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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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