DRAFT

Temple Grove of Nikephorion

Contributor: Annette Guan
Published: 2021-04-21
Modified: 2025-06-29

Location

Location 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, palaestra, and agoras, all of which were renovated during the Roman period. No archaeological remains of planting features have been reported, but an inscription records a law prohibiting the deliberate planting of trees near walls (SEG XIII 521.11.158-61).

Garden

Temple Grove of Nikephorion

Keywords

Garden Description

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 Philip V of Macedon in 201 B.C., during which Philip V ordered his troops to cut down trees in the sanctuary (Polybios 16.1.6).

Dates

Unspecified

Bibliography

  • M. Carroll-Spillecke, "The Gardens of Greece from Homeric to Roman Times," Journal of Garden History 12, 1992: 84-101. (Taylor & Francis Online)
  • A. Kuttner, "Republican Rome looks at Pergamon," 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. (worldcat)
  • I. Nielsen, Hellenistic Palaces. Aarhus, 1994, p. 107, catalog no. 15. (worldcat)

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