Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/591

 PERAEA. Hist. Eccl. iv. 8, where it is called Petusa ; Aristaen. Comm. in Can. 8, where its name is Pezusa.) Kiepert (ap. Franz, Fiinf. Inschriften, p. 33) believes that its site may possibly be marked by the ruins found by Arundell (^Discoveries in As. Min. i. pp. 101, 127) near Besh-Shehr and KuUnkefi, in the south of Ushah. [L. S.] PERAEA (Ilfpaia), the name of several districts lying beyond (iripav) a river or on the other side of a sea. 1. The district of Palestine lying beyond the Jordan, and more particularly the country between the Jordan on the W., the city of Pella on the N., the city of Philadelphia and Arabia Petraea on the E., and the land of the Jloabites on the S. [Pa- LAESTIVA, p. 532. J 2. ('H tSiv 'Po5ia>i> irepaia, Strab. xiv. pp. 651, 652 ; Polyb. xvii. 2, 6, 8, sxxi. 25; Liv. xxxii. 33, xxxiii. 18; X'^P'^ V ^^ 'Vodiwv rj iv Trj rjneipcf), Scylax, p. 38), a portion of the S. coast of Caria, op- posite to Rhodes, and subject to it. It commenced at Alt. Phoenix, and extended as far as the frontiers of Lycia. (Strab. I. c.) The peninsula containing Mt. Phoenix was called the Rhodian Chersonesus. (Plin. xssi. 2, 20; Diod. v. 60, 62.) For a de- scription of this district, which is very beautiful and fertile, see Vol. I. pp. 519., b, 520, a. 3. {Tlepaia TevtSiaiv, Strab. xiii. p. 596), a small district on the coast of Mysia, opposite to Tenedus, and extending from the promontory Sigeium to Alexandria Troas. PERAEA. [CoKiNTHUS. p. 685, b.] PERAETHEIS. [Megalopolis, p. 310, a.] PERCEIANA (Jfin. Ant. p. 432), a town of Hispania Baetica, lying S. of Merida. For its coins see Sestini, p. 107. [T. H. D.] PERCO'TE (nep/cOTr): Efh. TlepKwatos an an- cient town of Mysia, on the Hellespont, between Al)y- dos and Lampsacus, and probably on the little river Percotes. (Horn. /;. ii. 835, xi. 229 ; Xenoph. IJellen. V. 1. § 23.) Percote continued to exist long after the Trojan War, as it is spoken of by Herodotus (r. 117), Scylax (p. 35), Apollonius Rhcdius (i. 932), Arrian (Anab. i. 13), Pliny (v. 32), and Stephanus Byz. («. f.). Some writers mention it among the towns assigned to Themistocles by the king of Persia. (Plut. Them. 30; Athen. i. p.' 29.) According to Strabo (xiii. p. 590) its ancient name had been Percope. Modern travellers are unanimous in identifying its site with Bergaz or Bergan, a small Turkish town on the left bank of a small river, situated on a sloping hill in a charming dis- trict. (Sibthorpe's Jonrnal, in Walpole's Turkey, i. p. 91 ; Richter, Wallfahrten, p. 434.) [L. S.] PERCO'TES (riepKWTrjs), a small river of Mysia, flowing from Mount Ida into the Hellespont. (Horn. //. ii. 835.) It is easily identified as the stream flowing in the valley of the modern town of Bergaz. [Comp. Percote.] [L. S.] PERDICES, a town in Mauretania Caesariensis, 25 M. P. from Sitifis, perhaps Bas-el-Ouad. (^It. Ant. pp. 29, 36; Coll. Episc. c. 121.) PERGA. [Pekge.] PE'RGAMUM. [Ilium.] PE'RGAMUM {Uipyaixov : Eth. UepyanrivSs, Pergamenus), sometimes also called PERGAJIUS (Ptol. V. 2. § 14, viii. 17. § 10; Steph. B. s. v.), an ancient city, in a most beautiful district of Teu- thrania in Mysia, on the north of the river Caicus. Near the point where Pergainum was situated, two other rivers, the Selinus and Cetius, emptied them- PERGAMUM, 57: selves into the Caicus; the Selinus flowed through the city itself, while the Cetius washed its walls. (Strab. xiii. p. 619; Plin. v. 33; Pans. vi. 16. § 1 ; Liv. xxsvii. 18.) Its distance from the sea was 120 stadia, but communication with the sea was effected by the navigable river Caicus. Pergamum, which is first mentioned by Xenophon (Anub. vii. 8. § 8), was originally a fortress of considerable natural strength, being situated on the summit of a conical hill, round the foot of which there were at that time no houses. Subsequently, however, a city arose at the foot of the hill, and the latter then became the acropolis. We have no information as to the founda- tion of the original town on the hill, but the Per- gamenians believed themselves to be the descendants of Arcadians, who had migrated to Asia under the leadership of the Ileracleid Telephus (Pans. i. 4. § 5); they derived the name of their town from Pergamus, a son of Pyrrhus, who was beheved to have arrived there with his mother Andromache, and, after a successful combat with Arius, the ruler of Teuthrania, to have established himself there. (Paus. i. 11. §2.) Another tradition stated that Asclepius, with a colony from Epidaurus, proceeded to Pergamum; at all events, the place seems to have been inhabited by many Greeks at the time when Xenophon visited it. Still, however, Pergamum remained a place of not much importance until the time of Lysimachus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great. This Lysimachus chose Pergamum as a place of security for the reception and preserva- tion of his treasures, which amounted to 9000 talents. The care and superintendence ot this trea- sure was intrusted to Philetaerus of Tium, an eunuch from his infancy, and a person in whom Lysimachus placed the greatest confidence. For a time Phile- taerus answered the expectations of Lysimachus, but having been ill-treated by Arsinoe, the wife of his master, he withdrew his allegiance and declared himself independent, b. c. 283. As Lysimachus was prevented by domestic calamities from punishing the offender, Philetaerus remained in undisturbed posf^ession of the town and treasures for twenty years, contriving by dexterous management to maintain peace with his neighbours. He transmitted his principality to a nephew of the name of Eumenes, who increased the territory he had inherited, and even gained a victory over Antiochus, the son of Seleucus, in the neighbourhood of Sardes. After a reign of twenty-two years, from b. c. 263 to 241, he was succeeded by his cousin Attalus, who, after a great victory over the Galatians, assumed the title of king, and distinguished himself by his talents and sound policy. (Strab. xiii. pp. 623, 624; Polyb. xviii. 24; Liv. xxxiii. 21.) He espoused the in- terests of Rome against Philip of Macedonia, and in conjunction with the Rhodian fleet rendered im- portant sei-vices to the Romans. It was mainly this Attalus that amassed the wealth for which his name became proverbial. He died at an advanced age, iu B.C. 197, and was succeeded by his son Eumenes II., from B.C. 197 to 159. He continued his friend- ship with the Romans, and assisted them against Antiochus the Great and Perseus of Macedonia; after the defeat of Antiochus, the Romans rewarded his services by giving to him all the countries in Asia Minor west of Mount Taurus. Pergamum, the ter- ritory of which had hitherto not extended beyond the gulfs of Elaea and Adramyttium, now became a large and powerful kingdom. (Stmb. L c; Liv. xxxviii. 39.) Eumenes III. was nearly killed at