KINGS of PERGAMON. Eumenes I. 263-241 BC. AR Tetradrachm (28mm, 17.02 g, 12h). In the name of Philetairos. Pergamon mint. Struck circa 255/0-241 BC. Laureate head of Philetairos right / ΦIΛETAIPOY, Athena enthroned left, holding shield in right hand, left elbow resting on sphinx seated right; spear diagonally in background, ivy leaf to inner left, bow to outer right, monogram on throne. Westermark Group III, unlisted obv. die; SNG BN 1606–9; SNG von Aulock 1355. A few marks, trace deposits on reverse. EF. Fine style.
When Lysimachos established the mint of Pergamon, he entrusted its treasury to the eunuch Philetairos. Philetairos changed his allegiance to Seleukos I, probably shortly before the Battle of Korupedion in 281 BC, where Seleukos defeated Lysimachos. Philetairos continued to acknowledge Seleukid primacy for some time, but soon struck a coinage with his own portrait and name. Similar to what was done in Ptolemaic Egypt, all of the subsequent kings of Pergamon continued to use these types on the coinage, and even kept Philetairos’ name. In 261 BC his successor, Eumenes I, defeated Antiochos I in battle near Sardis in Lydia, securing Pergamene independence. The remainder of Eumenes’ reign saw an expansion of Pergamene power, including the foundation of a number of cities, at the expense of the Seleukids. The city of Pergamon was built into a magnificent metropolis, complete with some of the finest buildings and artworks of the Hellenistic world and a library rivaling that of Alexandria.
