ruler of Pergamum, in Mysia, from 263 to 241 who, in 262, liberated his city from the overlordship of the Seleucids (Seleucid kingdom), a dynasty founded in Syria by one of the successors of Alexander the Great. Eumenes succeeded his uncle Philetaerus in 263 and in the following year defeated the army of the Seleucid king Antiochus I near Sardis (the capital of Lydia), thereby establishing an independent city-state.