The south slope was always an integral part of the city. Philetairos included the upper half in his fortified city, his walls passing above the already existing Demeter Sanctuary. Eumenes II enlarged the fortified area with a new set of walls, over 4km in length, that extended down to the base of the south slope where one entered through a monumental gateway. His city was over four times larger than that of Philetairos. During the Roman Empire the city expanded onto the plain. In each of these three major stages, the city was laid out according to a different grid plan. Under Philetairos, the grid was not strictly followed. Indeed, the topography of the hillside did not favor a strict Hippodamian grid plan, and certain streets gently curved. With Eumenes II, the new grid followed a new orientation. The Romans, ca. 100 AD, changed the grid and orientation once again; strictly applying the grid, they integrated new buildings on the acropolis (such as the Temple of Trajan) with construction on the plain.
Buildings uncovered on the south slope include those appropriate to a residential area, such as houses, shops, baths, and market areas (such as the Lower Agora). But in the middle lie two major religious and public complexes: the Sanctuary of Demeter and the Gymnasium — both explored in the early twentieth century.
The Sanctuary of Demeter, the goddess of agricultural plenty, existed in pre-Hellenistic times. A mystery cult, the rites of Demeter were conducted in secret, for initiates only (as was the case at Eleusis, just outside Athens, the center of the worship of Demeter), and the layout of the sanctuary reflects this. The Ionic temple and accompanying altar lie in a long rectangular court, enclosed on three sides by stairs and on the fourth by the entrance gateway (propylon). The east half of the long north side is occupied not by a stoa, but by benches cut out of the rock, seats for the participants in the mysteries. This important fertility cult had great appeal to women. Reflections of this can be seen in the dedication of the temple and altar by Philetairos and his brother Eumenes to their mother, Boa, and also in the patronage of Apollonis, queen and wife of Attalos I, thanks to which the construction of the sanctuary was completed.
The huge gymnasium complex lies just to the east. As noted earlier, not only sports training but also a wide range of social, intellectual, and religious activities took place in a Greco-Roman gymnasium. Built on three levels well adapted to the sloping ground, the gymnasium at Per-gamon ranks among the most spectacular examples of the type. The upper level, much remodeled in Roman imperial times, consisted of a court lined with porticoes; rooms off the portico include a small theater, originally roofed, used for lectures and concerts, and a hall with an apse on either end, devoted to the cult of the deified Roman emperors. Beyond the east portico a bath complex was added in the Roman period.
The south portico fronts on an extremely long stoa that extends far beyond the borders of the courtyard. Below it lies an extra track, roofed — an unusual feature that allowed exercise in inclement weather. Originally the track was lit by windows in the south wall, but in the late Hellenistic period the windows were blocked in order to strengthen the walls.
The middle court immediately downhill from the underground track features a long rectangular exercise area, itself lined on the north by a stoa. At one end of this court is an altar and small temple, dedicated, inscriptions tell us, to Hermes and Herakles. The temple walls were inscribed with the names of young men victorious in athletic contests held here. From this middle level one descends to the lowest court, a roughly triangular area reserved as a playground for boys, via a staircase with a rare type of Hellenistic ceiling consisting of two barrel vaults that meet at right angles. The impressive fortification towers seen today on top of this wall were added by the Byzantines in the twelfth century, when these walls marked the limits of a smaller town much contracted from its Roman heyday.
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