Pergamon or
Pergamum is an ancient
city on the coast of
Asia Minor that became an important kingdom during the
Hellenistic period, under the
Attalid dynasty[?].
Pergamon had the second best library in the ancient world, after Alexandria. When the Ptolemies stopped exporting papyrus, partly because of competitors and partly because of shortages, they invented a new substance to use in codexes, called pergamum or parchment after the city. This was made of fine calf skin, a predecessor of vellum[?] and paper.
The present-day, Turkish, name of the city is Bergama[?].
See also: Pergamon Museum, in Berlin, Germany
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