Pergamon in Asia Minor 300BC Ancient Greek Coin Hercules Athena Cult i46038

Item: i46038

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek City of Pergamon in Asia Minor

Bronze 10mm (0.96 grams) Struck circa 300 B.C.
Reference: Sear 3958; B.M.C. 15.112,22-3
Head of young Hercules right, clad in lion’s skin.
ΠΕР below head of Athena right, in crested helmet.

Situated in the Kaikos valley, about 15 miles from the coast, Pergamon was a
city of uncertain origin and of no great importance before the time of Alexander
the Great. In the 3rd century B.C. it became the center of the independent
kingdom ruled by the Attalid dynasty founded by Philetairos. The city was
extended and beautified as the prosperity of the kingdom increased, and by the
late Hellenistic times Pergamon ranked as one of the great cultural centers of
the Greek world. After the end of the kingdom, 133 B.C., Pergamon became capital
of the Roman province of Asia.

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Authenticity.

Athena or Athene
(Latin:

Minerva
), also referred to as
Pallas Athena, is the goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength,
strategy, crafts, justice and skill in
Greek mythology
.
Minerva
,
Athena’s Roman


incarnation,
embodies similar attributes. Athena is also a shrewd companion of

heroes and the
goddess
of

heroic endeavour. She is the
virgin
patron of
Athens
. The Athenians built the
Parthenon
on the Acropolis of her namesake
city, Athens, in her honour (Athena Parthenos). Athena’s cult as the patron of
Athens seems to have existed from the earliest times and was so persistent that
archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as
a protector of the city (polis),
many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias
(“Athena of the city”).
Athens
and Athena bear etymologically connected
names.

HERCULES – This celebrated
of mythological romance was at first called Alcides, but received the name of
Hercules, or Heracles, from the Pythia of Delphos. Feigned by the poets of
antiquity to have been a son of “the Thunderer,” but born of an earthly mother,
he was exposed, through Juno’s implacable hatred to him as the offspring of
Alemena, to a course of perils, which commenced whilst he was yet in his cradle,
and under each of which he seemed to perish, but as constantly proved
victorious.

At
length finishing his allotted career with native valor and generosity, though
too frequently the submissive agent of the meanness and injustice of others, he
perished self-devotedly on the funeral pile, which was lighted on Mount Oeta.
Jupiter raised his heroic progeny to the skies; and Hercules was honored by the
pagan world, as the most illustrious of deified mortals. The extraordinary
enterprises cruelly imposed upon, but gloriously achieved, by this famous
demigod, are to be found depicted, not only on Greek coins, but also on the
Roman series both consular and imperial. The first, and one of the most
dangerous, of undertakings, well-known under the name of the twelve labors of
Hercules, was that of killing the huge lion of Nemea; on which account the
intrepid warrior is represented, clothes in the skin of that forest monarch; he
also bears uniformly a massive club, sometimes without any other arms, but at
others with a bow and quiver of arrows. On a denarius of the Antia gens he is
represented walking with trophy and club.

When his head alone is typified, as in Mucia gens, it is covered with the lion’s
spoils, in which distinctive decoration he was imitated by many princes, and
especially by those who claimed descent from him – as for example, the kings of
Macedonia, and the successors of Alexander the Great. Among the Roman emperors
Trajan is the first whose coins exhibit the figure and attributes of Hercules.

Pergamon, Pergamum or b>Pérgamo (in

Greek

, Πέργαμος) was an ancient

Greek

city in modern-day

Turkey
, in

Mysia
, today

located 16 miles (26 km) from the

Aegean Sea

on a promontory

on the north side of the river

Caicus

(modern day

Bakırçay
),

that became the capital of the

Kingdom of Pergamon

during the

Hellenistic period

, under the

Attalid dynasty

, 281–133 BC. Today, the main sites of ancient Pergamon are

to the north and west of the modern city of

Bergama
.

//

 History

The

Attalid

kingdom was the

rump state

left after the collapse of the

Kingdom of Thrace
.

The Attalids, the descendants of Attalus, father of

Philetaerus

who came to power in 281 BC following the collapse of the

Kingdom of Thrace, were among the most loyal supporters of

Rome

in the Hellenistic world. Under

Attalus I

(241-197 BC), they allied with Rome against

Philip V of Macedon

, during the

first

and

second

Macedonian Wars

, and again under

Eumenes II

(197-158 BC), against

Perseus of Macedon

, during the

Third Macedonian War

. For support against the

Seleucids

, the

Attalids

were rewarded with all the former Seleucid domains in

Asia Minor

.

