Pergamon Ancient City

The Acropolis of Pergamon rises high above the modern town of Bergama on the lower slopes and the Bakirçay Plain and was the capital of the Hellenistic Attalid dynasty, a principal centre of learning in the ancient world. The monumental temples, theatres, stoa or porticoes, gymnasium, altar, and library were set into the sloping terrain enclosed by an extensive city wall. The rock-cut Kybele Sanctuary lies north-west on another hill visually linked to the Acropolis. Later, the city became the capital of the Roman province of Asia, known for its Asclepieion healing centre. The Acropolis tops the landscape, containing burial mounds and remains of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires.

Spread over a vast site around the city of Bergama, the Helenistic, Roman and Byzantine historical points of interest are in four distinct areas: (i) The Upper Acropolis, including the foundations of the Altar of Zeus, the Theatre of Pergamon, the location of the Library of Pergamon, the Temple of Trajan, Temple of Dionysus, the Temple of Athena and the probable location of the Library of Pergamon, (ii) The Lower Acropolis, including the Sanctuary of Hera and the Sanctuary of Demeter, (iii) the Asclepieion including the Sanctuary of Asclepius, and (iv) Bergama town centre including The Red Basilica / Serapis Temple and Pergamon Archaeological Museum.

Location: Ulucami, Akropol Cd. No:6, 35700 Bergama/İzmir. In and around the city of Bergama, 220km northeast of Çeşme.

Brief History of Pergamon

The city was first mentioned in writing by Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian Xenophon (circa 430-354 B.C.) in his book ‘Anabasis‘ but had already been established before the 7th century B.C. Archaeological evidence dates the origin of the settlement to the Archaic Period in Greece and finds have strongly suggested habitation by the Hittites in the 14th century B.C. and human activity in the region even earlier.

Pergamon, which was controlled by the First Persian Empire / Achaemenid Empire (circa 550-330 B.C.), was involved in the revolt against the Empire in 362 B.C. and was severely punished and fell out of history until the arrival of Alexander the Great in around 334 B.C. After Alexander’s death, it was taken by his general Lysimachus (circa 360-281 B.C, reign 306-281 B.C.) and, after his death, by one of his commanders, Philetaerus (circa 343-263 B.C, reign 282-263 B.C.), founder of the Attalid Dynasty making Pergamon its capital. The Celtic Gauls of Asia Minor were a persistent problem for Pergamon under Lysimachus and Philetaerus as they regularly raided the region. Philetaerus had tried to resolve the issue by building more robust defences. Still, the Gauls continued their raids until Eumenes I (reign 263-241 B.C.) hired them as mercenaries, led them at the Battle of Sardis in 261 B.C., and liberated Pergamon from Seleucid rule.

Pergamon became a well-respected cultural centre, drawing intellectuals and artists from around the Mediterranean world who, along with wealthy citizens, contributed to the library’s holdings. Eumenes II (reign 197-159 B.C.) commissioned the famous Altar of Zeus (the Pergamon Altar) and renovated the Pergamon Acropolis, building the Temple of Dionysus, renovating the Temple of Athena and expanding the hillside theatre to seat 10,000 spectators.

When the last of the Attalid Dynasty, Attalus III (circa 170-133 B.C., reign 138-133 B.C.), died without an heir, he bequeathed his Kingdom to Rome; however, he stipulated that Pergamon was exempt from this endowment. Aristonicus, claiming to be the illegitimate son of Eumenes II, took the throne name Eumenes III (reign 133-129 B.C.) and led a revolt against Rome, which was crushed in 129 B.C., finally ending the Kingdom of Pergamon. Eumenes III was sent to Rome and was paraded through the city, then executed by strangulation.

