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Attalus I ( ), surnamed Soter (, ; 269–197 BC),Hansen, p. 26. Livy, , says that Attalus died in the consulship of Cornelius and Minucius (197 BC) at the age of 72, having reigned 44 years. Polybius, 18.41, also says that he died at 72 and reigned 44 years. Strabo, 13.4.2, says that he reigned 43 years. was the ruler of the Greek polis of Pergamon (modern-day Bergama, Turkey) and the larger Pergamene Kingdom from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the adopted son of King Eumenes I, whom he succeeded, and the first of the Attalid dynasty to assume the title of king, sometime around 240 to 235 BC. He was the son of Attalus and his wife Antiochis.
Attalus won an important victory, the Battle of the Caecus River, over the , a group of migratory tribes from Thrace, who had been plundering and exacting tribute throughout most of Asia Minor for more than a generation. The victory was celebrated with a triumphal monument at Pergamon ( The Dying Gaul) and Attalus taking the surname "Soter" and the title of basileus. He participated in the first and second Macedonian Wars against Philip V of Macedon as a loyal ally of the Roman Republic, although Pergamene participation was ultimately rather minor in these wars.Hansen, pp. 46–50; Kosmetatou, p. 163; Gruen 1990, p. 29. He conducted numerous naval operations throughout the Aegean Sea, gained the island of Aegina for Pergamon during the first war and Andros during the second, twice narrowly escaping capture at the hands of Philip V. During his reign, Pergamon also repeatedly struggled with the neighboring Seleucid Empire to the east, resulting in both successes and setbacks.
Attalus styled himself as a protector of the freedoms of the Greek cities of Anatolia as well as the champion of Greek people against barbarians. He funded art and monuments in Pergamon and in Greek cities he sought to cultivate as allies. He died in 197 BC at the age of 72, shortly before the end of the second war, having suffered an apparent stroke while addressing a war council some months before. He and his wife Apollonis were admired for their rearing of their four sons. He was succeeded as king by his son Eumenes II.
At some point prior to 241 BC, Attalus' father died. If the elder Attalus had been heir designate at some point, he died before he could ever take the throne. The younger Attalus was adopted by Eumenes I, the incumbent dynast. After Eumenes' death in 241 BC, Attalus succeeded to the Pergamene throne.
The prestige gained by the victory caused Attalus to take the surname of Soter, "savior", following the example of Antiochus I. He also declared himself basileus, king. While this did not increase his practical authority as his adopted father had already ruled like a king, it formally severed any relationship with the Seleucid Empire's king as a superior suzerain.Hansen, pp. 24, 28, 31; Austin, p. 396; Kosmetatou, p. 161; Mitchell, p. 21; Green p. 151. See Strabo, 13.4.2; Polybius, 18.41. The victory would be the core element of Attalus' reputation and fame. Attalus presented himself as the victorious champion of Greeks against barbarians, and commissioned much artwork and sculptures commemorating himself and the Pergamene victory.Bradford & Bradford, p. 121: "Attalus... commissioned a series of sculptures that depicted the defeat of the Gauls and glorified himself as the champion of Greeks against barbarians"; Wilson, p. 593: "By means of lavish sculpted dedications, Attalus depicted his victories as important achievements, and himself as the champion of Greek freedom against a renewed barbarian threat." Green, p. 339.
As with other Attalid rulers, Pergamene royal coinage depicted a middle-aged version of Philetaerus, the dynasty's founder. Around the 230s BC, the depiction of Philetaerus changed from a plain band to a diadem entwined with a laurel wreath, the symbol of victory, perhaps to celebrate the defeat of the Galatians.Hansen, pp. 31; 216–219
Pausanias wrote of a surely invented oracle's prophecy which foretold the great victory, allegedly created a generation earlier:
Pausanias writes that by "son of a bull", the oracle Phaennis "meant Attalus, king of Pergamon, who was styled bull-horned". On the acropolis of Pergamon was erected a triumphal monument, which included the famous sculpture The Dying Gaul, commemorating this battle.Pollitt, p. 85.
As a result of these victories, Attalus gained putative control over all of Seleucid Asia Minor north of the Taurus Mountains.Hansen, p. 36; Kosmetatou, p. 162; Green, p. 264. See Polybius, 4.48. He was able to hold on to these gains in the face of repeated attempts by Seleucus III Ceraunus, eldest son and successor of Seleucus II, to recover the lost territory.Hansen, p. 36; Green, p. 265. That said, this influence was tenuous; later historians consider any attempt to translate military success into political hegemony in these areas fraught and unlikely to have been successful.Allen, pp. 38–39. Around 226–223 BC, Attalus erected a monument to his battlefield victories in the acropolis of Pergamon, dedicated to Zeus and Athena; a slight adjustment to the artwork on coinage also occurred.
