THE COINAGE OF PERGAMON

NOW AND THEN IN HISTORY, economic, political and social forces come together in just the right combination to make a particular city the dynamic locus of cultural creativity. We see this in Athens in the time of Pericles (c. 495 – 429 BCE), Florence during the Renaissance (c. 1350 – 1450 CE), London in the reign of Elizabeth I (1558 – 1603), and Berlin during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s, to give but a few examples.

During the Hellenistic era (c. 323 – 30 BCE), Pergamon (or Pergamum[1]) was that kind of place. Art, literature, philosophy and science flourished amid magnificent architecture under the sensible and enlightened rulers of the Attalid dynasty for almost 150 years.

Alexander
When Alexander the Great, aged 22, launched his conquest of the Persian Empire in 334 BCE, his debts amounted to 1,300 talents[3]. His treasury had 70 talents on hand, and his army and fleet cost 200 a month to maintain. As he advanced, he requisitioned cash from the Greek cities of Asia. A rare and beautiful series of anonymous gold staters may represent Pergamon’s contribution to his war chest (de Callataÿ).

The obverse bears the familiar head of Herakles wearing the skin of the Nemean lion – a design that would appear on coinage in Alexander’s name for the next two centuries. The reverse bears a standing figure of Athena as goddess of war, holding spear and shield. This represents the idol in Pergamon’s temple dedicated to her. The design also appears on later silver diobols inscribed with Pergamon’s name.

Philetairos
As a Seleucid client state, Pergamon was semi-independent. Philetairos ruled wisely for almost 20 years, establishing a network of regional alliances and improving his city with monumental architecture and strong defenses.

Years after the assassination of Seleucus (shortly after his victory against Lysimachus in 281 BCE), Philetairos placed an idealized portrait of Seleucus on the city’s coins but inscribed his own name without title on the reverse. When he died in 263 he left his nephew, Eumenes, in charge of a thriving and prosperous state.

Eumenes II
Eumenes II continued to strike silver tetradrachms bearing the portrait of Philetairos with an Athena reverse, but two incredibly rare types are also attributed to his 38-year reign (197 – 159 BCE).

Three examples are known of a tetradrachm, issued about 180 BCE, depicting the head of Medusa in a “3/4 facing view” – a technically-challenging orientation first used by the great coin die engraver Kimon of Syracuse circa 410 BCE

Pergamon under Roman Imperial Rule
When Attalus III, Pergamon’s last king, died without a successor in 133 BCE, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman Senate. In this fashion Pergamon continued to thrive as the capital of the Roman province of Asia (the capital later moved to Ephesus). Cistophoric tetradrachms now bore the names of Roman magistrates. Emperor Augustus placed his own portrait on Pergamon’s coins, with a reverse showing six ears of grain. This type is rare, because most of them were overstruck a century later by Hadrian (117 – 138 CE).

To read the complete article, see:
CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series: Coinage of Pergamon (www.coinweek.com/ancient-coins/coinweek-ancient-coin-series-coinage-pergamon/)

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