ANTALYA TO ALANYA

We novv leave Antalya and begin driving eastvvard on Highvvay 400.This takes us through the heart of the Pamphylian plain, vvhich stretches off to the east betvveen the Mediterranean and the Taurus mountains.

Pamphylia is a Greek vvord that means "the land of ali the tribes."This stems from the tradition that the fırst Greek settlers of Pamphylia \vere the "mixed multitudes" of people \vho vvan-dered here after the fail of Troy, led by the seers Calchas, Mopsus, and Amphilochus. The legends vary, one being that Calchas died at Claros vvhen defeated by Mopsus in a contest of divination, as related by Hesiod in his Melampodia. But another story telis of hovv Calchas vvent on to Pamphylia and, together vvith Mopsus, founded the city of Perge. Mopsus and Amphilochus are said to have continued on into Cilicia, found-ing cities along the way, most notably Mallus, after vvhich they quarreled and killed one another in single combat.
The earliest reference to the Pamphylians is by Herodotus, vvho in book VII of his Histories describes their contingenl in the fleet of Xerxes: "The Pamphylians contributed thirty ships. Their armor was Greek. These people are descended from the Greeks vvho follovved Amphilochus and Calchas vvhen the army vvas dispersed after the capture of Troy."
Strabo quotes Herodotus in his description of Pamphylia,also referring to an earlier source on this great migration, namely Callinus of Ephesus, vvriting in the early seventh century B.C.


from Troy; and that most of them remained here, but that some vvere scat-tered to numerous places on earth. Callinus says that Calchas died in Claros, but that the peoples led by Mopsus passed över the Taurus, and that, though some remained in Pamphylia. the others vvere dispersed in Cilicia, and also in Syria as far even as Phoenicia.
These Greek founding legends are seldom based on factual evidence, but in the case of Pamphylia there are reasons for believing in the great migration of the "mixed multitudes" along the Mediterranean coast of Anatolia at the end of the Bronze Age. Recent studies of Hittite records seem to shovv that Mopsus may be a historical figüre associated vvith the founding of a city in this region ca. 1200 B.C.
As \ve drive through the Pamphylian plain vve see camel cara-vans of Yuruk nomads strung out along the road in their immemorial trek betvveen their vvinter encampments on the coast and their yaylas, or summer pastures, in the highland meadovvs of the Taurus and Lycian mountains, their black goat-hair tents visible among the groves of olives and bananas, their \vay of life unehanged in its essentials since theTurks first made their vvay into Anatolia in the mid-eleventh century.
Soon the highvvay veers inland and brings us deeper into the plain as it erosses the Düden Çayı, a stream that flovvs into the sea auhe supposed site of Magydus, a lost city that preceded Attaleia as the principal port of Pamphylia. Then, some sixteen kilometers out of Antalya, vve come to Aksu, vvhere a signposted road on our left leads to the site of ancient Perge. The scene here has changed little since Charles Fellovvs visited Perge in 1840, as vve gather from reading his Travels and Researches in Lycia (1856):
Continuing my route for eight miles further, I pitehed my tent amidst the ruins of Perge: near me vvas a small encampment of shepherds vvho had brought their catıle to pasture amidst the ruins. The first object that strikes the trav-eller is the extreme beauty of the situation of the ancient tovvn, lying betvveen and upon the sides of tvvo hills, vviıh an extensive valley in front, vvatered by the riverCcstrus.and backed by the mountains of the Taurus....

