Perge Archaeological Site

Perge lies in the Aksu district, 17 kilometres east of Antalya. Pottery from the acropolis shows that the settlement goes back to the Early Bronze Age, and the city appears as Parha in Hittite texts. Excavation began in 1946 under Arif Müfid Mansel, continued in the 1970s under Jale İnan and in the 1990s under Haluk Abbasoğlu, and has been run by the Antalya Museum since 2012.

Its first great period was the Hellenistic era. Planned as a city in the 3rd century BC, it still has two imposing towers of the Hellenistic gate that you see first on entering. Its most glorious years came in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD under Roman rule, and most of the standing buildings date from then. Perge was also one of the ancient world's great centres of sculpture, and the statues found here are shown in the Antalya Museum.

Perge is on Turkey's UNESCO Tentative List, both for the importance of its ruins and because it survives as one of the largest and best-preserved ancient settlements. Walking its long columned streets and looking out from the theatre and stadium gives a clear sense of a prosperous provincial Roman city.