PHRC024 : Dedication to Attalos I, Pergamon - Mysia (200-100 BC) Dedication

Found in a Byzantine wall near the so-called ‘cult room’ of a Hellenistic elite house on the southern slope of Pergamon, this rectangular altar might testify to the survival of the cult of Attalos I after the end of the dynasty. The writing of A with both a bowed and a broken crossbar further strengthens the hypothesis that this altar was dedicated after the death of Attalos I.

Permanent ID http://s.phrc.it/phrc024

Images:
Photo 1: Photo of the altar, from Radt 1989, p. 204-205, photo 1
Photo 2: Plan of the House with the 'Podiensaal' (Late Hellenistic period); photo based on Schwarzer (2008), p. 49, photo 8, modified for Caneva 2020

Current location

Archaeological Museum of Bergama

Support

Object Type: Altar

Fragment of a rectangular altar broken in various points, especially at the bottom and on the right side. The upper cornice has been hammered away to make a construction block.

Material: Andesite

Dimensions:
Height: 40 cm
Width: 29 cm
Depth: 23 cm

Layout

Text written on three lines. Line 3 is slightly smaller.

The text is less carefully written than that of PHRC023, which also comes from the 'House with the Posiensaal'. Of particular interest is the writing of A both with broken crossbar (line 1) and with bowed bar (line 2). This detail makes a date during the first half of the 2nd cent. more probable than under the reign of Attalos I (cf. commentary to PHRC021 for a lengthier discussion)

History

Original Place: Pergamon, 'House with the Podiensaal'

Date: Between 200 and 100 BC

Justification: Lettering and archaeological context

Provenance: Reused in a Byzantine wall near the so-called 'cult room' of the 'House with the Podiensaal'.

Bibliography

Text constituted from: Radt 1989, p. 204-205, no. 1 (SEG XL 1134a).

Other editions:

See also: Schwarzer 2008, p. 237; Caneva 2020.

Images: Radt 1989, p. 204-205, photo 1.

Further bibliography: see PHRC023 on the history and plan of the house.

Online record: PHI

Edition

Βασιλέω[ς]
Ἀττάλ[ου]
Σωτῆρο[ς]

Translation

(S. Caneva)
Of King Attalos Soter.

Traduzione

(S. Caneva)
Del re Attalo Soter.

Commentary

This altar is one of the two that have been found in the excavations of the ‘House with the Podiensaal’, an elite house located on the south-western slope of the Pergamon hill. Since this house was built in the mid-second century, these altars might offer an archaeological proof of the survival of the cult of Attalos I in an elite domestic milieu after the end of the Attalid dynasty (cf. commentary to PHRC023). The writing of A with broken and bowed crossbar further suggests a date not before the early 2nd century, thus making this specimen at any rate a plausible piece of evidence for the posthumous cult of Attalos I (see also commentary to PHRC021; Caneva 2020).

Author:

Stefano Caneva, on 29.03.2019

Revisions:

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