Seleucus III was assassinated in 223 BC after crossing the Taurus into Asia Minor.Green, p. 265 says it was a member of his own army; Hansen, p. 36 by a Gaul. Achaeus assumed control of the Seleucid army afterward. He was offered and refused the kingship in favor of Seleucus III's younger brother Antiochus III the Great, who then made Achaeus governor of Seleucid Asia Minor north of the Taurus. Achaeus embarked upon a remarkably successful campaign, rapidly reclaiming Asia Minor for the Seleucids. Within two years Achaeus had recovered all the lost Seleucid territories and "shut up Attalus within the walls of Pergamon".Green, p. 265; Heinen, p. 431. The quote is from Polybius, 4.48. In a stroke of good fortune for Attalus, Achaeus revolted against Antiochus III around 220 BC and declared himself the Seleucid king.Hansen, p. 39.
After a period of peace, in 218 BC, while Achaeus was involved in an expedition to Selge south of the Taurus, Attalus, allied with some Thracian Gauls, recaptured his former territories in Western Asia Minor, establishing the Pergamese state as one of the powers of Asia Minor.Hansen, pp. 41–43. According to Heinen, p. 432, after the expedition of 218, Attalus' kingdom was again the most powerful state in Asia Minor. Bradford & Bradford, p. 121 says "Attalus established Pergamum as a power in the Greek East, but it was to reach its greatest power and prosperity by its alliance with Rome". See Polybius, 5.77. However, Achaeus returned from victory in Selge in 217 BC and resumed hostilities with Attalus.Hansen, pp. 42–43.
Under a treaty of alliance with Attalus, Antiochus III crossed the Taurus in 216 BC, attacked Achaeus and besieged Sardis, and in 214 BC, the second year of the siege, was able to take the city. However the citadel remained under Achaeus' control. Under the pretense of a rescue, Achaeus was finally captured and put to death, and the citadel surrendered. By 213 BC, Antiochus III had regained control of all of his provinces in the east of Asia Minor.Hansen, p. 43; Heinen, p. 440. Polybius, 5.107, 7.15–18, 8.17–23.
Philip's alliance with Hannibal of Ancient Carthage in 215 BC caused concern in Roman Republic, then involved in the Second Punic War.Hansen, p. 46; Livy, , . In 211 BC, a treaty was signed between Rome and the Aetolian League, a provision of which allowed for the inclusion of certain allies of the League, Attalus being one of these.Hansen, p. 47; Livy, . Attalus was elected one of the two strategos (generals) of the Aetolian League for the year 210/209 BC,Hansen, p. 47; Livy, . and in 210 BC his troops probably participated in capturing the island of Aegina, acquired by Attalus as his base of operations in Greece.Hansen, p. 47; Gruen 1990, p. 29. Polybius, 9.42 and 22.11.
In the following spring (209 BC), Philip marched south into Greece. Under command of Pyrrhias, Attalus' colleague as strategos, the allies lost two battles at Lamia.Hansen, p. 47; Livy, . Attalus himself went to Greece in July 209 BC and was joined on Aegina by the Roman proconsul P. Sulpicius Galba who wintered there.Hansen, p. 48; Livy, . Attalus only personally participated as a commander in the summer of 208 BC. That season, the combined fleet of thirty-five Pergamene and twenty-five Roman ships failed to take the Macedonian island of Lemnos, and occupied and plundered the countryside of the island of Peparethos (Skopelos) instead. Attalus and Sulpicius then attended a meeting in Heraclea Trachinia of the Council of the Aetolians, at which the Roman argued against making peace with Philip.Hansen, pp. 48–49; Livy, ; Polybius, 10.42.
The Romans sacked both Oreus, on the northern coast of Euboea, and Opus, the chief city of eastern Locris. The spoils from Oreus had been reserved for Sulpicius, who returned there, while Attalus stayed to occupy and collect the spoils from Opus. With their forces divided, Philip moved a force to relieve Opus from the occupying Pergamene army. Attalus and his troops, caught by surprise, were barely able to escape to his ships, unarmed and in disorder.Hansen, p. 49; Livy, ; Polybius, 11.7.
