Pergamon Ruins in Turkey
The ruins of Pergamon City are still one of the treasures of ancient Greece. Historical Pergamon is located on a hill north of the river Bakircay. Today this territory is not part of Greece, and is within Turkey.
Close to the interesting ruins of Pergamon is located the city of Bergama, which is one of the most famous cities of the ancient world. Pergamon remains forever in history as the capital of the ancient Greek Kingdom of Pergamon. The ancient city is located in the region of Mysia, and the Aegean Sea is only 26 km from there.
The complex Pergamon keep the remains of the sanctuary of Athena, Trajan and Asclepius which are the ruins of several royal palaces of the Hellenic kings. In Pergamum you can see the temple of Dionysus, and well preserved are the remains of the Roman baths, called Therms. Pergamum is also the sanctuary of Hera. In the region of the ancient Greek city there is a mineral spring whose waters are famous for their target properties. In Pergamon today visitors can see the marble temples of Demeter.
Another historical landmark in the Pergamon are the ruins of an enormous ancient theater. One can not mention the famous library in Bergama, which is considered a rival of Alexandria. There are claims that state, that Mark Antony gave the library to the beautiful Cleopatra as a wedding gift of Pergamon. It contains about 200, 000 books and parchment scrolls. Subsequently, these priceless manuscripts were burnt in the burning of Egypt. Over the ruins of the library in a separate terrace is the temple of Emperor Trajan.
The remarkable part of the complex of Pergamon is, Asclepion, which is considered the first hospital in history. Its founder was Asclepius. In this part of the imposing ancient Egyptian city of Asclepius, the associates of Asclepius applied treatment with snake venom. It is from this fact that the logo of today's pharmacy also contains a winding serpent.
Near the temple of Trajan is a ancient theater, which has an impressive number of 3500 seats. Next to it is situated the Temple of Dionysus. The remains of the marble altar of Zeus are particularly attractive. At the foot of the hill of Pergamon, you can see the walls of the so called, Red Basilica.
The history of Pergamon starts from the collapse of the kingdom of Persia. After the death of Alexander the Great, Lysimachus, one of his generals, received the western part of Anatolia.
The Byzantines used plates with reliefs of Greek and Roman buildings to raise urban strongholds of Pergamon. During 716 years, historical Pergamon was conquered by Arab invaders, then, in the first half of the 14th century it was conquered by Turkish horsemen.
It was from 1900 on the hill of Pergamon that began the archaeological excavations.
