alexander and the Seleucids, while other institutions were adapted to their political ideology. In its heyday the kingdom of Pergamon was inhabited by some 5.5 million people. The country of Pergamon included, apart from the capital and its chora, military colonies (katoikies), cities,⁹ ‘sacred lands’,¹⁰ royal domain and regions, such as Abbaites, Abrettene, Morene and Phrygia Epiktetos, where semi-autonomous aboriginal tribes lived. Attalus II and Eumenes II were greatly visionary leaders and settled colonists in old Macedonian cities, thus boosting agricultural production and inspiring loyalty to the citizens. However, unlike the Seleucids, the Attalids contributed to the racial and cultural integration of the settlers.

Upon resolution of Eumenes II, part of the inhabitants of smaller cities from the ‘chora’ of Pergamon (such as Teuthrania, Alisarna, Gambrio, Palaeogambrio and Parthenio) emigrated to the capital, thus increasing its population to about 150,000. The main bodies of the city were the boule, which drafted the resolutions, and the deme, the assembly of citizens, which validated them. In addition, the Attalids enforced laws not subject to modifications and, as a result, established a stable institutional framework that secured their power. The generals, who often replaced the members of the boule during the preparation of the laws, were also assigned with the task of auditing public finance in collaboration with the treasurers, as well as with the task of supervising the astynomoi – the officers who watched over the conformity to town-planning regulations, sanitation, etc.¹¹ The particular characteristic of the Attalid rule was that the king remained omnipresent by supervising most aspects of public life, without violating democratic institutions, though. This particular role is considered to have been the pattern followed by Octavian Augustus.

The kingdom of Pergamon was proverbially wealthy already from its establishment. The cities, the military coloniesand the sanctuaries as well were subject to taxation, which was usually fixed.¹² Taxes were also paid as part of all commercial and business transactions. The Attalids took particular care of stimulating agricultural activity. As a result, the country was quite densely populated and fully developed.

The main product was cereals. Wineyards and olives were also extensively farmed. Stock breeding was intensive, mainly with sheep and, particularly, a black breed with sleek coat. Besides, the sheep gave the parchment, the processed skin of the newly-born sheep, which, together with scrolls from papyrus, was the basic writing material in Hellenistic years. Timber, precious metals, marble and other rocks as well as salt were in abundance in the kingdom of Pergamon.

As regards handicraft, Pergamon was famous for its textiles, perfumes and cosmetics. The Attalids must have employed methods and techniques of Sardis for producing fancy goods. Finally, the sedimentary soil around the city offered raw materials to pottery, which was considered of high quality, while tile production was part of the state monopoly.

Pergamon had two mints, the royal and the city mint. The mint of Pergamon made mainly bronze coins with representations inspired by the cults of Athena, Asclepius and Zeus. Silver coinage was made only at the Attalid mint.¹³

5. Arts – Letters

Culture developed in parallel with economy in Pergamon. The Attalid kings invited notable artists of the Hellenistic world to their capital in order to build the monuments that would glorify them. Sculptors such as Phyromachus marked the artistic life of the city by founding two schools of sculpture. On the other hand, the library of Pergamon became the centre of attraction for philosophers and students and, as a result, sciences, such as medicine, mathematics and astronomy, flourished.

The voluntary accession of Pergamon to the Roman state resulted in its particularly favourable treatment. In 129 BC Pergamon was incorporated into the newly established province of Asia and became seat of the conventus . However, the Roman expansionism encountered resistance from the king of the Black Sea Mithridates VI Eupator Dionysus, who between 111 and 89 BC managed to create an autonomous and powerful state in Asia Minor thanks to his military supremacy and terrorism. The Roman citizens of Pergamon and other big cities were murdered as part of the political purge of the Roman element. But when in 85 BC Sulla managed to eliminate Mithridates the cities subjugated to him suffered reprisals. Archaeological findings from Pergamon evidence that in the first quarter of the 1^st century BC the city was extensively destroyed. The city started to slowly recover in 71 BC, when, thanks to the proconsul Leucius Lucullus, part of the debts was written off and some taxes were lightened. The recovery of the city was accelerated after the intervention from Diodorus Pasparus, the ambassador of Rome in Pergamon, who managed to exempt the city from taxation and remove the Roman troops based there. The Roman civil wars had some impact on Asia as well. After the battle of Philippi (42 BC) Marc Antony became the commander of Asia and stayed for some time in the city, where he was worshipped as a ‘new Dionysus’.

In the years of Octavian Augustus (31 BC – 14 AD) Asia became a senatorial province commanded by a consul. Pergamon was proclaimed a ‘free’ city, although this freedom concerned only the right to arrange its internal matters. The city suffered minor damage from the destructive earthquake of 17 AD, which struck several Asia Minor cities. However, towards the mid-1^st century Emperor Nero deprived the city of significant monuments as part of his general policy on the transfer of works of art from provincial cities to Rome.

The most important development of the 1^st century was that the notable citizens of Pergamon became Roman citizens and ascended to the senior offices of the Senate. The most typical example was Aulus Julius Cuadratus,¹⁴ who was nominated as consulin 94 and, as a result, benefited his birthplace. The benefits were even greater when he became commander of the province of Asia in the early 2^nd century.

