Pergamum was a major Greek city in western Asia Minor , near present-day Bergama, Turkey . The earliest known mention of Pergamum is in the Greek historian Xenophon’s book Anabasis (about 400 B.C.), but the city probably existed earlier. The city rose to prominence in the late 300’s or early 200’s B.C., when the Macedonian King Lysimachus established a treasury there. After Lysimachus died in 281 B.C., Pergamum became part of the Seleucid Empire , a Macedonian empire formed from part of the Persian Empire . It emerged as the center of power in western Asia Minor. Leadership of the city fell to the Attalids, descendants of Lysimachus’s lieutenant Philetaerus. In 261 B.C., the Attalid King Eumenes I established the independent kingdom of Pergamum after defeating the Seleucid King Antiochus I.
The Attalids were great patrons of the arts. They invited artists, philosophers, and writers to the royal court and established an outstanding library in Pergamum. They also encouraged trade and promoted the manufacture of brocade textiles and parchments. Sculptors from Pergamum developed a distinct style, which they employed in creating the Great Altar of Pergamum, dedicated to the Greek god Zeus . Pergamum reached the height of its splendor during the reign of Eumenes II, between 197 and 159 B.C.
The Attalids were strong supporters of the Romans . Pergamum came under the Romans’ control in 133 B.C., after King Attalus III granted them the kingdom in his will. The Romans made Pergamum a major center of education and industry. The Emperor Hadrian expanded the city’s shrine to Asclepius , the Greek god of healing. The city had a medical school and was home to Galen , a famous physician of the A.D. 100’s. A temple of Trajan and a Roman theater are among Pergamum’s remaining structures. The city also was a center of early Christianity.
Pergamum began to diminish in the 600’s. It was attacked by Sasanian Persians, and later by Arabs and Seljuk Turks . It became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 1300’s, during the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire (formerly the East Roman Empire). The Ottomans expanded upon the city’s foundations, settling the plain below it, the site of modern Bergama.
