Pergamos

The proper form of the name is Pergamum. It was situated in Teuthrania in Mysia, in a district watered by three rivers, by one of which it communicated with the sea. The original city was built on a lofty hill, which afterward became the citadel as houses sprang up around its base. The local legends attached a sacred character to the place, which, together with its natural strength, made it a place of deposit for royal treasure. The city was mainly indebted to Eumenes II.((b.c. 197-159) for its embellishment and extension. In addition to walks and public buildings, he founded the library, which contained two-hundred-thousand volumes, and was second only to that of Alexandria. The kingdom of Pergamum became a Roman province b.c. 130; but the city continued to flourish, so that Pliny styled it by far the most illustrious of Asia. All the main roads of Western Asia converged there. Pergamum was celebrated for the manufacture of ointments, pottery, tapestries, and parchment, which derives its name (charta Pergamena) from the city. It contained a celebrated and much-frequented temple of Aesculapius, who was worshipped in the form of a living serpent fed in the temple. Hence Aesculapius was called the God of Pergamum, and on the coins struck by the town he often appears with a rod encircled by a serpent. The great glory of the city was the Nicephorium, a grove of great beauty containing an assemblage of temples. The city has been described as a sort of union of a pagan cathedral-city, a university-town, and a royal residence, embellished during a succession of years by kings who all had a passion for expenditure and ample means of gratifying it. The streams which embraced the town irrigated the groves of Nicephorium and of Aesculapius, in which flourished the licentious rites of pagan antiquity. The sacred character of the city appears in coins and inscriptions which described the Pergamenes by the title claimed by the worshippers of Diana at Ephesus, νεωκόροι temple-sweepers or sacristans.

The sharp sword with two edges

See on Revelation 1:16.

Revelation 2:12 Parallel Commentaries

the angel. See on ver.

Revelation 2:1 To the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things said he that holds the seven stars in his right hand...

Revelation 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book...

Pergamos. Pergamos, now Bergamo, the ancient metropolis of Mysia, and the residence of the Attalian kings, is situated on the river Caicus, about sixty miles north of Smyrna, in long.

Revelation 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

? E. lat.

39?

11' N. It still retains some measure of its ancient importance; containing a population of

15,000 souls, and having nine or ten mosques, two churches, and one synagogue.

which hath.

Revelation 2:16 Repent; or else I will come to you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword...

Revelation 19:15,21 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron...

Isaiah 11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth...

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword...