ABSTRACT
Ancient sources, and Pliny in particular, preserve many stories about Attalus' interest in collections and works of art. Since there was more than one person bearing the same name, though, it is quite difficult to know which one of the Pergamene monarchs is mentioned in each case. We know that Attalus I bought Aegina from the Aetolian League, and carried off from the island a number of works of art, including a bronze statue of Apollo by Onatus1, a statue by Theron2, and a bronze figure of a horse (Pausanias, 6.14.11; 8.42.7; Anthologia Palatina, 9.238; Hansen, 1971: 316). From the Euboean city of Oreus he carried off a group of works by Silanion of Athens3. We also know that the Pergamene collection included a group of Cephisodotus, the son of Praxiteles, (Pliny, HN, 36.24), a painting of Ajax by Apollodorus of Athens (Pliny, HN, 35.60), and the group of the Graces by Bupalus4, which Pausanias mentions as existing in Attalus' 'chambers' (9.3S.6)5. Pliny also mentions King Attalus when he refers to passionate and irrational collectors, as for instance in the paragraph that follows, where Attalus is considered not only indirectly responsible for the intrusion of luxury in Roman society (for the same reason Attalus III is more directly accused in 33.147), but also so irrational that he was prepared to pay an enormous amount of money for the purchase of works of art (a similar accusation in 7.126).