Perge vvas believed by its citizens to have been one of the cities established by the "mixed multitudes" after the Trojan Wars, revering as their founders Calchas and Mopsus. The long-held belief in this foundation legend is evidenced by the inserip-tions on tvvo statue bases from the second century A.D. found at Perge in 1953, vvith dedications to "the founder Calchas of Argos, son of Thestor," and "the founder Mopsus of Delphi, son of Apollo." Calchas is first mentioned by Homer in book I of The lliad, vvhere he is praised for his divinatory povvers: "Calchas, Thestor's son, far the best of the bird interpreters/vvho knovvs ali things that vvere, the things to come and the things past."
The earliest mention of Perge is by the geographer knovvn as the Pseudo-ScyIax, vvriting in the mid-fourth century B.c. Othervvise the city first appears in history in 333 B.C. vvhen the Pergeans vvelcomed Alexander and provided guides to lead him from Phaselis in Lycia into Pamphylia. After the death of Alexander, Perge vvas held in turn by the Seleucid, Ptolemaic, and Pergamene kingdoms. it became part of the Roman province of Asia in 129 B.c and prospered during the Roman imperial era, vvhen many of its finest edifices vvere construeted.
Perge is renovvned as the birthplace of one of the greatest mathematicians of the Hellenistic age. This vvas Apollonius of Perge, vvho vvas born here ca. 260 B.C. and studied at Alexandria vvith the pupils of Euclid, after vvhich he lived in Pergamum under the patronage of Attalus I. While at Pergamum Apollonius completed his Conics, in vvhich he shovved that the circle, ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola are ali seetions of a cone, a vvork that vvas to be of crucial importance in the European scientific revo-lution of the seventeenth century.


assembly is held every year." The temple is shovvn on the coins of Perge and in reliefs, as vvell as being mentioned in a number of inscriptions. But the temple of Artemis Pergaea has never been found, though archaeologists continue to search for it.
Perge seems to have been one of the earliest centers for the spread of Christianity in the region. Paul visited Perge on his first missionary journey, ca. A.D. 47, as vve read in Acts 13 and 14:
Paul and his friends went by sea from Paphos to Pamphylia vvhere John left them to go back to Jerusalem. The others carried on from Perge till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they vvent to synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats . . .They passed through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. Then. after proclaiming the vvord at Perge they went dovvn to Attaleia and from there sailed to Antioch. vvhere they had originally been commanded to the grace of God for the \vork they had novv completed.
Perge vvas represented at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and at the Council of Ephesus in 431. By then it had the status of a met-ropolitan bishopric, vvhich it shared with the nearby tovvn of Sillyum. Perge continued to be an important place until the medieval Byzantine period, vvhen the Persian and Arab inva-sions caused many of its inhabitants to flee from the region. it never recovered thereafter, and it vvas little more than a village vvhen it fell to the Seljuks in 1078, vvith the Ottomans eventual-ly taking it in 1392. The Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi visited the site ca. 1660, vvhen it vvas knovvn as Tekke Hisarı, and described it thus in his Seyahatname (Narrative of Travels): 'There are no guards, no soldiers, commandant or any important official.The place is inhabited only by seventy or eighty house-holds of the Türkmen tribe. They migrate to the summer pas-tures in July. .. ."
The approach road brings us first to the theater, vvhich together vvith the stadium just to its north is on the left outside the gates of the ancient city. The fairly vvell-preserved theater vvas built in the Hellcnistic period and remodeled in the imperial Roman era. The cavea is more than a semicircle and is separated from the

stage building by a pair of paradoi in the Greek style. The para¬pet separating the orchestra from the front rovv of seats vvas erected in the late Roman era, providing protection for the spec-tators during gladiatorial combats and spectacles involving vvild animals. There is a single diazoma, vvith tvventy-six rovvs of seats belovv and thirteen above, the seating capacity e'stimated at 15,000. An arcaded gallery runs around the top tier of the cavea, and at the middle of its arc there is an entrance from the hillside behind the theater. There are also entrances from the hillside on either side at the level of the diazoma, vvhere there are tvvo large passages knovvn as vomitoria since, as it vvere, they vomited spectators at the end of a performance.
Theater al I'er^e
The tvvo-tiered stage building, erected in the latter half of the second century A.D., stili stands to a considerable height, vvith a handsome vaulted hail vvell preserved in the bottom story. The stage building stood on a narrovv podium decorated vvith a frieze of panels representing mythological scenes, some of vvhich have been recovered in rccent excavations. A number of these reliefs contain scenes İroni the life of Dionysus, god of the theater. One extraordinary relief shovvs Artemis Pergaea, vvho is wearing a tali headdress in the form of an inverted cone, with the fıgures of eighteen of her devotees represented in three tiers belovv. The five niches in the high vvall abutting the back of the stage build-ing indicate that a nymphaeum vvas erected here in the late Roman era, vvith each of the recesses containing a vvater basin that served as a public fountain.