Pergamon became a metropolis and was the capital of the Roman Province of Asia during the Roman imperial period. The Romans maintained the existing Hellenistic Period structures while adding new functions as a cultural and imperial cult centre of the empire. When the Roman Republic began to exert more direct control over the cities of Anatolia, increasing taxation and limiting personal freedoms. A revolt was mounted, known as the Mithridatic Wars (89-63 B.C.), which cost the lives of thousands. In around 89/88 B.C., over 80,000 Romans and Italians were massacred in cities throughout Anatolia, including Pergamon, in an event now known as the Asiatic Vespers. Roman policy toward Anatolia continued unchanged, as did the bitterness toward these policies. Roman landowners and generals took what they wanted from the populace, usually without compensation. After Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C., he took the throne name Augustus Caesar (63 B.C. – 14 A.D., reign 27 B.C. – 14 A.D.), established the Roman Empire, and relieved some of the tension in Anatolia by revising the districts and adjusting taxes. He also moved the capital of the Asia Province from Pergamon to Ephesus.

Under the Roman Empire, Pergamon initially flourished as the city was frequented by both Emperor Trajan (53-117 A.D., reign 98-117 A.D.) and Emperor Hadrian (76-138 A.D. reign 117-138 A.D.) who, it is thought, commissioned the Red Basilica as a temple to the Egyptian deities Isis, Osiris, Serapis. In the foundational years of Christianity, a church was established at the site among the pagan temples and a medical complex for the healing god Asclepius. The Book of Revelation, understood to have been written during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (reign 284-305 A.D), reprimands Pergamon for compromising with pagan practices at the “throne of Satan”, understood to mean the Altar of Zeus.

An earthquake in 262 A.D., which toppled some buildings, severely damaged the city, and Pergamon began a slow decline afterward. Around 663 A.D., Muslim Arabs took the city, sacked it, and moved on. Afterwards, it suffered several other setbacks during the Byzantine Empire until it was taken by the Ottoman Empire around 1300, after which it deteriorated further and was finally abandoned and forgotten.

Pergamon Ancient City

Pergamon Altar (Altar of Zeus)

The Pergamon Altar or Altar of Zeus was mounted on a terrace measuring 36 x 34 metres and is the largest known altar from ancient Greece. Only a few traces, including the foundations, remain on the site in Bergama today. The altar was removed, shipped to Germany, and reassembled as the main feature of Berlin’s Pergamon Museum in 1959. 

Google Street View 360º Image of Pergamon Altar in Berlin

Constructed in the early 2nd century B.C. during the reign of King Eumenes II (reign 197-159 B.C.), the altar stood on a sacred site in the Acropolis. It was dedicated to Zeus (the king of gods) and Athena Nikephoros (goddess, the bringer of victory). The altar in Berlin is decorated with high relief with scenes with over 100 slabs depicting the Gigantomachy, the mythological battle between the gods and the giants, the symbol of the victory of the Attalid kings over the Galatians, a triumph of civilization over barbarity. On the raised base, in front of the 20-metre-wide grand staircase runs a horseshoe-shaped Ionic colonnade, the back wall of which is adorned with a frieze depicting scenes from the life of Telephus, who was considered to be the mythical founder of Pergamon, as well as the ancestor of the Attalids.

Theatre of Pergamon

The Hellenistic theatre at Pergamon is the centrepiece of the Acropolis. The first theatre on the site was built in the late 3rd century B.C. in the early period of the Attalid Kingdom and was expanded during the time of Eumenes II (reign 197-159) when inspired by the Acropolis of Athens; he embarked on a significant improvement of the Acropolis of Pergamon including the Altar of Zeus and Pergamon Library. Fragments of stone wall masonry from the retaining wall of the theatre remain, but other ruins are of later Byzantine origin. The theatre is positioned against the steep Acropolis incline, allowing the building area at the top of the hill for the municipal buildings of Pergamon.

The theatre at Pergamon has 27 rows of seats and is divided into three horizontal seating sections. Two horizontal walkways separate the upper and lower sections of the seating, and radiating stairways divide each of the three sections into wedge-shaped seating sections. The seats are made from andesite and trachyte, except for a marble seat of honour, located above the centre of the first diazoma separating the upper and lower seating areas. 

