Introduction of Pergamum

Meaning Pergamum = a church of compromise

Time Line :  The church in Pergamum is representative of church history during the period of approximately A.D. 314 to A.D. 590.

Character : Indulged church - to be too generous in allowing to have or do whatever they like

Current Name

Current name of Pergamos is  now Bergamo Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located 16 miles (26 km) from the Aegean Sea

Population : population of about 15,000 souls, having nine or ten mosques, two churches, and one synagogue.

Greek to Rome

Pergamos served as the capital of Alexander’s successor, Lysimachus. When Greek king Attalus III (138-133 BC) died in 133 BC, he bequeathed the whole of Pergamon to Rome, in order to prevent a civil war, like this Pergamum Greek city became under the roman control.

Library

Pergamum was a university city, famous for its library of 200,000 parchment (Oxford : material made from the skin of a sheep or goat, used in the past for writing on) scrolls, second only in size to the library of Alexandria in Egypt. Indeed, parchment was invented in Pergamum, for when its king decided to establish a library and enticed Alexandria’s librarian to head up his library, the Egyptian king banned the export of papyrus to Pergamum. This forced Pergamum’s scholars to find an alternate writing material, and they invented parchment. Parchment lasts much better than papyrus, so this invention played a big part in preserving the Bible for us. Pergamum and parchment are indisputably connected, the word “parchment” being derived from the Greek term pergamene. Which Mark Antony (General in Roman army from 54–30 BC) later gave to Cleopatra (Queen of Egypt, Spouse : Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, Ptolemy XIV, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) as a wedding present

The fame

 The fame of Pergamum rested chiefly on its religious preeminence. A tetrad of local deities, Zeus Soter, Athena Nicephoros, Dionysius, Kathegemon, Asklepios Soter,

Acropolis

Acropolis is the Great Altar of Pergamum in Athens

It divided into three parts one is called upper acropolis, the lower acropolis and foot acropolis.

Upper acropolis

In the upper part of the Acropolis was perhaps this altar, believed to be dedicated to Zeus, that John of Patmos referred to as "Satan's Throne" in his Book of Revelation (Revelation 2:13).

Other notable structures still in existence on the upper part of the Acropolis include:

• The Hellenistic Theater with a seating capacity of 10,000. This had the steepest seating of any known theater in the ancient world.
• The Sanctuary of Trajan (also known as the Trajaneum)
• The Sanctuary of Athena
• The Library a.k.a. Athenaeum
• The Royal palaces
• The Heroön - a shrine (Oxford : a place where people come to worship because it is connected with a holy person or event) where the kings of Pergamon, particularly, Attalus I and Eumenes II, were worshipped.
• The Temple of Dionysus

Lower Acropolis

·         The Upper Gymnasium, the Middle Gymnasium, and  the Lower Gymnasium

o    The gymnasium in ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games.

·         The Temple of Demeter

·         The Sanctuary of Hera

·         The House of Attalus

At foot of Acropolis

Sanctuary of Asclepius

Three kilometers south of the Acropolis, down in the valley, there was the Sanctuary of Asclepius (also known as the Asclepieion), the god of healing. In this place people with health problems could bathe in the water of the sacred spring, and in the patients' dreams Asclepius would appear in a vision to tell them how to cure their illness. Archeology has found lots of gifts and dedications that people would make afterwards, such as small terracotta body parts, no doubt representing what had been healed. Notable extant structures in the Asclepieion include:

• The Roman theater
• A healing spring
• An underground passageway
• The Via Tecta (or the Sacred Way, which is a colonnaded street leading to the sanctuary) and

Christianity

St. Paul was introduced the Christianity in this place. This we can see in the bible book of Acts 17:16-23

Acts 17:16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

Acts 17:17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Acts 17:18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, "What does this babbler wish to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities"--because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

Acts 17:19 And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

Acts 17:20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean."

Acts 17:21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Acts 17:22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

Acts 17:23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

When Christianity turned up here in Pergamum, it would have been natural for the inhabitants to have thought that it was just one more religion that could be syncretised and absorbed into the general idolatrous practices of their city - but the demands of the Gospel were such that it would not have been long before conflict was generated between the followers of ‘the Way’ and the other worshippers in the city. Indeed, it would appear from the letter to this church that there were some were among the christians who had already endeavoured to have part of the Gospel in their lives along with part of their old way of idolatry.

According to Christian tradition, the first bishop of Pergamon was Antipas he was a disciple of apostle John which is mention in Rev. 2:13. Demons came into the pagans dreams and told them to take any action against this Antipas. So the pagans asked Antipas to offer the wine and incense to the roman emperor god. Because of his rejection to offer they put into the fire which was flamed under the bull statue. He was martyred there in ca. 92 AD. (Revelation 2:13).