Geography

​Pergamon has a certain hegemony over these regions, an illustrious city that shared in prosperity for a long time with the Attalid kings; and indeed, the next tour must begin from here, and first we must declare briefly about the kings, whence they started and how they ended. Pergamon was indeed the treasury of Lysimachus, son of Agathocles, one of the successors of Alexander, having the citadel of the mountain itself inhabited; and the mountain is cone-shaped, ending in a sharp peak. And Philetaerus, a man of Tieium, a eunuch from childhood, had been entrusted with the custody of this stronghold and the money (which was nine thousand talents); for it happened at a certain funeral, when there was a spectacle and many were present, that the nurse who carried Philetaerus, who was still an infant, being caught in the crowd, was crushed to such an extent that the child was maimed. He was indeed a eunuch, but having been well brought up, he appeared worthy of this trust. For a time, therefore, he remained loyal to Lysimachus, but having fallen out with Arsinoe, his wife, who was slandering him, he revolted the place and conducted his affairs with a view to the times, seeing them as suitable for a revolution; for Lysimachus, having fallen into domestic troubles, was forced to put his son Agathocles to death; and Seleucus Nicator, having invaded, overthrew him, and was himself overthrown, being assassinated by Ptolemy Keraunos. While such troubles were going on, the eunuch survived by remaining in the stronghold, and by managing his affairs through promises and other courtings always toward the one who was powerful and near at hand; at any rate, he continued for twenty years to be master of the fortress and the money.

​And he had two brothers, the elder Eumenes, and the younger Attalus. Now from Eumenes was born Eumenes, homonymous with his father, who also succeeded to Pergamon; and he was already ruler of the surrounding places, so that he even won a battle near Sardis, engaging Antiochos the son of Seleucus; and having ruled for twenty-two years, he ended his life. And Attalus, born of Attalus and Antiochis, the daughter of Achaeus, succeeded to the rule, and was first proclaimed king, having defeated the Galatians in a great battle. He also became a friend to the Romans and fought along with them against Philip, together with the naval force of the Rhodians; and he died an old man after a reign of forty-three years, leaving four sons by Apollonis, a woman of Cyzicus, namely Eumenes, Attalus, Philetaerus, and Athenaeus. Now the younger sons continued as private citizens, but of the others, the eldest, Eumenes, reigned. He fought along with the Romans against both Antiochos the Great and Perseus, and received from the Romans all the country under Antiochos this side of the Taurus. Previously the territory around Pergamon was not large, extending only to the sea at the Elaitic Gulf and the Adramyttene Gulf. And he adorned the city and planted the Nikephorion with a grove, and added out of love of beauty the offerings and libraries and the settlement of Pergamon to such an extent as it now is; after a reign of forty-nine years, he left the rule to his son Attalus, born of Stratonice, the daughter of Ariarathes, king of the Cappadocians. But he appointed his brother Attalus as guardian both of his son, who was extremely young, and of the kingdom. And having reigned twenty-one years, he died an old man, having achieved many successes; for he helped Alexander, the son of Antiochus, to fight against Demetrius, the son of Seleucus; and he allied with the Romans against the Pseudo-Philip; and having campaigned into Thrace, he subdued Diegylis, the king of the Caeni; and he also overthrew Prusias, having set up his son Nicomedes against him; and he left the kingdom to Attalus, who had been his ward. And having reigned five years, and being called Philometor, he died of disease, and left the Romans as heirs; and they declared the country a province, calling it Asia, homonymous with the continent. The Caïcus flows past Pergamon, traversing through the so-called Caïcus plain an extremely fertile land, and indeed almost the best in Mysia.