or Pergamum, an ancient city of Mysia in Asia Minor, was situated on the north bank of the Caicus. The facts regarding its origin are not authenticated. It is said to have been founded by a colony of Arcadians, and to have derived its name from Pergamus, a son of Pyrrhus. At any rate, in the time of Xenophon it was a strong town perched on the top of a conical hill, and numbering many Greeks among its inhabitants. In course of time its population began to increase; houses began to be grouped round the foot of the Acropolis; and the city continued to grow in importance until about 283 B.C., when it became the seat of a kingdom. The first sovereign was one Philetaros, an eunuch, and a Paphlagonian by birth. This man being in the service of Lyssmachus, King of Macedonia and Thrace, was appointed by him keeper of the treasures lodged in Pergamus. Whilst he held this employment, having fallen under the displeasure of Arsinoe, wife of Lyssmachus, she found means to excite a quarrel between him and his master, upon which Philetaros seized on the town, together with the treasures entrusted to his care. At first he offered his service, together with his Pergamus, treasure, to Seleucus, the King of Syria; but both Seleucus and Lysimachus dying soon afterwards, he contrived to keep possession of the town and treasure until his death, which happened in 263 B.C., twenty years after his revolt from Lysimachus.

The city of Pergamus was left an independent state to Eumenes I., the nephew of Philæterus. This ruler laying hold of the opportunity offered by the dissensions amongst the Seleucidæ, possessed himself of many strongholds in the province of Asia; and having hired a body of Galatians, defeated Antiochus Soter near Sarus. By this victory he obtained possession of the greater part of Asia. But he did not long enjoy his acquisitions, for he died next year of immoderate drinking.

Eumenes was succeeded, in 241 B.C., by Attalus I., who was also a nephew of Philæterus, and who was the first to assume the title of King of Pergamus. He defeated the Gauls, who seemed desirous of settling in his territory; and, according to Livy, he was the first of the Asiatic princes who refused to pay a contribution to these barbarians. Taking advantage of the wars in which Seleucus Ceramus was engaged, he invaded the territories of that monarch, and conquered all the provinces on the Anatolian side of the Taurus. Seleucus, however, with the aid of Achæans, soon deprived him of all his newly-acquired territories, and even besieged him in his capital. Upon this, Attalus, inviting to his assistance the Gauls who had settled in Thrace, not only obliged the enemy to raise the siege of Pergamus, but quickly recovered all the provinces he had lost. After this he invaded Ionia and the neighbouring provinces, where several cities voluntarily submitted to his sway. Thence he advanced to Apia, and, encamping on the banks of the River Megithus, received homage from the neighbouring nations. But here the Gauls, being frightened by an eclipse of the moon, refused to proceed farther; a circumstance which obliged the King of Pergamus to return to the Hellespont. Attalus now entering into an alliance with the Romans, joined them in their war against Philip, King of Macedon. In this war, in command of the Rhodian fleet, he not only drove the Macedonians quite out of the Greek seas, but having landed his men, he invaded Macedon, and obliged Philip to raise the siege of Athens. For these services the Athenians not only heaped on him all the favours they could bestow, but called one of their tribes by his name,—an honour which they had never before bestowed upon any foreigner. Attalus next attempted to organize a general confederacy of the Greeks against Philip. But whilst he was haranguing at Thebes, with a view to this object, and exhorting the Boeotians to enter into an alliance with the Romans against their common enemy, he fell in a fit of apoplexy. Having somewhat recovered, he was carried by sea to Pergamus, where he died soon after his arrival, in 197 B.C., in the seventy-second year of his age, and forty-third of his reign.

