Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/329

Rh be impracticable, though that seems to have been the first idea of the Romans, and was suggested by Rhodian envoys.

Eventually the usual commission of ten senators arrived, and after listening to various claimants made their award: (1) Those parts of Asia Minor which had belonged to Antiochus in full sovereignty were to belong to Eumenes of Pergamus, except Lycia and Caria south of the Maeander, which were to belong to Rhodes. (2) Of Greek cities such as had formerly paid tribute to the king of Pergamus and had been wrested from him were to pay their tribute as before; those that had been originally independent but had been subjected by Antiochus were to recover their independence, and such as had been independent of either king throughout were to continue independent. Thus the historic cities on the coast such as Miletus, Cyme, Clazomenae, Smyrna, and islands such as Chios, became independent ; Rhodes recovered the Peraea in Caria, and had added to it Lycia in full sovereignty. But the greatest gainer was King Eumenes of Pergamus, who became sovereign of the Thracian Chersonese, of Phrygia, Mysia, Lycaonia, and Lydia, besides the rich trading city of Ephesus, with Tralles and Telmessus.

Pergamus thus became a strong and wealthy kingdom, and rivalled Alexandria as a centre of Greek letters and art. Eumenes II., who had succeeded his father in B.C. 197, continued his work in beautifying the city with splendid buildings and the best sculptures to be obtained. Some of the finest remains of ancient art that have survived were