The Agora Stoas at Assos, Aigai, and Termessos: Examples of the Political Function of Attalid Architectural Patronage

The agora stoas at Assos and Aigai have been attributed to the Attalids without a thorough art historical analysis. While such an analysis establishes striking similarities between these structures and Pergamene architecture, which include the multi-storied stoa type, arrangements of the elements of the orders, and individual features such as the cyma-reversa and palm capitals, polygonal column shafts, and double-half-columns, these similarities might be the result of imitation, rather than of patronage. The fact that the Attalid hegemony of Asia Minor in the second century B.C. was dependent on the voluntary allegiance of the Greek cities like Aigai and Assos to Pergamon is conducive to the idea of Attalid patronage. Patronage by the Attalids of such agora stoas, central and large civic structures, would have served the political function of propaganda by advertising the ability and willingness of the kings of Pergamon to benefit their allies and preserve Greek culture. Such patronage of important civic structures was a standard practice of Hellenistic rulers, following a precedent set by Alexander the Great. The Attalids also imitated Alexander by using their reputation as saviors and benefactors of the Greeks, which they had established by advertising their victories over the Gauls in various sculptural monuments, as a tool to obtain leadership of the Greek cities. In a similar fashion the Attalids used major building programs, the collection of literary and art works, the patronage of scholars and of schools for the arts at Pergamon to obtain recognition of their capital as the center of Greek culture in the Hellenistic world. Eumenes II and Attalos II sponsored the creation of a recognizable Pergamene style of architecture. If the similarities between the stoas at Assos and Aigai and Pergamene structures was the result of imitation, which is best explained as the desire of the cities to have what they thought of as the best type of stoas, such imitation reflects the success of the Attalids in using their architectural programs at Pergamon as a political tool to establish dominance of Hellenistic Asia Minor in the second century B.C. Since the stoas at Assos and Aigai were of recognizable Pergamene style and type, whether they were the product of Attalid patronage or of the imitation of Attalid architecture, they stood as symbols of the Attalid hegemony of Asia Minor.