Pergamon Acropolis Archaeological Sitevisitor guide.

PERGAMON ACROPOLIS Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2014, Pergamon remained continuously inhabited due to its strategic position, enduring conquests and destructions without vanishing from history. In the Bakırçay basin, traces of settlement extend into prehistory, with the citadel hill showing occupation in the 7th, 6th, and 5th centuries BC. The name derives from 'Perg' or 'Berg', meaning 'fortress'. In 283 BC, Philetaerus founded a kingdom that flourished for 150 years as a regional power. Bequeathed to Rome by King Attalus III in 133 BC, it became the capital of the Roman province of Asia. With the decline and partition of the Roman Empire from the 3rd century onward, Bergama came under Christian influence. In the 8th century AD, it suffered Arab raids, joined the Menteşe Beylik in the early 14th century, and was incorporated into Ottoman territory by Orhan Gazi in 1345. Described by 1st-century BC author Pliny the Elder as 'by far the most distinguished and revered city in Asia Minor', Pergamon achieved exceptional urban planning on a steep hill despite challenging topography. Terracing accommodated great sanctuaries, civic structures, and dwellings. Peristyle courtyards demonstrated exemplary architectural sophistication. The city plan was divided into upper and lower cities. The upper city contained royal peristyle palaces, the 4th-century BC Doric Temple of Athena, colossal statues of emperors Trajan and Hadrian, the Temple of Trajan with striking architectural detail, and the Pergamon Library holding 200,000 scroll and codex volumes written on parchment (Pergaminae Chartae), the new writing medium invented by Pergamenes, making it antiquity's preeminent library. Built following King Eumenes II's decisive victory over the Galatians and Seleucids at Magnesia (180 BC), the Great Altar of Zeus is the city's crowning achievement. Dedicated to Zeus and Athena, its exterior friezes are the finest masterwork of the Pergamon School of Sculpture. Reliefs depicting Zeus and Athena, the gods of light Apollo, Artemis, and Leto, Helios, dawn Eos, moon goddess Selene, Nyx, strife goddess Eris, the Moirai, star god Orion, Poseidon, Amphitrite, Nereus, Doris, Oceanus, and Tethys rank among the ancient world's foremost sculptures. The 10,000-seat theater set into a steep slope, with its mobile stage building and architectural link to the Temple of Dionysus, is among antiquity's most famous. To supply water to the citadel hill, Pergamenes built a 45-km Hellenistic pressurized pipeline of 240,000 clay pipes descending from Mount Madra at 900 meters elevation. The lower city contained sanctuaries of Hera and Demeter, the largest known Hellenistic gymnasium, the lower agora, and residential quarters. Under Eumenes II (197–159 BC), expanding population extended the city outside 4 km of walls down toward the Bakırçay plain, with the Red Basilica and the Asklepion sanctuary marking key developments. DOWNLOAD MUSEUM BROCHURE NEARBY MUSEUMS EPHESUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE PERGAMON ASKLEPION ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE BERGAMA MUSEUM EPHESUS MUSEUM ST. JOHN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE EPHESUS TERRACE HOUSES