A Case Study: Loyalty, Disloyalty and Faithlessness in the Origin of Attalids’ Power

This paper aims to analyze the story of two men belonging to the so-called Attalid dynasty: Philetairos and his nephew Eumenes I. The first, initially serving Antigonos Monophthalmos and later Lysimachos of Thrace, joined finally Seleucos I just before the battle of Curupedium: Philetairos’ disloyalty against Lysimachos can be considered one of the main causes of the defeat and the death of the king of Thrace (and Macedonia). Eumenes, adopted by his uncle Philetairos, inherited his power and continued to exercise it on Pergamum in the name and on behalf of the Seleucids. Taking advantage of the conflict between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies, he made an alliance with Ptolemy II Philadelphos and defeated Antiochos I of Syria at Sardis around 262 BC. Thanks to his treachery against Antiochos he reinforced his power, although officially never taking the title of king, assumed only by his successor Attalos I. We may therefore conclude that through the shameless use of disloyalty and faithlessness the first Attalids were able to create the power of their dynasty.