Antalya has a number of Pamphylian (Pamphylia is the ancient geopolitical region encompassing modern day Antalya) Greco-Roman ruins in the area. Perge is one of these ancient ruins, which has been extensively excavated since 1946 (still ongoing) giving visitors a chance to visualize what the ancient city looked like back then.
While we were in Fethiye, we rented a car so that we could check out the various ruins that weren’t that easily reached by public transportation. The ruins around Antalya, fortunately, are more accessible by public transit.
To reach Perge, we took the tramvay from Old Town to Aksu (30-minute ride), and then walked a short 20 minutes to the ruins. The walk wasn’t scenic, but time passed quickly when we’re in good company with each other.
Antalya’s clean trams
Perge is one of the best laid out cities in all of Anatolia as we would later find out. One of its most famous resident is Apollonius, the Ancient Greek geometer who coined the terms hyperbola, parabola, and ellipse. A person all 7th and 8th graders need to thank for making their math classes that much more interesting.
Classic Roman Gate looks like one we saw in Hierapolis The view that greeted us once we crossed the gate’s threshold Hellenistic Gate and towers served as defense for the cityThe interior of the gate was ornately decorated with sculptures in niches. Sculptures may possibly be house at the Antalya Museum. We’ll find out on Wednesday.The Romans later added an arched Hadrian’s Gate (collapsed, but you can still see the 4 pedestals) on the north side of the Hellenistic Gate.The large agora (marketplace) to the east of the gate, with its standing columnsThis is the southern end of their Main Street flanked by columns, buildings, and shops. It was hard to appreciate the scale of this street until we climbed up a hill at the northern end of the street.The fountain at the northern end supplying the water that runs down the center of the street. The sculptures of Zeus, Artemis, and Apollo that adorned the fountain are housed in the Antalya Museum.This is the incredible view we saw of the columned streets with a small water channel running down the center of the street. We could see the theater and the stadium in the far right corner.The east/west cross street In my opinion, Perge’s most striking feature is the Corinthian colonnade.A fountain at the end of this street was just excavated in 2014, and all the elaborate statues of gods and goddesses can also be found in the Antalya Museum And the mosaic depicting Nephele abducting Iphigenia was discovered in 2017. Imagine what this place will look like in another decade with further excavations.A tiny feline resident, whom I rouse from its deep sleep.One of the best preserved stadiums we’ve seen that can accommodate 12,000 people Similarly, the theater can seat 12,000 people Skene with a stand-inUpon closer exam, all the faces of figures were unfortunately damaged.
We spent a good 3 hours at Perge just marveling at the city and structures. By the time we got back into town, it was time for dinner.
After a quick bite, we strolled through old town again and walked through streets we didn’t get a chance to see yesterday.
FIRE'd @ 47 