The physical limitations of the hill’s curvature site did not allow the theatre to form the typical semicircle shape of an ancient Greek theatre. The theatre was extended vertically to 37 metres above the orchestra to compensate for this lack of width. It is the steepest theatre of the ancient world. Another unique feature of the theatre is its lack of a permanent stage or stage building. Post holes remain, evidencing that plays were performed on a portable wooden stage that was removed between performances. There are 64 holes cut in groups, allowing for different architectural arrangements for stage and scene erection. 

Temple of Trajan (Traianeum)

The Temple of Trajan (Trajaneum) is positioned in Pergamon’s upper Acropolis and is the only Roman monument remaining. Initiated under Emperor Trajan (53 – 117 A.D. Emperor 98 – 117 A.D.) and completed by his successor Hadrian (76 – 138 A.D. Emperor 117 – 138 A.D.), the temple provided a venue for the religious cult of both rulers as well as Zeus and to reinforce the bonds of Pergamon with Rome and with the Imperial family. Dominating the summit was a political statement emphasising the city’s rulers and the province. After temples to Augustus in Pergamon (29 B.C.), Tiberius in Smyrna (26 A.D.) and Domitian in Ephesus (90 A.D.), the Temple of Trajan was the fourth imperial cult temple to be built in the Asian provinces. 

Built on a high 68 x 58-metre podium covered with marble in the middle of the Acropolis hill, the space for the structure was achieved by levelling the rock in the side of the mountain and erecting a platform supported by arches to support the temple and its courtyard. Strong parallel supporting walls covered with barrel vaults allowed the substructure towards the valley to save on material. It is completed with a cut and dressed stone wall 23 meters high. 

The main part of the building was free-standing; on three sides, it was surrounded by stoas with monolithic columns and Corinthian capitals. A portico with a single colonnade surrounded the temple. There were nine columns on both longer sides and six on shorter sides of the structure. Next to the temple is an altar where the statues of the emperors once stood. During the Byzantine period, the temple wall facing the valley was incorporated into the Acropolis fortifications and refurbished several times, with parts of the substructure used as cisterns and warehouses. 

Temple of Dionysus

The 21.6 x 13.2 metres Temple of Dionysus Kathegemon (the god who leads) was built in the time of Eumenes II (reign 197-159) at the foot of the Theatre of Pergamon’s seating area at the north end of a 246 x 17 metre colonnaded terrace. It is preserved in good condition in the pro stylos form (with columns in front); in front of its vestibule, four 11-metre columns stood in one row with a further column behind each of the end columns. Facing in a southerly direction, the temple is accessed by 25 steps that climb 4.5 metres. 

The steps, foundations, and scattered remains can still be seen in situ. While the temple does not appear sizable, it was the largest prostyle temple built in the Hellenistic era. The temple was damaged or destroyed by fire during Roman times, and Emperor Caracalla (188-217 A.D., reign 198-217 A.D.) had it rebuilt.

Temple of Athena

The Temple of Athena stood on the terrace above the Theatre of Pergamon. Built on a base of 21.8 x 12.7 metres in the Doric order and was surrounded by a colonnade with ten columns, 5.25 metres high on each side and six columns at the front and back of the building. Only fragments of the foundations and part of the side wall up to 1.2 meters high remain at the site, with fragments of the tall and slender columns and the temple’s architrave as well as the propylon (monumental gate) that led to the temple in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

In the style of the Athenian Parthenon, the temple is the oldest at Pergamon and was built in the 4th or 3rd century B.C., most likely during the times of king Philetaerus (circa 343-263 B.C., reign 282-263 B.C.) while Eumenes II (220-159 B.C. reign 197-159 B.C.) added two-story stoas in typical Hellenistic style, on the northern and eastern sides of the temple. It is thought to be adjacent to the site of the Library of Pergamon.

