Pergamum

The ancient Greek city of Pergamon (Greek Πέργαμος) was located in northwestern Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), 30 km from the Aegean coast and opposite the island of Lesbos, in the region called Aeolian. Its ruins surround the current city of Bergama, built on the foundations of what was the lower part of Pergamon.

In 2014, UNESCO designated Pergamon as a World Heritage Site.

History

Location of the city of Pergam on the coast of Asia Minor (Turkey).

Legend says that the city of Pergamum was founded by Pergamum, son of Neoptolemus and Andromache, all of whom were characters in the Trojan War. In the year 560 a. C. the city belonged to Croesus, king of Lydia, and time later came to depend on Cyrus II of Persia. When Alexander the Great defeated Darius III, king of the Persians, and dominated all of Asia Minor, he appointed Barsine, the widow of a Persian commander from Rhodes, as governor of Pergamum.

The great city it came to be, is in a citadel located on the highest part, where the general Lysimachus of Thrace kept his treasures. It is believed that he collected great wealth, up to 9000 talents, which together with other jewels he left in that place under the care of the governor of the area called Filetero (other authors call him Filetaro or Filetairo).

The Attalids

Background

Filetero was a Macedonian, son of Attalus and Boa. He had served under the command of Alexander the Great's general, Antigonus I Monophthalmos, and later Lysimachus of Thrace appointed him commander for the Pergamum area and made him responsible for the treasury that was kept on the acropolis. His tenure as governor lasted from 283 B.C. C. until 263 a. C., first under the orders of Lysimachus, then under Seleucus I of Babylon and Syria and finally as an independent leader. Filetero was never named king but it was the beginning of a dynasty that ended in 129 BC. C. with King Eumenes III.

In the year 281 a. C. the confrontation between Lisímaco and Seleuco I Nikátor took place, in which Lisímaco lost his life. A little later, already in 280 BC. C., Seleucus was assassinated and his son Antiochus I Soter succeeded him. This change of king was taken advantage of by Filetero to declare the entire territory of Pergamum independent, something that was easy for him since he had taken good care in seizing the treasure that he guarded by order of Lysimachus. In this way Pergamum and the towns that depended on it ceased to be part of the kingdom of the Seleucids.

Pergamum was a cosmopolitan city, a cultural meeting place of the Roman Empire, a pagan center of ancient deities, where the seat of Zeus was located, during the period of the conversion to Christianity of Jews and Gentiles, the preaching of Christians undermined beliefs pagans of Roman society, revealing that the veneration of images and gods that were not gods was abominable before their God and that a terrible Judgment would come for this and other evil works. The book of the Apocalypse of the Bible mentions Pergamum, where the heretical church that has the doctrine of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans is.

The Dynasty

During the rule of the Attalid dynasty, Pergamum became a rich and powerful power. In this city the art of gardening was born. Their kings were great art collectors and good bibliographers.

Philetaero (who was a eunuch and therefore had no children) was succeeded by his nephew, adopted as a son, Eumenes, who ruled as Eumenes I from 263 BC. C. to 241 a. C. Eumenes got support and help from the Egyptian king against his rival Seleucid Antiochus I. A great feat of this ruler was to stop with his army of mercenaries the invasion of Gallic tribes (called Galatians in this case) that had entered Asia Minor. The city of Pergamum was beautifying during his reign.

He was succeeded by Átalo I Sóter (Salvador), who took the title of king and ruled from 241 BC. C. to 197 a. C. Átalo fought again against the Galatians who had returned to break into that area and in the year 230 a. C. he annihilated them after a few campaigns. He also fought and defeated the Seleucid king Antiochus III Megas, so that he came to dominate all of northwestern Asia Minor. Attalus knew how to maintain a good alliance with Rome, which was already emerging as a dominant people. In his reign, Pergamon stood out as a great artistic and literary center and his library became the most important in the known world, after that of Alexandria.

The next king was Eumenes II Soter who reigned from 197 BC. C. to 159 B.C. C. In his time the great altar of Zeus was built, the greatest work of Hellenic art. During the reign of Eumenes II the great library rivaled that of Alexandria to such an extent that it aroused the envy and fury of the Egyptian king Ptolemy V. He ordered the imprisonment of the librarian Aristophanes of Byzantium, who planned to settle in Pergamum and also the embargo on the papyrus, which the Egyptians produced under a monopoly regime. As a result of this embargo in Pergamum, the ancient oriental technique of writing on leather was perfected, in such a way that the resulting product has since been called "parchment".

Atalus III reigned from 138 BC. C. to 133 B.C. C. After him there was an ephemeral king, Eumenes III, also called Aristónico. Átalo III bequeathed his kingdom by testament to the Roman people. Under the control of Rome, Pergamum became the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor and one of the most important cities of antiquity.

Roman period

Portrait of Mitrídates at the Louvre Museum.

In the year 88 a. C., Mithridates VI made Pergamum the headquarters of his first war against Rome, in which he was defeated. At the end of the war, the victorious Romans deprived Pergamum of all its benefits and its status as a free city. Henceforth, the city had to pay tribute and house and supply the Roman troops, and the goods of many of its inhabitants were confiscated. The members of the parchment aristocracy, especially Diodoro Pasparus in the 70s a. C., they used their own possessions to maintain good relations with Rome, acting as donors for the development of the city. Numerous honorific inscriptions indicate the work of Pasparus and his exceptional position in Pergamum at this time.

