Attalus I. was the son of Attalus, the brother of Philetaerus, and Antiochis, daughter of
Achaeus (not the cousin of Antiochus the Great). [EUMENES.] He
succeeded his cousin, Eumenes I., in B. C. 241. He was the first of
the Asiatic princes who ventured to make head against the Gauls, over whom he gained a
decisive victory. After this success, he assumed the title of king (Strab. xiii. p.624; Paus. 1.8.1,
10.15.3; Liv. 38.16; Plb. 18.24), and dedicated a sculptured representation of his victory
in the Acropolis at Athens. (Paus. 1.25.2.) He took advantage
of the disputes in the family of the Seleucidae, and in B. C. 229
conquered Antiochus Hierax in several battles. (Porphyr. apud Euseb.
Graec. p. 186; Euseb. Chron. Arm. p. 347.) Before the accession of
Seleucus Ceraunus (B. C. 226), he had made himself master of the
whole of Asia Minor west of mount Taurus. Seleucus immediately attacked him, and by B. C. 221 Achaeus [ACHAEUS] had reduced his
dominions to the limits of Pergamus itself. (Plb. 4.48.)
On the breaking out of the war between the Rhodians and Byzantines (B.
C. 220), Attalus took part with the latter, who had done their utmost to bring about
a peace between him and Achaeus (Plb. 4.49), but he was unable to
render them any effective assistance. In B. C. 218, with the aid of
a body of Gaulish mercenaries, he recovered several cities in Aeolis and the neighbouring
districts, but was stopped in the midst of his successes by an eclipse of the sun, which so
alarmed the Gauls, that they refused to proceed. (Plb. 5.77, 78.) In B. C. 216, he entered into an
alliance with Antiochus the Great against Achaeus. (5.107.) In B. C.
211, he joined the alliance of the Romans and Aetolians against Philip and the
Achaeans. (Liv. 26.24.) In 209, he was made praetor of the
Aetolians conjointly with Pyrrhias, and in the following year joined Sulpicius with a fleet.
After wintering at Aegina, in 207 he overran Peparethus, assisted in the capture of Oreus,
and took Opus. While engaged in collecting tribute in the neighbourhood of this town, he
narrowly escaped falling into Philip's hands; and hearing that Prusias, king of Bithynia, had
invaded Pergamus, he returned to Asia. (Liv. 27.29, 30, 33, 28.3-7; Plb. 10.41, 42.)
In B. C. 205, in obedience to an injunction of the Sibylline
books, the Romans sent an embassy to Asia to bring away the Idaean Mother from Pessinus in
Phrygia. Attains received them graciously and assisted them in procuring the black stone
which was the symbol of the goddess. (Liv. 29.10, 11.) At the general peace brought about in 204, Prusias and Attalus
were included, the former as the ally of Philip, the latter as the ally of the Romans.
(29.12.) On the breaking out of hostilities between Philip and the Rhodians, Attalus took
part with the latter; and in B. C. 201, Philip invaded and ravaged
his territories, but was unable to take the city of Pergamus. A sea-fight ensued, off Chios,
between the fleet of Philip and the combined fleets of Attalus and the Rhodians, in which
Philip was in fact defeated with considerable loss, though he found a pretext for claiming a
victory, because Attalus, having incautiously pursued a Macedonian vessel too far, was
compelled to abandon his own, and make his escape by land. After another ineffectual attempt
upon Pergamus, Philip retired. (Plb. 16.1_8; Liv. 32.33.)
In 200, Attalus, at the invitation of the Athenians, crossed over to Athens, where the most
flattering honours were paid him. A new tribe was created and named Attalis after him. At
Athens he met a Roman embassy, and war was formally declared against Philip. (Plb. 16.25, 26; Liv.
31.14, 15; Paus. 1.5.5,
8.1.) In the same year, Attalus made some ineffectual attempts;
to relieve Abydos, which was besieged by Philip. (Plb. 16.25,
30_34.) In the campaign of 199, he
joined the Romans with a fleet and troops. Their combined forces took Oreus in Euboea. (Liv. 31.44_47.) Attalus then returned to
Asia to repel the aggressions of Antiochus III., who had taken the opportunity of his absence
to attack Pergamus, but was induced to desist by the remonstrances of the Romans. (Liv. 31.45_47, 32.8, 27.)
In 198, Attalus again joined the Romans, and, after the campaign, wintered in Aegina. In
the spring of 197, he attended an assembly held at Thebes for the purpose of detaching the
Boeotians from the cause of Philip, and in the midst of his speech was struck with apoplexy.
