Listed 8 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "PERGI Ancient city TURKEY".
City in Pamphylia, 16 km NE of Antalya. The tradition that the city
was founded by the "mixed people" who wandered across Asia Minor soon
after the Trojan War, led by Amphilochos, Mopsos, and Kalchas (Hdt. 2.91; Strab.
668), seems trustworthy; statue bases of the last two, described as founders,
stood at the main gate in Roman times. In the Athenian tribute lists [P]erge is
included, with an unknown tribute, in the assessment of 425 B.C., but does not
occur earlier. When Alexander arrived in 333 Perge welcomed him, supplied guides
to lead his army from Phaselis (Arr. 1.26), and served as his base for operations
in Pamphylia. After Alexander's death the city came under the Seleucids until
Magnesia in 190; in 188 a Seleucid garrison still remained to be expelled by Manlius
(Polyb. 21.4; Livy 38.37). The city later came under the Pergamene kings, and
was included in the province of Cilicia; the Temple of Artemis Pergaea offered
rich booty to Verres in 79 B.C. St. Paul was twice in Perge (Acts 13:13; 14:24).
Despite her distinction and prosperity it was only in the 3d c. A.D. that the
city acquired the titles of asylos and metropolis. In Byzantine times Perge and
Sillyon were normally combined under a single metropolitan, until he was replaced
by the metropolitan of Attaleia.
It is generally agreed that the original settlement must have been
on the flat-topped hill at the N end of the site, though no early remains have
been found there. The lower town was not fortified until the 3d c. B.C. under
the Seleucids; about the 4th c. A.D. the area of the city was slightly enlarged
by the erection of an outer wall across the S end, but later, in Byzantine times,
occupation seems to have returned to the acropolis hill; the scanty surviving
ruins are all of this period. The acropolis hill was never fortified.
The main city is divided into four unequal quarters by colonnaded
streets crossing at right angles towards the N end; the streets are not quite
straight. Down the middle of each ran a broad water channel barred at intervals
of 6 m by cross-walls. The N-S street continues outside the city on the S for
ca. 0.8 km, and the streets were lined with stoas and shops. The city walls, dating
from the 3d c. B.C., are well preserved, especially on the E, and many of the
numerous towers stand almost complete. In addition to several posterns there are
four main gates, two on the S--one in each of the two walls--and one each on E
and W.
The inner, earlier, gate on the S is still in good condition. It has
the form of a horseshoe-shaped court flanked by towers in the wall, as at Side
and Sillyon; here the towers are round and still stand, though somewhat damaged,
nearly to their full height. At the back of the court a triple arch was erected
in Roman times, but only the lowest parts of this remain. On a ledge at the foot
of the walls of the court stood statues of the founders of the city; these were
mostly mythological heroes, including Mopsos and Kalchas. Two of them, however,
are M. Plancius Varus and his son, also designated "founders." The inscribed
bases survive, but the statues have not been found. Other statues stood in niches
higher up in the wall.
M. Plancius Varus is described in the inscription as father of Plancia
Magna, a lady mentioned in numerous inscriptions (nearly a score have been found)
in various parts of the city; in some cases she dedicated statues of members of
the imperial family, in others her statue was erected by the civic authorities.
She was priestess of Artemis, and held the office of demiurgus in the early 2d
c. A.D. Her tomb, now almost completely destroyed, stood beside the street outside
the later S gate.
In Imperial times an open court was constructed outside the earlier
S gate. Its E side was formed by a stoa. In the middle of the S side was a monumental
gateway, now ruined; its ornamentation was exceptionally massive. When the 4th
c. wall was built the S side of the court was made to form part of it, and the
gate became the main gate of the city. Outside it a whole series of marble statues
was found, representing the gods of the city. On the W side of the court stood
a small nymphaeum, with a water basin backed by a two-storied facade; adjoining
this on the N was a propylon with two rows of four Corinthian columns and rich
decoration. These buildings, as an inscription shows, date to the time of Septimius
Severus. Here also statues were found, two of which--one complete with head--represent
Plancia Magna. Behind the nymphaeum to the W are large baths, not yet excavated,
with walls standing to a considerable height.
Inside the Hellenistic S gate, E of the colonnaded street, is the
agora, ca. 65 m square and surrounded with stoas and shops; it appears to date
from the late 2d c. A.D. In the middle (as at Side) is a round building whose
character has not yet been determined.
In the NW quarter is the earliest building known inside the wall.
It is identified as a palaestra, and is dated by its dedication to Claudius by
C. Julius Cornutus. Its S wall, on the street, is well preserved, with numerous
windows. Nearby, beside the W city gate, is another bath.
