PER'GAMON, or PERGAMUS (Lat.. from Gk. Hipyapoe, Pergatnon, Ilip)aaoc, I'crgamos, Per gaino,). An ancient city of Mysia, in Asia Mi nor, the capital of the kingdom of the same name. The city was situated in the valley of the Caleus, about 15 miles from the coast. The Acropolis is a lofty bill, about 1000 feet in height. situated be tween the streams Minns and Cetins, of which the former flowed through the later lower city. now partly covered by the modern town of Ber gama. The early history of the place is lost in legend, which declared that the Greek inhabitants came from Arcadia under Telephus, son of Hera des by Auge, and that the name was derived from Pergamos, grandson of Achilles. In the fourth century 9.c. it was the seat of a Greek population. but it was not till the early third century that it rose to prominence. Its impregnable Acropo lis was chosen by Lysimachns as a hiding place for his treasure of 9000 talents (about $10,000. 000), which he intrusted to a certain Philet:erus. In n.c. 283 a revolt of Asiatic cities against Lysimaehus enabled Philetierus to become master of the place, and the defeat and death of Lysimac•hus, two years later, enabled him to con solidate his power at first in dependence upon the Sehicithe of Syria. but later as independent ruler of the neighboring regions of Mysia and the Troad. In n.c. 263 he was succeeded by his nephew Eumenes I. (9.c. 263-241), who main tained his power against the attacks of Ant iochus 1. of Syria. and developed the resources and prosperity of his little kingdom. which he ruled under the title of Dynast. His cousin and suc cessor, Attalus, I. (n.c. 241-197), really placed the new principality on a firm basis through his victories over the Gauls and Antioelms II., whereby he became master of a great part of Northwestern Asia Minor. and though later he was compelled to relinquish part of his con quests, his wise policy of allying himself with the distant power of Rome against his neighbors of Syria and Macedon, enabled him to leave a well-established kingdom to his son Eumenes II. In addition to his military and political ability, Attalus, who assumed the royal title after his defeat of the Gauls, did much to make his capital the centre of the artistic and literary life of Asia. He erected near the city a splendid temple and grove in honor of Athena Nikephoros (Bring er of Victory) and also splendid artistic monu ments of his triumphs. To these groups be longed the bronze originals of the well-known Dying Gaul of the Capitol and the Gaul and his Wife of the Ludovisi Collection in Rome. At Athens he erected the stow of Attains and placed on the Acropolis a series of small bronze figures representing the battles of the Athenians with the Amazons and Persians, the Gods with the Giants, and the Pergamenes with the Gauls, pos sibly reduced copies of his monuments in Per ganmm, and now known to as in part through a series of small marble figures in Naples, Rome. Venice, and Paris. Eumenes II, (197-159) con tinued the Roman policy of his father, and was rewarded after the defeat of Antioehus the Great with the greater part of Asia Minor, ex cept Lyda and Caria. To his reign belong the great altar of Zeus and the development of the great library which seems to have been founded by Attains I. The former was erected near the summit of the Acropolis, at the north end of the Agora. Here rose a great foundation 16 feet high and about 124 by 114 feet square, crowned with an Ionic colonnade which surrounded the altar proper, a mass of earth and ashes inclosed by a wall with cornice and architectural decora tions, and ascended by steps. The platform was
reached by a broad flight of steps on the west side of the basis. Around the basis was the great work of the Pergamene artists, a colossal frieze about 400 feet long and feet high, eon taining a representation in very high relief of the battle of the Gods and Giants, executed with amazing technical skill and full of variety and vigor of composition, though lacking the ideal dignity and nobility of tbe best Greek art. A small frieze representing the legend of Telephus adorned the Ionic colonnade. The library was established by the King in the halls which sur rounded the Temple of Athena Polias above the Agora, and was enriched with a eolleetion of books rivaling the foundation of Ptolemy at Alexandria. Here, too, was gathered a band of scholars about Crates of Mallos, who developed a school of grammatical study, which in opposi tion to the Alexandrians, emphasized the anoma lies rather than the analogies of language. To Pergamum w•as attributed the invention of a fine parchment for use in books when the jealousy of the Egyptians endeavored to cheek the activity of the Pergamenes by prohibiting the export of papyrus paper. Under the brother of Eumenes Attalus II. (9.c. 159-138), the traditional policy of friendship with Rome was continued and the prosperity and power of the little king dom increased by successful wars with Bithyuia and Thrace. His nephew, At talus III. (9.c. 138 133), was a student and writer, especially on ag riculture, zoology, and botany. He left no heirs, and by his will bequeathed his kingdom freedom under Roman protection. An attempt of a pre tender, Aristonieus, to seize the power, led to Roman intervention, and in B.C. 129 the Province of Asia was organized with Pergamum as its cap ital. The city long remained in this position. the seat of a provincial council, and an important centre of Asiatic trade. On the summit of the Acropolis was the Temple of Augustus and Rome, and later a temple to Trajan wag added. It seems to have declined under Byzantine rule, though its strategical importance led to the forti fication of the hill with a strong wall. Under Turkish rule this fortress was abandoned, but the and is now a thriving place of some 20,000 in habitants, bearing the name of Bergama. The re covery of Pergamum is due to Carl Ilumann, a German civil engineer, whose attention was attracted to the place during a visit in 1864. when he observed the destruction of the ancient remains. After much effort, he in duced the Berlin Museum to begin excavations in 1878, and when the third campaign closed in 1886, the upper Acropolis had been cleared, in eluding the site of the altar and the library. In 1901 new explorations were begun on the lower slopes of the hill, with the avowed intention of recovering so far as possible the city of Eumenes. The sculptures recovered are partly in Berlin, where the Great Altar has been set up in its old form, and partly in Constantinople. Commit: Baumeister, Denkmii/cr dcs k/assischco A ltcr toms. title "Pergamon" (Munich, 1887) ; Cssing, Pcrpanzon (Berlin, 1899) : Pontremoli and Col lignon, Per-game (Paris, 1900). with plates and restorations: Human') and others.
Beriehte nbcr dic E"rgelirrisse der prrganieni.sehpn Ausgrabungen (Berlin, 1880. 1882, 1888) ; A/ter /hitter eon Pergamon, vol. ii., iv., v. 2, viii. (Ber lin, 1885-1895) Haehtmann, Peryomon (Giiter sloh. 1900) ; and DiIrpfeId, Fiihrer durch die Ruinen von Pergamon (Berlin, 1902).