He was conveyed to Pergamus, and died the same year, in the seventy-second year
of his age, after a reign of forty-four years. (Liv. 32.16, 19, 23, 24,
33, 33.2, 21; Plb. 17.2, 8, 16, 18.24, 22.2, &c.) As a ruler, his conduct was marked by wisdom and justice; he was a
faithful ally, a generous friend, and an affectionate husband and father. He encouraged the
arts and sciences. (D. L. 4.8; Athen.
15.697; Plin. Nat. 8.74, 34.19.24, 35.49.) By his wife, Apollonias or Apollonis, he
had four sons: Eumenes, who succeeded him, Attalus, Philetaerus, and Athenaeus.
Surnamed PHILADELPHUS, was the second son of Attalus I., and was
born in B. C. 200. (Lucian, Macrob. 12; Strab. xiii. p.624.) Before his accession to the crown, we
frequently find him employed by his brother Eumenes in military operations. In B. C. 190, during the absence of Eumenes, he resisted an invasion of
Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, and was afterwards present at the battle of Mount Sipylus.
(Liv. 37.18, 43.) In B. C. 189, he accompanied the consul Cn. Manlius Vulso in his expedition
into Galatia. (Liv. 38.12; Plb.
22.22.) In 182, he served his brother in his war with Pharnaces. (Plb. 25.4, 6.) In 171, with Eumenes and Athenaeus, he
joined the consul P. Licinius Crassus in Greece. (Liv. 42.55,
58, 65.) He was several times sent
to Rome as ambassador: in B. C. 192, to announce that Antiochus had
crossed the Hellespont (Liv. 35.23); in 181, during the war
between Eumenes and Pharnaces (Plb. 25.6); in 167, to congratulate
the Romans on their victory over Perseus. Eumenes being in ill-favour at Rome at this time,
Attalus was encouraged with hopes of getting the kingdom for himself; but was induced, by the
remonstrances of a physician named Stratius, to abandon his designs. (Liv. 45.19, 20; Plb.
30.1-3.) In 164 and 160, he was again sent to Rome. (Plb. 31.9, 32.3, 5.)
Attalus succeeded his brother Eumenes in B. C. 159. His first
undertaking was the restoration of Ariarathes to his kingdom. (Plb.
32.23.) In 156, he was attacked by Prusias, and found himself compelled to call in
the assistance of the Romans and his allies, Ariarathes and Mithridates. In B. C. 154, Prusias was compelled by the threats of the Romans to grant
peace, and indemnify Attalus for the losses he had sustained. (Plb.
3.5, 32.25, &c., 33.1, 6, 10, 11; Appian, App. Mith. 3, &c.; Diod. xxxi. Exc. p. 589.) In 152, he sent
some troops to aid Alexander Balas in usurping the throne of Syria (Porphyr. apud Euseb. p. 187; Just. 35.1), and in 149 he
assisted Nicomedes against his father Prusias. He was also engaged in hostilities with, and
conquered, Diegylis, a Thracian prince, the father-in-law of Prusias (Diod. xxxiii. Exc. p.
595, &c.; Strab. xiii. p.624), and sent some auxiliary
troops to the Romans, which assisted them in expelling the pseudo-Philip and in taking
Corinth. (Strab. l.c.;Paus. 7.16.8.) During the latter part of his life, he resigned
himself to the guidance of his minister, Philopoemen. (Plut. Mor. p.
792.) He founded Philadelphia in Lydia (Steph. Byz. s.v.) and Attaleia
in Pamphylia. (Strab. xiv. p.667.) He encouraged the arts
and sciences, and was himself the inventor of a kind of embroidery. (Plin. Nat. 7.39, 35.36.19,
8.74; Athen. 8.346, xiv. p. 634.) He died B.
C. 138, aged eighty-two.
Surnamed PHILOMETOR, was the son of Eumenes II. and Stratonice,
daughter of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia. While yet a boy, he was brought to Rome (B. C. 152), and presented to the senate at the same time with Alexander
Balas. He succeeded his uncle Attalus II. B. C. 138. He is known to
us chiefly for the extravagance of his conduct and the murder of his relations and friends.
At last, seized with remorse, he abandoned all public business, and devoted himself to
sculpture, statuary, and gardening, on which he wrote a work. He died B.
C. 133 of a fever, with which he was seized in consequence of exposing himself to the
sun's rays while engaged in erecting a monument to his mother. In his will, he made the
Romans his heirs. (Strab. xiii. p.624; Plb. 33.16; Just. 36.14; Diod. xxxiv.
Exc. p. 601; Varro, R. R. Praef.; Columell. 1.1.8; Plin. Nat. 18.5; Liv. Epit. 58;
Plut. TG 14; Vell. 2.4; Florus,
2.20; Appian. Mithr. 62, Bell. Civ. 5.4.) His kingdom was claimed by Aristonicus. [ARISTONICUS.]