Library of Pergamon

The Library of Pergamon was an immense ancient library built by King Eumenes II (220-159 B.C. reign 197-159 B.C.). At its height, according to ancient Roman historian Plutarch (46-119 A.D.), it was believed to have held over 200,000 scrolls. The library was the second largest parchment or papyrus library in the ancient world, behind the Library of Alexandria in Egypt.

Located at the northern end of the Pergamon Acropolis, the library was designed around a large main reading room 13.6 x 15.2 metres that comprised many shelves built with a 50cm space between the shelves and out walls to allow airflow and better preserve the papyrus and parchment documents. In the centre of the reading room stood a three-metre-high statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Built approximately 100 years after the Library of Alexandria, the two libraries competed with each other in collecting scrolls and books and engaging leading scholars.

The city of Pergamon was credited with the invention of parchment, as according to ancient accounts, papyrus was only produced in Egypt and was controlled by the Ptolemaic dynasty. However, parchment had been in use in Anatolia and elsewhere long before the rise of Pergamon. Nevertheless, the word “parchment” is derived from Pergamon with the Latin “pergamenum”.

According to Plutarch, the Roman politician and general Mark Antony (83-30 B.C.) gave all 200,000 scrolls located at the Library of Pergamon to the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII (69-30 B.C. reign 51-30 B.C.) as a wedding present. Other legends suggest the volumes were moved to Alexandria to replace the scrolls that Julius Caesar destroyed during his siege of Alexandria in 48 B.C. After the death of Mark Antony, some of the books were returned to Pergamon, and the library persisted well into late antiquity, though with not nearly as important a collection.

Sanctuary of Hera

On the lower Acropolis, north of the upper terrace of the gymnasium, is the sanctuary of Hera, whose structure sits on two parallel terraces with a height difference of 2.4 metres linked by eleven steps 7.5 metres in width. The 12 x 7 metre Temple of Hera was at the centre of the upper terrace, facing to the south on a three-stepped foundation. The visible part of the temple was made from marble or marble cladding, and the other buildings in the sanctuary were made from trachytes. The base of the cult image inside the central room supported three cult statues. The inscription on the architrave indicates that the building was the temple of Hera Basileia and was erected by King Attalus II (circa 220-138 B.C., reign 159-138 B.C.). The temple was discovered in 1906 during the excavations of the Gymnasium of Pergamon and excavated from 1911.

Sanctuary of Demeter

The Sanctuary of Demeter, named after the goddess of harvest and agriculture, occupies a huge rectangular terrace of 100 x 50 metres and is a construction dating from the 4th century B.C., with reworkings during the Roman Age. Entry was through a monumental gate from the east, which led to a courtyard enclosed by stoas on three sides. In the centre of the western half of this courtyard stood the Ionic temple of Demeter, measuring 6.65 x 12.7 metres, a simple temple with sidewalls that formed a porch in the Corinthian order. Of particular interest in the sanctuary is a ten-tier theatre to the northeast, with a seating capacity of around 800 persons. 

Sanctuary of Asclepius (Asclepieion)

Location: Zafer, Site Sk. No:16, 35700 Bergama/İzmir – on the hill west of Bergama town centre, 3km southwest of the Pergamon Acropolis (5.5km by car).

Named after Asklepieion, the god of healing and son of Apollo, the sanctuary is approached along the Via Tecta (Sacred Way). The sanctuary contained a round Temple of Asklepios and one to his son, the enigmatic hooded youth Telesphoros. There was also a spring of faintly radioactive water used for therapeutic purposes, a library, and a small theatre. The cult of Asklepios had a mystical association with snakes, many of which were kept at the sanctuary. 

