Note 1453 — Chapter X · (a) Capitalist Despots of the Age of Aristotle, (b) the Money Power of the Rulers of Pergamum, (c) Protogenes of Olbia

Strabo XIII. 624. The significance of this proceeding cannot be put better than in the words of Holm, Hist. Greece, IV. p. 527: “It is characteristic of the Pergamene dynasty that it concluded its career in the spirit in which it began it. Its rule was of private origin: Philetairos had appropriated treasure and treasury. After that the Pergamene rulers had raised themselves to the rank of kings by their money and their clever policy, and as such had achieved much good. The last sovereign of the line, however, reverted to the view that his position was of a private nature and he disposed of everything that he claimed as if it were private property.”