Pergamon Research Paper

Pergamon is an ancient city of Hellenistic era Greek that was flamboyant and known for its extraordinary architectural designs. The city was established by Philetaerus who was initially part of Alexander the great army. The city existed in the 2nd and 3rd century it was located on the eastern Mediterranean coast of the kingdom of Anatolia (Yeomans, 2016). The kingdom encompassed large swathes of what is today known as Turkey. Pergamon extended to the Aegean Sea covering the lofty hill on the northern region of broad valley of the Caicus River known today as Bakir. The city had existed since the 5th century but its fame rose when the Attalids established their dynasty and made it their capital and royal residence. The location of pergamon was …show more content…
Bergama is today populous and the center of rich culture that people of Izmir province of Turkey keep alive (Yeomans, 2016). The city is home to most of the influential Hellenistic structures that had been part of pergamon during the Attalid dynasty. Today, the city is urbanized and beautifully arranged to attract tourists and scholars especially those interest in learning ancient Greek history. The situation is similar to what happened during the Hellenistic age when scholars would flock the city to study in the majestic library built within the city of pergamon (Yeomans, 2016). One of the most elaborate structures that stand in the acropolis gondola of Bergama is believed to be the location of the temple of Zeus considering the massive foundation found in the southern slope of the modern Bergama city. Another location in Bergama that affirms the presence of pergamon at some point and time is the remains that exist on the northern side of what is believed to be the temple of Zeus. The remains are associated with the temple of Athena and northwest of the ruins are remains of what is believed to be what used to be the library of pergamon (Yeomans, 2016). The location pergamon now known as Bergama is affirmed by the remains that continue to be discovered by archeologists. These are interesting facts that provide a vivd picture of the glory of the ancient city and …show more content…
Plotemy the king of Egypt was an associate of king Eumene II during his reign and they traded papyrus writing materials. The material substituted animal skin which took long to prepare compared to papyraus. Papyrus was hard enough to absorb the ink used in writing. The material was also foldable which brought about the use of scrolls. Scrolls were a convenient way to document written material. Aristarchus one of the scholars of Egypt was suspected to be in cohorts with the pergamon camp trying to steal Plotemy’s papyrus. Plotemy discovered his plot to decamp and had him arrested and cut his dealings with Eumenes II. Plotemy was also concerned about the expansion and growth of Eumenes II library. They were competing on the number of volumes each had in their librariesThis ended the supply of papyrus and forced pergamon to invent a similar product in order to continue using scrolls. Pergamon came up with parchment which was an improved material of the animal skin. The parchment paper was made from calf skin which was light and easy to process into paper. The parchment absorbed ink better than papyrus and made excellent scrolls that were long lasting. Parchment became one of the most sophisticated writing materials in ancient Greek. Pergamon embraced parchment as a writing material because it took writing on both sides an improvement from papyrus. The term