The Asklepieion healing centre is thought to have been founded in the 4th century B.C., brought from the Asklepios cult, whose main centre was at Epidauros in the north-western Peloponnese. King Eumenes II (reign 263-241 B.C.) elevated the cult to a state religion. Later improvements were made by Roman emperors, including Hadrian (76-138 A.D. reign 117-138 A.D.), who financed building works and is thought to have visited Pergamon during his travels through Asia Minor in 123 A.D. The Asklepieion was excavated in 1927 by the German archaeologist Theodor Wiegand (1864-1936).

Equivalent to a modern hospital for its residents, the Asklepieion was a source of prestige and substantial income, especially in the case of Epidauros and Pergamon. Wealthy citizens came from far afield to be cured and paid or donated as a religious offering, large sums of money and other gifts. With the scientific progress of medical theories in Classical and Hellenistic times, the practice of medicine began to be structured and homogenous, and a medical industry began to emerge.

Galen (129-216 A.D.), among the most celebrated physicians of the ancient world, whose views dominated and influenced Western medical science for more than 1,300 years, was born in Pergamon. Galen studied at the sanctuary for four years from the age of 16 and then continued his education by travelling to the cultural centres of Smyrna, Crete, Cyprus, and Alexandria; he returned in 157 A.D. to practice medicine in the Sanctuary of Asclepius. In 162 A.D., he left for Rome to become an imperial court physician to emperors Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Septimius Severus.

The Red Basilica (Serapis Temple)

Location: İslamsaray, Kızıl Avlu Cd. No:26, 35700 Bergama/İzmir – just north of Bergama town centre, 2km south of the Pergamon Acropolis (3km by car).

The Red Basilica is a monumental ruined temple built over the River Selinus in the lower city of Pergamon at the foot of the hill, now part of Bergama’s commercial centre. The temple was built during the Roman Empire, probably during Emperor Hadrian’s time (76 – 138 A.D. Emperor 117 – 138 A.D.). It is one of the most significant Roman structures that still survive from ancient Greece. The temple is thought to have originally been for worshipping Isis, Serapis, and other Egyptian gods. Although the building was enormous, it was only one part of a much larger sacred complex surrounded by high walls. Built directly over the river, a 196-metre bridge spanned two channels under the temple. The Pergamon Bridge remains today, supporting modern buildings and vehicle traffic.

At some point during the early Christian era, the temple was gutted by fire. It was not restored but was redeveloped in the 5th century A.D. as a Christian basilica dedicated to St. John, built inside the shell of the destroyed temple. Arcades were built, dividing the interior into a central nave and two side aisles. The eastern wall was demolished and replaced with an apse. The floor level was raised by about two metres, obscuring the original Roman floor, though archaeologists have since restored the former floor level. The church was probably destroyed by Arab forces, who besieged and looted the city in 716–717 during his unsuccessful bid to conquer Constantinople. In 1336, Pergamon fell into Turkish hands, and the building was converted into a mosque. Today, the main temple ruins and one of the side rotundas can be visited, while the other rotunda is still being used as a small mosque.

Pergamon Archaeological Museum (Bergama)

Location: Zafer, Cumhuriyet Cd. No:10, 35725 Bergama/İzmir – in the centre of Bergama, 3km south of the Pergamon Acropolis.

While many of the most important artefacts unearthed during the early excavations at Pergamon in the late 19th century are in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, the later finds were retained in Bergama, and there are still plenty enough items to be displayed in the Bergama Archaeological Museum. Within the framework of Turkish-German cooperation and by the request of the Governor of İzmir, the museum’s foundation was laid in an old cemetery area in 1933. The Altar of Zeus inspired the project’s scope, and architects Bruno Meyer and Harold Hanson were assigned. The Bergama Museum was opened in October 1936, and in 1979, an ethnography section was added.

