Eumenes I
Eumenes I | |
---|---|
Coin of Eumenes.Cabinet des Médailles,Paris. | |
King of Pergamon | |
Reign | 263–241 BC |
Predecessor | Philetaerus |
Successor | Attalus I |
Died | 241 BC |
Greek | Ευμένης Α΄ |
Dynasty | Attalid dynasty |
Father | Eumenes (son of Attalus) |
Mother | Satyra |
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Philetaerus.jpg)
Eumenes I(Greek:Εὐμένης) wasdynast(ruler) of the city ofPergamoninAsia Minorfrom 263 BC until his death in 241 BC.[1]He was the son of Eumenes, the brother ofPhiletaerus,the founder of theAttalid dynasty,and Satyra, daughter of Poseidonius. As he had no children, Philetaerus adopted Eumenes to become his heir.
Although nominally underSeleucidcontrol, Pergamon under Philetaerus enjoyed considerable autonomy. However, upon his succession, Eumenes, perhaps with the encouragement ofPtolemy II,who was at war with the Seleucids, revolted, defeating the Seleucid kingAntiochus Inear theLydiancapital ofSardisin 261 BC. He was thus able to free Pergamon, and greatly increase the territories under his control. In his new possessions, he established garrison posts in the north at the foot ofMount Idacalled Philetaireia after his adoptive father, and in the east, northeast ofThyatiranear the sources of the river Lycus, calledAttaleiaafter his grandfather, and he extended his control south of the riverCaïcusto the Gulf ofCymeas well. Demonstrating his independence, he began to strike coins with the portrait of Philetaerus, while his predecessor had still depictedSeleucus I Nicator.
After the revolt from the Seleucids, there are no records of any further hostilities involving Pergamon during Eumenes' rule, even though there continued to be conflict between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies, and even though theGalatianGaulswere continually plundering throughout the region. If Eumenes was able to keep Pergamon free from the ravages of the Gauls, it was probably because he paid them tribute.[2]
Although never assuming the title of "king," Eumenes did exercise all of the powers of one.[3]Imitating other Hellenistic rulers, a festival in Eumenes' honour, calledEumeneia,was instituted in Pergamon.
It is not known whether he had children. A "Philetaerus son of Eumenes" is mentioned in an inscription in the town ofThespiae;some regard him as Eumenes' son, who would then have died before his father's death in 241. Eumenes adopted his first cousin once removed,Attalus I,who succeeded him as ruler of Pergamon.[4]
References
[edit]- ^Strabo13.4.2,says that Eumenes "... died after a reign of twenty-two years." His reign began with the death of Philetaerus in 263 BC.
- ^That Pergamon probably paid tribute can be inferred from Livy38.16,that the Gauls had "... levied tribute on the whole of Asia west of the Taurus,... such was the terror of their name and the growth of their numbers that at last even the kings of Syria did not dare to refuse the payment of tribute" and thatAttalus I,Eumenes successor, was the first to refuse to pay such tribute.
- ^Hansen pp. 23-24.
- ^Strabo,13.4.2,says that he was the cousin of Attalus I. Pausanias,1.8.1,probably following Strabo, says the same. But modern writers have concluded that Strabo had skipped a generation, see Hansen p. 26.
Bibliography
[edit]- Hansen, Esther V. (1971).The Attalids of Pergamon.Ithaca, New York:Cornell University Press;London: Cornell University Press Ltd.ISBN0-8014-0615-3.
- Kosmetatou, Elizabeth (2003) "The Attalids of Pergamon," in Andrew Erskine, ed.,A Companion to the Hellenistic World.Oxford: Blackwell: pp. 159–174.ISBN1-4051-3278-7.text
- Livy,History of Rome,Rev. Canon Roberts (translator), Ernest Rhys (Ed.); (1905) London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.
- Pausanias,Description of Greece,Books I-II, (Loeb Classical Library) translated by W. H. S. Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918)ISBN0-674-99104-4.
- Strabo,Geography,Books 13–14, (Loeb Classical Library) translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924)ISBN0-674-99246-6.