Chapter 3: Antiquity --- Pergamum in History, Archaeology, and Early Christian Memory

Why the Early Church, Roman Sources, and Archaeology Matter

The text of Revelation identifies Pergamum as the location of “Satan’s throne” and the place where Antipas was martyred, but it does not explain what the throne was or how Antipas died. For this, we must look to the historical and archaeological record: Roman writers who described Pergamum, early Christian writers who commented on the Revelation text and preserved traditions about Antipas, and the physical remains of the city itself.

Important caution: Absence of a teaching in early church writings may mean it wasn’t apostolic teaching OR simply wasn’t their urgent concern. Arguments from silence require humility. Similarly, later traditions about Antipas may reflect genuine historical memory or may be legendary embellishment. We must evaluate each source on its own terms.

Part I: The City of Pergamum in Roman Sources

Strabo, Geography (c. 7 BC --- 23 AD)

Context: Strabo was a Greek geographer and historian writing during the reign of Augustus and Tiberius. His Geography provides the most detailed ancient description of Pergamum.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- Strabo, Geography, Book 13.4.1-3, describing the Pergamon acropolis, temples, library, and the city’s layout]

Source: Loeb Classical Library edition Significance: [To be completed after research --- Strabo’s description of the acropolis, the temple of Athena, the library, and the city’s status]

Pliny the Elder, Natural History (c. 77 AD)

Context: Pliny the Elder was a Roman encyclopedist writing just a few years before the likely date of Revelation. His Natural History contains references to Pergamum.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- Pliny, Natural History, references to Pergamum, particularly regarding the Asklepion, the library, and the city’s fame]

Source: Loeb Classical Library edition Significance: [To be completed --- contemporary Roman view of Pergamum at the time of Revelation]

Tacitus, Annals (c. 116 AD)

Context: Tacitus records the competition among Asian cities for the privilege of building an imperial cult temple under Tiberius (26 AD), directly relevant to Pergamum’s status as imperial cult center.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- Tacitus, Annals 4.37, the debate among eleven Asian cities for the right to build a temple to Tiberius, and Pergamum’s disqualification because they already had the temple to Augustus]

Source: Loeb Classical Library edition Significance: This passage is critical. Tacitus records that Pergamum was passed over for a second imperial temple precisely because they already had one --- confirming that Pergamum was the first city in Asia to have an imperial cult temple (to Augustus, 29 BC). This makes Pergamum the provincial seat of emperor worship.

Cassius Dio (c. 155-235 AD)

Context: Cassius Dio records Augustus’s decision to allow Pergamum to build a temple.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- Dio Cassius, Roman History 51.20.7, recording Octavian’s grant to Pergamum to build a temple to himself (29 BC)]

Source: Loeb Classical Library edition Significance: [To be completed --- establishes the date and circumstances of the first imperial cult temple in Asia]

Pausanias, Description of Greece (c. 150-180 AD)

Context: Pausanias, though writing about mainland Greece, makes references to the Asklepios cult that illuminate the Pergamum Asklepion.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted]

Significance: [To be completed]

Aelius Aristides, Sacred Tales (c. 170 AD)

Context: Aelius Aristides was a famous orator who spent years at the Pergamum Asklepion seeking healing. His Sacred Tales (Hieroi Logoi) provide a detailed firsthand account of the healing cult, incubation rituals, and the worship of Asklepios at Pergamum.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- Aristides’ descriptions of his experience at the Asklepion, the serpent rituals, dream incubation]

Source: Behr translation Significance: This is the most detailed firsthand account of what went on at the Asklepion. Aristides describes encounters with the serpent-god Asklepios, dream visions, and healing rituals --- exactly the kind of cult activity that Christians would identify with Satan.