Most of the archaeological artefacts in the exhibition are from excavations around the Acropolis, the Asklepion, the Red Basilica and the Musalla Cemetery. Besides, there are artefacts unearthed in excavations in Pitane, Myrina, and Gryneion antique cities in the vicinity of Bergama, salvage excavations from Kestel and Yortanlı Dam and archaeological sites in Dikili Çandarlı District in Central Bergama. The exhibition chronology covers the Bronze Age until the end of the Ottoman period. The Bronze Age artefacts comprise dishes, jars for daily use or ritual offerings, Yortan plates and beak-rimmed dishes. Another group of works are antique Pergamon-specific local productions, Megarian bowls (4th century B.C.), applique ceramics, Pergamon pottery, kerosene lamps, and cistophoric coinage that was first minted in Pergamon in the 2nd century B.C.

Pergamon Museum (Berlin)

When German engineer Carl Humann arrived at Pergamon for the first time circa 1864, he led geographic investigations and pleaded for conserving the Acropolis’s antiquities. At that time, residents used the altar and other ruins as quarries, recycling them to erect new buildings in Bergama. After the businessman Heinrich Schliemann uncovered Troy in 1873, excavation fervour broke out, and more German explorers went to Pergamon, Miletus, Babylon, Uruk, Assur and Egypt. The Ottoman Empire granted favourable conditions for the division of unearthed findings. A license to dig at Pergamon was granted, and in September 1878, excavations began, headed by Humann and Alexander Conze. An agreement between the Ottoman Empire and the German government facilitated the relief panels from the Pergamon Altar (Altar of Zeus), along with some other fragments, being shipped to Berlin from 1879 onward. Along with antiquities from other sites, these significant architectural monuments, sculptures and small treasures were exported to Berlin and displayed on Berlin’s Museum Island.

With interruption due to World War I and subsequent hyperinflation, between 1910 and 1930, the Pergamon Museum was built using plans drawn up by the architect Alfred Messel to house the Pergamon Altar and other classical antiquities. The remarkable 36-metre wide x 33-metre long Pergamon Altar is included in the collection of classical antiquities in the central building. The altar has a 113-metre long x 2.3-metre frieze high carved from grey-veined marble from the island of Marmara. In 1998 and again in 2001, the Turkish Minister of Culture, Istemihan Talay, demanded the return of the altar and other artefacts. However, his demands were rejected by Berlin State Museums.

Before it closed for crucial structural renovation in October 2023, the Pergamon Museum was considered Berlin’s most important archaeological museum. The renovation is expected to take over 14 years to complete, and the museum will remain closed until at least 2037, possibly 2043.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Property with “Outstanding Universal Value” in 2014 based on five primary criteria, including (i) The building of Pergamon into the slopes at the top of Kale Hill, exploiting the topography with manmade terraces and grand monuments dominating the surrounding plain, is a masterpiece of Hellenistic and Roman urban planning and design. (ii) The urban planning, architectural and engineering works of Pergamon reflect a synthesis nourished from the cumulative background of Anatolia. (iii) ‘Pergamon and its Multi-layered Cultural Landscape’ bears unique and exceptional testimony to Hellenistic urban and landscape planning. (iv) The Acropolis of Pergamon, with its urban planning and architectural remains, is an outstanding ensemble of the Hellenistic Period. And (vi) Pergamon is associated with important people, schools, ideas and traditions concerning art, architecture, planning, religion and science. 

The Church in Pergamon in the Book of Revelation

According to the Book of Revelation, the Church of Pergamon was surrounded by wickedness in their city, but they held fast to their beliefs. Their location was so full of wickedness that in Revelation 2:13, the Bible calls it “…where Satan has his throne…the place where Satan dwells”. However, some church members held onto their former traditions, unwilling to relinquish their idols. Others indulged in false doctrine. Jesus calls on this church to stop these sins. They did receive consolation as well because many from this church had been martyred.

See also on LikeCesme.com “Seven Churches of Revelation“

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Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture & Tourism – Bergama Acropolis Archaeological Site English Website (includes a link to their .pdf brochure)

Turkish Museums – İzmir Bergama Pergamon Acropolis English Website

UNESCO World Heritage Convention List – No. 1457 – Criterion for UNESCO Listing Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape English Website