Attalus was succeeded by his eldest son Eumenes II. The latter was exceedingly attached to the Romans. He refused the daughter of Antiochus the Great in marriage, lest he should thus be led into a quarrel with that people. He also gave intimation to the Roman Senate of the transactions of Ariarathes, King of Cappadocia, who was making great preparations both by sea and land. Nor did his fidelity stop here. When he saw the war about to break out between Antiochus and the Romans, he sent his brother Attalus to Rome in order to give information of the proceedings of Antiochus. At the battle of Magnesia, too, he behaved with the greatest bravery, not only sustaining the first attack of the enemy's elephants, but driving them back again upon their own troops, and thus throwing the hostile ranks into confusion, and contributing materially to the complete victory of the Romans. Such assiduous services were well rewarded. On the conclusion of peace between Antiochus and the Romans, his dominion was extended over all the countries in Asia Minor west of Mount Taurus. Soon after this Eumenes engaged in an unsuccessful contest with Prusias, King of Bithynia, who made war upon him by the advice of Hannibal, the celebrated Carthaginian general. The Romans, however, interfered, and by their deputies not only put an end to the differences between the two kings, but prevailed on Prusias to betray Hannibal. Eumenes being thus freed from such a dangerous enemy, engaged in a new war with the kings of Cappadocia and Pontus, in which he proved victorious. His friendship for the Romans he now carried to such a degree of enthusiasm that he went in person to Rome to inform them of the machinations of Perseus, King of Macedon. This journey, however, had almost proved fatal to him. On his return, as he was going to perform a sacrifice at Delphi, two assassins, sent by Perseus, rolled down two great stones upon him as he entered the straits of the mountains. He was so severely injured that a report of his death was spread over Asia; and on reaching home, he found that his brother Attalus had married his wife and assumed his crown. In spite of this flagrant attempt upon his life, however, Eumenes, on the outbreak of the war between the Romans and Macedonians, entered into negotiations with Perseus. He offered, if the latter would pay him a sum of money, to influence the Romans to grant him a safe and honourable peace. These negotiations were indeed broken off prematurely, but not before the Romans had begun to be suspicious, and to entertain no little jealousy of their old friend, and to heap favours upon his brother Attalus. Eumenes in alarm resolved to proceed in person to Rome, in order to justify himself. But the Senate having already condemned him in their own minds, resolved not to hear his vindication, and made an act that no king should be permitted to enter the gates of Rome. Accordingly, on landing at Brundusium, he was met by a questor, and ordered to quit Italy and go back to Pergamus without delay. On his return, the Gauls, encouraged by the cold reception which he had met with at Rome, invaded his territories, but were repulsed with great loss. This produced new complaints at Rome. Eumenes was accused of keeping up a secret correspondence with the King of Macedon; and the senators having conceived the most implacable hatred against him, seemed absolutely bent on his destruction, when he died in 159 B.C., in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, leaving his kingdom and his wife to his brother Attalus.

Attalus II., in the commencement of his reign, found himself greatly distressed by Prusias, King of Bithynia, who not only overthrew him in a pitched battle, but advanced to the very walls of Pergamus, ravaging the country as he marched along, and at last reduced the royal city itself. The king, having saved himself by a timely flight, despatched ambassadors to Rome for assistance. Prusias was accordingly obliged to conclude a peace with his adversary, and to give indemnities. The last enterprise in which we find Attalus engaged was against Andricus, the pretended son of Perseus, King of Macedon, in which he assisted the Romans. After this he gave himself up to ease and luxury, committing state affairs entirely to his ministers; and thus continued till his death, which happened in the eighty-second year of his age, about 138 B.C.

Attalus II. was succeeded by Attalus III., the son of Eumenes II., and of Stratonice, the daughter of Ariarathes, King of Cappadocia. This prince is said to have been deprived of his senses through the violence of his grief for his mother's death; and, indeed, throughout his whole reign, he behaved more like a madman than a person of sane mind. On the death of this tyrant in 133 B.C., a will was found, by which he left the Roman people his heirs, upon which they seized on the kingdom, and reduced it to a province of their empire by the name of Asia Proper. Aris- tonicus, however, a son of Eumenes by an Ephesian courtezan, reckoning himself the lawful heir to the crown, assembled a considerable army in order to maintain his pretensions. The news were speedily carried to Rome; and Licinius Crassus, the pontifex maximus, was sent into the East to vindicate the Roman claims. But he managed matters so ill that he was entirely defeated and taken prisoner by Aristonicus. Aristonicus did not long enjoy the fruits of his victory. He was soon surprised by Perpenna, the new consul, who obliged him to venture an engagement at a disadvantage, defeated him, and took him prisoner. The Pergameneans, notwithstanding the defeat and captivity of their leader, still held out with such obstinacy that Aquilius, the succeeding consul, was obliged to besiege and take by force almost every city in the kingdom. At last, however, the whole country being reduced, Aquilius triumphed, and the unhappy Aristonicus, being led in chains before his chariot, probably ended his miserable life in a dungeon.

The city of Pergamus retained its importance long after its subject territory had been thus reduced into the form of a Roman province. It still continued to be famous for its magnificent library, which had been founded by Eumenes II., and which contained, according to the ordinary reports, about 200,000 volumes. In the times of the New Testament it was the seat of one of the Seven Churches mentioned in the Apocalypse. In the age of Pliny it was by far the most celebrated city of Asia. Yet after passing into the Byzantine empire Pergamus gradually declined, and in course of time was transformed into the modern city of Bergama. The ruins of a palace, of the temple of Esculapius, of a theatre, and of other public buildings, are the only remnants of its ancient grandeur.