It was then that the competition between Pergamon and Ephesus and Smyrna became more intense on the occasion of the honour for the imperial cult.¹⁵ The conflicts between the cities generated so much tension that the need for amity was expressed in special resolutions¹⁶ as well as on coin inscriptions.

In the mid-2^nd century Pergamon was like an immense building site, as several buildings and public works were being simultaneously completed. Among others, the temple dedicated to the Egyptian gods (Red Basilica), the Roman theatre of the Lower City and the Amphitheatre, where shortly later, Galen, the great physician of the Roman period, would proceed to his famous anatomical studies on wounded or killed gladiators.

In 214 Pergamon was granted lots of privileges by Emperor Caracalla (211-217), who visited the city in order to be treated at the Asclepieion. After he was assassinated, his successor Marcus Opellius Macrinus (217-218) revoked these privileges and, when the citizens revolted, the city’s position was lost (217).

Under the administrative reforms of Diocletian (284-305) Pergamon remained in the province of Asia, whose area was then drastically reduced. It was still the seat of a metropolis – the other three based in Ephesus, Smyrna and Tralleis. In the early Byzantine period the city came under a different administration, while in the 11^th century it was menaced by the Seljuk Turks. In the 1330s Pergamon came under Orhan, the founder of the Ottoman state.¹⁷

The earliest religious centre of the city must have been the temple to Athena Parthenos or Nike, exactly to the west of the entrance to the walled acropolis. It was built in the years of Philetaerus and was a doric peripteral temple with 6 columns on the narrow and 10 columns on its long side. In the years of Eumenes II in front of the temple there was a square surrounded by doric stoes, where one arrived through a monumental propylon.¹⁸

In the time of Philetaerus more significant sanctuaries were built, such as the sanctuaries of Demeter and Mater Aspordene. The cult of Demeter in the Hellenistic period concerned mainly women, the sanctuary having been completed by Apollonis, the wife of Attalus I.¹⁹ However, in Roman years there was increased participation of men, both as mystics and as priests, always on behalf of the women of their family. According to archaeological findings, in the 4^th and the early 3^rd century BC the arrangement of the sanctuary of Demeter was suitable for rituals similar to the Thesmophoria. Besides, the dedicative inscription mentions Demeter Thesmophoros and Kore Thesmophoros. The sanctuary consisted of an ionic temple in antis and adjacent altars, a two-story stoa to the north ending in a small platform for spectators, and the ‘oikoi’, a type of auxiliary rooms. As regards the cult of Mater Aspordene, it was similar to the cult of Cybele or Agdistis or Great Mother, who had a mystic character and was mainly spread to central Asia Minor (Phrygia and Mysia).²⁰

The cult of Asclepius arrived in Pergamon in the 4^th century BC.²¹ His sanctuary was founded about 2.5 km to the southwest of the acropolis and became particularly famous in the time of Eumenes II. However, the sanctuary was in its heyday in the Roman period and, particularly, in the 2^nd century AD, when it was rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian. The sanctuary measured 102x140 m and was surrounded by ionic stoes on its north, south and western side. Apart from the circular peripteral temple of Zeus Asclepius – an unusual identification between the two gods –, built in 140, the complex also included vespasians, a theatre and a library. The two latter buildings indicate that the Asclepieion, apart from its medicinal character, also served as a spiritual centre. Perhaps that was the reason why Aelius Aristides, the famous orator of the 2^nd century, went to the sanctuary and lived there for 13 years.²²

Other deities worshipped in Pergamon were Dionysus, Hera and, of course, Zeus, whose altar, reminiscent of the victories of Eumenes II against the Galatians, adorned a square exactly above the Upper Agora of the city.

Pergamon played an important role in the establishment of the imperial cult already from the time of Augustus. In the early 2^nd century a second temple was built in the city, dedicated to Trajan and Zeus Philius so the city became ‘δις νεωκόρος’. It was a corinthian peripteral temple with 6x9 columns, built on a high base, at the centre of a square measuring 68x58 m, surrounded by stoes on its north, western and eastern side. Fragments of colossal statues of Trajan and his successor Hadrian, who completed the temple (129), were found in the Trajaneum. In 214 a third temple dedicated to Caracalla, who had visited the city, was built in Pergamon.

In Hadrian’s years the city started to worship the Egyptian deities of Sarapis, Isis and Harpokrates. A huge precinct measuring 260x100 m and consisting of a peristyle court and three temple buildings was built in their honour. The central building was the main temple, built according to Roman standards, with red bricks covered with marble. On either side there was a cylindrical building. The facade was adorned with a colonnade in the Egyptian order. In the 4^th century it was transformed into a church possibly associated with martyrdom, since the Christians of the city are known to have been persecuted in the years of Domitian (81-96). Besides, a Christian community must have existed in Pergamon from early on because the Apocalypse of Johnreports the city as one of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor.