After his inglorious retreat, Attalus learned that Prusias I, king of Bithynia and a relative of Philip V's by marriage, had crossed the border to attack Pergamene territory. Attalus now returned to Asia to meet them, although the details of this conflict are largely unrecorded. Soon after, the Romans also abandoned Greece to concentrate their forces against Hannibal, their objective of preventing Philip from aiding Hannibal having been achieved. In 206 BC the Aetolians sued for peace, accepting the conditions imposed by Philip. A treaty was drawn up at Phoenice in 205 BC, formally ending the war. Attalus was included as an adscriptus on the side of Rome. He retained Aegina, but had accomplished little else; Pergamene participation in the war was ultimately "rather ineffective".Kosmetatou, p. 163 Since Prusias was also included in the treaty, the conflict between Pergamon and Bithynia also ended by that time.Hansen, pp. 49–50; Gruen 1990, pp. 29–30. Livy, .
A Roman delegation, led by M. Valerius Laevinus, was dispatched to Pergamon to seek Attalus' aid in gaining an appropriate artifact to bring to Rome. According to Livy, Attalus received the delegation warmly, and "handed over to them the sacred stone which the natives declared to be 'the Mother of the Gods', and bade them carry it to Rome."Erskine, p. 210. See Livy, , . The poet Ovid ( Fasti, IV 326) portrays Attalus as initially refusing to give up the goddess, only to relent after "the earth shook" and the goddess herself spoke. The ancient goddess Cybele was thus introduced to Rome as the Magna Mater, and the Mother of Gods stone was said itself to be meteoric.Hansen, pp. 50–52, 434–436; Gruen 1990, pp. 5–33; Erskine, pp. 205–224; Kosmetatou, p. 163.
One aspect of the account which varies in sources is where exactly the stone came from. While Ovid's version says the Mother of Gods was found on Mount Ida, close to Pergamon, most other accounts say it came from Pessinus, which was far inland: a place where Pergamene influence was weak at best and Gallic influence was strong. Whether this was an error in Roman sources unfamiliar with the geography of Asia Minor, or Attalus was on friendly terms with the local Gallic tribes in central Asia Minor in this time period, is unclear.Hansen, pp. 50–52.
The same year, Philip invaded Pergamon; although unable to take the defended city, in part due to precautions taken by Attalus to provide for additional fortifications, he demolished the surrounding temples and altars. Meanwhile, Attalus and Rhodes sent envoys to Rome, to register their complaints against Philip.Hansen, pp. 55–57; Errington, p. 253–257. Livy, 31.2; Polybius, 16.1.
Two of the Phyle named after Macedonians had recently been abolished, perhaps as recently as weeks before Attalus' visit, so the naming of these areas was open. A deme (suburb) was also named after Apollonis, Attalus' wife.Walbank, pp. 533–535.
Sulpicius Galba, now Roman consul, convinced Rome to declare war on PhilipHansen, pp. 58–60; Errington, pp. 255, 261. Livy, 31.5–8. and asked Attalus to meet up with the Roman fleet and again conduct a naval campaign, harassing Macedonian possessions in the Aegean.Hansen, p. 61; Grainger, p. 33. Livy, 31.28. In the spring of 199 BC, the combined Pergamon and Roman fleets took Andros in the Cyclades, the spoils going to the Romans and the island to Attalus. From Andros, the Pergamene forces sailed on an expedition. They made a fruitless attack on another Cycladic island, Kithnos; turned back north; scavenged the fields of Skiathos off the coast of Magnesia, for food; and continued north to Mende. The Pergamenes mounted a land assault at the city of Cassandrea, but were defeated and suffered heavy losses. They continued northeast along the Macedonian coast to Acanthus, which they sacked. This ended the expedition, their ships returning to Euboea with the spoils of Acanthus.Hansen, pp. 61–62; Grainger, pp. 33–36. Livy, 31.45. On their return, the two leaders went to Heraclea to meet with the Aetolians, who under the terms of their treaty, had asked Attalus for a thousand soldiers. He refused, citing the Aetolians' own refusal to honor Attalus' request to attack Macedonia during Philip's attack on Pergamon two years earlier. Resuming operations, Attalus and the Romans attacked but failed to take Oreus. They left a small force at Oreus to invest it, and sailed across the straight to raid elsewhere in Ancient Thessaly, with Attalus attacking Pteleum while the Romans attacked Larissa Cremaste. Upon their return to Oreus and with siege equipment now ready, the city fell. The Romans enslaved captives and took them elsewhere, while the Attalids looted and occupied the city. The campaigning season now over, Attalus attended the Eleusinian Mysteries and then returned to Pergamon having been away for over two years.Hansen, pp. 62–63; Warrior, p. 87. Livy, 31.46–47.