Rctiej in Tlu'altrr al Pcr^c: Dionysus with Satyr and Bacchanles
The stadium, vvhich vvas probably erected in the second cen-tury A.D., is one of the best preserved in Asia Minör after that of Aphrodisias. The structure is 34 meters vvide and 234 meters long, vvith the sphendone (curved end) on the notth, vvhile at the straight south end there vvas a monumental entryvvay, of vvhich only a fevv fragments remain. The tiers of seats are supported by barrel vaults. Belovv the seats on the east side there are thirty intercomm'unicating chambers opening to the outside of the sta¬dium, vvith every third room also giving access to a passagevvay that led around the periphery of the arena. The other tvventy

Stadium al ferge
chambers vvere shops; some of them bear inscriptions giving the name of their ovvner or, in tvvo cases, his trade.
We novv approach the outer gate of the city, to the right of vvhich there are the scanty remains of a funerary monument erected late in the Hadrianicera.This is identified by an inscrip-tion as a memorial to the lady Plancia Magna, vvhose name appears in a score of places in Perge as a benefactress of the city. Plancia vvas a high priestess of Artemis and of the mother of the gods, and she also held the office of demiourgos, the highest post in the civic hierarchy of the city. She vvas the vvife of M. Plancius Varus, vvho had been a Roman senatör in the reign of Nero (r. 54-68) and had served as proconsul of Bithynia under Vespasian (r. 69-79). Their son, C. Plancius Varus, vvas a successful athlete in his youth and then vvent on to be consul under Hadrian.

The Hellenistic vvall is well preserved, particularly on the east side, and sevcral of its tovvers are stili standing to their full height; it contains three large gates—on the west, east, and south—as vvell as several posterns. The shattercd round tovvers of the orig¬inal Hellenistic south gate can be seen framed in the portal of the late Roman entryvvay as vve approach the entrance to the city. The inner and outer gates are connected by curtain vvalls of Roman date, vvith the east vvall ending at the agora. During the reign of Septimius Severus (r. 193-211) a nymphaeum and a splendid Corinthian propylon vvere built into the vvest curtain vvall, vvith the latter leading to a huge Roman bath. Beyond the propylon there are three niches in the vvest curtain vvall; these contained statues that vvere discovered by Professor Arif Müfit Mansel during his excavations in 1943-45. Tvvo of the statues are of Plancia Magna, one of vvhich is novv on exhibit in the Antalya museum. Outside the east curtain vvall vve see the remains of a basilica that vvas converted into a church in the early Byzantine period.
The inner gatevvay, vvith its tvvo splendid round tovvers of aslı¬lar masonry, is ali that remains of the original south vvall of the Hellenistic city, demolished vvhen the outer gate and its flank-ing vvalls vvere erected in the fourth century A.D. inside the gate¬vvay there vvas a magnificent courtyard of horseshoe shape; from here one entered the city via a tvvo-storied gatevvay vvith three portals, endovved by Plancia Magna ca. 120. Around the periphery of the courtyard there are niches that önce contained statues, more of vvhich stood on a ledge at the foot of the vvall. Excavations in 1954-56 recovered the bases of nine of these statues along vvith their inscriptions, vvhich record that they vvere dedicated to the founders of the city. These "founders" included Calchas and Mopsus and five mythological figures,all


PAMPHYLIA AND PISIDIA II
Coionnaded Central Avenue al Perge
of them obscure, along vvith M. Plancius Varus and his son C. Plancius Varus, vvith Plancia Magna being mentioned in both of their inscriptions.
The courtyard vvithin the inner gatevvay opens on to the beginning of a coionnaded vvay extending northvvard for some 400 meters, vvith its marble pavemerrt stili bearing the ruts of vvagon vvheels. This vvas the main avenue of Perge, flanked by shops and divided dovvn its middle by a vvater channel fed by a nymphaeum at its upper end. (Note the corrugated surface of a piece of marble by one of the basins, a place vvhere the vvomen of Perge did their laundry.) On either side of the street there vvere colonnades, many of vvhose marble columns are stili standing, at least in part. A number of columns are decorated at the top vvith reliefs, one of vvhich shovvs Artemis carrying her bovv and arrovvs and a torch; another depicts Apollo, and a third has a male figüre in a toga pouring a libation.