Close below the acropolis hill, beside the short N arm of the N-S
street, is a second nymphaeum. This has the familiar form of a water basin enclosed
by a back wall with niches and two projecting wings. Along the length of the walls
ran a podium supporting Corinthian columns. Statues were found of Artemis, Zeus,
and a Roman emperor. An inscription on the podium seems to imply that the building
was dedicated by a certain Aur. Seilianus Neonianus Stasias.
Outside the city on the SW are the stadium and the theater. The stadium,
excellently preserved, is 234 m long, including a walled-off area 42 m long at
the N end. There are twelve rows of seats, with a broad gangway at the top, and
at the bottom a narrow passage originally separated from the arena by a barrier.
The N end is rounded; at the S end stood an ornamental gateway of which hardly
a stone remains. Under the seats on the E side is a vaulted passage divided by
cross-walls into 30 rooms; from every third room a door opens into the narrow
passage round the arena; the others were used as shops. In some of these the trade
of the occupant, and sometimes his name, is inscribed on the wall; the trade of
silversmith is mentioned twice.
The theater seated some 14,000 spectators. It has recently been partially
excavated and the retaining wall restored. It is of Graeco-Roman type, largely
built into the hillside, with a cavea of rather more than a semicircle and a high
Roman stage building. The cavea is divided by 13 stairways into 12 cunei, doubled
in number above the diazoma. At the top is an arcaded gallery, with an entrance
at its middle point. On each side two vaulted vomitoria lead from the hillside
to the diazoma. The stage building, of at least two stories, still stands to a
considerable height; its frieze of panels with reliefs of Dionysiac scenes is
still in fair condition. The outer E face of the building was later converted
into a nymphaeum, with five large niches, the smallest in the middle.
The foundations of a temple have recently been excavated 0.8 km S
of the city, near the end of the street. It was quite small, with a stylobate
some 23 by 14 m, and seems to have been prostyle tetrastyle, with pronaos and
cella. The columns were unusual; they stood directly on the stylobate as in the
Doric order, but had 24 flutes divided by narrow arrises. The main facade is on
the W, and the date appears to be Hellenistic. There is no evidence for attributing
the temple to any particular deity, but it is clearly not the Temple of Artemis
Pergaia, which was large, in the Ionic order, stood on high ground outside the
city, and has never been found. The old idea that its site was indicated by a
small church on the acropolis hill was discredited when the church proved to be
in reality a cistern, and other hills in the neighborhood have yielded no results.
Tombs stood beside the three roads leading to the city gates on E,
W, and S, though only those on the W survive in any quantity: excavation of a
street of tombs revealed some 30 sculptured sarcophagi, some of which are now
in the Antalya museum.
G. E. Bean, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
An ancient and important city of Pamphylia, a little inland, northeast of Attalia, between the rivers Catarrhactes and Cestrus, sixty stadia (six geographical miles) from the mouth of the former. It was a celebrated seat of the worship of Artemis. It was the first place in Asia Minor visited by the Apostle Paul on his first missionary journey.
Perge or Perga (Perge: Eth. Pergaios), an ancient and important city of Pamphylia, between the rivers Catarrhactes and Cestrus, at a distance of 60 stadia from the mouth of the latter. (Strab. xiv. p. 667; Plin. v. 26; Pomp. Mel. i. 14; Ptol. v. 5. § 7.) It was renowned for the worship of Artemis, whose temple stood on a hill outside the town, and in whose honour annual festivals were celebrated. (Strab. l. c.; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 187; Scylax, p. 39; Dionys. Per. 854.) The coins of Perge represent both the goddess and her temple. Alexander the Great occupied Perge with a part of his army after quitting Phaselis, between which two towns the road is described as long and difficult (Arrian, Anab. i. 26; comp. Polyb. v. 72, xxii. 25; Liv. xxxviii. 37.) We learn from the Acts of the Apostles (xiv. 24, 25) that Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel at Perge. (Comp. Acts, xiii. 13.) In the ecclesiastical notices and in Hierocles (p. 679) Perge appears as the metropolis of Pamphylia. (Comp. Steph. B. s. v.; Eckhel, Doctr. Num. i. 3, p. 12.) There are considerable ruins of Perge about 16 miles to the north-east of Adalia, at a place now called Eski-Kalesi. (Comp. Leake, Asia Minor, p. 132; Texier, Descript. de l'Asie Min., where the ruins are figured in 19 plates; Fellows, Asia Minor, p. 190, &c.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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