What is…
Perga

also known as: Perge

This city is the capital of Pamphylia, on the coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). It began as an ancient Lycian settlement. Roman rule of Perga began in 188 BC. In the early 1st century AD it belonged to the large province of Galatia. Inscriptions from the city itself show that under Claudius and Nero, Pamphylia was still administered with Galatia. For example, Sextus Afranius Burrus is listed as the procurator of Galatia and Pamphylia.

Description

Perga (Perge) in the 1st century AD was a prosperous inland Greek city on the fertile Antalya plain, already old, well-walled, and regionally important, but not yet at the marble-clad peak it reached in the 2nd century. It sat about 7-10 miles (11–16 km) from the sea beside the navigable Cestrus (Aksu) River, with an acropolis on a flat-topped hill and a Hellenistic lower city on the plain. It was an important place of commerce.

The city sat at a junction of coastal, river, and mountain routes. The Augustan Via Sebaste road was built after 25 BC, connecting Perga to Pisidian Antioch and the interior of Asia Minor.

Wealth came from the agricultural plain, river trade, and position on inland routes. The city minted coins and already had families (including the Plancii, whose most famous member, Plancia Magna, flourished just after this century) who would soon finance monumental architecture.

Greek geographer Strabo, writing in the early 1st century AD noted that after reaching the mouth of Cestrus upstream to Perga, and near the city, on high ground, stood the temple of Artemis Pergaea, where a pagan festival was held every year. The coastal city Sillyon (aka Syllium, Syllaeum or Syllaion) was visible from Perga.

Attalia

The river made the city a practical landing even though Attalia (aka Attaleia, modern Antalya, Turkey) was its main seaport, about 9-10 miles (15–16 km) southwest of Perga. Attalia was founded by Attalus II of Pergamon in the 2nd century BC as a better harbor than Perga’s river landing.

Cascading pools

“A unique and prominent feature for a Roman city was the long central water channel in the centre of the main street which contained a series of cascading pools and which would have been remarkable even today in a semi-arid area where summer temperatures reach over 30 degrees Celsius.” —Perga, Wikipedia

What types of idolatrous worship occurred at Perga?

The city’s defining cult was Artemis Pergaea (Wanassa Preiia (“Queen of Perge,” aka Vanassa Preiia) in the local Pamphylian dialect), an Anatolian goddess identified with Greek Artemis. She was Perge’s city goddess.

Her original cult object was almost certainly aniconic: a sacred stone or baetyl, often thought to be a meteorite, kept inside the temple behind a barrier and depicted on coins from Perga. Later art also shows her in human form with bow, torch, stag, crescent, or radiating crown.

A statue of the goddess Tyche (aka Fortuna) appeared with Artemis on monuments as the city’s patron.

Perga worshipped many other false dieties. Inscriptions, coins, and sculpture show a normal Greco-Roman pantheon of pagan gods alongside the local Artemis. Attested names include Zeus, Apollo, Athena, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Heracles, Hermes, Asclepius, Cybele, Hecate, Helios, Selene, Nike, Nemesis, Tyche, Themis, the Dioscuri, and the Egyptian pair Isis and Serapis (with Harpocrates).

Around 70–74 AD Roman emperor Vespasian granted Perga the right to host a provincial temple of the imperial cult (worship of emperors as divine). That was then unique in Pamphylia and marked the city’s rising standing with Rome.

Paul, what is his connection to Perga?

The Apostle Paul and his companions landed at this place from Cyprus on their 1st missionary journey (Acts 13:13-14), and here John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Paul’s 1st missionary tour

Antioch, Syria → Seleucia → Cyprus, beginning with Salamis → Paphos, Cyprus → province of Pamphylia, beginning with the port of Attalia → Perga, Pamphylia → Pisidian Antioch → province of Lycaonia, beginning with Iconium → Lystra, Lycaonia → Derbe, Lycaonia → Lystra → Iconium → Lycaonia → Pisidia → province of Pamphylia → Perga → Attalia port → Seleucia → Antioch

Some time afterwards, Paul and Barnabas again visited this city and “preached the word” (14:25).

Later tradition treats Perga as one of the earliest Christian centers in the region.

Nearby cities

Side, Aspendos, Sillyon, and Magydus were important Pamphylian towns a short distance from Perga. None of them received mention in Scripture.

Archaeology

The city featured luxurious column-lined streets with cascading water in the center. The large South Baths are dated to the 1st century AD. The city’s large oval sports stadium is often placed in this same period or shortly after, with an audience capacity on the order of 12-thousand people.

The city also featured a theater, several nymphaea (monumental public fountains or shrines associated with the nymphs), many public sculptures, and the colonnaded cardo with cascading water channel (mentioned above). The great temple has not yet be uncovered.

The ruins of an ancient latrine were found. The theatre and the grand colonnaded streets, Hadrianic gate, and Plancia Magna’s building program belong mainly to the early 2nd century AD.