Perge, the jewel of ancient world

ANTALYA

The ancient city of Perge, Türkiye’s oldest continuously ongoing excavation in the field of classical archaeology, sheds light on the ancient world. Former excavation head Professor Sedef Çokay Kepçe spoke to daily Hürriyet about the mysterious story of the city.

Located within the borders of Antalya’s Aksu district, Perge was one of the most important ancient cities that served as the capital of the Pamphylia region and is considered the most orderly Roman city in Anatolia. The earliest data on the city, which developed during the Roman Empire period, date back to 5,500 B.C. Settlement continued uninterrupted until the 10th century A.D.

Stating that excavations at Perge began in 1946 and that they are the oldest continuously running archaeological excavations in the country, Kepçe said, “Our biggest advantage is that there was no settlement in the city after the 10th century A.D. Therefore, this allows us to reach finds in their final state at many points.

Outside the city walls, we have two major structures: our theater and our stadium. At the end of the Colonnaded Street, there is also a fountain where water coming down from the Acropolis flows. We have our necropolis area, the city of the dead. In the southwest, there is a structure dating back to the Roman Imperial period that we define as the ‘Southern Bath.’ We have a square-planned structure called the Macellum, which functioned as a meat and fish market. Shops are lined up along all the streets. Due to Sassanid and Arab raids, the city gradually disappeared.”

Perge experienced three important historical periods. One of them was the Hellenistic period, around the 3rd century B.C. The second important period was the reign of Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century A.D. Hadrian was an emperor who admired Greek culture. In order to gain Hadrian’s favor, the people of the city linked their origins to the Trojan War. They made such efforts to demonstrate how ancient and deep-rooted their city was.

In Perge, a philanthropic woman named Plancia Magna changed the shape of the courtyard behind the towers and had statues of heroes returning from the Trojan War placed there. When visitors entered this courtyard, they understood how old Perge was by seeing these statues. Plancia Magna is an important female figure in this sense. She is significant because she supported construction activities in other parts of the city by spending her own money.
A short time later, two monumental fountains were added directly in front of the Southern Bath. In these monumental fountains, we see portrait statues of another benefactor woman, Aurelia Paulina.

The third period began after the 5th century, when Perge became a metropolitan center. It also became an important center for Christianity. The Metropolitan of Perge still exists today. It is known that Saint Paul came to Perge and preached here. He arrived from the Aksu River. From Perge, he traveled to Yalvaç together with Joseph Barnabas. On his return, he came back to Perge, preached again and then departed for Cyprus.

Unfortunately, we do not know Saint Paul’s traces here. There is no identified architectural element directly pointing to him or his period. There are seven churches and a bishop’s palace in Perge, but there is no structure directly connected to Saint Paul.

“We obtained very important data about glass production, and there is no example like this in the world. Because in ancient times there are no well-preserved examples of a structure where glass was melted, shaped and annealed in the same place, with different types of furnaces. We identified these. All the pavements in this city are mosaics.”

An engineering marvel: The pool system

Stating that the Aksu River flows to the east of the city, Kepçe said, “Its ancient name was Kestros. The statue in the fountain is a reclining male figure symbolizing the Aksu River. In ancient times, river gods were depicted with reclining statues like this. It is lying down; water flows from beneath it and fills the reservoir behind it. Then, after the pool directly in front of it, the water follows a channel divided into compartments along the street through the city.

A branch of the Aksu River passes outside the city walls. It is an irrigation channel for agriculture. We brought it here. It flows here and then returns to the channel. We never want to harm the irrigation water used by citizens for their fields, especially during times of
climate crisis.