Perge was situated on the coastal plain between the Rivers Catarrhactes (Düden Nehri) and
Cestrus (Aksu), about 11 km from the mouth of the latter.
Early Bronze The history of the city dates back to the Late Chalcolitic Era or Early Bronze Age. Excavations in the original settlement on the
acropolis date it to the early
Bronze Age, 4000-3000 BC. Pottery found in the Perga Acropolis is linked to the Early Bronze Age pottery traditions in Western Anatolia.
Late Bronze From a bronze tablet discovered in 1986 in
Hattusas, a treaty between the
Hittite Great King
Tudhaliya IV and his vassal, the king of
Tarhuntassa, defined the latter's western border at the city "Parha" and the "Kastaraya River". The river is assumed to be the classical Cestrus. West of Parha were the "Lukka Lands". Parha likely spoke a late Luwian dialect like Lycian and that of the neo-Hittite kingdoms.
Iron Age The settlement probably became a Greek colony of
Rhodes in the 7th c. BC. Perge was later a Pamphylian Greek city, and came under successive rule by Persians, Athenians, and Persians again. In 540 BC Perga, along with the other cities in Pamphylia was captured by the
Achaemenid Empire. During the reign of
Darius I, it was a part of the
Satrapy of Ionia. There is no archeological evidence that shows the Achaemenid rule over
Pamphylia but some classical sources do exist.
Herodotus mentions that Pamphlyians sent aid to the military campaign of
Xerxes against the Greeks, so it must have been under the control of the Achaemenids. According to
Diodorus Siculus, Perge was one of the cities that rebelled against the Achaemenid rule during the
Great Satraps' Revolt in 360 BC.
Alexander the Great, after taking
Phaselis, was welcomed in Perge with his army in 334 BC. Alexander's rule was followed by the
Diadochi empire of the
Seleucids. The walls around the lower city were built in the period starting from 223 BC. In the 2nd century BC the city became prosperous and started minting its own coins with the image of Artemis and her temple. Perge became renowned for the worship of
Artemis, whose temple stood on a hill outside the town, and in whose honour annual festivals were celebrated. Following the defeat of the Seleucids by the Romans in 188 BC, the wider area was gifted by the Romans to the
Attalid kingdom. When its last king died without heirs in 133 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom, including Perga, to the
Roman Republic. After 25 BC, the Romans built the
Via Sebaste linking Pisidian
Antioch in
Galatia with Perge. When the Romans first incorporated Perga into the Empire, the city was a part of the Province of
Galatia. After the
Flavian Dynasty was founded by Emperor
Vespasian, the city became a part of the
Lycia et Pamphylia province. Vespasian also granted the city the rank of
neocorate which made the city in charge of the
imperial cult. During the 2nd century AD there was a construction boom in the city, fueled by
Pax Romana and excessive wealth. The city center was expanded to the South side of the city and new monuments were erected. Perga also had many philanthropists during the Roman Empire period who financed the construction of monumental structures. Under the Romans from the 1st to the 3rd century AD the town became a magnificent city with many impressive buildings. It became one of the most beautiful towns in Anatolia, competing with
Side for the status of most important town in Pamphylia.
Plancia Magna (d. 122), daughter of the governor
Marcus Plancius Varus, was the greatest benefactor and instigator of public buildings and was honoured with statues erected by the town council. In 46 AD, according to the
Acts of the Apostles,
St. Paul journeyed to Perga. 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; In the first half of the 4th century, during the reign of
Constantine the Great (324-337), Perga became an important centre of Christianity, which soon became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The city retained its status as a Christian centre in the 5th and 6th centuries. St.
Matrona of Perge of the 6th century was a female
saint known for temporarily
cross-dressing to avoid her abusive husband. She also is known for opposing the
Monophysite policy of the emperor
Anastasios I. Matrona hid in the
monastery of St. Bassion as the enuch Babylos. Once revealed, she was sent to a woman's monastery where she was head of the convent. She was famous for her miraculous gift of healing. She went on to found a nunnery in
Constantinople. St Matrona died at the age of 100. Her life was told through a
vita prima whose author and exact time period remains a mystery. The
Greek Notitiae episcopatuum mentions the city as
metropolis of
Pamphylia Secunda until the 13th century.
Le Quien gives the names of 11 of its bishops: Epidaurus, present at the
Council of Ancyra in 312; Callicles at the
First Council of Nicaea in 325; Berenianus, at Constantinople (426); Epiphanius at the
Second Council of Ephesus (449), at the First
Council of Chalcedon (451), and a signatory of the letter from the bishops of the province to Emperor Leo (458); Hilarianus, at a
council at 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 (an
iconoclast who was condemned at the
Second Council of Nicaea in 787); Constans, at the same council of that condemned his predecessor; John, at the
Council of Constantinople of 869–70. Perga remained inhabited until the foundation of the
Seljuk Empire in roughly 1100. == City monuments ==