I walked through
the main gates of Perga, one of the greatest cities of Greek, and eventually
Roman culture. The first things I saw were huge stone walls surrounding the
city, with a gap that served as the main entrance, where they grabbed the
horses of visitors to be held waiting for their masters till the visit is over,
which was needless for me since I didn’t have a horse or anything in kind.
Surprisingly
enough, they didn’t check me unlike they did for the others. Neither did they
care while I entered the city grounds. At once, I saw people milling around in
their customary one piece clothes. Men in their white garbs, some with quality
looking sashes around their belts, and some other with ropes instead of sashes;
women with their earthen jewelries and accessories around their necks and on
their arms; and kids running around in groups, laughing and playing together.
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| Main entrance of the city. |
Then along a
colonnaded main street, there were shops with their goods for sale, and people
trading, or checking the items in them. Soldiers walking around in their watch,
standing before important buildings, especially in front of a keep closer to
the entrance, which I suspected to be some kind of governmental one. I noticed
a waterway running through the entire city with its sparkling water coming from
the hill which the city nestled on, and running toward the main entrance. It
was easy to realize that it was the main life source of that city, which
eventually I proved to be right, because when the water dried, the people of
this magnificent city would move along, and leave the place to rot and die.
When this thought
came to life in my mind, all the illusion disappeared and I saw the city as it
is now, after seven millennia of its birth: Rubbles, stones, and remnants of
the colonnaded main street, shops, mosaic tiles of the public baths, and the
most impressively, the underground watering system that surrounds the entire
city, all built between around 1200 BC and 600 BC!
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| Remnants of the shops |
Well, yes, it’s all
in ruins now, of course. But when you start walking along the main street and
alleys of the ancient city Perga, which is now within the city limits of Antalya, Turkey,
you almost see all the life went on and went away in the place. Trust me, it
creates an impression almost like you would have while standing in ancient Jerusalem.
This is the second
time I visit this fascinating city, but frankly, I hadn’t recognized the depth
of cultural sophistication you can see here in this city, due to my young age I
guess.
History
In the twelfth
century BC, there was a large wave of Greek migration from northern Anatolia
to the Mediterranean coast. Many settled in the area immediately east of the
area of modern-day Antalya, which came to be known as Pamphylia,
meaning “land of all tribes”. Four great cities eventually rose to prominence
in the area including Perga.
Perga was founded
around 1000 BC and is nearly 20 kilometres (12 mi) inland. It was sited
inland as a defensive measure in order to avoid the pirate bands that
terrorized this stretch of the Mediterranean.
However the nearby Kestros (Aksu) River enabled the town to
benefit from the advantages of the sea as if it were a coastal city.
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| Underground water layout in an ancient city shocks the viewer with its sophistication. |
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| Water grid covers all around a city which seems to be huge to its age. |
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| Water "pipes" made of stone extend from one side of colonnaded main street to the other |
In 546 BC, the Achaemenid
Persians defeated the local powers and gained control of the region. In 333 BC,
the armies of Alexander the Great arrived in Perga during his
war of conquest against the Persians. The citizens of Perga sent out guides to
lead his army into the city.
Alexander's was
followed by the Diadochi
empire of the Seleucids.
Perga's most celebrated ancient inhabitant, the mathematician Apollonius (c.262 BC – c.190 BC), lived and
worked there. Apollonius wrote a series of eight books describing a family of
curves known as conic sections, comprising the circle, ellipse,
parabola, and hyperbola.
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| A sight of Agora |
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| Another sight of Agora |
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| A detail shot from the columns surrounding Agora |
Roman
rule began in 188 BC, and most of the surviving ruins today date from this
period.
In 46 A.D.,
according to the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul
journeyed to Perga, from there continued on to Antiocheia in Pisidia, then
returned to Perga where he delivered a sermon. Then he left the city and went
to Attaleia.
From the beginning
of the Imperial era, work projects were carried out in Perga, and in the second
and third centuries A.D. it grew into one of the most beautiful cities, not
just in Pamphylia, but in all of Anatolia.
In the first half
of the fourth century, during the reign of Constantine the Great (324-337), Perga
became an important centre of Christianity after it had become the official
religion of the Roman Empire. The city
retained its status as a Christian centre in the fifth and sixth centuries.
Due to frequent
rebellions and raids, the citizens retreated inside the city walls, able to defend
themselves only from within the acropolis. Perga lost its remaining power in
the wake of the mid-seventh century Arab raids. Then some residents of the city
migrated to Antalya.
After the collapse
of the Roman Empire,
Perga remained inhabited until Seljuk
times, before being gradually abandoned.
Ecclesiastical history
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| The detail level in the stonemasonry is absolutely fascinating. |
St. Paul the Apostle and his companion St.
Barnabas, twice visited Perga as recorded in the biblical book, the Acts of the
Apostles, during their first missionary journey, where they “preached the word”
before heading for and sailing from Attalia
(modern-day Antalya city), 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the southwest, to
Antioch.
Perge remained a
Roman Catholic titular metropolitan see in the former
Roman province of
Pamphylia Secunda. Paul and Barnabas came to
Perge during their first missionary journey, but probably stayed there only a
short time, and do not seem to have preached there; it was there that John
Mark left Paul to return to Jerusalem. On his return from Pisidia
Paul preached at Perge.
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| The remnants of an archgate at the main entrance. |
The Greek Notitiae episcopatuum mentions the city
as metropolis of Pamphylia
Secunda until the thirteenth century. Le Quien
gives 11 bishops: Epidaurus, present at the Council of Ancyra (modern
Ankara) in 312; Callicles at the First Council of Nicæa in 325; Berenianus,
at Constantinople (426); Epiphanius at the Second Council of Ephesus (449), at the First
Council of Chalcedon (451), and a signatory on the letter from the bishops of
the province to Emperor Leo (458); Hilarianus, at the First Council of Constantinople
in 536; Eulogius, at the Second Council of Constantinople
in 553; Apergius, condemned as a Monothelite
at the Third Council of Constantinople
in 680; John, at the Trullan council in 692; Sisinnius Pastillas
about 754, Constans, at the Council of Nicæa (787); John, at the Fourth Council of Constantinople
in 869–70.
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| A fallen column head somewhere near the colonnaded street. |
Remains
Perga is today an
archaeological site and a major tourist attraction. Ancient Perge, one of the
chief cities of Pamphylia, was situated between the Rivers Catarrhactes (Duden
sou) and Cestrus (Ak sou), 60 stadia (about 11.1
kilometres (6.9 mi)) from the mouth of the latter; the 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 very famous temple
of Artemis was located
outside the town.
Sources: www.wikipedia.org, local sources
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| A walled section of colonnaded street. |
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| The vein details of a marble column near baths. |
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| The column heads from colonnaded street. |
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| I couldn't understand what this building was before, but the remains stand near colonnaded street across the Agora. |
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| Again, a column detail from colonnaded street. |
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| Main water channel runs through the city parallel to the colonnaded street and the shops, from the hills that the city leans on to the main entrance. |
