Late Roman Republic, Events in Asia Minor, Gaul and the Balkans: Pergamum (133-126 BC)

In 133 BC Attalus III of Pergamum bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. Aristonicus, a pretender to the throne, immediately organised a rebellion. He established a headquarters at Leucae and Attalus’ navy soon joined him. Pro-Roman officials in Pergamum attempted to appease the population by granting citizenship to foreigners, mercenaries and freedmen, but numerous Asian cities decided to join the rebellion. 

A fleet sent by Ephesus, a city allied with Rome at the time, defeated Aristonicus at Cyme. He fled inland to the central Anatolian highlands, where he promised to free the serfs and slaves and to found a utopian city-state which would be called Heliopolis (‘City of the Sun’).

In 131 BC the Senate sent an army led by the consul ⁰⁶Licinius Crassus, who early the next year was defeated at Leucae then captured and killed just before the arrival of his successor, the consul Marcus ⁰¹Perperna. Perperna managed to capture Aristonicus, but died before being able to return home. Perhaps seeing Perperna’s death as a good omen, a number of cities continued to resist.

In 129 BC the Senate sent the consul Manius Aquillius (2) who easily overran the rebellious cities after poisoning their water supplies. For their assistance during the war, various Greek cities and neighbouring kings were given various parts of the Attalid dominions, for a bribe Mithridates V Euergetes of Pontus (r.150-120 BC) received the potentially rich area of Phrygia. With the aid of ten legates Aquillius transformed the main part of Attalus’ kingdom into the Roman province of Asia and built a road system. In 126 BC he returned to Rome where he received a triumph and though prosecuted for repetundae (extortion as a bribe) he was acquitted.