The Library of Pergamum () is an ancient Greek building in

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, today located nearby the modern town of Bergama, in the

İzmir Province İzmir Province () is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 districts out of 30 in to ...

of western

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It was one of the most important libraries in the ancient world.

The city of Pergamum

Founded sometime during the 3rd century BCE, during the

Hellenistic Age In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roma ...

Pergamum Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river ...

or Pergamon was an important ancient Greek city, located in

. It is now the site of the modern Turkish town of Bergama, in the

of western

. Ruled by the

Attalid dynasty The Kingdom of Pergamon, Pergamene Kingdom, or Attalid kingdom was a Greek state during the Hellenistic period that ruled much of the Western part of Asia Minor from its capital city of Pergamon. It was ruled by the Attalid dynasty (; ). The ...

from 281 to 133 BCE, the city rose to prominence as an administrative center under King

Eumenes II Eumenes II Soter (; ; ruled 197–159 BC) was a ruler of Pergamon, and a son of Attalus I Soter and queen Apollonis and a member of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon. Biography The eldest son of king Attalus I and queen Apollonis, Eumenes was pr ...

, who formed an alliance with the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

, severing ties with

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

. Under the rule of Eumenes II (197–160 BCE), Pergamum was a wealthy, developing city with a population of over 200,000 people. Culturally it was rivaled only by the cities of

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

and

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

. Many important works of sculpture and architecture were produced at this time, including the Great Altar of Pergamon. Upon the death of

Attalus III Attalus III () Philometor Euergetes ( – 133 BC) was the last Attalid king of Pergamon, ruling from 138 BC to 133 BC. Biography Attalus III was the son of king Eumenes II and his queen Stratonice of Pergamon, and he was the nephew of A ...

, son of Eumenes II, in 133 BCE, Pergamum was bequeathed to the

and then became part of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. Pergamum was also an important city in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

and was explicitly mentioned by

John of Patmos John of Patmos (also called John the Revelator, John the Divine, John the Theologian; ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Book of Revelation. Revelation 1:9 states that John was on Patmos, an Aegean island off the coast of Rom ...

as one of the Seven churches of Asia in the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

. The ruins of Pergamum and its library are now major archaeological sites in Turkey.

The Library of Pergamum

Pergamum was home to a library said to house approximately 200,000 volumes, according to the writings of

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

. Built by

between 220 and 159 BCE and situated at the northern end of the Acropolis, it became one of the most important libraries in the ancient world. The cultured Pergamene rulers built up the library to be second only to the Great Library at Alexandria. Flavia Melitene, who was a distinguished citizen of Pergamum and wife of a town councillor, was instrumental in supplying the library. She also presented a statue of the Roman Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

to the library as a gift. It is known that a certain Artemon was employed in the library during the 2nd century BCE, though his personification is obscure. No index or catalog of the holdings at Pergamum exists today, making it impossible to know the true size or scope of this collection. The library consisted of four rooms, the largest of which was the main reading room (), lined with many shelves. An empty space of approximately was left between the outer walls and the shelves to allow for air circulation, intending to prevent the library from becoming overly humid in the warm climate of Anatolia, an early attempt at library preservation. A statue of the Greek goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

, modeled after her statue in the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

, stood in the main reading room. Pergamon1885

Manuscripts were written on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...

, rolled, and then stored on the shelves. In fact, the word "parchment" itself is derived from Pergamum (via the Latin ''pergamenum'' and the French ''parchemin''). Pergamum was a thriving center of parchment production during the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

. The city so dominated the trade that a legend later arose indicating that parchment had been invented in Pergamon to replace the use of

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

, which had become monopolized by the rival city of

. This however is a myth; parchment had been in use in Anatolia and elsewhere long before the rise of Pergamon. Parchment reduced the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

's dependency on Egyptian papyrus and allowed for the increased dissemination of knowledge throughout Roman-dominated Europe and Asia.

Competition

Although the library of Pergamum was built roughly a century after the

library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, ...

, the two had a fierce rivalry, as libraries were often used to reflect wealth and culture. The two libraries competed for parchment, books, and even literary interpretation. Pergamum also hired some Homeric scholars, who studied the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey''. This resulted in a fierce rivalry in which each library tried to obtain copies of Homer's works, striving to have the most accurate and oldest works. They also tried to attract better scholars by offering competitive pay. Ultimately, this rivalry forced both libraries to innovate and improve.

Decline

The Attalid kingdom was annexed to the

in 133 BCE and the library grew neglected. According to a legend relayed by

, the Roman general

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

seized the collection of 200,000 rolls and presented them as a gift to his new wife

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

, Queen of the

Ptolemaic Kingdom The Ptolemaic Kingdom (; , ) or Ptolemaic Empire was an ancient Greek polity based in Ancient Egypt, Egypt during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 305 BC by the Ancient Macedonians, Macedonian Greek general Ptolemy I Soter, a Diadochi, ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, in 43 BCE, presumably in an effort to restock the

Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, ...

, which had been damaged during

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's war in 48 BCE. Roman Emperor

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

returned some of the rolls to Pergamum after the death of Mark Antony, and the library remained extant well into

late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

, though it was not mentioned much by later historians, indicating its collection was no longer significant. The ruins of the library sit on a hilltop near the Sanctuary of Athena and other buildings of the Acropolis of ancient Pergamon.

Notes

References

* All About Archaeology, http://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/seven-churches-in-revelation.htm, accessed on April 16, 2007. * All About Turkey, http://www.allaboutturkey.com/pergamum.htm, accessed on April 16, 2007. * An Illustrated History of the Roman Empire, http://www.roman-empire.net, accessed on April 16, 2007. * Cities of Revelation, http://www.luthersem.edu/ckoester/Revelation/Pergamum/Library.htm, accessed on April 16, 2007. * Encyclopædia Britannica Online, http://www.britannica.com/eb/, accessed on April 16, 2007. * Turkish Odyssey, https://web.archive.org/web/20070928072838/http://www.turkishodyssey.com/places/aegean/aegean1.htm, accessed on April 16, 2007. * Kekeç, Tevhit. (1989). ''Pergamon''. Istanbul, Turkey: Hitit Color. .

External links

The Library of Pergamum (Pergamon) is Founded (197 BCE – 159 BCE)
{{Authority control Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Ancient libraries Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Turkey Archaeological sites in the Aegean region Attalid dynasty Bergama Buildings and structures completed in the 2nd century BC Former buildings and structures in Turkey Hellenistic architecture İzmir Province Kingdom of Pergamon Libraries in Turkey