Pergamum was still a famous city, and Lucullus's notable luxuries included imported goods from the city, which was still the seat of a conventus (regional assembly). Under Augustus, the first imperial cult, a neochorate, to establish itself in the province of Asia was in Pergamum. Pliny the Elder refers to the city as the most important in the province, and the local aristocracy continued to reach the highest circles of power into the century I d. C., like Aulus Julius Quadratus who was consul in 94 and 105.

Remains of the Roman amphitheater of Pergam (views from the Acropolis).

However, it was only under Trajan and his successors that a comprehensive redesign and redevelopment of the city took place, with the construction of a "new city" Roman at the base of the Acropolis. The city was the first in the province to receive a second neocorato, from the hands of Trajan in the year 113/4 AD. C. In the year 123, Hadrian raised the city to the rank of a metropolis, and thus elevated it above its local rivals, Ephesus and Smyrna. An ambitious construction program was carried out: huge temples, a stadium, a theater, a huge forum and an amphitheater were built. In addition, at the city limits the sanctuary of Asclepius (the god of healing) was enlarged into a lavish spa. This sanctuary grew in fame and was considered one of the most famous therapeutic and healing centers in the Roman world. In the mid-II century, Pergamum was one of the largest cities in the province, along with these two, and had about 200,000 inhabitants. Galen, the most famous physician of antiquity other than Hippocrates, was born in Pergamum and received his initial training at the Asclepeion. At the beginning of the III century, Caracalla granted the city a third neo-crown, but the decline had already begun. During the [[crisis of the century III|crisis of the century III]], Pergamum's economic strength finally collapsed, as the city was badly damaged in an earthquake in 262 and sacked by the Goths soon after. In late antiquity, it experienced a limited economic recovery.

Population

• 57 200 inhabitants.

Geography

• Altitude: 39 meters.
• Latitude: 39° 07' 00" N
• Length: 027° 11' 02" E

The city

Pergam acropolis.

The fortress was built on the highest point, overlooking the valley of the Selinus River at an elevation of 335 m above sea level. The top is a kind of platform slightly inclined towards the west and that descends towards the south in the form of terraces, each one of which presents its functional and architectural independence, as an adaptation of the architecture to the terrain; In this way, the terraces become one more element of the construction. The architects knew how to shape the structure of the terraces and achieved the total picture of each building making use of the porticos and columns without fear of lengthening them to great proportions or of throwing a height of up to 2 or 3 floors. They followed traditional formulas but also incorporated a novelty in the history of Greek architecture and urbanism, which is the integration of the landscape into the architectural composition. The idea is totally new and different from the Greek city construction system prior to this time.

Pergam Ruins.

On this significant difference in level, the city was built, which was configured in three superimposed levels:

• City down, today buried and covered by the current city of Bergama. The remains of the Red basilica and the Pergam bridge stand out.
• Middle town, which has preserved the ancient walls of the time of Átalo I. among the most notable buildings were the gyms, built on 3 terraces and the sanctuary of Deméter, ordered to build by Filatero.
• High city, which is the acropolis, the one that kept Filatero by order of Lisica. As such acropolis had the designation of religious, residential and military city. It was built around the theater, behind which was the sanctuary of Atenea Nikéforos (the one leading to victory), raised in Filetaro times in a doric order, and the library. The city of Pergam was consecrated to Athena, in imitation of the important Greek cities. To the north was the royal palace, very simple, accompanied by a barracks and an arsenal. To the south was the great altar of Zeus, dominating the agora.

In this labyrinth of terraces and embankments, the street has its place; the transformation suffered with respect to the traditional Greek street is enormous. Before it was almost always a narrow corridor and devoid of ornaments. With the new ideas of Pérgamo the street becomes wide up to 20 m and much longer and, like the buildings, it also integrates not only with the landscape but also with the constructions. In this way, the colonnades that surround the terraces are repeated and are extended through the main streets. To cut the monotony that this system could have, they are sometimes interrupted with doors, triumphal arches, columns with characters, etc.

The Attalid kings had the great ambition of converting Pergamum into a city of the category of Athens in the time of Pericles and they knew how to achieve it.

The Acropolis

It is located in the upper city, on the top of the hill. Here are the ruins of some of the buildings that once stood.

• Librarywhich was famous, the second in importance after the great library of Alexandria. He got up to 200,000 copies. It's rebuilt by the Germans.

Pergam Model, Staatliche Museen Berlin.

• Theatrewith capacity for 10,000 spectators. It has 69 steps that extend along a inclination with the height of 38 m. The lower part gives to a large terrace that was in distant times a place to walk.
• Zeus Altar was originally located south of the theatre. The altar, with an approximate surface of 36 x 34 meters, was erected by Eumenes II, and is characterized by its enormous steps, solid columns and a frieze that represents the struggle between the giants and the gods of Greek mythology. After eight years of excavations (1878-1886), one third of the altar was sent by the Sultan to Berlin, Germany, and later rebuilt in what would later become the Museum of Pergam. The gesture was a recognition of the great excavation works carried out by German archaeologists.
• There are also the ruins that demonstrate the location of the palaces of Atalo I and Eumenes II.

The Asclepion

View of the Asclepeion from the Propiles.

The ruins of the Asclepeion are located 3.5km to the west of the city.

This building, consecrated to the god of medicine, was founded by the poet Archias, in gratitude for the care he had received in Epidaurus (Greece). In this place the scholars in medicine met. It was also a medical school. Galen contributed greatly to the enlargement of this temple. Galen was born in 131 very close to this place; He studied in Alexandria and was a doctor to the gladiators and later to the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, in 162. It was decorated with a bas-relief with the snakes that symbolize Asclepius.

Nearby there was the temple to the god of medicine Telesforo, son of Asclepius, as well as Panacea and Hygieia.

Gallery