Pergamon's heyday was during the period following Alexander
the Great and prior to the Roman domination of all Asia
Minor. At that time, Pergamon was one of the richest and
most powerful small kingdoms in the Middle East. The Pergamon
of Eumenes II is remembered most of all for its enormous
library. Reputed to have held more than 200,000 volumes,
it was a symbol of Pergamon's social and cultural climb.
The first parchment was also invented here, after the
Egyptians cut off the supply of papyrus. Pergamon was
also world-renowned as the center of medicine. Asclepion,
initially dedicated to Asclepios, the God of medicine,
was not an average medical clinic but the first health
spa in history.
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