In the spring of 198 BC, Attalus returned to Greece with twenty-three joining a fleet of twenty Rhodian decked warships at Andros, to complete the conquest of Euboea begun the previous year. Soon joined by the Romans, the combined fleets took Eretria and later Carystus. Thus, the allies controlled all of Euboea except for Chalcis.Hansen, pp. 63–64; Livy, 32.16,17. The allied fleet then sailed for Cenchreae in preparation for an attack on Macedonian Corinth. Meanwhile, the new Roman consul for that year, Titus Quinctius Flamininus, had learned that the Achaean League, allies of Macedon, had had a change in leadership which favored Rome. Attalus' relations with the rival Aetolian League had cooled after several broken promises on both sides, so mending relations with the Achaeans could potentially offer a new ally. With the hope of inducing the Achaeans to abandon Philip and join the allies, envoys were sent, including Attalus himself, to Sicyon, where they offered the incorporation of Corinth into the Achaean League. Attalus won the support of the Sicyonians after purchasing land sacred to Apollo for them, and they erected a colossal statue of him in their market place.Kaye, p. 47 Later gifts to Sicyon induced the city to institute annual animal sacrifices in Attalus' honor.Hansen, p. 66. A meeting of the Achaean League was convened. After a heated debate and the withdrawal of some of the delegates, the rest agreed to join the Roman alliance. Attalus led his army from Cenchreae (now controlled by the allies) through the Isthmus and besieged Corinth from the north, controlling the access to Lechaeum, the Corinthian port on the Gulf of Corinth. Meanwhile, the Romans moved their forces to the east of the city to control the approaches to Cenchreae, with the Achaeans held the west of Corinth. However, Corinth's garrison held out. Macedonian reinforcements arrived, the siege was abandoned, and the siege works were destroyed. Attalus and his army sailed for Piraeus.Hansen, p. 64; Gruen 1986, pp. 179, 181; Livy, 32.19–23; Polybius, 18.16.
Also in 198 BC, a renewed struggle with the Seleucid Empire began. King Antiochus III, seemingly taking advantage of Pergamene distraction with the Macedonian War, attacked while Pergamon's ability to defend itself was weak, threatening holdings in Asia Minor.Hansen, p. 63; Allen, p. 86. However, some scholars doubt the historicity of this Seleucid invasion. Back in Greece, early in 197 BC, Flamininus summoned Attalus to join him at Elateia (now in Roman hands) and from there they traveled together to attend a council in Thebes to encourage Boeotia to join the Roman side in the war.Hansen, p. 66; Livy, 33.1. At the council Attalus spoke first, reminding the Boeotians of the many things he and his ancestors had done for them, but during his address he stopped talking and collapsed, with one side of his body paralyzed.Hansen, p. 67; Kosmetatou, p. 163. Inscriptions document Pergamene benefactions to the Greeks in general and the Boeotians in particular; see Hansen, p. 19; Livy, 33.2. Attalus was taken back to Pergamon to live out the remaining months of his life. He died around the time of the Battle of Cynoscephalae, which brought about the end of the Second Macedonian War.Hansen, p. 67, says he did not die "until the beginning of autumn" citing manumission records dated to August or September 197 BC, and speculates that "he may have heard of the great Roman victory at Cynoscephalae". However Kosmetatou, p. 163, asserts that he died "probably shortly before" the battle.
At the end of his reign, Attalus' kingdom was "hardly any bigger than it had been at the beginning".Allen, p. 86. Antiochus III had seized large amounts of Pergamene territory for his empire, with important putatively Attalid cities such as Phocaea and Thyatira in Seleucid possession. Attalus' successor, his son Eumenes II, would face a tough geopolitical situation. However, he had also made the city of Pergamon a great center of art and learning, and earned the respect of the Romans and others; historian Esther Hansen calls Attalus' reign not merely the longest of any Attalid monarch, but also "the most laudable".Hansen, p. 67.
The filial affection of the brothers as well as their upbringing is remarked on by several ancient sources. A decree of Antiochus IV praises "king Attalus and queen Apollonis ... because of their virtue and goodness, which they preserved for their sons, managing their education in this way wisely and well."Hansen, p. 45. An inscription at Pergamon represents Apollonis as saying that "she always considered herself blessed and gave thanks to the gods, not for wealth or empire, but because she saw her three sons guarding the eldest and him reigning without fear among those who were armed."Hansen, p. 45; Austin, pp. 370–371. When Attalus died in 197 BC at the age of 72, he was succeeded by his eldest son Eumenes II. Polybius writes "what is more remarkable than all, though he left four grown-up sons, he so well settled the question of succession, that the crown was handed down to his children's children without a single dispute."Polybius, 18.41. The dynasty avoiding infighting and scandal was a major element in giving them legitimacy and authority.Kosmetatou, pp. 168–170.
Apollonis died in the mid-second-century BC. In her honor, Attalus' sons built a temple in Cyzicus decorated with bas-reliefs representing several scenes of sons displaying love for their mothers, with one scene also showing love for a father.
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