Perge Perge is the nearest major Roman ruin to Antalya, and definitely worth the visit. A great daytrip of visiting ruins can be had by combining it with visits to Aspendos, Termessos as well as Side.
The Great Theater and the stadium of Perge are its most spectacular remaining buildings. What's left of its huge Hellenistic-Roman era gatetowers are the most photographed due to the fact that they are so unique. Through these gates are what is left of an exceptional colonnaded street. The southern baths and the agora are well worth having a look at and the acropolis, set on a nearby hilltop, has few discernable buildings but a great overall panorama of the ruins in general.
While visiting Antalya or even Side take a car or book a guided tour to visit Perge. By public transportation, take one of the minibuses (Turkish: dolmuses) from the Antalya main bus station (Turkish: Otogar) to the town of Aksu on the Antalya/Side highway, then walk or take a taxi the 2 kilometers or 1.2 miles northwards to Perge. Perge is a starting-point for the famous St. Paul Trail leading north up to the Anatolian plateau for those who are interested in a very spectacular trek.
Perga or Perge was an ancient Greek city in Anatolia and once the capital of Pamphylia Secunda. It is now in Antalya province on the southwestern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Today it is a large historical site of the ancient ruins dating back to the Bronze Age that lie 15 kilometres or 9.3 miles east of Antalya.
In 46 A.D., according to the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul journeyed to Perga. From there he continued on to Antiocheia in Pisidia, afterwards returning to Perga where he preached (Bible: Acts 14:25) and then left the city and went to Attaleia.
In the first half of the 4th century, during the reign of Constantine the Great (324-337), Perga became an important center of Christianity, which soon became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The city retained its status as a Christian center in the 5th and 6th centuries. St. Paul the Apostle and his companion St. Barnabas, twice visited Perga as recorded in the biblical book, the Acts of the Apostles.
Perga today is an archaeological site and a tourist attraction, known as Eski Kalessi in the Turkish language. Ancient Perge, one of the chief cities of Pamphylia, was situated between the Rivers Catarrhactes (Duden sou) and Cestrus (Ak sou), about 11.1 kilometres or 6.9 miles from the mouth of the latter; the archealogical site is in the modern Turkish village of Murtana on the Suridjik sou, a tributary of the Cestrus, formerly in the Ottoman vilayet of Koniah. Its ruins include a theatre, a palæstra, a temple of Artemis and two churches. The temple of Artemis was located outside of the town. Perga's most famous ancient resident, the mathematician Apollonius (c.262 BC – c.190 BC), lived and worked there. He wrote a series of eight books describing a family of curves known as conic sections, comprising the circle, ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola.
Perge
