Perge

🏛️ Perge: the Greco-Roman city in the heart of Pamphylia

📍 Location

• Located in 17 km east of Antalya, in the district ofAksu, Perge extends over a fertile plain bordered by the river Kestros (today Aksu Çayı).
• Its strategic location, inland but connected to the sea by river, protected it from pirate incursions while promoting trade.

🧬 Origins and history

• Founded around 1050–1000 BC, Perge becomes capital of the Pamphylia, an ancient region of southern Anatolia.
• It passes successively under Persian domination, Hellenistic, Seleucid, Then Roman from 133 BC.
• A flourishing city with 2nd and 3rd centuries, it is renowned for its beauty, its urban planning and its intellectual influence.
• Saint Paul would have preached his first sermon there, making Perge a early Christian center.

🏟️ Major monuments and remains

🏰 Hellenistic Gate

• Monumental entrance to the city, flanked by circular towers, it marks the passage to the main road.

🏛️ Colonnaded Way

• Wide paved avenue lined with Corinthian columns, of water channels, and of public baths.
• It connects the main districts and bears witness to a sophisticated urban planning.

🎭 Ancient theater

• Built in the 2nd century, it could accommodate 15,000 spectators.
• Adorned with mythological reliefs, especially on Dionysus, god of theater and wine.

🏟️ Stadium

• One of the largest in Asia Minor : 235 m long, 35 m wide, with a capacity of 12,000 people.
• Used for the chariot races, the athletic games, and the civic festivities.

🏛️ Roman Baths and Agora

• Well-preserved complexes, with hot and cold rooms, basins, and meeting spaces.
• The agora served as commercial and political center, surrounded by porticoes and shops.

🕊️ Byzantine churches and basilicas

• Witness the transition to the Christianity, with mosaics, the baptisteries, and the ecclesiastical structures.

🧘‍♂️ Why Perge is unique

It is a city where each stone tells a story, where Greco-Roman elegance blends with Christian fervor, and where the silence of the ruins dialogues with the breath of the Anatolian wind. Perge is majestic, little-known and deeply evocative — an open-air journey through time.