P E R G 
PERGAM'ENA, f. [from Pergamus .] Parchment. 
Phillips. 
PERGAM'ENOUS, adj. Belonging to Pergamus; con- 
fifting of parchment. Cole. 
PERGA'MO, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in Natolia, 
fituated at the foot of a mountain, on a river which was 
formerly called Caicus, with a harbour, about fifteen miles 
from the fea. The inhabitants are chiefly Turks; the 
Chriftians have a church, but are poor. See Pergamus. 
It is 144 miles fouth-fouth-weft of Conftantinople. Lat. 
39. 11. N. Ion. 27. o. E. 
PER'GAMUS, an ancient kingdom of Afia, formed 
out of the ruins of the empire of Alexander the Great. 
It commenced about the year 283 B. C. But the City 
of Pergamus is much more ancient; for the inhabitants 
pretended to be defendants of the Arcadians, who arri¬ 
ved in this part of Afia with Telephus, fon of Hercules; 
and they fay, that Efculapius came to Pergamus with a 
learned colony of Greeks, and praClifed medicine in this 
place. The Pergamenians paid him great honours, cal¬ 
ling him by the titles of god the faviour, and the fove- 
reign god. They conftruCted for him a magnificent tem¬ 
ple, in which they offered facri/ices, and they celebrated 
in honour of him public games. The temple was vifited 
by all the people of Afia Minor, and thus Pergamus be¬ 
came famous : the worfhip of this god continued in it 
till the eftablifhment of Chrillianity. Pergamus was at 
firft governed by its own magiftrates, who were indepen¬ 
dent of any other power. It was afterwards under the 
dominion of the kings of Lydia, from whom it was tranf- 
ferred to the kings ofPerfia. After the death of Alex¬ 
ander it was fubjeCf to Antigonus ; and at his death it 
was transferred to Lyfimachus, one of the fucceflors of 
Alexander, according to Strabo. This prince depofited 
his treafures in the caftle, and entrufted the cuftody of 
them to one Philetterus, an eunuch, by birth a Paphlago- 
nian, of a mean defcenr, and in his youth a menial fervant 
to Antigonus one of Alexander’s captains. While he 
held this employment of treafure-keeper, having fallen 
under the difpleafure of Arfinoe, wife to Lyfimachus, file 
found means to make a quarrel between him and his maf- 
ter; upon which PhiJetasrus feized on the caftle of Per¬ 
gamus, together with the treafures entrufted to his care, 
amounting to 90,000 talents. At firft he offered his fer- 
vice, together with his treafure, to Seleucus king of Syria : 
but, both Seleucus and Lyfimachus dying foon after, he 
kept poiTeflion of the town and treafure, fortified the 
caftle, and thus laid the foundation of the Kingdom of 
Pergamus, which lafted 153 years. 
Philetaerus, though he did not aflume the title of king, 
reigned however in quiet till his death, which happened 
twenty years after his revolt from Lyfimachus, and B. C. 
264. He left the city of Pergamus to his brother, or, ac¬ 
cording to fome, to his brother’s fon, Eumenes I. and he, 
laying hold of the opportunity offered by the diflenfions 
among the Seleucidae, poflefled himfelf of many ftrong 
holds in the province of Afia; and, having hired a body 
of Galatians, defeated Antiochus as he was returning 
from a victory gained over his brotherSele.ucus Callinicus. 
By this victory he obtained pofleffion of the greater part 
of Afia : however, he did not long enjoy his acquifitions; 
for he died next year of immoderate drinking, a vice to 
which he was greatly addicted. 
Eumenes was fucceeded by Attalus I. nephew of Phi¬ 
letaerus, and the firft who took upon him the title of King 
of Pergamus. He defeated the Gauls, who were defirous 
of fettling in his territory; and according to Livy, was 
the firft of the Afiatic princes who refufed to pay a con¬ 
tribution to thefe barbarians. When Seleucus Ceraunus 
was engaged in other wars, he invaded his territories, and 
conquered all the provinces on this fide of Mount Taurus; 
but was foon driven out of his new acquifitions by Seleu¬ 
cus and his grandfather Achaeus, who, entering into an 
alliance againft him, deprived him of all his newly-acqui¬ 
red territories, and even befieged him in his capital. 
