Lysimachus, who deposited his treasures, 9000 talents, in this strong fortress under the charge of a eunuch Plιil-etaerus of Tium. In 283 b.c. Philetaerus rebelled, Lysimachus died without being able to put down the revolt, and Pergamum became the capital of a little principality. Partly by clever diplomacy, partly through the troubles caused by the Gaulish invasion and by the dissensions among the rival kings, Philetaerus contrived to keep on good terms with his neighbours bn all sides (283-263 b.c.). His nephew Eumenes (263-241) succeeded him, increased his power, and even defeated Antiochus of Syria in a pitched battle near Sardis. His successor Attalus I. (241 - 197) won a great battle over the Gauls, and assumed the title of king. The other Greek kings who aimed at power in Asia Minor were his natural enemies. On the other hand, the influence of the Romans was beginning to make itself felt in the East. Attalus perceived the advantage of their alliance against his Greek rivals, connected himself with them from the first, and shared in their continuous success. Under the reign of Attalus Pergamum became the capital of a considerable territory and a centre of art and regal magnificence. Sculptors were attracted by the wealth of the state and the king’s desire to celebrate his victories by monuments of art, and thus arose the so-called “Pergamenian school” in sculpture. The Pergamenian kings appear to have been far more truly Hellenic, and to have admitted far less of the “barbarian” Oriental character to their court, than the other Hellenistic sovereigns, whose habits and surroundings were those of Eastern sultans with a thin surface-gloss of Greek manners. We hear more of the munificence of Attalus towards Athens, then the educational centre of Greece, than to his own capital. The splendour of Pergamum was at its height under Eumenes II. (197-159). He continued true to the Romans during their wars with Antiochus and Perseus, and his kingdom spread over the greater part of western Asia Minor, including Mysia, Lydia, great part of Phrygia and Caria. To celebrate the great achievement of his race, the defeat of the barbarian Gauls, he built in the agora a vast altar to Zeus Soter, adorned with sculptures and especially with a gigantic frieze, in which the symbolic theme of the defeat of the barbarian giants by the gods was treated on such a scale, and with such wealth of detail and perfection of technical skill, as made the monument one of the marvels of the ancient world. He devoted great care to the improvement and embellishment of the city. It is not certain when the old Doric temple of Athena Polias and Nicephorus on the Acropolis was replaced by a more magnificent marble temple, but Eumenes planted a grove in the Nicephorion, the sacred precinct of the goddess, and established libraries and other great works in the city. He left an infant son, Attalus (∏L), and a brother, Attalus II. (Philadelphus), who ruled 159-138, and was succeeded by his nephew, Attalus III. (Philometor). The latter died in 133, and bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans, who erected it into a province under the name of Asia. Pergamum continued to rank, with Ephesus and Smyrna, as one of the three great cities of the province, and the devotion of its former kings to the Roman cause was continued by its citizens, who erected on the acropolis a magnificent temple to Augustus. It was the seat of a conventus, including the cities of the Caicus valley and some of those in the northern part of the Hermus valley. Under the Roman empire Pergamum was one of the chief seats of the worship of Asclepius; invalids came from distant parts of the country to ask advice from the god and his priests. The temple and the curative establishment of the god were situated outside the city. Pergamum was one of the early seats of Christianity, and one of the seven churches enumerated in the Revelation was situated there. Two tributaries of the Caicus, named Selinus and Cetius, flowed through or near the city. The ancient name is still preserved under the form “Bergamo.”

The excavations conducted by the Prussian Government at Pergamum under the direction of Humann and Bohn have disclosed many of the buildings with which the acropolis was adorned, the temples of Athena and Augustus, the Stoa, &c., have recovered great part of the frieze on the altar of Zeus, and have given materials of every kind for the elucidation of Pergamenian history and Greek antiquities generally, which it will take years to classify and place before the public (see the preliminary reports published by Conze, Bohn, and Humann).