In 1871 a group of 4 German archaeologists under Ernst Curtius arrived in the Ottoman town of Bergama during an antiquarian expedition. They met the German engineer Carl Humann working on road construction. Humann, a lover of antiquity, showed the archaeologists fragments of a relief frieze he had found in the nearby hill. A quotation from LiberMemorialis by Lucius Curtius (2^nd century) helped the identification of the monument with the great altar of Zeus of Pergamon. Excavations started 7 years later and continued for some decades bringing to light one after another all the important monuments of the city, which once was the centre of the Attalid kingdom.

9. Archaeology

The city of Pergamon is built on an elevation from andesite, 335 m high, with steep slopes. The buildings stand on 4 successive zones. The highest point was intended for the royal palace, which was equipped with 5 water tanks. The palace complex is walled. Before the entrance there is a heroon dedicated to the dead kings. On entering the acropolis one can see the palace to the right and the square leading to the sanctuary of Athena Parthenos or Nike to the left. Oddly enough, each of the first three kings built his own palace and, as a result, the building complex is quite meandrous. The palace of Philetaerus later housed the guard of the acropolis. In the northwestern corner of the complex is the arsenal, where about 900 stone projectiles for catapults were found.

The square of the sanctuary of Athena demarcated the second zone of the acropolis. The temple of Athena Parthenos or Nike stood in the western corner of the square. Built on a bank, it was in Doric order with a double podium and measured 12.72x21.77. The square was surrounded by two-story stoes with Doric columns on the ground floor and Ionic columns on the first floor. The famous Library of Pergamon was in the eastern corner of the Northern Stoa. According to sources, it included some 20,000 manuscript rolls. It had a reading room measuring 15.35x13.53 m and 3 peripheral rooms, where the books must have been kept. A statue of goddess Athena 3.5 m high stood before the facade of the reading room. Marc Antony is said to have offered all the books of the Library of Pergamon to Cleopatra so that she could replace the material burnt during the fire at the Library of Alexandria in 47 BC.

The Trajaneum was built to the north of the square of Athena Parthenos or Nike in the 2^nd century AD. It was a magnificent construction in the Corinthian order, which has been partly restored and still dominates the area.

The third zone of the acropolis included the theatre, which is exactly below the temple of Athena and has the steepest slope of all Hellenistic theatres. It was built in the late 3^rd century BC and seated 10,000 spectators. It consists of 80 rows and 3 diazomata, while near the orchestra there was a marble royal balcony. An oblong square with doric columns on its western and eastern side opened in front of the theatre. The temple of Dionysus was built in the western corner of the square; it was an Ionic four-column, prostyle temple. However, the most important monument of this zone was the altar of Zeus, dedicated by Eumenes II in commemoration of his victories against the Galatians. Because the monument is today at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, the only thing one can see is a fragment of the pedestal with 5 steps.

To the south of the altar of Zeus was the Upper Agora of the city, surrounded by Doric stoes. The agora occupied a great part of the fourth zone of the acropolis. The main street of the city crossed the agora, while the altar of the agora and the temple of Hermes were in the western corner. The sanctuary of Demeter, dedicated by Philetaerus, was near the agora. A nearby building accommodates today the museum, where several findings are exhibited. The Small Gymnasium of the city was between the Agora and the sanctuary of Demeter.

The street starting from the Upper Agora led to the Middle City, where houses and workshops from the Hellenistic period have been excavated. Among these monuments stands out the heroon Pergamon dedicated to its notable citizen Diodorus Pasparus in the 1^st century BC. Farther southwest of the sanctuary of Demeter is the Gymnasium, an impressive building made by Eumenes II on three levels (Upper Gymnasium, Middle and Lower Gymnasium) joined together by means of arched staircases and passages. The first was intended for the children, the second for the adolescents and the third for the young. Inside the Gymnasium were the covered track of Xystos, several small sanctuaries and a small conservatory. On either side of the Gymnasium there were bath complexes, while on its northern side Attalus II had built a Doric four-column, prostyle temple dedicated to Hera Vassileia. In the northwestern corner was the bouleuterion, which seated 1,000 people.

To the south of the Gymnasium was an area where several mansions and luxurious residences decorated with mosaics were built in the Roman period.²³ The most known was the House of Attalus. He was not some Hellenistic king but the Roman consul Attalus Patriclianus that restored an older mansion from 200 BC. Pergamon also had a second agora (Lower Agora) on the lowest part of the city. It had a paved floor and was surrounded by Doric stoes with large shops.

The most important Roman monuments, apart from the Trajaneum, lie outside the acropolis in a plain to the southwest, among the houses of the modern city. These include the so-called Red Court or Red Basilica and the theatre, the amphitheatre and the stadium, all dating from the 2^nd century AD. Excavations are being carried out in the area of the theatre, which is almost certain to have been Roman, with a seating capacity of about 24,000 spectators. There are almost no remains of the stadium, while some retaining walls are the only part preserved from the amphitheatre.

Several findings from excavations in Pergamon and other neighbouring cities – at least those not taken to Berlin – are today exhibited at the archaeological museum built in 1936 in the central street of the city. Among others, the museum includes parts of the frieze from the temple of Demeter, the acroterion of the Asclepieum’s propylon as well as a large number of Roman statues.