Pergamon’un Gölgesinde Bir Komşu Kent: Atarneus
A Neighboring City of Pergamon: Atarneuss

Summary/Abstract: In historical surveys of the surrounding land it has to be taken intoconsideration that the chora developed very dynamically and, like the city itsef, can be seen as a mirror of Pergamon's political and economic circumstances. In addition to the interaction between polis and chora, another question of exceptional interest is the way in which the political development of the city of Pergamon and its enormous growth from Hellenistic times onwards affected the surrounding area, above all the neighbouring towns. While in the countryside an intensification of agriculture can be observed starting in the Hellenistic period, the neighbouring poleis profited in very different ways from the rise of royal city, or indeed suffered as a result of its political and economic ascendancy. Before the stablishment of Attalid rule, Atarneus was without doubt the most important town in the region. The earliest known settlement dates to the 2nd millennium bc on the evidence of pottery finds, an a fairly impressive settlement must have grown up here in the 6th and 5th centry BC. In the 4th centry BCE the city was protected by a mighty fortification wall, several metres high, making it virtually impregnable, as reports from the early 4th century BCE attest (Diod. 13, 65, 4). The urban area anclosed by the wall, measuring approx. 24 hectares, was even slightly larger than Pergamon at the time of Philetairos. In the 4th century BCE Atarneus was the seat of the local dynast Hermias, who ruled over a large portion of the coast, his dominions extending far up the Kaikos valley. Analysis of the pottery finds from Atarneus provides clear evidence that the city flourished until into the 3rd century BCE. It was eclipsed by the royal capital, absorbed into the Pergamene chora and served as a military base at the northern point of entry to the Kaikos valley. Finally in the 1st century BCE was the city completely abandoned.

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