Aristonicus, Blossius, and the City of the Sun

Abstract

In Asia Minor in the Second Century B.C., an ephemeral revolutionary regime held sway which has been variously hailed as the first volley of Marxism or the last stand of Cloudcuckooland. Since Aristonicus did not hesitate to openly proclaim class warfare against the bourgeoisie of Pergamum, even restrained scholars label his City of the Sun as a “proletarian state”. Ironically, though he challenged the majesty of Rome, Aristonicus won the support of Blossius of Cumae, the Stoic adviser of Tiberius Gracchus and the ideologue of the Roman reformers, who would perish in the debacle of the Pergamene revolution.