Archaeologists believe they have discovered the burial site of the Atalid dynasty , the Hellenistic dynasty that ruled the ancient Greek city of Pergamum in present-day Turkey after the death of Alexander the Great.
The site, whose exact location has been unknown since ancient times, is part of a mound that was investigated for the first time almost two centuries ago, according to the director of the excavations Felix Pirson.
The hill, which is adjacent to Bergama (ancient Pergamon), is known today as Yigma Tepe , and in it archaeologists have found burials that, due to their grandeur, had to be built for someone very important. That is why everything points to the Attalids. The first estimate of dates places the burials in the II century AD
According to Pirson, the alignment of the tombs and their architecture, especially their location in the part of the staircase of the Great Altar of Pergamon (today in Berlin) and to the west of the temple of Athena, are also strong indications that one of the attalids rests there most important.
Pergamum became, under the Attalid dynasty, a center of power, political and cultural, ruling large regions of Asia Minor during the 2nd century AD. The city survived even during the Byzantine era, as evidenced by the archaeological finds in the northern part of the hill where it settled, such as ceramics, coins and spearheads of the time.
The city based its prestige on the opulence of its palaces and temples, but also on the cultural sensitivity of its rulers. Their tombs had never been found, although the hill of Yigma Tepe was always thought to be, a mound that reaches a height of 31 meters by another 158 in diameter.
Researched in 1878 by Alexander Conze , he did not find any entrance, but he did find that the outside was surrounded by a wall built with blocks of andesite, a type of volcanic rock. He also carried out excavations in the center of the mound, but could not find any interior chamber.
The archaeologists will now use geophysical and seismic prospecting techniques, in order to collect all possible information about the internal structures of the funerary monument.