Pergamon

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