Attalus I
Attalus I (Soter "Savior") (269 BC–197 BC) was the real progenitor of the Attalid dynasty, which ruled Pergamum until 129 BC (though some histories say the Attalids began with Eumenes I, his cousin, who abdicated in his favor). He began a tradition of fair and generous rule and generous patronage of the arts which ended only with the end of his line.
Attalus I inflicted several severe defeats upon the Galatians, Gaulish chieftains and their warbands who had ravaged the western half of Asia Minor without any serious check. The Galatians were forced to retire from the seacoast region back into Galatia in the central Anatolian highlands. This was the greatest of his achievements, Pausanias (I.8.1) thought, and he quoted an oracle that had foretold the rise of such a defender of Ionian Greek culture against Gauls:
- ...For right soon the son of Cronos
- Shall raise them a helper, the dear son of a bull reared by Zeus,
- Who on all the Gauls shall bring a day of destruction.
and he noted that Attalus had been named "bull-horned" by an oracle.
The Attalid dynasty were among the most loyal supporters of Rome among the Hellenistic successor states in the wake of Alexander the Great. For support against the Seleucids, and his alliance in the First and Second Macedonian Wars, the Roman senate rewarded the Attalids with all the former Seleucid domains in Asia Minor. When Attalus III died without an heir in 133 BC, he bequeathed his land (including Pergamum) to Rome, hoping to prevent a civil war. There was an uprising all the same, but it was quickly put down, and the territory divided.
Under the Attalids, Pergamum developed parchment -- the first real substitute for papyrus, which was in dwindling supply.
