In 188 BCE, Roman commissioners awarded Pergamon Hellespontic and Greater Phrygia, Mysia, Lycaonia, the Milyas, Lydia with Tralles and Ephesus, Telmessus, and the Thracian Chersonese. Eumenes II’s wartime counsel and cavalry now translated into land and revenue [6][7][2].
What Happened
After the treaty comes the map. In 188 BCE, a panel of Roman commissioners took Polybius’ scroll of clauses and turned to the distribution list. For Eumenes II of Pergamon, the reckoning was lavish. Polybius writes: “As for King Eumenes … they now added … the Chersonese, Lysimachia … Hellespontic Phrygia, Greater Phrygia … Lycaonia, the Milyas, Lydia, Tralles, Ephesus, and Telmessus” [6]. Names tumbled into a kingdom that had fought at Rome’s side.
The choices reflected strategic sense. Hellespontic Phrygia and the Chersonese gave Pergamon control over the straits’ approaches and over key land routes to the Aegean. Lydia with Ephesus and Tralles provided ports and rich inland cities; Lycaonia and the Milyas extended reach toward inner Anatolia. For the Attalids, whose prewar realm clustered around Pergamon’s acropolis, this was an empire in all but name [6][7].
In Pergamon itself, the color of victory was marble white and bronze green. Architects and treasurers now had reason and funds to build the terraces and libraries that later travelers would praise. But the sound that mattered in 188 was administrative: clerks reciting tax farms, local notables swearing oaths, and surveyors’ chains clicking as borders were walked. War had given way to governance [7][19].
Eumenes’ role in the campaign explained the generosity. He had pressed for sea control, lent ships, guided the inland march, and struck the blow at Magnesia’s left. The Roman settlement rewarded competence and loyalty with responsibility. Pergamon would police much of western Anatolia on Rome’s behalf, with prestige and danger both attached [2][6][7].
For those living in these lands, the change meant new administrators but familiar currencies and laws, at least at first. Attalid rule had a reputation for patronage of cities and for stable taxation compared with some Hellenistic rivals. Yet the enlargement also brought border tensions—with Galatians to the north and with Seleucid remnants beyond Taurus—that would require Pergamon to be a soldier as well as a benefactor [6][7].
Why This Matters
Pergamon’s enlargement codified the coalition’s bargain. Rome could avoid annexation and still shape outcomes by elevating a trusted ally into a regional hegemon bound by gratitude and interest. The Attalid gains—ports, straits, and interior—produced a counterweight to any Seleucid resurgence and anchored Roman influence on land [6][7].
This event illustrates coalition leverage and reward. Eumenes II converted battlefield initiative and strategic counsel into territories that matched his contributions. The Roman commissioners’ decisions made Pergamon the principal beneficiary west of Taurus, institutionalizing a balance favorable to Rome [2][6][7].
In the larger story, Pergamon’s rise set cultural as well as political currents—libraries, altars, and urban projects funded by the new revenues. It also created a state that, when it later bequeathed its kingdom to Rome, would hand the Republic a ready-made province shaped by the very settlement designed in 188 [7][19][12].
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