Galen of Pergamum (129-216 AD)

Context: The famous physician Galen was born in Pergamum and trained at the Asklepion. His writings provide information about the medical and religious practices there.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted]

Significance: [To be completed --- medical-religious context of the Asklepion]

Part II: The Archaeological Evidence

The Great Altar of Zeus (The “Pergamon Altar”)

Discovery: Excavated by Carl Humann beginning in 1878 for the Royal Museums of Berlin. The altar is now reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

Description: A massive U-shaped structure approximately 36 meters wide and 34 meters deep, with a monumental staircase and a frieze depicting the Gigantomachy (battle of the gods against the giants). The altar sat on the acropolis of Pergamum, visible from the entire city and from the road approaching the city.

Why it matters:

The altar’s shape --- a massive throne-like platform with a grand staircase --- is visually the most “throne-like” structure in the ancient city
Built during the reign of Eumenes II (197-159 BC)
Dedicated primarily to Zeus Soter (“Zeus the Savior”) and Athena Nikephoros (“Athena the Victory-Bearer”)
The Gigantomachy frieze depicted the triumph of the Olympian gods over primordial forces --- a visual theology of divine authority and power

Archaeological details: [To be completed with specific measurements, dating evidence, dedicatory inscriptions, and scholarly reconstruction]

The Temple of Augustus and Roma (Imperial Cult Temple)

Discovery and dating: Built 29 BC by decree of Augustus, who permitted the provincial assembly (koinon) of Asia to build a temple to himself and the goddess Roma at Pergamum.

Description: [To be completed --- archaeological remains, location on the acropolis, relationship to other buildings]

Why it matters:

This was the first temple to a living Roman emperor in the province of Asia
It established Pergamum as the neokoros (temple warden) of the imperial cult
The provincial imperial cult required annual ceremonies, oaths, and sacrifices --- participation was essentially a test of loyalty to Rome
Refusal to participate was not merely religious dissent but political treason --- punishable by death under the ius gladii of the proconsul

The Asklepion

Description: A massive healing complex located outside the city walls, connected to the acropolis by a colonnaded sacred way. Featured a treatment center, incubation halls (where patients slept to receive healing dreams from Asklepios), a theater, a library, and a sacred spring.

The serpent connection:

Asklepios was represented by and identified with the serpent
Living serpents were kept in the Asklepion and allowed to crawl over patients
The serpent symbol of Asklepios (a snake wrapped around a staff) remains the symbol of medicine today
For early Christians, who identified Satan as “that old serpent” (Revelation 12:9, 20:2), the Asklepion’s serpent worship would have been unmistakably satanic

Archaeological details: [To be completed --- specific remains, inscriptions, layout, dating of various phases]

The Temple of Athena

Description: [To be completed --- the oldest temple on the acropolis, adjacent to the famous library]

The Serapis Temple (The “Red Basilica”)

Description: [To be completed --- the massive Egyptian cult temple in the lower city, one of the largest Roman structures in Asia Minor, dedicated to Isis, Serapis, and other Egyptian deities]

Why it matters: [To be completed --- adds to the picture of Pergamum as uniquely saturated with pagan cult]

Part III: Early Christian Sources on Pergamum and Antipas

The Martyrdom of Antipas (Traditions)

Note on sources: Scripture tells us only that Antipas was “slain among you” in Pergamum. Later traditions provide additional details about the manner of his death, but these traditions must be evaluated carefully. The earliest detailed account is the Acts of Antipas (also called Martyrdom of Antipas or Vita Antipae), a hagiographic text of uncertain date (possibly 5th-6th century, though claiming to describe 1st-century events).

The Acts of Antipas (Martyrium Sancti Antipae)

Context: A hagiographic account, likely composed in the 5th-6th century but claiming to preserve earlier tradition. Preserved in Greek manuscripts.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- the key passage describing Antipas’s martyrdom]

Source: [To be identified --- Acta Sanctorum, Bollandist edition, or other critical edition]

The tradition: According to the Acts, Antipas was the bishop of Pergamum who was arrested during the reign of Domitian (81-96 AD) for refusing to worship the emperor and the pagan gods. He was placed inside a bronze bull (or brazen bull) --- an execution device shaped like a bull, heated from beneath --- on the grounds of the Temple of Artemis (or, in some versions, near the Asklepion). He prayed throughout his ordeal and died praising God.

