Yesterday was exhausting because of the long drive, and little to see. About half the group elected to hang around the hotel and chill, while the rest of us went on the optional tour of the local ruins. Actually, today was a highlight of our time in Turkey. Since this area figures so prominently in the New Testament, it really allowed us to see the world as St. Paul and St. John did almost 2000 years ago.
The ancient signs were in Greek and Latin (bi-lingual) . This sign speaks of a prominent Roman lady, her last name is Magna.
Perga was an ancient Greek city in Anatolia and the capital of Pamphylia, now in Antalya province on the southwestern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Today it is a large site of ancient ruins on the coastal plain.
Look closely in the middle of the picture on the right. These are chariot grooves on the highway entrance into Perga. These took a couple hundred years to develop and are over fifteen hundred years old.
Located there is an acropolis dating back to the Bronze Age. During the Hellenistic period, Perga was one of the richest and most beautiful cities in the ancient world, famous for its temple of Artemis. It also is notable for being the home of the renowned ancient Greek mathematician Apollonius of Perga. This was the New York or Paris of the ancient world!
This is one of the two entrance gates to Perge. One was built by the Greeks in 200 BC another was built by the Romans in 200 AD.
Perga was founded around 1000 BC. It grew to prominence until it’s peak in the 3rd century AD, then with the decline of the Roman Empire, slowly declined until it was abandoned around 700 AD. What we see today was built from around 200 BC to 200 AD by the Greeks, initially, and then the Romans.
Paul, the Apostle, and his companion Barnabas, twice visited Perga as recorded in Acts of the Apostles. They would sail into and out of Antalaya, where our hotel is, to Antioch.
This the the same harbor Paul sailed in and out of. It has changed very little in 3000 years. The tide in this part of the Mediterranean varies less then eight inches.
The entrance into Perga was a four-lane, divided highway. In the median were water works flowing into town, through the Roman Baths and back out to the river. We visited all the different rooms for the baths, all heated from below the floors with thermal chambers circulating hot air or water.
Here is a “cross-section” of one of the steam rooms. The floor has been removed so you can see the brick-stacks below where the hot water circulates to warm the floor room. The rich would progress through four rooms prior to their exercise and massage. It would take most of the day, and they would do this daily!
Also, very prominent was the Agora, or market place. Separate stalls for the vendors; all very organized. Throughout the entire town was mosaic flooring. In the last few years, local officials have covered all the mosaics with a foot of gravel to that people aren’t tempted to try and remove the 2000 year old mosaic tiles.
Since commoners where illiterate, this sign in the Agora indicated a butcher; a meat hook and knife is on display.
This is a section of the floor mosaics found throughout Perga. This had been “rescued” and placed in a museum, most have been left in place and covered with gravel for safekeeping.
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