The Attalids ruled with intelligence and generosity. Many documents survive

showing how the Attalids would support the growth of towns through sending in

skilled artisans and by remitting taxes. They allowed the Greek cities in their

domains to maintain nominal independence. They sent gifts to Greek cultural

sites like Delphi
,

Delos
, and

Athens
. They

defeated the invading Celts

. They remodeled the

Acropolis of Pergamo

after the

Acropolis

in Athens. When

Attalus III

(138-133 BC) died without an heir in 133 BC he bequeathed the

whole of Pergamon to Rome, in order to prevent a civil war.

According to Christian tradition, the first bishop of Pergamon,

Antipas

, was martyred there in ca. 92 AD. (Revelation

2:13)

The

Ottoman

Sultan

Murad III

had two large alabaster

urns transported from the ruins of Pergamon and placed on two

sides of the nave in the

Hagia

Sophia
in Istanbul

.^[1]

 Notable

structures

 Upper

Acropolis

The

Great Altar of Pergamon

is in the

Pergamon Museum

, Berlin. The base of this altar remains on the upper part of

the Acropolis. It was perhaps to this altar, believed dedicated to Zeus, that

John of Patmos referred to as “Satan’s Throne” in his Book of Revelation

(Revelation 2:12-13).

Other notable structures still in existence on the upper part of the

Acropolis include:

• The Hellenistic Theater with a seating capacity of 10,000. This had the

  steepest seating of any known theater in the ancient world.^[2]

• The Sanctuary of Trajan (also known as the

  Trajaneum

  )

• The Sanctuary of Athena
• The Library a.k.a.

  Athenaeum
  ^[citation

  needed]

• The Royal palaces
• The Heroön – a shrine where the kings of Pergamon, particularly, Attalus

  I and Eumenes II, were worshipped.^[3]

• The

  Temple of Dionysus

• The Upper Agora
• The Roman baths complex

Pergamon’s library on the Acropolis (the ancient

Library of Pergamum

) is the second best in the ancient Greek civilization.^[4]

When the

Ptolemies

stopped exporting

papyrus
,

partly because of competitors and partly because of shortages, the Pergamenes

invented a new substance to use in

codices
, called

pergaminus or pergamena (parchment)

after the city. This was made of fine

calfskin
, a

predecessor of

vellum

. The library at Pergamom was believed to contain 200,000 volumes,

which Mark Antony

later gave to

Cleopatra

as a wedding present.

 Lower

Acropolis

The lower part of the Acropolis has the following structures:

• the Upper Gymnasium
• the Middle Gymnasium
• the Lower Gymnasium
• the Temple of

  Demeter

• the Sanctuary of

  Hera

• the House of Attalus
• the Lower Agora and
• the Gate of

  Eumenes

 At

foot of Acropolis

 Sanctuary

of Asclepius

Three kilometers south of the Acropolis, down in the valley, there was the

Sanctuary of Asclepius

(also known as the

Asclepieion

), the god of healing. In this place people with health problems

could bathe in the water of the sacred spring, and in the patients’ dreams

Asclepius would appear in a vision to tell them how to cure their illness.

Archeology has found lots of gifts and dedications that people would make

afterwards, such as small terracotta body parts, no doubt representing what had

been healed. Notable extant structures in the Asclepieion include:

• the Roman theater
• the North Stoa
• the South Stoa
• the Temple of Asclepius
• a circular treatment center (sometimes known as the Temple of

  Telesphorus)

• a healing spring
• an underground passageway
• a library
• the Via Tecta (or the Sacred Way, which is a colonnaded street leading

  to the sanctuary) and

• a

  propylon

  .

 Serapis

Temple

Pergamon’s other notable structure is the

Serapis

Temple (Serapeum)

which was later transformed into the Red Basilica complex (or Kizil Avlu in

Turkish), about one kilometer south of the Acropolis. It consists of a main

building and two round towers. In the first century AD, the

Christian

Church at Pergamon inside the main building of the Red Basilica

was one of the

Seven Churches

to which the

Book of Revelation

was addressed (Revelation

2:12). The forecourt is still supported by the 193 m wide

Pergamon Bridge

, the largest bridge substruction of antiquity.^[5]