Evaluation:

The brazen bull tradition echoes the legend of Phalaris of Akragas (Sicily), who is said to have used such a device in the 6th century BC. This literary parallel raises questions about whether the detail is historical or borrowed.
The association with Domitian’s reign aligns with the traditional dating of Revelation to c. 95 AD.
The refusal to worship the emperor is historically plausible given Pergamum’s status as the imperial cult center.
The location of the execution (at a specific temple) varies between manuscripts, making it difficult to identify the exact site.

The Martyrologium Romanum

[To be researched --- the entry for Antipas in the Roman Martyrology]

Date of commemoration: April 11

Menologion of Basil II (c. 1000 AD)

[To be researched --- the Byzantine menologion entry for Antipas]

Early Church Fathers on Revelation 2:12-17

Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130-202 AD)

Context: Irenaeus is our earliest major source for the interpretation of Revelation. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John himself --- placing Irenaeus within two links of the author of Revelation.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- any references by Irenaeus to the Pergamum letter or Satan’s throne]

Significance: [To be completed]

Tertullian (c. 155-220 AD)

Context: Tertullian, writing from Carthage, references persecution and martyrdom in Asia Minor.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted]

Significance: [To be completed]

Origen (c. 185-254 AD)

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- Origen’s commentary on the Pergamum letter if extant]

Victorinus of Pettau (d. c. 304 AD)

Context: Victorinus wrote the earliest surviving Latin commentary on the Book of Revelation.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- Victorinus’s comment on Satan’s throne and Antipas]

Source: ANF Vol. 7 Significance: [To be completed --- earliest surviving commentary on the passage]

Andrew of Caesarea (6th-7th century)

Context: Andrew wrote the most influential Greek commentary on Revelation in the Byzantine tradition.

[Full quotation to be researched and inserted --- Andrew’s identification of Satan’s throne]

Significance: [To be completed]

Part IV: Roman Administrative Context

Pergamum as Provincial Capital

Key facts to document:

Pergamum was the capital of the Roman province of Asia from its creation in 133 BC (when Attalus III bequeathed the Pergamene kingdom to Rome)
The Roman proconsul of Asia --- one of the most powerful governors in the empire --- had his official seat (sedes) in Pergamum (later shared with Ephesus and Smyrna in a rotation)
The proconsul held the ius gladii, the right of the sword --- the power to execute criminals and, critically, those convicted of treason (maiestas), which included refusal to worship the emperor
The connection between the proconsul’s sedes (seat) and Satan’s thronos (throne) may be deliberate in the Revelation text

The Ius Gladii and Christian Martyrdom

[Full quotation to be researched --- relevant passages from the Digest of Justinian or other Roman legal sources on the proconsul’s judicial authority in Asia]

Significance: The right of the sword held by the Roman governor in Pergamum is the mechanism by which Antipas could have been legally executed. Jesus’s claim to hold the true “sharp sword with two edges” directly challenges this authority.

Emperor Worship in the Province of Asia

Key developments:

29 BC: Augustus permits Pergamum to build a temple to himself and Roma
26 AD: Pergamum passed over for second imperial temple (already had one) --- Tacitus, Annals 4.37
[Additional dates and events to be researched]

Part V: Patterns and Observations

What Multiple Sources Agree On

[To be completed after research fills in the quotations above]

What Is Debated

[To be completed]

Geographic and Temporal Patterns

[To be completed --- the evolution of emperor worship in Asia, the relationship between Pergamum, Ephesus, and Smyrna as competing centers]

Summary

[To be completed after research --- what Antiquity reveals about where Satan’s throne was, what happened to Antipas, and how the physical city of Pergamum would have appeared to a first-century Christian living in the shadow of the Great Altar, the imperial temple, and the Asklepion]