Upon this Attalus invited to his alliftance the Gauls who 
VoL.XIX, No. 1329. 
A M U S. 611 
had fettled in Thrace: and with their help not only obli¬ 
ged the enemy to raife the fiege of Pergamus, but quickly 
recovered all the provinces he had .loft. After this he 
invaded Ionia and the neighbouring provinces, where fe- 
veral cities voluntarily fubmitted to him. The Teians, 
Colophonians, with the inhabitants of Egea and Lemnos, 
fent deputies, declaring themfelves ready to acknowledge 
him for their fovereign ; the Carfenes, on the other fide 
of the river Lycus, opened their gates to him, having 
firft expelled the governor fet over them by Achseus. 
From thence he advanced to Apia ; and, encamping on 
the banks of the river Methigus, received homage from 
the neighbouring nations. But here the Gauls, being 
frightened by an eclipfe of the moon, refufed to proceed 
farther; which obliged Attalus to return to the Hellef- 
pont, where he allowed his allies to fettle, giving them a 
large and fruitful territory, and promifing that he would 
always aflift and proteCt them to the utmoft of his power. 
Attalus, having thus fettled his affairs with equal ho¬ 
nour and advantage to himfelf, entered into an alliance 
with Rome, and afterwards joined them in their war 
againft Philip IV. king of Macedon. Here he had the 
command of the Rhodian fleet ; with which he not only 
drove the Macedonians quite out of the feas, but, having 
landed his men, he, in conjunction with the Athenians, 
invaded Macedon, and obliged Philip to raife the fiege of 
Athens, which he had greatly diftrelled ; for which fervi- 
ces the Athenians not only heaped on him all the favours 
they could, but called one of their tribes by his name; 
an honour they had never beftowed on any foreigner be¬ 
fore. 
Attalus, not contented with all he had yet done againft 
Philip, attempted to form a general confederacy of the 
Greeks againft him. But, while he was haranguing the 
Boeotians to this purpofe, and exhorting them with great 
vehemence to enter into an alliance with the Romans 
againft their common enemy, he fell down fpeecblefs. 
However, he came to himfelf again, and defired to be 
carried by fea from Thebes to Pergamus, where he died 
foon after his arrival, in the 72d year of his age and 43d 
of his reign, B. C. 197. 
Attalus was fucceeded by his eldeft fon Eumenes II. 
He was exceedingly attached to the Romans, infomuch 
that he refufed the daughter of Antiochus the Great in 
marriage, left he fhould thus have been led into a diffe¬ 
rence with that people. He alfo gave notice to the Ro¬ 
man fenate of the tranfaCtions of Ariarathes king of Cap¬ 
padocia, who was making great preparations both by fea 
and land. Nor did Eumenes flop here; for, when he 
faw the war about to break out between Antiochus and 
the Romans, he fent his brother Attalus to Rome to give 
information of the proceedings of Antiochus. The fe¬ 
nate heaped honours both on Eumenes and his brother; 
and, in the war which followed, gave the command of 
their fleet to the king of Pergamus in conjunction with 
C. Livius Salinator. The victory gained on this occafion 
was in a great meafure owing to Eumenes, who boarded 
fome of the enemy’s fhips in perfon, and during the whole 
aCtion behaved with uncommon bravery. Some time 
afterwards Eumenes, entering the territories of Antiochus 
with a body of 5000 men, ravaged all the country about 
Thyatira, and returned with an immenfe booty. But in 
the mean time Antiochus,invading Pergamus in his turn, 
ravaged the whole country, and even laid fiege to the ca¬ 
pital. Attalus, the king’s brother, held out with a hand¬ 
ful of men, till the Achaeans, who were in alliance with 
Eumenes, fent 1000 foot and 100 horfe to his afliftance. 
As this fmall body.of auxiliaries were all chofen men, and 
commanded by an experienced officer, they behaved with 
fuch bravery that the Syrians were obliged to raife the 
fiege. At the battle of Magnefia, too, Eumenes behaved 
with the greateft bravery; not only fuftaining the firft at¬ 
tack of the enemy’s elephants, but driving them back 
again on their own troops, which put the ranks in difor- 
der, and gave the Romans an opportunity of giving them 
a total defeat by attacking them opportunely with their 
7 R horfe. 
