Carroll, M., and K. Gleason (2026). "Pergamum." Gardens of the Roman Empire, accessed October 2, 2026. https://roman-gardens.github.io/id/add593790a/

Pergamum

Contributor: Amelia Lamis
Published: 2026-10-01
Last modified: 2026-10-01

Place Description

Pergamum, a fortress site in Mysia near the Aegean coast, was transformed into an architectural center under the Attalid dynasty (282-133 B.C.). Attalus the III wrote treatises on gardens, raised poisonous plants, made wax models (Plut. Demet. 20.2), and upon his death, left the kingdom of Mysia to the Romans. It became one of the most important Roman cities of Asia, and current scholarship has revealed its significance as an influence on the art and architecture of Rome. The range of designed open spaces includes sanctuaries, gymnasia, palaestrae, and agoras, all of which were renovated during the Roman period. No archaeological remains of planting features have been reported, but an inscription (SEG XIII 521.11.158-61) records a law prohibiting the deliberate planting of trees near walls .

Bibliography

  • M. Carroll-Spillecke, “The Gardens of Greece from Homeric to Roman Times,” Journal of Garden History 12, 1992: 84-101. (worldcat); (Taylor & Francis Online)
  • A. Kuttner, “Republican Rome looks at Pergamon” In Harvard Studies in Classical Philology vol. 97, Greece in Rome: Influence, Interaction, Resistance, ed. C.P.Jones, R. Thomas, 1997, pp. 157-178. (worldcat)
  • C. Ratte, “Pergamon,” Oxford Encyclopedia of Near Eastern Archaeology, 1997, 261-262. (Oxford)
  • I. Nielsen, Hellenistic Palaces. Aarhus, 1994, p. 107, catalog no. 15. (worldcat)

Places

2 garden articles in Pergamum have been published:
Asia / Pergamum

Peristyle In The Royal Palace

Nielsen has suggested that the peristyle of the Royal palace V, which is unpaved, was possibly a garden, watered by cisterns (Fig. 1). Plans Bibliography M. Carroll-Spillecke, “Th...
Asia / Pergamum

Temple Grove of Nikephorion

King Eumenes II of Pergamum employed a gardener to plant new trees and nurse damaged ones back to health in the grove of the Nikephorion, following an attack on the city by ...