Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/592

 576 PERGAJlUil. Delphi by assassins said to bave been liired by Perseus ; yet at a later period he favoured the cause of the Macedonian king, and tiiereby incurred the ill-will of the Romans. Pergamum was mainly in- debted to Eumenes II. fur its embellishment and extension. He was a liberal patron of the arts and sciences ; he decorated the temple of Zeus Nice- phorus, which had been built by Attalus outside the city, with walks .-ind plantations, and erected himself many other public buildings; but the greatest monu- ment of his liberality was the great library which he founded, and which yielded only to that of Alex- andria in extent and value. (Strab. I.e.; Atlien. i. p. 3.) He was succeeded by his son Attalus II.; but the government was carried on by the late king's brother Attalus, surnamed Philadelphus, from B.C. 159 to 133. During this period the Per- gamenians again assisted the Romans against the Pseudo-Philip. Attalus also defeated Diegylis, king of the Thracian Caeni, and overthrew Prusias of Bithynia. On his death, his ward and nephew, Attalus III., surnamed Philometor, undertook the reins of government, from b. c. 138 to 133, and on his death bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans. Soon after, Ari.-itonicus, a natural son of Eumenes II., revolted and claimed tlie kingdom of Pergamum for himself; but in b. C. 130 he was vanquished and taken pri.soncr, and the kingdom of Pergamum be- came a Roman province under the name of Asia. (Strab. I. c, xiv. p. 646.) The city of Pergamum, however, continued to flourish and prosper under the Eoman dominion, so that Pliny (I. c.) could still call it " longe clarissimum Asiae Pergamum;" it re- mained the centre of jurisdiction for the district, and of commerce, as all the main-roads of Western Asia converged there. Pergamum was one of the Seven Churches mentioned in the book of Revelations. Under the Byzantine emperors the greatness and pros- perity of the city declined; but it still exists under the name of Bergamah, and presents to the visitor numerous ruins and extensive remains of its ancient magnificence. A wall facing the south-east of the acropolis, of hewn granite, is at least 100 feet deep, and engrafted into the rock ; above it a course oi large substructions forms a spacious area, upon which once rose a temple unrivalled in sublimity of situation, being visible from the vast plain and the Aegean sea. The ruins of this temple show that it •was built in the noblest style. Besides this there are ruins of an ancient temple of Aesculapius, which, like the Nicephorion, was outside the city (Tac. Ann. iii. 63; Paus. v. 13. § 2); of a royal palace, which was surrounded by a wall, and connected with the Cai'cus by an aqueduct; of a prytaneum, a theatre, a gymnasium, a stadium, an amphitheatre, and otlier public buildings. All these remains attest the unusual splendour of the ancient city, and all travellers speak with admiration of their stu- pendous greatness. The numerous coins which we possess of Pergamum attest that Olympia were celebrated there; a vase found there represents a torch-race on horseback; and Pliny (x. 25) relates that public cock-fights took place there every year. Pergamum was celebrated for its manufacture of ointments (Athen. xv. p. 689), pottery (Plin. xxxv. 46), and parchment, which derives its name (charta Pergamena) from the city. The library of Perga- mum, which is said to have consisted of no less than 200,000 volumes, was given by Antony to Cleopatra. (Comp. Spon and Wheler, Voy. i. p. 260, &c.; Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage Pittoresque, ii. p. 25, &c. ; PERGE. Arundell, Seven Churches, p. 281, &e. ; Dallaway, Constantinople Anc. and Modem, p. 303; Leake, Asia Minor, p. 266; Fellows, Asia Minor, p. 34, &c. ; Eichter, Wallfahrten, p. 488, &c. ; Eckhel,Z)oc<r. Num. vol. iv., p. 445; A. G. Capelle, Commentat. de Regibus et Antiquit. Pergamenis, Amstelodami, 1842, 8 vo.) [L.S.] JR COIN OF PEKGAMUS IN MYSIA. PE'RGAMUS (nfp7ajuos, Herod, vii. 112), a for- tress in the Pieric hollow, by which Xerxes passed in his march, leaving Mt. Pangaeum on hi.s right. It is identified with Prdvista, where the lower mari- time ridge forms a junction with Pangaeum, and .separates the Pieric valley from the plain of Philippi. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 178.) [E. B. J.] PE'RGAMUS {nipyafxoi), a town of Crete, to which a mythical origin was ascribed. Accordins;; to Virgil it was founded by Aeneas {Aen. iii. 133), according to Velleius Paterculus (i. 1 ) by Agamem- non, and according to Servius by the Trojan pri- soners belonging to the fleet of Agamemnon (^ad Virg. Aen. I. c). Lycurgus, the Spartan legislator, was said to have died at this place, and his tomb was shown there in the time of Aristoxenus. (Plut. Lye. 32.) It is said by Servius {I. c.) to have been near Cydonia, and is mentioned by Pliny (iv. 12. s. 20) in connection with Cydonia. Consequently it must have been situated in the western part of the island, and is placed by Pashley at Platanid. {Travels in Crete, vol. ii. p. 23.) Scylax says (p. 18, Huds.) that the Dictynnaeum stood in the territory of Per- gamus. PERGA'NTIUM {nepyavTiov : Eth. Xlepyav-nos, Steph. B. s. v.'), a city of the Ligures. It is the small island named Breganson, on the south coast of France. It is separated by a narrow channel from a point on the mainland which is turned towards Mese, one of the Stoechades or Isles d'Hieres. [G. L.] PERGE or PERGA {nepyri: Eth. Uepyalos), an ancient and important city of Pamphylia, between the rivers Catarrhactes and Cestrus, at a distance of 60 stadia from the mouth of the latter. (Strab. xiv. p. 667; Phn. v. 26; Pomp. Mel. i. 14; Ptol. v. 5. § 7.) It was renowned for the worship of Ar- temis, whose temple stood on a hill outside the town, and in whose honour annual festivals were cele- brated. (Strab. /. c; Callim. Eymn. in Dian. 187; Scylax, p. 39; Dionys. Per. 854.) The coins of Perge represent both the goddess and her temple. Alexander the Great occupied Perge with a part of his army after quitting Phaselis, between which two towns the road is described as long and difiicult (Arrian, Anab. i. 26; comp. Polyb. v. 72, xxii. 25; COIN OF PERGE.