PERGAMON

Pergamon is one of the most interesting and well preserved ancient Greek cities in Turkey. Located relatively close to the Aegean coast, Pergamon dates back from 399 BC. Thriving under the Attalus family from 241 BC. on, Pergamon grew to be a city of 150.000 people and it was renowned in the Greco-Roman world as a center of arts and commerce. The arrival of the Goths in 262 AD. marked the decline of the city and after a series of invasions, it lost its importance and fell into ruin. There is a lot to see in the ancient city of Pergamon, but the most important items like the Zeus altar were stolen by the German excavation team which unearthed the place in 1886. The Zeus altar today can only be seen in the Pergamon museum in Berlin, but the ancient city still has a lot to offer. The main attractions are the Acropolis, the Temple of Athena, the Library which at one point held more than 200.000 volumes, the Temple of Trajan, an amphitheater, two main agoras, and the ancient Greco-Roman medical center, the Asclepion.